MASQUERADE GALA
The Grand Ballroom of Lu Corporation has always been the best events of the year. Gold chandeliers rained light from above. Walls were adorned with silk banners embroidered in silver threads. Guests mingled in flowing gowns and crisp suits, all masked but no one truly hidden.
Music swelled, soft violins melting into an elegant waltz.
The doors opened, Allison walked in. Wearing a gown of deep black and a speck of red, the color of coals just before they burst into flame. The dress clung to her curves like silk poured over skin, embroidered with tiny flecks of diamonds that glintered as she moved. Her mask was delicate, laced and thin filigree that framed her cheekbones and left her lips bare and plump. And her red hair swept up, but with soft tendrils falling down. She was breathtaking. Not just beautiful but also mythic.
She stepped into the ballroom like a wind held in satin.
All heads turned.
Even the music seemed to falter.
Across the hall, Li Anya froze mid-step. Her own gown, icy blue and jeweled, clung to her body in practiced perfection. Her mask, sharp and cold like a crown. She had come to steal the night.
But now…
She was merely watching it being taken away by her rival.
"Who is that?" someone whispered.
"She's the intern from the project team," another murmured.
"Lucian's rumoured woman" someone else said.
Anya's jaw clenched.
MINUTES LATER
Lucian stood near the terrace doors, away from the noise, holding a glass of untouched champagne. He had not seen her enter. Until, he felt her and turned.
His heart seem to have stop functioning well because he was heavy difficulty breathing properly.
Allison was walking toward him each step slow and elegant. Like a queen who had never needed a throne. His eyes didn't flicker, not once. He drank in the sight of her like a man who had been thirsty for centuries.
She stopped before him.
Their eyes locked.
"You're late," he murmured.
"You didn't ask me to come," she replied, voice cool.
"I didn't think I could handle your beauty." He teased.
"And now?"
His silver gaze burned. "Now, I'm not breathing." His eyes were serious.
---
ACROSS THE ROOM – LI ANYA'S POV
I watched them. Watched how he looked at Allison. Like she was sunlight… and he was starving for warmth.
My grip on her champagne glass tightened.I have never seen him look at anyone like that. Not even me. No, not even me.
DANCE FLOOR
The music shifted, a softer waltz now. The MC's voice echoed.
"President Lucian… would you honor us with the first dance?"
All eyes turned.
Li Anya took one step forward. But so did Allison— instinctively, like pulled by an invisible string.
She stopped herself and was about to turn away but Lucian was already before her.
Hand extended but she hesistated. But slowly placed her hand in his.
Gasps and whispers rippled through the crowd.
Li Anya could only watch as Lucian pulled Allison into the center of the ballroom. And they danced slow and magnetic.
Every spin revealed her submission to him.
Every glance revealed his hunger.
And for a moment, the rest of the world simply vanished.
---
BALCONY – AFTER THE DANCE
They stepped out into the night air. The stars above glittered like shy witnesses. Allison leaned on the railing, her breath fogging the cool night air.
"I wasn't supposed to feel like this," she whispered.
Lucian stepped behind her. Few inches away from her.
"But you do."
She didn't deny it.
He looked at her, eyes soft but full of prowness.
"Tonight... you outshone the stars."
She turned slightly and blushed. "And made an enemy."
"She was never your equal," he said quietly. "Not in mind, not in soul."
"But she once had your heart."
He exhaled. "She borrowed it. You....you live in it. You own it"
And then he kissed her very deep and she clung to his shirt pulling him closer.
---
EMPTY CORRIDOR
Li Anya stood alone, her face unreadable but her eyes…full of war.
"She'll regret this," she whispered.
Behind her, the silver-eyed man appeared from the shadows.
"You said you could turn him."
"I will," she hissed.
---
The house was silent.
Too silent.
Allison stood by her window again, gown still clinging to her like a memory, makeup smudged softly at the corners of her eyes. Her heart hadn't stopped racing since that kiss on the balcony. She felt the pendant glow but she didn't feel heat, it was cold.
She unfastened it slowly and held it to the moonlight.
The fire within flickered… like it was breathing.
A paper flew from her window, she stepped forward and picked it up. Unfolded it carefully. It was a letter written in black ink that reeked of copper and ash.
"He'll never belong to you. You're just the girl who inherited a curse.
We need your blood.
Soon, you'll give it willingly."
The bottom corner of the paper bore a strange seal — an open eye. Allison tightened her hands to fist.
---
"Did she get it?" Li Anya asked, arms crossed, blue velvet cloak trailing behind her.
The silver-eyed man nodded. "She got it."
"She'll come running," Li Anya said confidently. "They always do when they think they're needed."
"And when she does?" the man asked.
"I bleed her. Slowly, just enough to survive."
"You think Lucian will let you?"
Li Anya's lips curled. "He won't see it coming."
She paused.
"I wore kindness like perfume once," she murmured. "He fell for it. That's his weakness. "
The man tilted his head. "And what are you now?"
She turned, eyes glowing.
"Deadlier."
---
LU CORPORATION – THE NEXT MORNING
The gala was behind them but not forgotten. Whispers filled every corner of the office. About Allison and the boss. Though, they smeared her name, they couldn't stop singing praises about their boss.
She choose to ignore it all. Stepped into the elevator with her usual grace until she saw Aaron Li already inside.
He turned and smiled. "Rough night?"
"You tell me," she said, glancing at the strange bruise on his jaw.
"I got in a fight with a door," he replied, smirking.
She raised a brow. "The door punch back?"
"Harder than expected."
Then his gaze softened.
"You looked… unreal last night."
She didn't answer. As the elevator dinged open Lucian was waiting his gaze never left her.
And she felt it again.
That pull.
But the letter in her bag reminded her, someone else wanted her not just her blood but her life..
For for power.
---
Allison stared at the letter again in the restroom stall, heart pounding. The pendant throbbed.
But this time it was different, she felt strange. The room became colder along with the freaking pendant. It felt like ice on her skin, giving her a burning sensation. She clenched her teeth.
The mirror above the sink fogged, though there was no steam.
And as she walked out…everything cleared.
LU CORPORATION – PRIVATE GARDEN TERRACE
The sky was painted in strokes of orange and red, the golden hour casting soft glows across the city skyline. Allison stood alone on the garden terrace, an exclusive space nestled on the upper levels of Lu Corporation, reserved only for executives.
Wind tugged lightly at her hair. Her white blouse shimmered slightly under the dying sun, and her black pencil skirt hugged her form like moonlight molded in cloth. The faint glimmer of her pendant lay just above her collarbone, unhidden.
She had come to clear her mind. But the quiet only reminded her that Lucian hadn't spoken much since Li Anya appeared.
He was hiding something.
And yet, she couldn't be angry. Because when Anya had walked inwith that familiar soft smile and eyes too eager it hadn't been Allison who looked surprised. It had been Anya.
Allison's beauty stunned her. Not because it was loud or manufactured. But because it was ethereal. The kind that made silence feel worshipful.
Li Anya had blinked too many times and smiled too tightly. And for the first time in a long run, her mask had cracked.
Allison had seen it. And so had Lucian.
Allison exhaled slowly. She wasn't so insecure. She just wasn't blind.
The moment had left something behind—a tension threading the office air.
She knew Li Anya was human. Mortal. But she also knew… something about her felt off. As if death had touched her once, but not taken her completely.
She heard the door open behind her.
She didn't need to turn.
"I was hoping you'd follow," she said.
Lucian walked to her side. Hands in his pockets giving her a sweet smile.