My Beloved

"…Is there anything else I can help you with?" Larry asked them.

The tall man turned to his boss, waiting for a reply.

The man in the dark said, "Yes, there is one final thing that requires your cooperation."

Larry's face lit up with joy. He rubbed his hands and inquired, "What do I have to do?"

"You have to do nothing. They will do it for you." The man in the dark signaled his man with his fingers.

The man who was standing beside Han Luo approached Larry and without a warning and broke his right arm.

"Arghhh!"

Larry's painful wail echoed in the luxurious room.

"…" Han Luo's face blenched in horror. She wasn't expecting something like this either. She couldn't take such a cruel action. She looked away. 

Unfortunately, she couldn't delete his agonizing shriek from her memory. At a time like that, she really wished she didn't have a good memory.

Larry groaned in throbbing pain. He coughed so violently that his saliva sprayed on the expensive red carpet. Tears rolled down his cheeks. The person who grew up with love and caring couldn't stand this brutal treatment that he just received.

"Cough… why…?" he finally lifted his head and asked the man in the dark. He couldn't believe that he was betrayed.

"…" The man in the dark stayed silent.

His right hand man spoke on his boss's behalf, "Your first sin was to curse Miss Luo Han. Your second sin was to raise a hand on her. Such barbaric action toward a precious miss. You have some nerve to do it in front of our boss. Did you think you would be alive after all that?"

Larry shuddered. Fear seeped in his body, making his limbs go numb. He noticed their serious expressions and understood the fact that they weren't joking. They were going to kill him for sure. 

For the first time in his life, he realized what it would be like being at someone else's mercy as a never-felt amount of fear gripped his heart hard. 

Even the thought of a simple act of breathing out loudly in the face of death terrified him so much that he couldn't help but shudder uncontrollably. However, he mustered a pitiful bit of his long lost courage to plead for his own life

"P-please, please spare me! I'm…. I will never do anything like that in my life. I beg of you. If you want me to be a dog, I'll be a dog and lick your shoes. Just this once. Forget about what I've done and let me live," Larry begged. He was desperate.

Despite being in pain, he gritted his teeth and stood up. His hand didn't matter. As long as he could live, he could add a prosthetic arm and then teach that guy a good lesson using his father's authority. He dragged his body in front of the man who was overshadowed by the darkness and knelt before him.

Tears rolled down his cheeks. He was distressed but he had to do something. He grabbed the man's legs and pleaded, "Please, just spare me this once. I beg you. Please…."

Before he could finish talking, the man in the dark swung a sharp sword and sliced open Larry's neck. Blood splattered everywhere and Larry's body fell to the floor with a soft thud. 

His eyes were still wide open as blood gushed out of his gaping mouth, neck, and broken arm before seeping into the bright red carpet beneath him. 

After slicing Larry, the man in the dark muttered in disgust, "Pathetic."

"!!!" Han Luo was shaken to her core upon witnessing such a gory scene firsthand. Her face was ghastly pale as she dazedly stared at the dead body.

The tall man crouched in front of her and untied her arms and legs in a frenzy. "Please forgive this insolence, Miss Luo Han. I am Robert Scott. You are here under the command of my boss, Gregory Frost."

His introduction was meaningless. Han Luo paid no heed to his words. The only thing that was going inside her head was the disturbing stench of Larry's blood that was slowly permeating in the air around her. 

Robert Scott seemed to notice her discomfort. He looked at his boss and stated, "Boss, I think Miss Luo Han is quite shaken at the sight of the dead body. Should we take her to the arranged room?"

The man surrounded by the shadows, Gregory Frost, opened his mouth and commented, "Such a weak flower only deserves to be in the garden." Afterward, he stood up and dismissed his underlings with a wave of his hand. 

Other men in the room respectfully left the room as they carried the dead body of Larry, leaving Gregory Frost and Han Luo in the bloody room.

Gregory Frost stepped forward and crouched in front of Han Luo. He held her face and moved it from one side to another, checking her injuries. After that, he remarked, "You don't seem to be shaken by your injury but by the dead body of the person who hurt you."

Han Luo's quivering lips muttered weakly, "...Blood…"

"Oh, you are weak when you see blood. I thought you were braver," he remarked. "Anyway, there is no point in mourning over a dead body. Forget about everything and enjoy your new life."

"...New life…?" Han Luo couldn't understand what he was saying. Her head was operating at the speed of a snail now, thanks to the bloodbath she just witnessed.

Gregory Frost declared, "I'll make you my bride. You are such a scaredy cat but you will do since I chose you." 

Han Luo's attention shifted from the blood to his words. "No way…" she denied. "I have a man I want to marry. Even if I don't have one, I will never marry a bloody killer like you." 

Gregory Frost didn't like her statement. He wasn't used to being refused. The temperature of the room suddenly dropped. He said in a chilling voice, "I don't know what you will do when you hear the man you love has died already." 

"What…?"