Lucia tried to catch her breath slowly. Because of what happened earlier, she walked too fast that it felt like her bulging stomach hurt.
"Are you all right, madam?"
"Yes."
"Then, how about this food?" Maria asked, pointing to a plastic bag containing two boxes of food and drinks.
"You eat with Lili."
"Very well, madam. Thank you."
Netra Lucia was transfixed when she saw her husband's car parked in the yard. "Looks like Ethan is home," she muttered.
As they were about to enter the house, Lili's maid ran over in a hurry. "Mrs!" she exclaimed.
"What's wrong? Don't shout like that, I'm not deaf," Lucia protested.
The young maid smiled broadly. "Sorry madam, but I have good news."
"What good news?"
"Yesterday someone sent Master's car with something in it for Madame," she replied with a bright smile.
"Who?"
"One of the employee sir, madam. I'm not allowed to see what's inside, so I don't know what surprises are in it."
"Where are the car keys, Li?"
Lili handed Lucia a key, then the woman immediately opened her husband's car door. How surprised Lucia was when she saw a bunch of fiery red flowers and a box containing a beautiful dress, there was also a piece of paper tucked inside the flower.
Read it full of enthusiasm. It was a surprise that Ethan hadn't given her in a long time.
"Honey... how about it, you like the gift?
I'm sorry that lately I've been feeling annoyed and took it out on you, it all happened because the problems at this company were driving me crazy.
I also apologize for forcing you to sell our house. From now on that will never happen again.
As my apologies, I'd like to invite you to dinner tonight. However, since I have other business first, come with my car later. Can you do it, honey?
Remember, wear this dress and dress up pretty. Later, I will tell you the restaurant's address via message," he wrote.
Lucia jumped with joy, she didn't expect Ethan to be still able to make such a sweet surprise at a time like this. The feeling that had been bad was now gone.
She looked at the watch in her hand, there was still time to do a little self-care to make the most of tonight.
"Maria, Lili, please help me get ready."
"All right, madam!" they exclaimed happily.
Lucia was a kind-hearted master, anyone including them of course felt immense affection for her. Seeing her master happy, of course they also think it.
She walked to her room, taking the fragrant flowers and the dress her husband had given her.
Wait for me, honey... I'll be as pretty as I can for you—she thought.
***
Lucia looked at her reflection in the mirror, so perfect it was almost flawless. A professional make-up artist was hired for this special night. She probably wouldn't have smiled so widely if she had known this dinner wasn't a surprise but a trap.
"You are so beautiful, madam," the makeup artist complimented.
"You made it like that, Miss Aliza."
"Master Ethan will like it."
"Hopefully so."
The beautiful woman rose from her place, then tidied her make-up tools into her bag. "Then I take my leave, madam."
"Thank you for your hard work today, Miss Aliza."
Lili escorted the woman to the terrace while Maria was busy preparing what her employer would bring tonight.
She chose a thick jacket so that the master wouldn't get cold because she was wearing a dress with such a thin material, she didn't forget to tuck in a few packs of Energy Bars according to Lucia's orders.
Since she was pregnant, Maria had deliberately included several types of sweet snacks and it eventually became Lucia's habit. The intake of sugar makes her much more energetic, that's why the jacket she wears never escapes from her mandatory meal.
"Thank you, Mary."
The maid helped her put on her jacket, covering her body in a beautiful pink dress. "Would you mind going alone, madam?" she asked worriedly.
"Even though I haven't driven myself in a long time, I'm fine, Maria."
Since the decline of her husband's business, Lucia is even willing to sell her private car and reduce the number of workers in her house, including her former personal driver. However, she was also convinced that just driving a car wasn't a problem.
Now she was behind the wheel, then slowly the red car drove away from her house.
Tiiing!
A message came in, Lucia read it immediately and it turned out to be a message from her husband—Ethan. Inside, the restaurant's name in question was written, it was quite close but a bit far, Lucia had been there once. Lucia's car sped away, splitting the bustling crowds of the capital and the bustling traffic.
When she got there, Ethan greeted her warmly. "You're beautiful," he complimented with a smile.
"Thank you, darling."
They sat in the moonlight, accompanied by romantic music and delicious food. Lucia had forgotten the last time they had done this, which was obviously so long ago that she seemed to have forgotten.
Seeing her husband's change, Lucia felt both touched and sad. It must be hard to run a business alone, plus it's in a rocky state like it is today. However, she instead insisted on defending the house that could help their business. If it weren't because the place was valuable, of course she would have let the assets be sold.
"Ethan, I'm sorry... about the house—"
"I won't ask you to sell it again, don't worry."
"Really?"
"Yeah, because now Rose and I have another way out." Ethan grinned widely.
"Well, I'll thank her later."
"Let's finish it, then we have to get going."
"Where to?" asked Lucia in surprise.
"A place."
In Lucia's mind, it might be another surprise. If she had known, the real trap was waiting.
After finishing their meal, Ethan took Lucia away. But before that, he asked the woman to cover her eyes with a piece of cloth.
"Does it have to be like this, Ethan?"
"Hm ... of course. It's a surprise."
Ethan led Lucia to the car, then he took the wheel to the place he had prepared to kill Lucia.
Slowly, Lucia began to feel tremendous drowsiness, even though she tried to open her eyes but she found it challenging to stay awake.
"What are you doing, honey?" asked Ethan.
"I'm... sleepy," she replied.
"Just go to sleep, I'll wake you up later."
"I open these eyes, okay? It feels even more sleepy because these eyes are closed."
"No! Alright, you go to sleep."
"All right. Wake me up when you get there."
Slowly but surely, Lucia's eyes began to close tightly, while Ethan who saw that smiled with satisfaction, finally the medicine took effect—he thought.
The plan tonight was to make a big accident by sacrificing his car and Lucia who was pregnant, so it would be difficult to identify if the accident was an assassination plot that he and Rose had arranged.
Not far from there, Rose was waiting on the shoulder of the road. The moment the car stopped, she immediately got in gasping for air.
"What happened to you?"
"T-the bad news looks like we can't finish her right now. The old man is throwing up again by threatening to blow things up if we don't finish the deal tonight."
Ethan snorted in annoyance. "Can't that matter be taken care of later?!"
"Lucia can wait, whereas that old fart is more difficult to control if it's not dealt with now."
"Then what do we want her to do? I'm sick of seeing her face any longer."
"I've prepared a plan B. Now, let's get this woman first."
"Where?"
"Follow my lead, I have a good place."
Rose leads the way to a remote and isolated area, even where Ethan doesn't find settlements. The deeper into the site, the wider the expanse of thick and large trees, making everything pitch black.
They arrived at the end of the road. Rose and Ethan painstakingly carried Lucia's unconscious body to a deeper place where it felt like there was no sign of life there other than the three of them.
A rickety and shabby hut became their choice, Ethan swiftly laid Lucia's body down and put a handcuff Rose had prepared on one of her wrists and the pillar supporting the hut.
"How do you know a place like this?" he asked Rose.
"This is my friend's resting place if she's avoiding something. We'll kill her tomorrow, the most important thing is to take care of the old man first."
"But, it's safe here, right?"
"Relax, this is a forbidden area and no one dares to enter."
"Yeah, as long as you're sure it's safe."
They walked away, leaving Lucia's unconscious body as she laughed guiltily.