Five Masks of Sin (Haremworld)

“If my brother takes the throne, it’ll just set things back even further than they are now. I’ve heard the whispers. He’s secretly talking about legalizing prostitution, buying girls on the black market to sell them off at a premium, and he doesn’t even care about their age. I’ve always known I would have to challenge him for the throne at some point, but I didn’t mean to actually say it out loud until I was married.” He sighed and groaned. “I let my emotions reveal my intentions too early, and this is the result. I should have built an army first. There are those that are loyal to me and they would have fought for our kingdom, even if it resulted in civil war.”

“Fuck...” I shook my head back and forth. “I never realized there was so much drama in a royal court these days. Surely the government would step in. I mean, your family is in charge of a few islands off the coast of New Zealand. You’re technically under their rule, right? I mean, I know you get soverienity by right, but you’re their vassel”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “But the government doesn’t care. We bring in too much money for them to interfere. They’ll just let it all play out and then collect taxes from the winner. Those taxes cripple our economy and I was secretly negotiating for a better deal once I took the throne. Trust me, the government of New Zealand would like nothing more than for me to take the throne instead of my brother. They know what he has planned, but the treaties prevent them from stopping it.”

“I guess we’re not getting out of this alive, are we?” I looked down at the floor and felt tears well up in my eyes.

“No. Judging by the rocking that isn’t in my head, we’re on a boat.” He grimaced and sat up straighter. “They’ll probably try to ransom me and then kill us both once it is paid. I heard one of the guys mention something about terrorists when he was crushing my ribs with his fist.”

Definitely not the fairy tale ending I expected...

Harland and I continued talking, mostly because I didn’t want him to go to sleep if he really did have a concussion. I told him my story, from my dreams of meeting someone at the World Ball, to the incredible men I met once I arrived. He seemed shocked to hear what I had been doing before he took me to bed. It didn’t seem to bother him, but it did capture his interest enough to keep him talking. He told me more about the Southern Isles, the life he lived there that the media never covered. By the time we were done talking, there was nothing to do but sleep. I hoped I had kept him awake long enough to keep him out of danger. If we were going to die, I wanted us to die together, in a watery grave—hopefully not in the belly of a shark.

Chapter 17: Maximo

Two days passed. The news didn’t just forget to mention Lyric, they simply ignored her. The story was about Prince Harland. The Southern Isles royal family was distraught. They were on every news channel begging the terrorists to spare their son. Other world governments were willing to step in and pay the ransom, but the American government was refusing to allow it because they didn’t negotiate with terrorists. They started issuing threats against any nation that tried, citing it being in their jurisdiction because it happened on American soil. Protests were breaking out in some of the major cities, including New York where we were staying. If the American government didn’t bring Prince Harland home alive, there was a good chance that we would be in the middle of a civil war and World War III at the same time.

“I told you not to call me again.” A woman glared at Dane, or whatever his name was, from across the table.

“Lady, we’re in the middle of a fucking international crisis.” I growled and leaned forward. “I think this is worth more than whatever deal you had with him.”

“Call me Violet.” She opened her laptop and pushed her hoodie back. “You’re lucky I like Prince Harland and don’t want to see this collapse our economy, because what I’m going to have to do will require more than simple hacking. This is more than a few database edits; they’ll know what I did. They might not figure it out for a few days, but they’ll trace it back to me.”

“Whatever you have to do.” I growled again, but there was more anger in my tone. “If you can figure out where she is, we’re going after her.”

Violet started working on her computer and we waited. Most of us waited impatiently. I had no idea what she could do that would be able to find Lyric that the government couldn’t do, but Dane was convinced that she could. She seemed to share his level of confidence, and I hoped neither of them were wrong. I finally couldn’t take any more of the typing. It was cutting into my eardrums like a razor. I walked outside and took in a breath of fresh air, just letting it fill my lungs for a second before reaching into my pocket and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. After so long without the vice, it was my only comfort.

Definitely going to be hard to quit these again. Not that I really give a shit about my health right now if I can’t find Lyric.

I lit one up and exhaled. It didn’t do anything to calm my nerves. It actually made my stomach turn, but the quick hit of nicotine kept me from losing my mind completely. I thought about Lyric, out there in the world somewhere, likely scared to death. All I wanted to do was wrap my arms around her, promise not to let her go, and tell her I was a fool for giving her a hard maybe. She was the most incredible woman I had ever met and I would do anything to find her. I even tried to get a social media campaign going to help bring attention to the fact she was gone, but I couldn’t get it to trend. The world was too obsessed with the stupid prince. I felt immense guilt over the whole situation. Lyric was happy with the four of us. I was the one that pushed her to find someone else and explore her budding sexuality. Perhaps the religious nuts that preached abstinence were right. None of it would have happened I had not led Lyric down a path of sin.

“I want a drink, but I don’t want to start because I won’t stop until I’m face down on the floor.” Simon walked outside and put his hands on his head. “This is madness.”

“I know.” I exhaled a stream of smoke. “I checked with some of my contacts, though. They say this Violet chick is everything Dane thinks she is. She’s the one that made headlines a few years ago when she made that Soulmate app.”

“Oh...” Simon raised his eyebrows. “I remember that. Whatever happened to it? It seemed to be taking over the world and then it just vanished.”

“I’m not sure. PrinceSoft pulled it from the market. Apparently there were complications with the algorithm or something because it started matching people up with more than one person after it collected enough data. I read a story about it, but it never made it to Italy, so I didn’t try it.” I shrugged and took another drag off of my cigarette.

“I considered it, but I went through a couple of years believing my ex-wife was my soulmate, so I didn’t see a point in confirming my despair.” Simon sighed. “Wouldn’t it have been ironic if it matched all of us with Lyric?”

“The way I feel right now—I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s like an ache that won’t stop. I’m sorry, I know that doesn’t sound very manly.” I chuckled, even in the face of absolute turmoil.

“Yeah, I feel it, too. It’s like I lost a piece of myself and I can’t be whole until I know she’s safe. I don’t even care if she ends up with me or married to you. I just want to know she’s not going to get hurt.” Simon clenched his fists and trembled—the older man was fighting back tears.

“Hey, guys.” Lenny pushed his head out of the door. “She’s got something.”

“What is it?” I followed Lenny with Simon on my heels. “Did you find her?”

“I got a lock on something. It’s a long shot, but I think it might be what we’re looking for.” She turned the laptop towards us. “Okay, so a couple of days ago, a boat docked in the New York harbor. Normal, right? Well it’s registered to a shell corporation, but when you dig de

eper, that can be tied back to another company, and the breadcrumbs lead all the way back to James Wentworth.”

“Oh my god.” My jaw fell open. “That guy does a lot of business with the Southern Isles royal family.”

“Yeah.” Violet nodded. “But that’s not all. The ship left the very day that Prince Harland and Lyric were taken. I pulled the manifest and guess what—it’s headed to the Southern Isles.”

“So wait.” Lenny tilted his head in confusion. “You’re saying someone from the Southern Isles kidnapped their own prince?”