Five Masks of Sin (Haremworld)

They killed him. They fucking killed him.

The ransom had either been paid or they had gotten tired of waiting. I didn’t know what had actually transpired, but I knew Harland was dead. Any fantasy of him fighting them off and being the one who fired was impossible. He didn’t even have the strength to stand. There was silence for a moment, then all hell broke loose. Gunshots ran out so loud that I had to cover my ears. I rushed to the door of my cell, or at least as far as the chain would take me, but I couldn’t see anything. I wasn’t sure if I dared to hope. A rescue seemed impossible if we were in the middle of the ocean, especially since nobody knew who took us. After the gunfire ended, there was more silence and then I heard footsteps. The first face I saw was covered in blood, but behind that crimson mask was a face I never thought I would see again.

“Simon!” I screamed and my mouth fell open in shock.

“She’s in here!” Simon motioned and then I heard a key in the door.

“Lyric!” Maximo rushed passed Simon and grabbed me in his arms. “Come on, we have to go.”

“What? Where’s Harland, is he okay?” I pulled at my chain. “Will that key fit this?”

“He’s alive.” Simon embraced me quickly with one arm and then started pushing different keys into the lock. “Got it!”

“How did you find me? How did you save me?” I was overcome with emotions and tears streamed down my face.

“Lenny and Dane are in bad shape.” Maximo’s tone was solemn. “As is Prince Harland. We need to go, now!”

I followed behind them, and when I turned the corner I saw more death than I ever thought I would see in my lifetime. In the middle of it was three men that I cared about just as much as the ones that had pulled me out of my cell. I rushed over to help them, but I didn’t have any idea what to do. Lenny was bleeding out and his face was white. Harland was barely breathing. Dane was trying to move, but he had lost a lot of blood as well. I heard shouting coming from the hallway. Maximo and Simon held their weapons towards the door. The first face I saw was a woman that I didn’t recognize, followed by two rather large men holding machine guns.

“Violet?” Maximo dropped his gun. “I’m so happy that you’re a friendly face—those guys are friendly, right?”

“This is Boyd and Miguel. Yes, they’re with me. Holy shit, you people are crazier than I thought you were.” She looked around the room. “Oh god, are their casualties on our side?”

“No!” I shook my head. “But they need help. Can you help?”

“Yeah. I figured you were all either dead or were successful, so I’ve got everything money can buy headed this way.” She smiled and I heard thunder—no, not thunder—boats. A whole lot of them, heading our way.

Chapter 20: Maximo

“You’re finally going to get out of bed and stop acting like a wussy prince?” I leaned against the chair as Harland attempted to put his feet on the floor.

“I’m a king now.” He grimaced. “Or at least I will be when the coronation ceremony is done.”

“Yeah, you have to stand first.” I shook my head. “That isn’t going so well.”

“Leave him alone, he’s doing the best he can.” Lyric shot me an angry look as she helped him.

It had been a month since we rescued Lyric—and then Violet rescued us. Lenny had to have surgery and a blood transfusion,

but he was recovering well. Dane’s wound was less severe and there was no internal damage, so a few stitches had fixed him up. Simon was still in a cast and probably wouldn’t be able to use his shoulder the way he had previously once it was finally healed. I took a pretty hard shot to the head, but it didn’t seem to do any actual damage other than knock me silly for a few minutes. Prince Harland was in worse shape—the worst of all. His wounds weren’t just on his body. His whole family had crumbled. His brother was in prison, awaiting trial, and his father had been poisoned. He was still alive, but he wasn’t in any shape to ever sit on the throne again.

“Lyric, I think your parents are here.” I motioned to the door.

“Crap...” She muttered and helped Harland sit down again before rushing out to meet him.

Meeting Lyric’s parents had been difficult. They were happy that we saved her and the gratitude was incredible, but it was hard for us to explain why four guys she just met stormed the fucking sea to get her back. It was even harder to explain why she insisted on staying in New York to help Prince Harland during his recovery. The cover story was that we all became friends at the World Ball. It was a weak cover story, especially since we were still discussing the prospect of marriage when her parents weren’t around. We told her parents the truth about the rescue, but we coated over all of the terrible details and made it sound a lot less gritty than it actually was.

I’m glad I’m not a fly in the room when she tells them she’s still not coming home.

Only a few people knew what really happened on that ship. Violet made a call after we were safely back on solid ground and since we had Prince Harland with us, they actually believed her story. We let the US Military take credit for his rescue. None of us wanted our names in the news, and the Americans were happy to take the honors since it made them look like heroes instead of imbeciles for not paying the ransom. They released a story to the media a few days later, outlining what Harland’s brother did, and spinning it to make it seem like they knew Harland would be killed if they paid. Oddly enough, none of the media even reported that Lyric was rescued as well. All of the attention was on Prince Harland and all she got was a footnote on the bottom of the screen while they told the tale of his heroic survival.

“Ah, you’re sitting!” Simon walked into the room and smiled.

“That’s an improvement.” Lenny followed behind him, still using the cane he was required to use for a little while after his surgery.

“The gang’s all here.” Harland chuckled. “Well, except for Dane.”

“He’s coming. He stopped at the vending machine.” Simon looked over his shoulder for a moment and then Dane walked into the room.