Five Masks of Sin (Haremworld)

I ran to the door and opened it to find several other people out in the hallway. They all had the same concerned look on their face that we had. I asked if anyone in the hallway knew what was going on. None of them did. I walked back into my suite and grabbed my cell phone, but there was no service. I rushed to the phone and found that it was dead as well. I dropped it down on the base and looked at the other guys in the room. Something definitely wasn’t right. It wasn’t a blackout or a power surge. There was definitely an explosion, and it was in our building. My mind flashed back to 9/11 when the towers fell. I ran to the window and looked out, but I didn’t see anything that looked suspicious.

“We have to find Lyric.” I looked back at the others.

“Agreed.” Simon nodded. “It’s a long way down those stairs, but we should go to the lobby.”

“Yeah.” Lenny nodded as well.

The four of us made our way to the stairs, and when we pushed the door open, we realized that whatever sound we heard must have originated in the staircase. The air above us was rancid, but it was better once we went down several flights of stairs. There were others in the stairwell and we had to keep moving to avoid a stampede as more joined in from other floors. I wasn’t out of shape by any means, but after sprinting down so many flights I lost count, I was feeling winded. We were clutching our chests when we finally pushed our way into the lobby. We were greeted by the same confused looks on others and a man from the hotel trying to calm down the crowd. I pushed through those that were in my way, looking around to see if I could find Lyric.

“Lyric!” I yelled out, just hoping she might find my voice.

“Everyone, please calm down, we’re trying to figure out what happened. There was an incident on one of the top floors. The police will be here shortly.” The man from the hotel held his hands up, but it did nothing to calm the crowd.

Waiting was torture. We were confined to the bottom floor while police officers swarmed the building in riot gear. The hotel bar was packed with people, but I still pushed through and ordered drinks for everyone. There was so much chaos that they were just handing them out for free. After nearly an hour of confusion and concern about Lyric, the lights came on. A television in the bar flashed to life and I saw our hotel on the screen with the words World Ball Explosion on the bottom of the screen. Everyone quietened down as the volume was turned up. The news anchor seemed to be getting information into her ear piece and after nodding a couple of times she began to speak.

“We’re just getting word that the explosion at the hotel hosting the World Ball took place outside of a room that belonged to Prince Harland of the Southern Isles. He’s currently missing, but if you have any information on him or a woman by the name of Lyric Edwards, please contact the number at the bottom of the screen.”

My heart sank into my stomach, soured in the churning bile, and then shattered into a million pieces. I turned to the others and saw a similar expression on their face. The television screen switched to a picture of a police officer in riot gear that was holding up two pins. Lyric’s name was on one of them. I looked around and saw that it was a live feed. The officer was right outside the hotel. I motioned for the others and pushed my way through the crowd again, assisted by them. Two armed policemen were standing at the hotel exit and stepped forward when we rushed towards them.

“Sir, I’m

sorry. We’ve been asked to keep everyone inside the hotel for now.” The larger of the two held up his hand.

“We know the girl—Lyric.” I practically choked on my words as I spoke. “She’s been staying with me—us.”

“Hold on one second.” He put his hand over his mouth and there were muffled words before he pulled it away. “Okay, come with me.”

We were ushered into a small conference room and a couple of detectives entered. I quickly realized after a couple of questions that I really didn’t have much information to offer. I knew who she was, where she was from, but that was information they already had. I knew nothing about Prince Harland of the Southern Isles, who appeared to be the target for the kidnapping. The only thing that the conversation did confirm was that they believed the two of them were alive, but they had no idea where they were. After they realized that our information was limited, they sent us back into the main part of the lobby.

“We have to do something.” I looked at the group.

“Who the fuck would come into a hotel, blow a door off someone’s room, and kidnap them in broad daylight—not to mention doing it to a fucking prince.” Simon shook his head in bewilderment.

“Terrorists.” Lenny grunted. “This is just like the shit that happens overseas.”

“Yeah, well, it’s a nightmare on American soil.” Dane gritted his teeth. “I agree. We have to do something.”

“My cell phone is working again. I’m going to make some calls.” I walked away from the group and dialed a number on my phone.

The good thing about being wealthy and having a lot of money locked away for the future, was that I had plenty of friends in high places courtesy of the charity work I had done. Through the network I had built over the years, I was able to find out a lot about Prince Harland and his monarchy. It didn’t tell me who would have wanted to kidnap him or why they would have taken Lyric, but I figured that there would be a random demand, even before the news came on and confirmed it. A terrorist organization had taken credit for the kidnapping, and their price was high. They wanted a billion dollars for his release.

“I heard one of the police offers talking over near the door.” Lenny motioned with his head. “They’re planning a rescue mission when they find out where he’s being held.”

“The news isn’t even mentioning Lyric anymore. It’s all about Prince fucking Harland.” Simon sighed angrily.

“Yeah.” Lenny nodded.

“This will be an international disaster.” I looked around the group. “A Southern Isles prince kidnapped on American soil by a group of terrorists? They’ll do anything to secure his release, but I don’t think they’ll give two shits about Lyric.”

“Fuck!” Dane balled up his fists. “What can we do? We have to do something. Wait... I know someone.”

“You do?” I blinked in surprise.

“Yeah. Hold on. I need to call my father.” He closed his eyes and I saw tears forming in the corners. “Let’s find a quiet spot.”

We really didn’t know much about Dane. Based on the conversation we overheard, it sounded like his father was extremely unhappy to hear from him. I heard something about safety and ruining everything through screams on the other end of the phone, but his father settled down and they started talking. He mentioned something about a hacker, a woman named Violet, and some other stuff I didn’t completely understand, but when he hung up the phone, I felt like there was more to him than any of us realized.

“Okay.” He exhaled sharply. “Look, I’m putting a lot on the line here. I know her life is in danger, but that call could very well send me to prison for the rest of my life.”