Chapter 171

Port Saplaya, Spain
Autovía V-21

Lucien smiled as he dangerously sped down the autovia, passing slower vehicles and blowing past sports cars and bikes as if they were standing still.

“If you break the Prince’s new car, I am not buying you a replacement,” Will warned from the passenger seat.

Lucien chuckled as if he were a lunatic.

Will shook his head, returning his attention to the mobile phone in his hands. “I honestly don’t know why I bother with you.”

“Because we’re family and I’m one of the only friends you have,” he reminded him. “Besides, Riku bought it for me even if he won’t admit it. That’s where all of his impressive cars came from; my love for speed and his inability to say what he’s feeling.”

Will made a face. “Don’t you dare compare me to him,” he warned.

“I’d never. Lula is the one that can’t say what’s in her heart, not you,” Lucien reminded him. “What has your attention? You’ve been flipping through the same screens for twenty kilometers already. What’s wrong? Is it the Board again or is it my company that has finally bored you to death?”

Will snorted. “Not you and I wish it was the Board of Directors. They have been strangely quiet, and that makes me suspicious,” he said. “After seeing me on the red carpet rubbing elbows with royalty, I think they believe I’m working to secure more government contracts. They’re idiots.”

Talking business with William Lee was a pointless endeavor because he hated the business side of his business.

“Okay,” Lucien said. “I’ll bite. What is it then? You have a weird look on your face.”

Will sighed; he had to tell him. “Kita and Rain are off the grid and none of their mobile phones or his com is transmitting; they are offline, but I don’t know if it was on purpose.”

“And you just thought to mention it now?!” Lucien demanded, cutting across all lanes of traffic, taking an exit recklessly fast.

When they reached the top of the off ramp, Lucien pulled the emergency break, causing the sports car to dangerously drift around the corner. The back end of the sports car expertly whipped around, and once the circuit was completed they slid onto entry of the onramp. Lucien then shifted through nearly all the gears, reaching over 160 KPH before they were once again on the autovia racing back towards where Lucien last saw his brother.

“You’re as bad as Lula,” Will scolded.

“Kita is acting weird, more so than he has been in Seoul,” Lucien said. “I tailed him on a few of the dates he arranged, and they were mundanely boring. Cooking classes, pottery, arts and crafts stuff… The weird thing is, Kita looked ridiculously happy doing it all. I was bored out of my mind just watching from the shadows!”

Will chuckled. “Rain is simple, and that simplicity is effortless. The rest of the world that wants to break her is what’s complicated. Kita isn’t like you or Lula. He’s freakishly simplistic, much how your father was when he was younger. Thank your lovely mother for making him high maintenance like he is now.”

That was true, and Lucien hadn’t thought of it like that.

Truth was, Lucien didn’t really know his brother. Not like Seon Rain apparently did. Growing up, Kita was always quiet and reserved; he wasn’t a peacekeeper, but he wasn’t an instigator either.

Kita was the one that waited for orders then did them.

It wasn’t healthy, Lucien thought, and that opinion would have made Lucien a terrible solider. But Kita did it without complaint because it was what was expected of him and he knew it.

Now that expectation Seon Rain shattered and Kita wasn’t picking up the pieces as he normally would have.

In fact, Kita stepped over them and is doing what he wants now.

“That’s why Lula is pissed,” Lucien said, realizing more of what her problem was with Kita and his change.

Then again, with Lula it could be anything that pissed her off.

“The solider isn’t taking orders anymore,” he continued. “Sucks when it pertains to work, but what can she do?”

Will looked over at him. “Trust me, there is a lot she could do, and she just might. Kita and Rain need to be careful. If he lets his guard down, Lula will exploit it. She won’t risk the client, but she will risk her relationship with her brother over it; as long as the solider is taking orders, that is all that matters to Lula.”

Would Lula really risk her relationship with Kita over Seon Rain?

Lucien normally would have said no way, but now things have changed and he isn’t so sure anymore.

Lula is a control freak and anything outside her authority and control isn’t acceptable to her.

“I hate to say, Will,” Lucien started, “but you’re right. Lula will do whatever she can to keep her solider taking orders. I’m not the muscle, and half the time I don’t even want to do recon, but I don’t want to deal with her incessant b*tching if I don’t. Where was Kita before you lost his signal?”

Will made a face. “Heart of Valencia, around the museums… After they went shopping.”

Lucien cocked an eyebrow, giving him a look. “Kita willingly went shopping?”

He nodded.

“And what did he buy?”

Will sighed and showed him the security video he hacked from outside a boutique that catered to those with European taste.

“What in the…” his words trailed off when he saw the video of his brother exiting a shop wearing a blue suit with a pink tie.

Not just any shade of blue.

It was a shade that Kita would never wear unless there was a reason for it…

“William, what is in that area in walking distance?” Lucien asked in a panic. “They wouldn’t drive because you can track the car, and most likely walked to wherever they are.”

“There is a lot in that area, Luci,” Will warned. “You have an idea so tell me what it is I’m looking for exactly. Guide the criminal genius next to you.”

“Old, churchy, blue and gold,” he said.

Will gave him a look. “Wait, what? You think they got dressed up to go to church? Are they even religious?!”

Lucien pushed his hand through his hair in frustration. “Look in the area where Kita got his pretty blue suit for a place that specializes in dresses for that thing every little girl dreams of.”

He looked at him confused. “A pony?”

“Search Baz Luhrmann, Verona,” Lucien said.

Will laughed, thinking he was kidding when the images pulled up, but then he noticed something and his smile fell. “Are you serious right now? They are doing that here and now?!”

“It is one of her favorite American movies,” Lucien reminded him. “And why else would he choose to end their vacation in Valencia of all places? Yes, it’s beautiful and full of tourist activities, so we didn’t think there was an ulterior motive for the vacation to end here.”

If what Lucien deduced is true, they had a much, much bigger problem on their hands than just a stalker with arson in their repertoire.

Lula would kill Kita.

Evie would kill Kita if he did it,

Chairman Hu would kill Kita and disown his niece.

Suiko would kill Kita and Seon Rain…

Hell, the only one that wouldn’t was Lucien!

Lucien only wanted his brother and sister happy, but allowing one to follow his heart and be happy would make the other murderously unhappy.

“What are you going to do if I find them?” Will asked.

“What I have to do,” he said. “I can’t handle a family at war, but I can’t handle seeing my brother miserable anymore either.”

“That applies to you as well,” Will reminded him. “That Prince you are constantly coming to the defense of makes you happy. Don’t get me wrong, seeing you and him together is a little weird since he’s apparently two different people. But you like both of those people, and you understand him and why he’s like that.”

Lucien didn’t deny it because it was true and not something to mention since it pertains to a royal his family has been entrusted with protecting for centuries.

“Just like Lula understands the many masks I have to wear and I understand all of annoying masks she wears,” Will continued. “And Kita understands and accepts the two masks that Seon Rain has to wear. But Kita only wears one. It’s a heavily protected mask, but that was how he protected himself-”

“Will, shut up and find them,” Lucien said.

The last thing he needed was even more guilt over what he had to do.

“Promise me you won’t pull a Lula,” Will said.

Lucien looked over at him; he had already stopped scrolling on his mobile phone so he knew that Will had an idea of where they needed to go.

“Please don’t make me,” Lucien said.

“If you want to know where they are, you’re going to have to,” Will said. “Otherwise it’ll be too late,” he warned.