"Aleksis moved to Singapore to look for that person ..." Lauriel went on with a rather annoyed voice. He almost opened the wine, but then remembered that it was still too early to drink. Finally, he poured some more tea into his cup. "The two new bodyguards might have been sent by Prince Siegfried. That is the only reasonable possibility ..."

Nicolae and Terry were both surprised. The two of them didn't expect that Lauriel would know so much, just based on his own observations!

Finally it was Terry who took the initiative to open a bottle of wine and pour a glass for himself. He felt somewhat pressured that he knew something but had to refrain from telling Lauriel about it.

"I want some, too," Nicolae murmured, reaching out. Terry, who was no longer bitching at him, just nodded and poured a glass for Nicolae. Both look at each other with a meaningful look.

Terry realized that Nicolae knew something, and so did Nicolae realize the same thing about Terry.

"What's wrong with you guys?" Lauriel asked in confusion, "It's only 12 o'clock."

"It's almost one o'clock, Dad ... wine o'clock .. get it?" Nicolae answered nonchalantly. He gulped down his wine then put on his shirt and signaled Terry to follow him. "I want to meet Carl and Sascha to find the kidnappers from yesterday. Do you want to come along?"

Terry, who would not miss the opportunity to make an interesting documentary video about catching criminals, immediately nodded and went to follow Nicolae.

"Lauriel, we will go now."

Lauriel nodded. Just as they were about to leave, Aleksis came with her dog and quickly chased after Nicolae.

"Nicolae, don't forget to fix my chip ..." she exclaimed.

Nicolae waved his hand and nodded before disappearing behind the door.

When they were in the elevator, Terry turned to Nicolae and asked, "Have Carl and Sascha found them?"

"Almost. What is clear is that they have found the address of one of the criminals." Nicolae looked at Terry with a probing look, "I didn't expect that you would want to come."

"Hey ... we're talking about people who wanted to lay hands on my sister! Of course I have to interfere," Terry snorted.

Nicolae nodded. He was now convinced that Terry was very fond of his sister, even though he always looked indifferent toward her whenever they were together.

"My car or your car?" he asked, brandishing his keys.

"Your car ..." Terry said, smiling lazily. Of course if they used Nicolae's car, Terry wouldn't have to drive, and right now, he really wanted to relax.

Nicolae didn't mind, because after all he really liked driving. He opened the door and immediately started the car. Terry sat next to him and pulled out his camera.

"Who do you think has ill intentions toward Aleksis?" Terry asked on the way.

Nicolae put on his sunglasses and shook his head. "I don't know. It could be one of the students on campus who is jealous of her, or her father's enemy. She was kidnapped and poisoned once before, right?"

"Where did you hear that from?" Terry asked in amazement. He didn't know that Nicolae already knew so much.

"From my father."

"Hmmm ... I really can't guess who currently has bad intentions to Aleksis ... It could be anyone," Terry then coughed. "You seem to worry a lot about my sister ..."

"Of course, she is my father's favorite child. You also notice that my father loves her more than he loves me, and I am his flesh and blood. If anything happens to Aleksis, I do not want to imagine how my father would feel," Nicolae replied with a shrug.

"You like Aleksis," Terry said without hesitation. "That's why you want to protect her."

Nicolae did not reply. He did not need to argue, because even the blind could see his loving gaze every time his eyes swept at her.

"Do you know about Prince Siegfried?" Terry asked again.

Nicolae nodded, "You also know that Aleksis already met Siegfried, and you hid it from father."

Terry could only sigh, "If it were up to me ... I'd rather have my sister be with you."

For the first time in history, Nicolae turned to face Terry with a smile on his face.

"You have good taste," he commented.

Terry rolled his eyes and looked away at the window. He was still not used to being friendly with Nicolae. He still needed time.

Both of them then remained silent for the rest of the trip. After they arrived in the East Coast area, Nicolae dialed a number on his phone and called Carl.

"Is the address still the same?"

"It's still the same, Sir ... but ..." Carl's voice sounded horrified.

"But what?" Nicolae asked impatiently.

"He can't be questioned anymore. He's dead ..." Carl swallowed hard, "He died .. horribly."

Terry and Nicolae involuntarily held their breath when they heard Carl's words. Who was the one who overtook them this fast in getting to the kidnapper?

"Give me the person's info, I'll try to find more data about them." said Nicolae, then changed the direction of his car. "You all need to leave that place immediately. Don't attract the police' attention."

"Alright." Carl then hung up the phone.

Terry turned to Nicolae, "Where are we going?"

"To my apartment," the young man answered curtly.

***

Alaric saw Takeshi's telephone number appear on his phone screen and immediately excused himself from Portia and Sophia who were discussing about the development of artificial intelligence in England.

This morning the three of them agreed to start discussing their common goal in the future, and so far Alaric liked Portia's bright opinions as it was in line with his own thoughts.

When Alaric was sure that he could not be heard by the two women, he picked up Takeshi's phone call, "Aren't you still recovering?"

Takeshi's voice sounded a little embarrassed as he answered Alaric's question. He was ashamed because yesterday he could be defeated so easily by that ordinary young man.

"Uhm .. I'm fine, I only passed out at that time. Mischa was the one who was injured was pretty badly. We are still waiting for his hand to recover."

"Do you have any news?"

"I could not contact Miss Aleksis. So, I tried to investigate the reason why her friend had rushed her away yesterday. I found that there were two suspicious guys watching her every move all day yesterday. I then obtained the identities of those two thugs and today I visited one of them to find out who sent them to tail Miss Aleksis."

"Then?"

"He easily spat the names of their gang members and who hired them. Apparently, he is a local mafia man who got the order to kidnap Miss Aleksis. Apparently, his boss' daughter, who goes to the same university as Miss Aleksis, was the one who wanted to seek revenge as she had a feud with Miss yesterday."

Alaric sighed. He remembered that Aleksis used to complain that she had to look ugly so as to not attract any attention because she didn't want to get any unwanted attention from men.

Who would have thought that it was not the man she had to worry about, but the girls who were jealous of her. Especially this evil girl who had a mafia gang behind her back.

"Do you know who they are?" Alaric asked Takeshi curtly.

"Yes. What do you want me to do? I just tortured and killed one thug, as a warning to others. Soon they will respond."

"Find Aleksis and protect her at all costs. They might get back at her."

"I last saw her enter the Continental Hotel, but I was unable to get her room number. They have a very tight security network and Sisqo could not hack the information."

"Okay, then just make sure she's safe at the hotel. If she goes out, you have to follow her." Alaric paused for a moment, "I can't reach her either."

"I understand."

Alaric tapped his finger on his cellphone, thinking of something, then decided to contact Pavel.

"Pavel, please coordinate with Takeshi to take care of a small mafia group in Singapore. Think of it as your priority for today."

"Yes, Sir. Anything else?"

"Any news from Wolf?" Alaric asked.

"He refused the contract from us. He said he was busy."

Alaric's face turned red in anger. He did not expect Wolf to be so arrogant, rejecting outright the assignment from him.

"Have you offered whatever payment he asked for?"

"I did. He said he didn't need money."

"There must be something he wants. Tell him I'll grant whatever he wishes."

"Yes sir."

Alaric hung up the phone. If his hackers could find out Wolf's identity, he would give the man a lesson.

***