Stolen Princes

Chapter 24 ~Caught~

Thank you @Sajiwasmeant for the idea that Vik gives! The second part was mine to clear it up.

"I'm here! I'm here!" Preston shouted, busting into the conference hall. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at Preston.

"Preston," Rob started, shaking his head. "Could you try and not get caught up in your own world doing whatever it is in your free time that makes you so late?" Rob sounded really annoyed.

"I'm so sorry, Rob. I swear it won't happen again this will be the last time." Preston promised.

"It better be because right now you need to focus on Lachlan." Rob lowered his voice and turned back to everyone else. Preston joined them at the table.

"So where do we go from here?" Mitch asked.

"I'm not sure. I feel like we should unexpectedly attack them but what are the chances we would even get Lachlan back?" Rob acknowledged.

"If Simon wants to take away what's important to us, then we should take away what's important to him." Vik spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Rob raised an eyebrow, interested.

"Kill Josh. Just, kill him." Vik waved his hand around behind his head.

"Kill him?!" Preston and Jerome gasped.

"Yes. Might as well get rid of Harry too." Vik added.

"Now Vik lets not get ahead of ourselves." Preston was thinking of how Josh is his brother.

"No, no, Preston he's onto something." Rob waggled his finger.

"I want to be the one who executes them!" Vik declared.

"Well, Vik, it might not get to that point." Rob stopped him. "We can use that as a threat. If Simon doesn't return Lachlan than we'll threaten to kill Josh and Harry. This will surely be enough to convince him to give Lachlan back. Then we'll of course return Josh and maybe Harry if I'm feeling nice." Rob explained.

"What if Simon is that heartless to let his son and brother die? Do we actually kill them?" Mitch asked.

"Yes!" Vik exclaimed.

"Vik when did you become so violent?" Mitch huffed.

"Yeah Vik we can't just kill Josh. I think that's a bit too much." Preston disagreed.

"Sorry I-I just..." Vik looked as if he was about to break down. This whole time he managed to look so put together. On the inside, however, he is a broken man.

"It's okay." Mitch comforted Vik.

"Do we actually kill them? Hopefully it doesn't come down to that point. If it does then... We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Rob answered.

"Okay, one last question. What Lachlan is already married?" Jerome brought up.

"He's not." Preston shrugged.

"H-How do you know?" Vik sniffed. Preston's eyes widened realising saying that was a mistake. He opened his mouth to speak but he didn't know what words to make.

"Preston? Is there something you're not telling us?" Rob's eyes narrowed. Preston shook his head. "It wouldn't have to do with you being late all the time would it?" Rob kept going.

"No! Of course not! What are you implying?" Preston took a step back. All eyes were on him and he could feel himself stiffen.

"I'm implying you are hiding something behind our backs." Rob crossed his arms.

"What? Just, just because I'm late sometimes?" Preston tried to brush it off.

"You know, Rob," Vik began. "There was this one time when I caught Preston sneaking out. He said he was just 'going outside' so I watched Josh for him. Preston took a pretty long time to come back." Vik looked back at Preston.

"Oh come on guys." Preston laughed nervously.

"I hear you talking a lot downstairs when I walk by the stairwell. I don't know what you're saying but it's pretty suspicious." Jerome added on.

"Suspicious alright. Disappearances, talking to most likely Josh, always being late. And now that we're bringing this up, you're acting pretty nervous." Rob walked up to Preston.

"Am I not aloud to talk to Josh?" Preston sassed.

"Not to mention you just argued against the idea of killing him." Mitch added.

"I think you're getting a little to friendly to Joshua. Are you working with him against us?" Rob accused.

"No, no. I was trying to help!" Preston waved his hands.

"So you are working with Josh!" Rob shouted. Preston was tempted to say he wasn't working with Josh anymore but that wouldn't help. He didn't know what to say to make it better.

"Well, I-I uh..." Preston stammered.

"I can't believe you would betray us like that!" Vik yelled. "I thought you were my friend! Why would you hide information about Lachlan from us?!"

"Preston I thought I could trust you when I gave you this position. You understand you work for the West Kingdom, right?" Rob interrogated.

"Yes but-" Preston stopped himself.

"But what?" Rob pressed. Preston kept his mouth shut. He didn't want to make it worse. "I don't believe this. If you weren't like a second son to me I would be so tempted to execute you right now." Rob growled.

"No! Please don't!" Preston cried out.

"I won't. For now I'm keeping you locked away until we decide what to do with a traitor like you." Rob decided.

"But I'm not a traitor!" Preston claimed.

"That's what they all say." Jerome rolled his eyes. He took Preston's hands and tied them behind his back.

"I hate to do this to you Preston but you should've stayed loyal." Rob sighed, shaking his head. Jerome pushed Preston out of the room and down to the basement.