Bruce

"Hello, Lucian. Are you busy right now?" "Not at the moment, uncle Bruce. Do you need something?" "I heard about what happened. Good job making it out of there, and thank you for keeping Stella safe." Being Stella's father, Bruce was naturally protective of his daughter, but it seemed that the protection he assigned her this time was far too lax. Due to Stella's ability, It was almost impossible to catch her if she wasn't unaware. After all, She only needed to create a quick portal and teleport to safety. However, this was only when she was not in a moving vehicle. Something Bruce and his wife had wholly overlooked due to Stella primarily using her portals to traverse around. They didn't expect that Lucian and her would take the scenic route via car. "It's only natural. There's no way I'd let her get hurt." "That's fine and all, but make sure you stay safe too, alright? At this point, you might be our son as well. We can't afford to lose either of our children." Lucian smiled when he heard Bruce's words. It wasn't his usual mocking or maniacal smile but a genuine heartfelt smile. After his parents went missing, Bruce and Roseanne became the closest people he had to his real mom and dad. At some point, they even tried to convince Lucian to call them mom and dad since he was going to marry their daughter either way, but Lucian still felt it was a little bit too early. Having called them uncle and auntie since he was just a kid, he had gotten too used to calling them that. "Thanks, uncle Bruce. I'll keep that in mind." "By the way, Roseanne and I were talking… We want you to come to stay at our place until we're sure this has completely blown over." As soon as Lucian processed Bruce's words, he froze. "Is that really necessary? I should be fine on my own…." Lucian replied. If he were to go and live in Stella's house, he wouldn't have any chances to go out and hunt for more prey. "You know we can't let you stay on your own after today's incident. Even if your house is state of the art, you have no one protecting you. After all, you declined to let us hire some security guards for you." Originally Stella's family wanted to add some capable personnel to watch over and protect Lucian, but he vehemently declined this suggestion. He would not let Alecia's existence be compromised that easily. Furthermore, he'd seen how two-faced many of the people he grew up trusting were. As soon as they saw an opportunity, they didn't hesitate to backstab his family and tried to seize their assets for themselves. If any of the personnel that Stella's family hired were to get bribed, Lucian might get robbed of whatever fortune he had left. Without the power to protect himself, he needed to be as cautious as possible. Before Lucian could object to him, Bruce continued. "By the way, Stella wanted me to tell you that this was non-negotiable. She told me to tell you that if you decline, she'll kidnap you in your sleep." A vein bulged on Lucian's forehead. "Haah… That woman really goes at her one pace. Doesn't even bother considering asking me first," exhaling deeply, Lucian resigned himself to his fate. To be honest, this wasn't too bad of an outcome for Lucian. He knew Stella was being targeted by someone, so frankly, the best place to ensure she was safe was by her side. If someone tried to make a move and attack her, Lucian would at least be there to do something about it. Although he wasn't quite strong, he had the powerful trump card known as Alecia. Hearing Lucian unwillingly relent, Bruce felt pity for the young man. Having been married for years, he knew firsthand how willful a woman can be. And if Stella was anything like her mother, Lucian was bound to be in for a rough ride. Unfortunately for Lucian, Stella was just as bad, if not worse. "Are you home yet? Stella said she'd stop by your house to pick you up." "Not yet. I'm currently in my car. I'll call her after I get there, so tell her to wait until then." "Alright, will do. Hurry up and get home safe, alright? We'll prepare a room for you in the meantime." "By the way Uncle Bruce… Are you sure I'm okay to stay over at your place? You know how that guy can get." Bruce paused for a moment before responding. "Actually… My father-in-law's not currently home right now. He had to go to another city on an errand, so he can't say anything, even if you do stay over." Lucian's brows furrowed at Bruce's words but didn't further the topic. "Alright then, uncle Bruce, I'll see you all in a bit." After bidding farewell to Stella's father, Lucian began kneading his forehead, seemingly deep in thought. "...Do you think this happened because he's gone? There's no way someone would make a move on Stella if he was here." "That's most likely the case," Alecia responded. "However, knowing that man, he would have teleported his way over there using a series of continuous portals. The only way for people to know he was if there was a mole." Lucian's eyes narrowed slightly. "Someone betrayed Stella's family. Someone who could very well be in that house as we speak." "Shall I make the necessary preparations then?" "Yes. Bring out all the nanobots we have prepared and spread them throughout the house. I'll leave the information filtering to you." While Lucian felt a little bad for preparing to flood his fiance's house with a swarm of nanobots, this information was needed to keep Stella safe. "Also, ensure to hack into all employees' emails and devices and look for anything suspicious. The instant we find our traitor, I'll make sure to kindly ask them who exactly the mastermind is." If Alecia had a face, she would surely facepalm after hearing Lucian's words. His current blood-stained attire attested to how 'kind' his usual methods were.