Nicolae realized that Tatiana was confused by his presence in Paris. He approached the girl and smiled kindly.
"What do you want to drink? Let's go to the kitchen." Nicolae reached out and Tatiana touched his hand, looking doubtful. Nicolae understood that the girl was still in shock. He took Tatiana's hand and pulled her to the kitchen. Nicolae also gave Altair a signal to follow them. "Bring all the video equipment as well."
"Very well, Dad..." said Altair readily. He brought the tray with Tatiana's belongings and her bag and walked along with them.
In the kitchen, Nicolae immediately boiled water and brewed tea for them. He deliberately chose the kitchen to invite Tatiana to talk because he wanted to make the atmosphere lighter.
"Have you had breakfast?" Nicolae asked her. Tatiana shook her head. "Hm ... okay. I'll make pancakes for us."
Tatiana sat in a chair facing the tall counter in the kitchen, that served as a bar, watching Nicolae work with a look of awe. She followed all the man's movements like a fan who was watching her favorite musicians in concert.
Altair only rolled his eyes when he saw the scene. He sat next to Tatiana and placed her belongings at the kitchen counter.
"What do you want to drink? I have brewed tea. You can take your own juice and milk in the refrigerator," Nicolae asked them.
"I only want to drink tea," said Altair.
Tatiana nodded. "Me too."
"All right. Well... you can help slice the fruits," Nicolae said again. He pointed to the knife and fruits on the table.
In unison, Tatiana and Altair got out of their chairs and moved to the table to do what Nicolae asked. For some reason, even though they were now in a luxurious penthouse, Tatiana now felt as if they were back at Nicolae's apartment in New York.
Even though his apartment was quite nice, it still couldn't be compared to this place's grandeur. However, this place was really intimidating and Tatiana preferred Nicolae's apartment in New York. She felt glad that she now could feel more at ease in the kitchen.
Tatiana slowly calmed down. She could peel the fruit well and then slice them to put on a plate. Ten minutes later, Nicolae had arranged pancakes with maple syrup, bacon and eggs, fried sausages, and fruit slices on the dining table for breakfast.
Altair poured tea for all of them. Before he sat down to eat, he suddenly remembered something.
"Eh .. wait, I want to ask JM to breakfast. She must be awake now."
Without waiting for anyone to respond, he had run out of the kitchen and returned a few moments later with JM, who still looked very sleepy. The girl woke up early when Altair woke up, but then she fell back to sleep because her mother's sleeping pill was too strong for her.
JM rubbed her eyes and sat in the dining chair. "Thank you for breakfast."
"Hey, this is Tatiana, she's Vega's friend," said Altair hurriedly.
Tatiana eyed the new girl with her mouth agape. She had never seen such a beautiful girl, except in magazines. JM's beauty was stunning. Her graceful appearance was very different from the pretty Vega who looked rather indifferent and never dressed up.
Even though she just woke up, JM's appearance still looked perfect. Her long, curly hair down to her waist still looked beautiful, like she had just come out of a hair salon. Her face seemed to have a mixture of Western and Oriental. Her thin red lips and small nose contrasted her big round eyes.
"Hi, Tatiana ... nice to meet you." JM greeted Tatiana with her sweet voice.
"Eh ... why ... yes. Hello ..." Tatiana glanced at Altair and found the young man watching JM with a look like a puppy that had just seen his master. Tatiana soon realized that Altair really liked this new girl.
Ahhh ... there will be so many hearts broken, back at school, thought Tatiana. She also had a crush on her best friend's brother. However, once she saw for herself the kind of girl Altair liked, Tatiana immediately admitted defeat.
Now she preferred to focus her attention on the handsome Mr. Nicolae Medici.
"Let's eat, we can continue chatting later," Nicolae said.
The three teenagers nodded in unison and began to enjoy their breakfast. Nicolae tried hard to make the atmosphere lighter. Although he himself was very worried about Vega, he knew that the three teenagers in front of him had to be made calm. These children couldn't do much to look for Vega, and they shouldn't be stressed.
"Tatiana, we want to borrow all your videos and investigate the contents. There is a possibility that the criminals who kidnapped Vega had been watching her every movement in Paris and Bordeaux. We suspect they are following her everywhere. So, we hope to see if there is any chance of those people caught in your camera," Nicolae said as they ate breakfast.
"Of course, Sir. I don't mind," Tatiana said.
"We will buy you a new cellphone and camera equipment so you can stay in touch while we borrow your cellphone."
"Thank you."
Tatiana really trusted Nicolae. She was neither worried nor afraid of being in the penthouse with this man present. Therefore, she became disappointed when Nicolae called the two bodyguards who brought Tatiana to the penthouse and told them to take the girl back to the Amarylis Hotel.
"Then ... will Altair also come back to our hotel?" Tatiana asked before leaving the penthouse.
Nicolae shook his head. "No. Altair will stay here with his family. I will call Pierre and explain everything. You must go home. Steve will drop you off and buy you a new cellphone. Later, when we have finished transferring your video data, we will return all your equipment..."
"Uhm ... okay. Thank you, Sir."
Tatiana had no choice but to return to her hotel. She couldn't help much in the penthouse anyway. She then said goodbye to all of them and returned to her hotel, accompanied by two guards provided by Alaric.
"Come on, Altair, we have to move and inspect all the video recordings here and look for clues," Nicolae said as he brought all the equipment to the study.
There, he and Altair immediately worked to check all the videos taken by Tatiana. There were hundreds of long and short videos that they must examine. Nicolae then sent some to Marie so that the girl could help him check too.
Meanwhile, Alaric cleaned Mischa's wounds in one of the rooms and Lauriel immediately came to help him care for Mischa. They didn't say anything while they cleaned and treated Mischa's wounds. They didn't want Mischa to be more depressed than he already was.
After they finished, and Mischa was lying in bed with clean clothes and his wounds treated, the three talked to find out what really happened and why Mischa could be injured in Provins last midnight.
Mischa agreed because he really wanted to meet Vega again. He thought Vega would come with Altair. However, suddenly Mischa received a message from a mysterious person who sent him photos of Lisa being held captive.
Mischa was forced to drive to Provins to save her. At that time, he had no idea that something bad would happen to Vega. He did not suspect that, in fact, Vega was actually the main target, and they just wanted to distract him.
Mischa knew that three reliable bodyguards were always protecting Vega and Altair from a distance, so he was not too worried.
"I didn't know ... they kidnapped Lisa just to lure me out of Paris ..." The man whispered with wet eyes. "Had I known this ... I would protect Vega with my life ..."