Chapter 144 - How Dare You

Lena didn't move to get up at first until she heard the click of the door behind signaling that someone else had entered the room. 

"Oh what grand timing, now the most important pieces are here." The princess didn't quite know what he was talking about until she tilted her head to look behind her. She realized that Clive had walked through the door that was behind her. Righting herself so that she could get a better look while making sure to keep her gun focused on the other, she glanced over to the door at the same time both Romeo and Samuel stepped through. On the other side the door opened as Jovani's other two men came into the room as well. 

Samuel was okay, or at least alive. It took her a few seconds of looking at him to process the fact that he wasn't quite alright. She didn't miss the bruise on his face or the way he held his wrist close to his body as though it had been hurt. She doubted that was the only injury that he had either by the way he held himself. 

Lena's chest was tight and it was making it hard for her to see straight when she take note of all this. She was trying to reign in her breathing as she gritted her teeth while turning an intense glare on to the man standing in front of her. He had hurt him. Despite being family, he had actually hurt Samuel. 

Neither one of them blinked or looked away as they stayed locked staring at each other. Jovani was far more at easy than Lena was in this situation, but he wasn't about to break gazes with the small queen in front of her despite the gun that was point directly at the middle of his forehead. He could tell by her expression and aura that she meant business, but it wasn't quite a high enough level to intimidate him. 

Samuel wanted to step between them, but Clive and Romeo kept him in place to make sure that he stayed safe. Certainly he was hurt, but it wasn't that bad and he wanted to stop Lena before she did something rash. 

"Lena! I'm fine, it's okay!" He called out as he tried to get her attention. Her gaze didn't falter however as she only slightly glanced back at him. 

"You're not okay. Your arm is hurt and your covered in bruises." She replied black. This man would pay for what he did, she didn't care if he was related to Samuel or not. He didn't deserve to live if he could do such a thing to a relative. 

"Lena, I am telling you, it's okay. I know what you're thinking, but you can stand down." Samuel tried to reason with the princess who's attention had completely shifted back to the man in front of her. He motioned for the two acting as body guards to step to the side so that he could move closer to Lena. Both were hesitant to comply with this request as they didn't know how Lena would react to him being so close. 

Not only that, but the bodyguards behind Jovani were getting antsy as well. Unlike Romeo and Clive, they didn't have guns, but that didn't mean that they still didn't poise a threat if they moved first. Clive was the first one to signal against his better judgment to let Samuel approach the princess despite the deadly aura that she was giving. He also didn't want this to result in a war if the princess went through with shooting the other.

"Lena, really it's okay. J, Jovani wasn't the one who did this to me." She glanced over at him as he spoke but not enough to break eye contact with the other who was letting her know by his poise that he didn't intend to cause any further disturbance. It could hardly have been considered a harmless or conceding posture however which she didn't like. 

She wanted to shoot him right then and there for what happened, but Samuel was certain had never seen anyone be killed before and for some reason that she didn't understand he was actually speaking in defense of this worthless human that was standing in front of her. 

"Lena." Samuel tried again, his tone more level as he attempted to get her attention. He wanted to explain things to her before she did something that was unnecessary. She didn't want him to kill anyone on his behalf. He was going to try and grab the gun from her but before he had a chance, she clicked the safety back in place. However, rather than moving the gun away, she just shifted the position and struck Jovani in the face rather roughly with the butt of the gun. 

He flinched and recoiled back in response to this as he hadn't been expecting this. His hands immediately shot up to his nose in a protective manner although he was fairly certain it was broken when he felt the blood start to run. 

Following this, Samuel pushed Lena back before she had a chance to do anything else as one of Jovani's guards, most likely Russo stepped forward to hand him something to steam the blood. 

"Well played princess." He told her in a strained tone as he put the handkerchief over his face. The expression on her face told him that she felt he deserved far worse than that, but was keeping it in check because Samuel was there. 

"Lena, enough. I'm right here so there's nothing else you need to do. Let him be so that we can talk over everything." Samuel insisted as he tried to step between the two of them. She shot him a questioning look that told him she hardly understood why he was defending the other person, but he just kept her fixed with a determined stare that told him that she was okay to stand down because they needed to talk.