"Come in." Zane told whoever was on the other end of the door. He was slightly surprised when Samuel was the one who opened the door and peeked inside.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything. I just finished talking with Jovani and thought Lena might want her phone back and to know what was decided." He said, stepping in after the princess motioned that it was okay for him to do so.
"What did he have to say?" She asked as Samuel handed her phone back over.
"He though that three more days for now since it would be a week might be the best time to consider meeting again. I said that it would probably be okay but I would make sure with you." Lena glanced over at her father to see what his response to this would be.
"I think that would be a fair amount of time. Lena hasn't had the chance to talk with you yet, but it would best for your mother to stay for the extra few days as well. She will have to be here physically to confirm the fact that she approves of the engagement when we meet with the head of the Vedova Nera since you're both part of that family." Zane said as he wrote the date down on the memo pad that as on his desk.
"Did Jovani mention anything to you about who the head of the family might be?" Lena asked as Samuel sat down next to her. He shook his head in response to the question having to brush his hair out of his face after he did this. He probably needed to think about getting it cut before the engagement party.
"No, he mainly just talked about my connection the Vedova Nera, what that meant and why he did what he was doing. He didn't mention much else about anyone beyond the fact that he has a cousin who is a touch of trouble. I do remember that." Samuel replied as he tried to think of everything that Jovani had talked with him about.
"I'm guess the cousin that he was referring to was Marco." Lena said with a sigh, another headache that she was going to have to work out still. Dealing with whether it was better to go ahead with the business dealing knowing who he was or cut it off and risk problems arising from that. Samuel gave her a look that told her he wanted to know how she knew that.
"Remember when you came to get me because you were worried I was talking too long at the office that day we were supposed to shop for our engagement party dress?" She paused enough to know that Samuel remembered what she was talking about before she continued.
"He was the reason that was holding me up. Of course I didn't know who he was at the time, he had just wanted a meeting to approach me with a potential business partnership. Now though it makes sense why he was more insistent about it than I am used to others being."
"Jovani mentioned that there was some kind of bet going on between them. Do you think that it has something to do with that?" Samuel asked.
"I don't know but I have a feeling that it does. He perhaps thought that it would be an easy way to have an in and get closer to you. Why though is the question." Lena replied with a sigh.
She didn't quite know how to say it without sounding bad, but the question that kept going through her mind was why exactly was Samuel important to them? He was part of the family sure, but not directly enough from what she knew to hold such high value that Jovani who should technically be somewhere in the line of succession would go to so much trouble to get close to him.
"What do you think though, father? Better to break off the deal before it goes anywhere or keep him close and accept the partnership and see how it goes?" Lena asked hissing slightly under her breath as she shifted position. She had forgotten how sensitive the bruise on her stomach still was after having been doing nothing but laying around until today. It was definitely going to take a while to heal properly.
"I think for now that it would be better to wait until after we met with Jovani. If there's something he wants badly enough, I'm sure that he would be willing to wait a few extra days for the response from you." Zane replied as he pulled out his phone when he felt it buzz in his pocket.
"Clarice is calling." He said looking away from his phone as he looked over at the other two sitting closely together.
"I'm guessing that she wasn't properly updated on what was going on and is worried?" he guessed looking more to Lena than Samuel as she would've been the one technically in charge of making sure that all of that had been taken care of.
"I told her that I would catch her up when I got a chance and that she would be getting a few extra days off until some things were sorted." Lena replied. She was inclined to roll her eyes but she couldn't be upset at the other woman for being impatiently worried since it had been a few days since she had any type of contact after the princess initial explained the situation to her.
"Best to maybe let her know now before she ends up storming up here to find out what's going on for herself?" Zane asked, taking note of the fact that the call was already ended before he had a chance to answer it and let Clarice know what is going on.
"I'll text her. I have too many things to do to be able to talk with anyone extra right now. If anything, she can come over tomorrow and we can talk everything over after that." Lena replied as she pulled up the contact for Clarice and sent her a brief text to let her know that everything was okay and she was still alive and would be catching her up tomorrow if she wanted to come over.
She was one of the other few people outside of immediate family that Lena was close to. She had been close friends with her mother after all. They never spoke about the incident but she knew what had happened as Zane had filled her in.
While most of it was kept out of the mainstream media, all the larger groups within the New Jersey area knew exactly what had happened. Zane himself had made sure to make it a point they were aware of what could happen to them if they crossed him the wrong way.
Mere seconds after Lena had sent the text, Clarice had already texted her back. The princess didn't dare read it at that moment in time however. One glance told her how long it was and how much the other was scolding her for not being in touch sooner. It wasn't entirely her fault that she hadn't kept up with the other like she said she would. There had been a lot going on and Lena still wasn't feeling in top shape.
Between the pain and the lack of sleep over the last four days, it was a surprise that she could even function as well as she did. Tonight she was going to try and sleep though. She knew that she would need it and hopefully with everything getting sorted out, she would feel more like she could rest.
"If we are getting so many things out of the way currently, should I ask Genson to come in here as well so that we can get that sorted out before the day is over?" She suggested as she leaned back against the sofa to take some of the pressure off of her stomach. She glanced over at Samuel, even though he seemed to be doing rather well she couldn't help but wonder if his own injuries still hurt. They weren't all that serious but she presumed that like herself, he hadn't had a doctor to look him over yet.
"You honestly think that bringing him in here to talk everything over with me around would be a good idea?" Zane asked with a raised eyebrow. He was honestly surprised that she would make such a suggestion considering she knew exactly how much he hated the other man.
"I figure it would give you a chance to sort out whatever is going on between the two of you the same way that I am going to have to sort out my issues with Jovani in the next three days when I see him again." Lena replied as she moved to text Genson to ask him to come into the office, making sure to include the directions for how to reach her father's office. Part of her reason for doing this had to do with the fact that she was interested in seeing how things would play out between the two of them.
