Lena was rather surprised by how quickly Samuel was able to memorize most of the names on the list that she had given him. In her past experience working with other people, it would usually take them at least two to three days to memorize even half of the people they were expected to remember and work with.
Samuel however had managed to get a majority of them done in a matter of hours. Very few things was he off-point on when the Princess quizzed him about it on their way back to the estate.
"It's how I got through most of my exams during high school." He admitted when he noticed that she seemed rather surprised by his memorization capabilities.
"I didn't always have the time I need to study for everything so I just focused on figuring out how best to memorize what would be covered on the test and not worry about much of anything else until the final."
"If only more people had that type of skill, it would make them much easier to work with and I wouldn't have to wait so long on others to get to the point where I need them to be." Lena remarked. It was one of her annoyances when working with other people- they never seemed to be on the same level or page she was on when it came time to focus on a specific task. They were always two or three steps behind because they waited until the last minute to go over everything they needed to know..
The other was about to say something else, but was interrupted by his phone ringing. It was Jovani calling him. Even though it was the evening, the other still answered it knowing that his cousin would only call if there was something for them to go over.
Samuel wasn't quite yet to the place where he was making any official decisions about anything, but Jovani made sure that either he or Alonso kept him in the loop so that he was always aware of what was going on. The less legal side of things his older cousin was taking longer to ease him into simply because he knew that it would be a lot to take in and understand for someone who didn't grow up with such activities being normal.
"Ask him if the Vedova Nera have been having any problems within their borders or surrounding area either with deaths or people trying to take over." Lena told the other in a hushed tone of voice. He nodded his head to let her know that he had heard her request.
Since she knew that he was going to be busy with his cousin for most of the ride back, she focused her attention into her own phone where she had some messages and emails to respond to. With the engagement coming up, a number of emails had started to pop up with guests who were invited petition to be allowed to bring a gift or some of donation to celebrate the event.
It was her engagement so she was the one who had to respond to them rather than leaving them to her father which would've been her preference. There wasn't anything particular that she wanted from these people, but she knew that it would be would to reject their request. It might give off the impression of coldness or that there was tension between them.
Something like that could cause a huge ripple within the smaller groups who were close with the family. Questionable or potentially news traveled fast among the families. Especially when it involved that possibility that a group had fallen from the grace of one of the larger families.
In order to avoid this type of issue, she deferred them to either send money or gifts that would befit a newly engaged couple but nothing that would be considered outrageous. Some people had odd ideas of what would be fitting for newly engaged couples. She had been to other benefits before where questionable gifts had been brought.
In the end she knew that there would be still be a lot double-checking and fielding gifts before she either accepted them herself or handed them off to someone else she knew would appreciate them more. She hoped considering the circumstance of the engagement that they would give gifts that were more directed at Samuel since he was the one who was entering the family.
"Jovani says he wouldn't be able to say if there were more issues than usual that they were having to deal with." Samuel told her once the called had ended.
"It seems that they have been having a lot of issues over the past year but can't think of any recent influx that would indicate that there was something else going on."
"Is there anyone in particular who is claiming the credit for hits or cutting away at their territory?" The princess then asked putting her phone away so she could rest her head on her hand while looking out the window. They were almost back to the estate.
Samuel listed off a number of group names that his cousin had mentioned as having tension with the Vedova Nera family for some time, he also included his other cousin, Marcus among those since he didn't quite know what he was up to anymore or who he was relying on for support.
"The last one though, wasn't it the one that Ashton you mentioned being killed part of?" Samuel asked as Lena commented that it might be hard to narrow anything down from the list.
"How would you know that?" Lena asked confused as to where he would've seen that.
"I remember vaguely seeing the tattoo on his left hand, it looked similar to one of the tattoos that one of the smaller families that Jovani told me about had as their symbol. I might be mistaken though." Samuel replied with a shrug of his shoulders. Of course he would be able to remember something like that with his mind.
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