Chapter 307 Next Steps

Almost as if on cue, there was a knock on the door.

Hester only entered after Julian confirmed it was safe to. He brought along a rather large briefcase.

"I wasn't sure what was required so I brought along a few things." Shifting away from the door frame, he set the briefcase in a corner before casting a glance at the boss lying in the hospital bed.

"Before things go any further, Jovani and I need to go have a chat." She handed her phone off to Hester before indicating for the Vedova Near boss to follow.

"Do we really have to have this conversation right now?" Jovani barely waited for the hospital room door to close before speaking.

"Yes because there's going to be a lot going on coming up and we need to agree on a few things."

"Samuel will be fine. There's no reason to hem and haw over this." He didn't wait to hear what she said before brushing her off. He was beginning to get uncannily good at reading her. He needed to stop that.

"I didn't bring you out here just to talk about that." Lena shifted to the side when a pair of nurses walked past them. Only someone oblivious would miss the looks shot in their direction.

"What then? I know there is going to be a lot going on. I don't think it's much to worry about though. No one died last night so we can follow up later."

"How exactly did you get this information? Don't try and give me that vague story you tried to pass off earlier. I want the truth." Jovani's head tilted back against the wall, eyes closing for a second while shifting to support his aching arm.

"My men were the ones who found it. Independent of what happened." The Vedova Nera boss shifted position, rummaging in his pocket for something.

"We've been dealing with something separate on our side for a little while now. Just so happened that was part of the bounty we got for weeding out a rat." Pulling a bottle out, he unscrewed it to pour a few blue tablets into his bad hand.

"Until all of this took place, we didn't think there could be a connection. It was encrypted and I was going to get someone to take care of it. I just decided to speed up the process."

"By going to mercenaries? You do realize who else works in that area of business?"

"Aside from your family friend Richard?" Jovani shot back, a little more venom in his voice than initially intended.



"I'm quite aware of who works with them. I'm also aware though of what they are capable of and how beneficial they can be." The Vedova Nera boss tossed back the pills in his hands. Wincing slightly as they were dry swallowed.

"You know, Princess, there are other people around you who can handle all sorts of things. You don't always need to be on high alert that something is going to end up going wrong."

"Firstly, I would appreciate if you would avoid bringing Richard into a conversation that has nothing to do with him. Secondly, I'm well aware that others can handle things. I just don't like when people are moving things when I don't have all the pieces to what's going on." The princess narrowed her eyes at the older cousin.

"More so when there are reasons for me to believe that they shouldn't be easily trusted."

"Who shouldn't be so easily trusted? I heard my name come up earlier though I doubt you'd be referencing me when saying that." The voice of the unexpected guest but Jovani on edge.

"They is what happens when you say the name of a devil, they end up showing up unannounced and unrequested." Richard didn't even bother acknowledging the scowling man, instead shifting over to where Lena stood.





"What are you doing back here?"  Lena shifted away from the other man who came a little too close into her personal space with her current mood.

"I came back to see how everything was going. Like I mentioned yesterday." Richard replied coolly. If he could sense the tension between the two, he didn't make it easily apparent.

"I assume that nothing has changed since yesterday aside from what's obviously in front of me." The princess shook her head.

​ "Pretty much everything is the same. Nothing to worry about, nothing to celebrate." The worrying part was a touch of a lie but only because Lena knew stress wouldn't leave her until everyone woke up.

"I see. I suppose then it might be best for me to stick around for the time being and see what's going on." Richard got ready to make his way into the hospital room until the Princess stopped him.

"There is something else that's going on right now. Nothing personal but I think that it would be better if you came back at a different time." Jovani's eyes widened a fraction at the little devil's words. How unexpected it was for her to be the one to turn him away.

"Something going on that I can't take part in?" The other mafioso turned to Lena with a raised eyebrow. A slight frown a clear indication of displeasure at being turned away.

"Indeed. Considering the princess is the one turning you away, I think it would be best for her to explain why." Jovani piped up.

The Vedova Nera boss would've been more than thrilled to be the one to reject the other Having the Princess speak up though made things seem suddenly that much more interesting.

"It's a close family matter for the time being. At least until we figure out everything that's going on." Lena kept it brief.

"You can come back later to see how things are going. Right now, I would just prefer if there were less people added to the mix to keep things from being complicated." Richard's sour expression didn't change. He wouldn't argue with the princess though.

Doing so would most certainly be similar to disrespecting her father. Something he would never willingly do consider everything that the other man had done for him.

"I see. Well, I didn't come all this way for nothing. I will stick around in the hospital for a while, and you can just let me know when it is safe to drop by."

Jovani didn't open his mouth to offer a small mocking wave to Richard before the other left the area.

"I would prefer if you would refrain from antagonizing family friends in the future." Lena told Jovani off the moment that Richard was gone.

"I know that you don't like him. As I said before though, now is not the time and place to allow that to bleed over into what we are doing."

"Why don't we make a deal then?" The Vedova Nera man offered as he stepped away from the wall.

"I will keep my manners when he's around if you agree to not bother me anyone about the sources that I chose to use. Simple enough I think. Especially when nothing I'm doing is going to have a heavy impact on you." Jovani could feel the fire coming from the Princess's gaze as fixed him with a hard stare.

Today though he really wasn't in the mood to be backing down from the other.

"I already know well enough the drill about making sure that nothing happens to your family. They're starting to become mine as well in case you forgot." Jovani moved away from the wall to get ready to head into the hospital room.

"Considering nothing about what happened the night before has left my mouth; I think that it is high time that you started trusting me more."

"It's not even close to that time. If anything, what happened last night makes doubt whether or not I should really be trusting you with everything." Jovani stopped when his hand made contact with the door handle.

"Really? I wasn't the one being all that scary last night. That was you. I generally tend to take a different approach to matters." The princess made a sound of annoyance.

"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it very well." Jovani was about to turn to face her again when his phone suddenly started ringing.

"What troublesome timing this decides to come out." Moving away from the door, he pulled the phone out of his pocket.

"Good to see that it is no other than the great one responsible for helping us to get ahold of our current information." The Vedova Nera boss smirked as he read the caller ID.

"You should head back in to get started on everything. I will be back shortly once I'm done with this." Lena watched as the other accepted the call.

"You don't need to tell me to do that. Once you're done with him though, I want a chance to speak with your right-hand man as well."

"Once he's allowed to get some rest, you can talk with him as much as you like." Jovani waved the other off as he walked down the hall. The conversation was much too low for the princess to keep up with.