Arranged Marriage To The Princess Of The Red Scorpions

Alonso swallowed thickly as he let the words sink in, considering how he could've misheard what the other had just said. His lips moved silently as he worked to form the words that he wanted to say.

"Jovani. I must've misheard what you just said right now. It sounded as though Marcus's name slipped out, and I didn't think we had anything to do with him anymore." Alonso felt his skin become ice cold. The emotion that overtook him wasn't fear but rather something close to cold, hot anger. Hadn't they already cleared their hands of this matter? Marcus wasn't something they were supposed to get involved with again! Jovani had said it himself after what the other had done.

"You didn't hear me wrong. I did say Marcus's name and you'll hear it come out more a few times moving forward. You and I haven't had a chance to catch up with everything. I decided to take a few matters into my own hands, and the results have turned into something interesting. One of the reasons I had you go off to go and fetch Cain. I knew how you would react." Jovani raised his voice so the right-hand ma could hear him around, his face pressed against the tiles.

"Two for two, I have been doing a few things that I knew you would hardly approve of. Not that I care, seeing as I'm the boss, and this is my family that I'm dealing with." Alonso balled his fist up as he listened to the Vedova Nera boss's drugged rambling.

"What I'm doing isn't anything bad. At least, that's not my intention with this. I'm good at knowing when we need additional players to join the team, and this is one of those times." Jovani waited for the next wave of euphoria to pass before forcing himself to a half-raised position to see the face of his right-hand man. Jovani wasn't in the least bit surprised by the expression Alonso fixed him with.

"You truly thought that it would be a good idea to bring him here with everyone else? Including Samuel being here? Have you truly gone out of your mind that much?" Alonso couldn't believe what was coming from Jovani's mouth. The man knew his cousin better than anyone and thought he'd come to the correct conclusion.

"That saga is done and over with. Sammy isn't in danger with the other being here and doesn't care to touch our younger cousin. If he does decide that he wants to kill someone, it would be. Fair and square weren't enough to get that psycho to back off, though. He'd find a way to take what he wanted regardless of what needed to be done. I won fair and square, after all."

"Besides, I never said that he was here. Don't think me enough of a fool to do something like that. I had somewhere very special put together for him. I don't think he likes it very much, but it works for now." Jovani pointed his head toward his desk in a way that Alonso couldn't quite understand, with the other being in such an odd state.

"There are so many people here you should have considered discussing this before you decided to do anything. Drugs aren't the right answer at this moment in time. It would be best if you worked on getting yourself sober so we can deal with this. Really, look at you! You've been moving around so much that the injury on your shoulder is starting to reopen itself." A flurry of swear words punctuated the end of the sentence as Alonso took note of the speckles of blood beginning to cover the otherwise spotless marble as Jovani moved around.

"Let it be. I'm not doing so. It isn't anything that you need to fuss about. It'll stop a little bit, and I will be perfectly fine." Jovani made a noise of frustration. The euphoria was starting to lose its magic, and the inability to move was beginning to get on the Vedova Nera boss's nerves. Damn it. Even after not taking them for so long, they didn't last anywhere as long as he'd hoped. That or the current conflict was working against him to dull the pleasure he desired to drown himself.

"There are times that I think you're just crazy insane, and there are times that I believe you're an absolute idiot. This situation right here falls into the second category. I'm sure you can see why without me having to tell you." Alonso leaned over to help the other up, only to have his hand smacked away.

"You've hardly heard why I'm doing this, and you're making assumptions quickly. For once, I'm doing this for an excellent reason; otherwise, I wouldn't don't have anything to do with my older cousin, considering the problems that he caused in the past. Not to mention it's a risk with Richard being around. I didn't know, though, that he would suddenly be showing up. I wouldn't have even accepted this arrangement between Sammy and Lena if I knew how tight Zane was with that Bastard." Jovani shook his head, carding his hand through his hair as he looked around the office. Where did his clothes go exactly? They should've been right there next to him since he'd not traveled that far from the chair at his desk. Did they somehow managed to grow a pair of legs and scuttle over to the other side? Ugh. How troublesome that would be if it turned out to be the case. Jovani took a moment to weigh out of the hassle of picking his clothes up before flopping back onto the cold tile. Indulging in the current pleasure for a while longer was the right choice. Work could wait until later if Alonso were upset at him.

"Rather than fussing about me and this whole situation, I needed you to go and check on Samuel. See if he managed to get in touch with that little devil princess. I don't want my younger cousin to spend his entire time here sulking because of her." Once Samuel had seen a few more things and been around the Vedova Nera estate for longer, Jovani wouldn't care what state his younger cousin saw him in. Right now, though, the kid wouldn't likely understand the relationship Jovani had with them.

"If you're worried about your cousin finding out or getting into trouble, you should've better planned all of this before you asked me to bring him back with me. I would've considered having Julian take him instead. Back at their estate, things would have been safer than this." Jovani tsked at the other and made a noise of disagreement.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that If I were you. Do some digging around, and you're likely to find that being there isn't any safer than me keeping him here. This whole hospital fiasco isn't the only issue that they'd been dealing with." It paid to have people on both sides consistently know about every little thing. Lena or anyone else on her side of the family didn't need to know about that, though. They could discuss it at a later point in time once he managed to sort out his current contentious relationship with the Princess.

The Princess currently had bigger fish to fry if the doctors didn't do a good job with Leo. First, however, she needed to fully explain the situation she experienced to those in the room with her.

"I didn't get injured, so I didn't care to say anything at the time. However, Jovani, from the little I put together, is playing a dangerous game I'm not sure he even realizes." Lena kept her gaze fixed on her father as she continued.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that he wasn't always the person here either. I don't know, however, if he's aware of certain matters." Richard took the initiative to put a hand on Lena's shoulder and petition her to explain further.

"I have come to a similar conclusion, but depending on what you saw or know, that might change how I handle this situation. Jovani, from the little we've talked, doesn't seem interested in being open about the situation. At least not at the current moment." What a not surprise on that matter. Lena didn't have to think twice to know why that would be.

"Jovani wouldn't say anything due to the slew of issues that have taken place so closely together. Whether they are connected or not remains to be seen. It would explain why he wouldn't want to make a fuss if they weren't. Richard, if you know whom I am talking about, you might be better suited to elaborate on this situation's issues moving forward." Richard's lips drew into a thin line.

Was he the right person to take on explaining the current situation? How many years had it been since the last time he'd talked with the other?