Arranged marriage to the princess of the Red Scorpions

332 Not This

“Try one more time.” Lena didn’t shift her gaze off the other as she waited to hear what he would say.

Romeo took a moment to compose himself. He raised an arm to wipe the sweat off his brow as an excuse to take a moment longer before speaking again.

“There were a total of fifteen thus far. Five of those are the ones who worked closely with us. Nick is one of them. Andro as well. Both of these seemed to be done in some execution-styled manner. He was leaving no mistake that it was done intentionally and well-planned. Two of the others we are still waiting for confirmation on. The details I don’t think we should discuss this here. As for the other.” Romeo’s speech halted for a second as though the words caught in his throat.

“The brother of the bodyguard you assigned to Samuel. We haven’t informed him of this event yet as he is still in recovery, and we don’t know the exact extent of that attack, whether it was intentional or not.” Julian couldn’t hold back the sound of disbelief that escaped the back of his throat. So many people in such a short period even though they had not been gone for that long?

Whoever had been responsible for this must’ve planned everything out perfectly. How else would they know to strike at this time, considering how tightly under wraps they had kept the information?

“Whom all knows about the attack that took place? How many people are dealing with that, and who is left here and back at the estate?” If the information impacted Lena, her face gave nothing away as her expression remained stone-still. Only her eyes looked between her uncle and the bodyguard standing before her.

“We still have more than enough men covering both locations and those working cleanup and contacting everyone else to keep an eye out for further incidents. I am not sure if that this point in time it would be wise to involve Jovani and his men in this potentially-”

“No. I don’t want him to have anything to do with this. Not right now. It would be better if this stayed between us, and we worked to clean up the damage before this news spreads. Ensure that you let the respective families know what happened and that they will still be taken care of and compensated for by us. As for the last one you mentioned, I will be the one to take care of informing him. I think it would be wise to wait a little longer before he finds out.” The kid was still recovering and not yet out of the hospital made it one of the worst possible times to have to tell him something of this magnitude. Shit. Why now?

“I want you to change things up. If there are people who usually follow a certain route or routine, get them to stop. Put more people on jobs that they wouldn’t normally need them. Everyone else who isn’t necessary, make sure you go where they know it will be safe.” The calm evening Lena anticipated she would no longer hold what she’d hoped it would. A ghost of a small spread over Julian’s face. Despite not wanting the role, his niece immediately took charge without thinking about it. If he stayed quiet, would she continue to do so without needing a nudge?

.....

“I can take care of that. I already informed some of the men to do something similar. Most of those who aren’t experienced enough and don’t have the training I have pulled from most places. Some want answers and not just in the form of pleasant words.” Romeo appeared to have relaxed a fraction as his broad shoulders dropped slightly as if they were relieved to be discussing this with the princess. Lena tossed the blanket to the side as she stood up.

“They are not the only ones expecting answers to come from this. I want you to find out what you can. Do you have any hints about who might’ve been behind this?” Romeo gave a stiff shake of his head, sweat dripping down the side of his face despite him having wiped his brow clean once already.

“We don’t. Whoever did it did a good job of cleaning up their tracks after the fact. They didn’t even leave any weapon behind that could be traced. We are looking into the bullets, but that might take a while.” Not the kind of answer that Lena hoped to hear. Even people who didn’t want to be found left marks behind to show off their handiwork. Akin to a ‘gotcha’ move to indicate the first steps of a bloody game of cat and mouse. If they didn’t leave anything behind, The princess would have to think why that would be.

“If you don’t know who it is, I want you to focus on finding someone for me. Jenson. I want to know where his current whereabouts are.” Lena grabbed her jacket off the back of the chair. If this was the kind of night it would turn out, she would need pipe and more than a bit of coffee to help her get through the night.

“Jenson? Do you think that he might have had something to do with this? He doesn’t strike me as the kind of person who would get his hands dirty with this thing?” Julian piped up. He’d know the man longer than Lena had. A man who certainly didn’t mind getting his hands dirty in various ways. Death, however, wasn’t something that the other usually touched unless someone tried to touch his money first.

“I don’t think that he would do it himself. Selling information, however, wouldn’t be out of the question. That reminds me, I also need to get in touch with Richard. I want him to come here so we can discuss that deal that was supposed to take place.” f𝓇𝘦e𝑤𝘦𝚋𝒏૦ѵℯ𝒍.c𝐨𝒎

A deal that could lead her to one of the missing pieces.