Arranged marriage to the princess of the Red Scorpions

Lena felt the strong urge to toss her phone against the wall. Who did Marcus think he was? She didn't have time to deal with any of this. Taking a deep breath and counting backward from ten, the princess put the phone back in her pocket. It wasn't a surprise when she opened her eyes to find that area around her was empty.

Even people who didn't know her didn't want to be too close when it looked like she was about to explode—a wise choice. The last thing that Lena needed at the current moment in time would be to deal with more stupid people. The luxury of time wasn't on their side; thus, Lena was not required to waste time composing herself. Leaving her uncle and Dino alone too long could be problematic if the rogue mafioso opened his mouth too much.

"Are you alright?" Lena barely extended her hand to reach for the door handle before Gabrielle opened it. A hint of something akin to concern flickered in her eyes as she glanced between Lena and the empty hall.

"Nothing you need to worry about." Lena brushed past the tall Italian woman to return to the other room.

"Your concern should be more directed towards leaving my father and Dino alone before we get the answers we're looking for." Lena didn't care what happened to Dino after they were done. Right now, though, she needed to know if the other had pivotal information they could use.

"I wouldn't be too worried about that. Dino seems to have enough common sense to know not to trifle with your uncle. He's been staying rather quiet since he entered the room. Although I don't know how long that will last if he finds out what is happening." Gabrielle shut the door behind them. Once the noise from the outside world had been shut out, Lena could hear the other voices echoing from the other end of the room. By the sound of the tones, Lena could only guess that Gabrielle had jumped to conclusions too quickly. The voices sounded anything but calm and passive.

Lena knew she should have moved to intervene when she felt the tension between the two men. More so, her uncle than Dino. Dino always enjoyed upsetting other people and skittering around the edge between life and death. On the other hand, Julian never reacted strongly unless there was a valid reason. A good reason, such as the current one, where a deserter was testing his luck in the wrong situation.

Shit. No matter how much Lena tried to get her mind to focus on the situation, Marcus's words kept coming back to her. Should she have cared so much? The question echoed in her mind as the events of the last week flashed through her mind.

Canceling the engagement and wedding... Perhaps that had been the terms that Samuel had set. It didn't feel it would be too out of place for the other to ask. Not after what the princess had done and all the time Samuel spent with Julian. If anyone were to teach the other to have a backbone, it would undoubtedly be the Vedova Nera boss.

"Earth to Lena. I believe right now is the time that you should intervene." A gentle nudge to her side and Gabrielle's words snapped her out of her thoughts and back to the present. The Tall Italian woman was right. In the few brief moments that Lena's thoughts had wandered elsewhere, the situation in front of her had escalated.

Julian was two seconds away from killing Dino, even if he had to do it with his bare hands. He had the younger mafioso pushed against the wall even rougher than Lena.

"I think it would be best if you were to ease up, mate. I'm not trying to say anything out of line, just pointing out the facts." Dino kept his own hands firmly locked on Julian's shoulders to put some distance. Not that it mattered much with the weight difference between them. Julian held the obvious advantage between the two of them. One he didn't mind reminding the other as the brief tussle continued.

"And I highly recommend if you wish to keep your tongue, let alone your fingers, you watch what you say." The hiss in Julian's voice didn't go amiss as he shoved Dino further against the wall. The other barely avoided wincing at the pressure against his back.

"Julian, that is enough right now. We already agreed we need to talk to him before we decide what happens." Lena interjected before Julian could take matters any further. She had meant to grab her uncle's arm to stop him but suddenly used it for support. The world around her tilted at an odd angle, making it difficult to tell if she was still standing. The action didn't go amiss from Julian despite their anger towards Dino.

"Are you okay?" His attention turned to Lena as he kept the other harshly pinned against the wall. Her weight felt odd against his arm. The last time he had felt that much weight against him was when she was a mere child, not long after her mother died. Surely something wasn't suddenly wrong with her now as well. Yet, Julian couldn't ignore that her hand felt clammy and oddly cool against his own.

"I'm fine. You need to tone your temper down before you do anything that will complicate matters any further." Lena brushed her uncle off as she forced herself back to standing on her weight. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to discern what happened. Something in the back of her mind set off alarm bells and the unfamiliar sensation, but she harshly ignored them. The princess wasn't the kind of person to suddenly lose her footing. Now wasn't the time for her to be focusing on such things. There was too much at the stack for her to be sick. That would have to wait until everything else was taken care of.

Her determination wavered, however, when darkness began to creep into the corner of her vision. A strange coldness began to travel up her limbs as Lena felt like she was floating away from her body.

A warm touch on her shoulder brought her to her sense briefly as she forced her head up to look at the tall Italian woman. She saw her lips moving, but the voice was muffled and far away. Was Gabrielle's voice always that low and distant?

She didn't get a chance to tell before the little light she had left disappeared, and her whole world faded into darkness.

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