BXBX NOVEL Chapter 134 - Preparations
By the time the sun started to come up, Lena had already been up and getting together everything that she wanted to have in order before she left. She wasn\'t sure if anyone else had been able to sleep, but she didn\'t have much time to think about that when she had a lot to get together.
Clive and Romeo were already up and waiting for her when she came down from the second floor. They weren\'t sure what to expect either, but they wanted to make sure that she knew that both of them were ready for her. She was appreciative of this because there were things that she needed from them.
Jovani hadn\'t mentioned anything about whether or not they were allowed to bring weapons with them but either way, Lena had no intention of going into an unfamiliar place empty handed if she did have a high level of skill in hand-to-hand combat.
She also made sure that Clive and Romeo had their weapons. There was no need to have anything beyond hand guns that they could keep either on their belt holsters or in their jacket. She hoped though that it wouldn\'t come down to them having to use them. She also made sure that they had bullet proof vests on and other correct protective gear. She didn\'t want to leave anything to chance with this man whose intentions she still didn\'t quite understand.
She also made sure that she had everything on that she needed. She went for one that was slimmer than what she had the other wear simply because she knew that she would be the one interacting with Jovani personally and didn\'t want to have something on would be visibly bulky and could potential give that factor away. She also intended to wear her black jacket with the red scorpion that was splayed across the back and went from one shoulder to the next. She wanted it to be known to everyone if something happened what group they were risking angering if anything went wrong. She also thought that it would be worth wearing her steel toe boots for the occasion as well.
Hester was the next one to be up and join them as he wanted to have plenty of time to make sure that he could fix any potential issues with the cell phone signal before Lena left so that there would no concern about them losing touch with her.
This was more so for the sake of her father than her as Lena wasn\'t concerned about what anything happening to her or not being able to request of backup if she needed it. She knew though that her father wouldn\'t be able to remain calm and collected if he wasn\'t able to at least see where she since he wasn\'t able to be there with her.
"Not only does it risk creating a bad effect if I show up with the head of the family right after being told to be the only one to come, but you can\'t also be putting yourself at such risk as the head of the family. If anything happens to you there would be even more chaos." Lena had reasoned with him when he argued that morning on favor of at least going with her so that he could be near by if anything happened.
"If you want to do anything crazy like that at least wait until you retire and I take over for you so that if anything happens to you I don\'t have to worry about the whole family falling apart because the head has been taken out." She told him as she grabbed his hand as she still gave her a face that told her he wasn\'t being so easily swayed but what she said. He didn\'t want to risk losing another part of his family. Lena stared at him for a while longer before she turned away so that she could fix her jacket and double check to make sure that he gun was correctly loaded.
"Besides. Shouldn\'t you have more trust in my abilities since you think that I will be able to take over for you in the future? If you don\'t think I\'m capable of doing this, then that means you probably don\'t think that I can really handle taking in your place." She knew that it was probably a mean card to play with her father, but she hoped that it would get across the point that she was trying to make with him.
"I don\'t doubt in your ability to take over after me." He replied with pursed lips.
"I just don\'t like my daughter going into an unknown situation with little protection or cover to protect her if something unexpected happens." He explained.
"I have plenty of protect and cover. Look, I\'m taking all the proper precautions before I leave and making sure that I\'m not forgetting anything important. I\'m taking these two with me and there\'s hardly anyone else that compare to them in their skills and ability to do their job." The princess replied as she reinserted the cartridge into her hand gun after making sure it was full. She slipped it into the inside pocket of her jacket.
"Plus, if anything were to go wrong, it wouldn\'t really matter the number of people who came with if it turned into an ambush. If anything it would just make things more complicated and hard to keep track of plus increase the risk of loss versus if just the three of us go." Her reasoning wasn\'t wrong, but it didn\'t make him feel better.
"You\'re also going to be a better service to me if you\'re here and I need anything because you will be able to handle the situation more rationally than you would if you were with me and anything happened to go wrong. Leo and Julian can\'t lead with the same level headed clearness that you can when the situation calls for it." Hester nodded his head from where he was working with his computer as a sign that he was agreeing with what the princess was saying.
"Alright." He conceded with a sigh as he closed his eyes. Opening them he fixed his daughter with a heavy stare.
"But if there\'s so much as one scratch on you when you come back, I can\'t promise that it won\'t result in a blood bath." She knew that it was a very serious threat coming from him but she waved it off with her hand as away of telling him that he didn\'t need to go that far.
"If anything like that happens, it\'s likely that I will have already handle everything myself and there\'ll be no need to get involved. Jovani is the only target I\'m interested in if anything happens and Russo if he happens to be involved as well." She explained to him. The unspoken part was how that would work out since Jovani at least was genuinely family with Samuel. Which complicated matters a certain amount.
Unlike his father, Leo opted for giving his sister a hug when came down.
"You can\'t let anything happen to you anyways because I wouldn\'t be left with any sibling to antagonize if you\'re not around." His comment caused her to roll her eyes even though she knew that he was joking.
"If that\'s all you really care about, there are plenty of other people in the family for you to antagonize while you\'re still here." She told as she gave him a less enthusiastic hug back.
"But one is quite as fun as you are. My older sister has the best reaction to things that get on her nerves. No one else can replace that." He insisted as he pulled away from her and looked at her face. She didn\'t seem to be very amused even though he was trying to make the situation lighter.
"It\'s not like it\'s my funeral yet. Don\'t make it sound like I\'m going to already need to be replaced before anything even happens." She told her younger brother who smiled at her.
"Absolutely not but it never hurts to add some incentive to make sure you have additional reasons to take sure you come back safely. With Samuel as well because I quite like him and I\'m not sure so I would be willing to approve of anyone else." Lena paused for a second when he said this before a bitter smile appeared on her face.
"Well as it stands, there might be someone else who has to approve of the engagement before we can move further it. So you might want to be careful of what you say before everything was." Leo was going to ask what she meant by that but didn\'t get a chance before her phone buzzed, a sign that she had received a text. Most likely from Jovani which meant that it was about time for everything to start.