Arranged Marriage To The Princess Of The Red Scorpions

"Before we change conversation there is one thing that I want to know about." Lena said as she sat up from where she had been laying on the futon.

"And what would that be?" Jovani asked, tilting his head slightly.

"How did you know where to find Samuel on the day that you picked him up. I highly doubt that you used a tracking device of any sort considering it doesn't seem like you were nearing at him at all before that moment."

"Oh, that was actually easy to do. I had a car trailing the ones you use at the estate for a while before that point." He asked though it should've been obvious by his tone.

"And I know you're wondering how you didn't pick up on it?" The princess didn't say anything which let him know he was right so he continued speaking.

"Simple- I just used different cars with different license plates and drivers. Someone as sharp as yourself would of course be quick to pick up on the fact that the same car or driver was following you around, but if it was a different car and driver or at least different plates each day, you would be less likely to pick up on it even if you were trying to be careful."

"Since when though?" Lena pressed, that was the part that she really wanted the answer to. If he wasn't working with someone on the inside of the family, he had to have had a way to find out what type of car she drove or who to look out for as a driver.

"Why when we bumped into each other at the amusement part of course." Jovani replied, a smug smirk on his face as he said this.

"Wait you mean you were the person who returned my wallet?" Samuel asked rather surprised. How had he not picked up on that even though he had spent a lot of time talking to the other in person.

"Really, you didn't put that together until just now? I thought for sure you must've known even though it was a very brief encounter." Jovani seemed equally surprised that neither one of them had put those two pieces together. Lena tasked in response to this. Of course should've known but she hadn't been doing very well that day so even though she suspected that person, she hadn't thought it would've been Jovani. He had been dressed so casually that day and his hair was done differently that only his face would've been a giveaway, but the princess hadn't paid much attention to.

"After handing it back to you, I just waited back in the amusement park until you left and managed to snap a photo of the car you used and the driver to hand out as reference to look out for. Everyone already knew who Clive was so there was no need to worry about that because he would be easy to locate if he was driving either of you around." He continued.

"Speaking of which. I suppose now that you know that much I should give you back the picture I pinched from you." Jovani told his younger cousin as he pulled out his wallet and rummaged through it to find the picture he had taken from Samuel. As it turned out it was the photo that Samuel had been looking for after he had dropped his wallet that day.

"I thought that it must've been taken!" Samuel exclaimed as the other handed it back.

"I've had it with me for so long that I didn't think I could've left it just anywhere or back with my family. Why did you take that though?"

"Simply for protection purposes for the rest of your family." Jovani explained as he put his wallet back causing the other to give him a confused look.

"With me you don't have to worry about me trying anything underhanded with your family or anyone else you're close to. However, I cannot vouch for what kind of methods my cousin might've tried to use in order to win the bet that we had. It was honestly only by purely luck that you dropped your wallet that day which gave me an excuse to look through it before I handed you back."

"You mean to say that you've been providing protective services to his family prior to all of this happening?" Lena clarified, she didn't really like the direction that this conversation was heading now.

"Yes exactly. Of course, they don't know about it. I tried to do it carefully while respecting the fact that Evalyn hadn't told her husband or other children anything about that side of her past. At the same time however, I didn't want to leave anything to chance."

"Does that mean that I still have to worry about anything happening to my family now?" Samuel asked, concern lacing his voice. He didn't like the thought that his younger siblings might've been in trouble or his father.

"Overall, not really. Because you're officially part of the family and they know who Evalyn is, the protection will remain in place until everything with my cousin is sorted out. If your mother decides to tell her husband at least after this about what was is going on, we could more directly protect them, but that's between them to sort out." Jovani explained.

"You talk about this cousin like he's someone to really worry about. What exactly is going on between the two of you aside from this bet?" Lena asked giving him a hard look that told him she expected him to give her an honest answer about it.

"Well to put simply- he wants to be the one to take over the family, but there isn't much approval for that because of the code that he lives under. It is far harsher than the one that my side of the family agrees in and aligns more with his father's idea of how things should've been run." He answered.

"In short, he could be explained a bit of a psychopath.. Maybe sociopath, but I like to believe that he still has a bit of a conscience in him somewhere."