Samuel hoped that by the time that he walked back into the office that he looked more like his normal self then he felt he did when the call had ended.

"Is everything okay with your family?" Lena asked he was sitting back down in front of the financial documents that he needed to finish going through.

​​

"Yeah, it was just about the dynamics of who would be coming to the engagement party and about how they didn't think that my grandparents would be able to make it due to their health. My aunt and uncle were considering coming though." He explained, hoping that it sounded like a plausible enough of a life for the time being.

"I don't mind if your parents or siblings come, but I would prefer if your aunt and uncle weren't here. I don't like them very much and I doubt that they would anything beneficial to the event. They would only be interested in something to brag about most likely." Lena told him, a slightly annoyed look on her face when she said this. Buying his uncle's company was something that she would have to talk with him about soon.

"I'm surprised that you were able to tell that my much about my aunt just from meeting once." Samuel said in response to her comment.

"Observation is a good skill for survival. Plus, the type of person is isn't really that hard to read." Lena replied brushing it off as though it was something simply.

"It's ultimately up to you and your parents whether or not you want them to come, but I just want my preference for the event to be noted. I also don't think that there's any benefit from having too many of your family members from the outside attending the event that don't need."

"I'll bring it up to my mom the next time we talk and see if there is something that we can work out so that they won't come. If not, I'll just ask her to tell them that only my parents had been invited and no other family members." He told her as he tried to get back to focusing on the work he needed to do in front of him. It was a little bit difficult with all of the thoughts that were going through his head.

He really wanted to ask him mother about what was going on or if she really knew who this J was, but he felt conflicted after what he heard. His mother had always been so open with him about almost everything, both his parents had which is what made it hard for him to believe that she would hide such a big secret from him and maybe even his father.

But what if she denied it if he did ask but then he found out it was true? In a way, for Samuel that would feel even worse than if he came to her about it after finding out if it was something to worry about or not. It wasn't like he could call her right then and there to ask about it with Lena being around.

Whether it was true or not, it was still a family matter as far as he was concerned and not something he wanted to involve the princess with until he fully found out what was going and either talked with this J or his mother and got clarity about what was going on.

The only thing that he could really do for the time being was to focus on the work in front of him and decide in three days whether he was going to chose to continue talking with this J or if he would ask him mother about it.

While Samuel was absorbed in his thoughts and only partly paying attention to the work that he was trying to do, he was also unaware of the fact that Lena was keeping an eye on him. She could tell that there was something more going on with her fiancé than what he was telling her. Her initial instinct was to badger him about it until he told her what was going, but she decided against it as similar to what her father had been dealing with, she didn't know if it was paranoia that something bad was lurking around the corner with everything else that they had been dealing with recently.

The meeting that had been held so late after they had left the hospital from visiting Clive was due to two of the men working with her family had been killed on opposite sides of their boarders and a supply had gone missing somewhere in-between all of that. The most vexing part of the situation was that they had no leads as to who was behind it.

It was job that had been done to make a point, but it had been done so well that there were no clues or marks left that would indicate who would've been behind the attack. Which was why Julian was so frustrated when he got the call while at the hospital. His usually connections that could help out in these situations were drawing a blank as well.

It had been years since anyone dared to kill in or near their territory. Since Zane had taken over the number of killings that used to happen had decreased significantly. Mostly because he changed policies and reasons as to what counted as an acceptable motive or consequence to kill rather than serve a different type of punishment.

Lena intended to maintain the route that her father was taking as she didn't have any objections about. She would take someone's life if it was absolutely necessary, but she didn't agree that transgressions within the main or lesser families should be paid with a life. There were other options that were just as effective for teaching people what happened if they stepped out of line.

"I found some more spread sheets where the numbers aren't matching up. These are more recent though. Which I guess would indicate that whoever is behind this feels comfortable enough to continue it over the last few months." Samuel's voice interrupted her thoughts and brought her attention back to what was going on at the office.

"Are the numbers just as bad as the other ones were?" She asked holding out her hand to look at the papers he was bringing her.

"Some of them are. Others are much smaller numbers, but there still doesn't seem to be any kind of pattern as to who might be behind this." He replied as he handed her papers he had marked up so that it would be easier for her to see what he was talking about.

"Hopefully I will have a solution to finding out that problem next week." The princess told him as she looked over the money. Even though she was certain that the problem would be solved soon enough, she was still annoyed by the amount of money that had been stolen in the meantime. Most of which she would be surprised if she could easily get back.

She knew that if she didn't get it taken care of soon enough, her father would step in to try and create a solution to the problem which she didn't want yet because it would indicate that she was losing a percentage of the power she had over the company. Although it wasn't uncommon for businesses to deal with this type of problem, she didn't want to affect the amount of power she had in the company or how people treated her because her father was getting involved again. She still had a lot of work still to do to make the rest of the board trust that it was right to put a woman in charge of the company.

"What kind of solution?" Samuel asked thinking that it was something that she could perhaps talk with him about.

"I found two people who I think would be a good fit to join the company and keep an eye on what's going on around here. They both have hacking skills as well which would come in handy if needed to find out who has been moving money around." The princess replied as she set the papers down.

"You're going to trust someone from the outside to come in and deal with this?" He asked rather surprised to hear this. He knew she had mentioned before to James her secretary that she wanted to find someone who could help deal with the problem, but he had been under the impression that it would be someone from within the family, not an outsider.

"Of course, but only because they are reliable and come with good recommendations. We have our own process for finding and hiring the people that we need in order to do odd jobs. I still have to interview them first but that will happen later next week." She replied standing up from her desk.

"For now though, we're going to leave here and get something to eat. We haven't been here long yet, but we didn't get lunch either and we probably won't be home until later for dinner."

"You mean going out somewhere to eat?" Samuel asked slightly confused, the princess had never taken him out to eat anywhere before.

"Yes, do you have a problem with that?" She asked as she grabbed her phone to make sure that Jeff was back already from dropping her father off before they left the office. If he wasn't, they would have to wait longer.

"No, it's just you haven't done it before." Samuel replied with a slight shake of his head.