Chapter 164 - Like Himself

It was during the pause in this conversation that Leo decided to make his presence known. Without anyone saying anything he could tell how intense his situation was and decided that it was a good time to interject for them to have lunch.

"Why don't we take a break from all this seriousness to go to go eat a late lunch? I think Ryan even took the time to make something sweet for this occasion considering everything that has been going on." He chose to cut into the conversation because he knew his father would have been pleased that the Princess was worrying about such things while she was still injured. He knew in home mind that it was an important conversation to have but not one that needs to take place during that exact moment in time.

"Oh? Is this the younger brother I've heard about but haven't had a chance to meet yet?" Jovani asked as he tilted his head back to better assess the younger man. Looking the other over you could see some of the similarities between him and the Princess facial features in the looking's eyes. However, he could also see how the other looked a lot like his father Zane which led him to believe that perhaps the Princess had gotten more of her looks from her mother. Leo regarded the other man with an odd look in his eyes it was a mixture between interest and annoyance which is unusual for the younger man who generally got annoyed by very little.

"And you must be the man from the Vedova Nera family who was responsible for the recent issues we've been having to deal with." While he certainly didn't hold as much hostility told Jovani as Lena did, Leo didn't feel the need to show him much kindness either considering he was the one who ended up causing both Samuel and Lena to return hurt.

"Well now, I can see I'm getting quite the reputation for being that person." Jovani replied with a touch of amusement in his voice."

"You only have yourself to blame for that." Lena replied before turning her attention to Leo who was still focused on Jovani.

"Did Ryan say what exactly he made?" Leo looked up from the other to give his attention back to his sister.

"He didn't, but he said he thought it would be something that you'd quite like." The younger brother replied, his attention suddenly being caught by the pocketknife that Jovani had picked back up to place back into his pocket.

"He'd show it to you if you were interested in it." Samuel commented when noticed what caught Leo's eyes.

"Maybe another time." The younger brother replied as he looked away from it. He couldn't deny that he was interested in it, but lunch was waiting and Zane wanted to make sure that Lena was going to be coming to eat as well since her appetite wasn't fully back yet.

"Perhaps when I come to visit next time?" Jovani suggested with a smile.

"Considering we are going to be family soon. I would like to get to know the brother of my cousin's fiancé as well as the rest of the family I'm starting to get to know."

"That's only if Lena allows you to be invited back after all this." Leo replied as he walked over to where his sitting was still sitting on the futon.

"It's going to be unavoidable probably." She admitted even though the thought of it made her grimace. Jovani honestly wasn't that horrible of a person. The princess was one who didn't easily let go of a grudge once someone had hurt her family. If Jovani wanted her to accept him, he was going to have to do a lot to make her change her opinion of him.

"I'll be busy a lot at first, but you can be certain of the fact that I wouldn't miss the engagement party for the world." He replied as he looked at Samuel with a warm smile.

"Why does it seem like you care so much about someone you've hardly met?" Lena finally asked as she stood up. Another one of the questions that had been bothering her for a while now.

"Simple- I'm happy to have someone decent within my family that I can be to close to again." Jovani replied.

"Growing up at a time when the family was a mess, it was hard to find people to be close with once everyone got older. They either did their own thing or they left. The closeness that most of us had as children disappeared by the time we became teens." He explained. As he stood up. Turning around, he held out his hand to help Samuel stand up. He thanked him for the assistance as he stood up.

The unspoken part that Jovani didn't want to say as he looked at his younger cousin was that Samuel reminded him of himself when he was younger. Although he grew up as part of the Vedova Nera family, he didn't have to worry about working too deeply within the family until he hit sixteen because of how far down he was in the family line.

He was only taught as much as he needed to in order to navigate the world, but the only thing that was expected of him was not to say the wrong thing to those outside of the family and to respect the code that the Vedova Nera lived by. Beyond that, he was pretty much left to do his own thing and the skills he learned were the ones that he specifically picked out to each himself.

Once everything had started to fall apart around the family however, Jovani was one of the ones to step up along with his cousin Marcus in trying to fix things and keep it stable.. He wasn't entirely keen on bringing Samuel into everything since he was ultimately an outsider and would have a lot to learn, but he knew it was the better choice than risking Marcus doing anything that would turn into a regrettable action in the future.