Julian wasn't in the mood to be bothered after arguing with the doctors regarding his brother's care. All the shit about secondary options and potential problems put him in an overly sour mood—the kind the other hardly found himself in. Even in the most suffocating of situations, Julian somehow managed to keep his spirits up. However, nothing he tried worked the same way it used to fix his mood.
Why did Zane refuse to come back to the land of the living? Indeed, all the people should've been fighting the hardest to return. There was far too much at stake for him to give up now! Instances of similar past experiences flashed through Julian's mind as he knocked back the last coffee. This hadn't been the first, tenth, or fiftieth time that Zane had flirted with death. How hard could it have been for him to bounce back again?
The steady beeping machinery hinted that it was more complicated than Julian thought was possible. No matter how many hours and days passed, the beeping refused to cease echoing around the white-walled prison holding Julian's last whole-blood relative. The thought caused a lump to build in his throat. Fuck! Julian tossed the paper cup across the room in a rather uncharacteristic manner. The noiseless way it hit the ground didn't provide the solace he'd hoped for.
"I take it that right now isn't the best of times to intrude?" Julian's head snapped in the direction of Lena's voice. How long had she been standing there? The princess entered the room and picked up the paper cup without saying anything.
"I wouldn't be back already if it wasn't for the fact that another matter needs your attention." Lena dropped the cup into the trash and watched as the nearly empty trash bag engulfed it. Hm. She was helplessly being engulfed felt like a very fitting description of the recent events. Lena and Julian's eyes met for a brief second as she stepped over to her father's bed. The brief exchange signaled a silent understanding that Lena wouldn't be asking.
"What kind of issue? Surely not anything else that has to deal with the family?" He didn't think anyone else was left back at the estate to worry about. Unless she meant Samuel's family, Jovani took care of that already.
A brief silence filled the room that was broken by the princess clicking her tongue against her teeth.
"It doesn't directly involve the family. Not in a current sense, at least. What would you say if I mentioned Dino Lawson?" The name hardly left her lips before a heavy silence filled the room. The hair on the back of Lena's neck even reacted to the tension flowing off her uncle.
"Dino Lawson? That is a name that hasn't been spoken for quite some time. What purpose does it serve to invoke it now of all times? I do hope you're not considering working with him." Lena's head tilted slightly as she faced her uncle.
"If I was?" The question came as a testing of the waters. The brief flux of anger that flowed off Julian proved to be enough of an answer. After all, she had been quite a bit younger back when Dino had been around. She had been remembered everything that had taken place except for the emotions that passed between her uncle and father.
"I have no plans of working with him. I do also remember what happened back then. However, he thought it would be a good idea to stop by now because I don't know how he managed to find out what hospital we are staying at." Was Dino Lawson in the same space as them? Right at that very moment?
Lena found herself somewhat taken aback by the look of murder that passed through Julian's eyes. Why? He'd not even given such an expression back when they were talking with the direction. A man directly linked to the family had been responsible for the death of Julian's sister-in-law.
"Did he say why he decided to show up here?" Would Julian kill the other man if Lena answered honestly? The princess weighed this thought for a second as she watched her father. What would he do? Probably something worse.
"He said something about thinking that we might need some help. Putting past matters behind us and coming together to make something better out of everything happening." Julian fixed Lena with a hard-to-read expression as he stood up from the chair. Did Dino mean that some joke? Did he have no understanding of the consequences of his past actions?
"Gabrielle is keeping an eye on him for right now. You'll find that you're not the only person who wanted to do something about him immediately." Lena was included in that, but Julian surely already knew that. If Zane had been awake, Dino wouldn't have been able to breathe for one second, let alone talk, before Zane would've dealt with him. His niece took after his brother, after all.
"And where is Gabrielle right now? I thought that she would want to be staying around here." Lena pulled her eyes off her father to pay more attention to her uncle. No amount of staring was going to get her father to wake up. If it were, Zane would've already been back on his feet between her and her uncle in less than a day.
"Leo's room. I had been visiting him when Gabrielle came in to report back to him. Dino decided to show up right before she intended to leave." Lena didn't have to think before she reached to grab her uncle's arm to stop him from leaving.
Killing Dino was the only thing on his mind. The same thought crossed Lena's mind. Lena wasn't done speaking to him yet, and he needed to hear everything she wanted before he stormed out.
It only took five minutes to realize what an error that would be. The kind of error the princess needed to relay to her uncle.
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