Chapter 401 Fitting
Samuel didn't like how things moved, but Marcus wouldn't have any of it. The man was determined to act as though he were in charge so long as Jovani was out of commission. Where was the man anyway?
"We don't have time to be fussing about the small stuff. You have been here long enough that we must move ahead with the next steps." Marcus repeated the same thing over and over. He didn't care what objections his cousin had. Things were going to go the way he wanted them.
Cain had snuck away. Perhaps to do what Marcus bide him to or vanish before something worse happened. Even the well-seasoned mercenary could smell the danger and death surrounding the other Vedova Nera cousin. Only his younger self would have been fool enough to stick around, knowing the threat level.
"And I already told you once, if Lena isn't going to be there, I'm not going through with this." Samuel refused to rise from the seat. Legs and arms crossed as he leaned back in the wing-backed chair. Richard stood to the far back of the room, cigar in hand, watching Marcus pace.
"You're not in a position to be the one making demands. Not until you go through with this. If Lena Scarlet doesn't want to come, take it as a sign that she doesn't care about you enough." Marcus spat the Red Scorpion princess's name. His passive features shifted to barely hidden frustration as he marched over to where Samuel sat once more.
"Sammy. There are rules you must follow if you're going to be here. Rules state that you must go through this process if you want to be here." Unlike Jovani, Marcus would have already made sure it happened. Except, he hadn't been the one to win the game—unfair shit of a cheating cousin.
"I already told you why she can't be here. Emergencies within allies shouldn't be reasons to outcast them." Samuel stood his ground, head lowered slightly as he met Marcus's gaze with determination.
"Allies? Since when was the Red Scorpion family our allies? I never remember them being there for us when we needed them. A performative engagement doesn't suddenly make us chummy pals." Marcus scoffed, one hand reaching forward to take ahold of Samuel's shirt collar. If he didn't go about doing as he was asked, Marcus would have to make him do it.
"Marcus. It would be best if you took your hand off him. You might think you're in charge right now, but that doesn't give you a right to treat family that way." Marcus's gaze shifted over to the other mafioso standing in the corner.
"And it would be best to remember your place right now, Dicky. Indeed this is a family matter. One in which you have no right to interject." Marcus was about to continue with what he was doing until a smaller hand grabbed ahold of his own.
"Richard is right. Even if you are in charge, you can't go about roughing your way to make everyone do as you want." Emily took that moment to interject as she pulled Marcus's hand off Samuel.
"Everyone here is family, Marcus. We should start acting like it again if you'll be here." Something about seeing the petite Vedova Nera girl caused Marcus to freeze; a soft look crossed his features for a brief second. Affection? Samuel didn't know if that was the right word, but it seemed something close to that.
"Come on, Marcus. We used to be much better at doing this right when we were younger. Why don't we go back to that?" Emily tried to coax the other. Even as strong a fighter as she was, she knew better than to underestimate what Marcus was capable of.
When Marcus decided to reach a hand forward, the whole room was filled with silence. Fearing to take a breath, uncertain what the other would do. A pin could have been heard dropping a mile away. The room was even too afraid to breathe out of fear of what the unstable man would choose to do.
"Em. Even you know that was all quite some time ago. things have changed quite a bit since then." Marcus's voice remained soft, a hand gently touching his female cousin's cheek. Surprisingly, she avoided wincing against the touch though her eyes fluttered slightly. Samuel looked like he wanted to interject, but one finger shift on her free hand was enough to keep him from moving.
"We can't all go about back to being as soft as we used to be. The stakes have changed. You, of all people, should be able to understand that well. It wouldn't fit us anymore " Emily simply nodded in response to his comment.
"I know what you're saying, Marcus. I don't think that means we have to treat family that way. We all did promise back then that no matter what happened, that part of us wouldn't change." She gently patted his hand that was touching her face. She wasn't thrilled about having it there, but moving it might cause the wrong reaction from her unpredictable cousin.
"That is one place where you are wrong, Em. Samuel isn't family yet. Everything that I am working to is to ensure that he safely becomes family before something happens." With these words, he gently pushed the other away and turned his attention back to Samuel.
"It means that even if this one doesn't agree with not having everyone here, we must go through with it." Marcu moved to grab ahold of Samuel once more until Emily physically put herself between them.
"And we will make sure to take care of everything the way it needs to be done. Just... not right yet. Rushing things could put us in the wrong position." The petite woman continued to try and reason with her much larger cousin.
The man could have easily brushed her aside and across the room if he wanted to. That much was evident by the scuffle between him and Richard. If not for the fact that he'd been the one to train Marcus, Richard would have ended up in much worse condition than a few bruises.
"Why don't we take tonight to go over everything and consider the best options moving forward." Emily moved herself to try and push the other back slightly. A gentle hand on the chest and her feet planted firmly were enough to make this happen. The irrational man willingly took steps back to match the force Emily used on him. An act that surprised everyone in the room.
What about the petite woman caused such an effect on Marcus?
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