Arranged Marriage To The Princess Of The Red Scorpions

Lena was actually happy that Clarice had come early and was going to be taking up Sam's time for a while. It meant that she would have time to focus on other things that needed her attention, but that he couldn't yet be aware of.

She had taken the time to ask Romeo investigate into the unknown number that had called her since she got the feeling that it was no accidental phone call. She also asked him to come and fetch if her father returned earlier than he had expected to.

She also made preparations for James to come to her office to go over the people had profiled and thought would a good fit to resolve the issue of the missing money at work. She could've gone into the office, but she opted not to in favor of using the extra time it would've taken to drive there to work on a few other things that needed her attention. She really did need that extra cup of coffee. Ryan of course hadn't seen it from her perspective and was determined to not budge from his decision to withhold coffee.

The princess's answer to this work around was easy however. She just requested instead for James to bring coffee with him. A coffee that was dark and had extra expresso in it. She wasn't likely to get much sleep tonight and thus needed the caffeine to get her through the day.

"You can come in." She replied in response to the knock on her door which she presumed was James. Instead it was Romeo.

"Sorry to bother you princess, but I already have some leads on that number, of course, I need more time to be certain, however I think that it is related to the letters we have recently been receiving."

"You mean you think that it is the same person behind it?" Lena clarified as her eyes narrowed in response to hearing this.

"Correct, or someone who is working closely with them. I cannot verify this however without a few more days time and reaching out to see who else recognizes this number."

"Make it quick, but take the time that you need to do it right. Also, find out how my number got leaked. While I don't blame you, it's certainly an unacceptable breach of security for this to have occurred."

"You're absolutely correct princess, should I also inform your father of this development?" He asked as rubbed his his thumb against his left hand in a nervous fashion. Even though the princess was responding calmly, there was reason to be nervous as she was evidentially displeased that someone she didn't had somehow gotten her number. It wasn't rare for numbers of the lower staff and members to be tapped by other groups in attempts to try and persuade them to shift sides or join them instead. This however, it was a huge breach of security that could prove in the future to be dangerous.

"No, I will take care of talking with my father about it tonight. We are supposed to meet about other matters anyways. I will just tie this conversation in with that." Lena replied with a shake of her head.

"I will take my leave then princess to further look into this matter and report back to you the moment that I find out anything else important."

"Please do that. And once you find out how it happened, I will deal with it personally if it anyone here." She told him with a hard look. Betrayal such as this wasn't taken lightly.

"I understand princess." He replied before taking a step back and out of the way. He was aware that James was standing nervously behind him and thus didn't bother closing the door until after the other had entered the office.

"James. I hope that you come bringing me better news than what I just had to deal with." She greeted him as he placed the requested coffe on her desk before taking a seat in the chair on the opposite side from her.

"I do think you will be pleased with the candidates I picked. They all have good records for not only getting the job done, but for their level of loyalty as well." James replied as he opened up his suitcase and pulled out the folder that had the profiles in it.

"I did a lot of background research on them as well to make sure that there was no inconsistencies with their work. They are good at taking care of what needs to be taken care of while being discreet at the same time." He continued to explain as Lena opened the folder and started to go through them.

"What's the average price point for them?" She asked, looking over each one carefully. She trusted James judgement, but she also wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything important that he might've missed.

"Depends on how long the job is. Usually around a thousand or more an hour if it's a short job or over fifty thousand a day if it'll take some time to handle. Genson though, he's willing to barter for something of equal or greater value and in some cases he will do the job for free if he finds it to be interesting enough." James pointed to the profile that she had just stopped on. Genson seemed to have a rather impressive background history built up between being a former private detective and having extraordinary hacking skills. He also appeared to have spent some time as a con man which could be useful.

"What is his price if there isn't anything that I am willing to barter with him on?" The princess then asked. Her mind was almost made up on the fact that he was the one she would be hiring. Of course she would have to meet him first to make sure that his personality was a right fit for the job.

"Hundred and fifty thousand for job if it takes under three days. After that he'll determine the price point based upon each additional hour after that time. He's also known though for charging for extra tasks that aren't including in the initial job contract."

"He must either be a great conman or a pretty skilled man to request that type of compensation." Lena mused as she continued to look through the rest of the profiles in case there was anyone else that caught her attention.

"Does he work in pairs ever?"

"If he approves of the person, he'd be willing to do it, but he won't share pay. Thus you'd have to be willing to pay for both individually." Lena tsked when she heard this. The last person that was at the back had also caught her attention for their record and the fact that out of all them, she was a female. Pulling out the two profiles she handed them to James.

"I want you to set up a meeting with both of them for me since you know my schedule. Preferably see if you can get them at the same time as I'd like to see how that would work. If not, see what you can do to make it happen sooner. Also, where is that other business paperwork that I asked you to have to me before now?" She closed up the folder and slid it back over to his side of desk.

"Oh, I apologize princess. I have it right here with me. I actually almost forgot about it. Everything that you asked for should be right here in order." the secretary replied as he pulled out a green folder and handed it to Lena.

"Did you also find out what the potential for acquiring it would be?" She asked as she placed the folder on her desk. She would look over it later that night when she had a bit more free time.

"Potentially it could high. I ask around and talk with a few of the employees. It's certainly not doing poorly for a relatively new business, but it seems that the owner would be willing to sell if there's a chance they could make a larger profit off it than by keeping it." James replied as he put the other folder back in his suitcase before closing.

"Hm. I will go through this and look at the benefits of acquiring this business and give you a call later, be ready though to put some pressure out to see about requesting to purchase it with a fair amount of compensation and them remaining the CEO if they agree to adapt to our expectations and standards."

"As you request princess, so shall I do." James replied as he got up from his seat to take his leave.

"Good and be quick about it. If anything else comes up, inform me right away so that it can be dealt with." She replied in approval as she picked up the coffee and took. It was probably too bitter for others, but she appreciated the crisp taste of it.