Gina Orange is half-Sokovian and half-American, but she grew up in Sokovia.
The family had been barons for generations and even had royal connections in the last few generations.
However, Sokovia no longer follows the system of Tsarist monarchy. Its official name internationally is the Republic of Sokovia.
Moreover, the country has long been plagued by internal conflicts, with various military groups competing for control.
The meddling and support from various foreign countries have made this small Eastern European nation rarely experience peace.
The so-called national leader is essentially just the head of a larger military faction.
Over centuries, the family accumulated status and resources, which still grants them a higher position inside Sokovia.
However, compared to the new, more aggressive people coming in, her family couldn't really compete.
Therefore, Gina's father or Luca's maternal grandfather was mistreated by others in Sokovia. After going through a lot, he decided to move to the United States to build a better life.
After months of adjusting, he also established what is now known as Orange Industries in the U.S.
Gina even went to college in the U.S. It was during her time studying at M.I.T. that Gina and Herman met and fell in love.
However, entering a foreign market wasn't as easy as they thought.
After the initial phase of aggressively expanding Orange Industries with money, the company stopped growing and even started to struggle.
By then, it was too late to go back to Sokovia and manage the ancestral estate because things had changed too much there, and they no longer had a place.
It wasn't until Luca's maternal grandfather and grandmother both died in an accident that things changed.
Not long after marrying Herman, Gina made a bold and determined decision to take over the company.
She took over the company and chose to leave her family's past in Sokovia behind, completely abandoning everything her family had built over centuries in Sokovia and focusing on building a future in the U.S.
Luckily, with Gina's exceptional business knowledge and Herman's outstanding scientific research abilities, Orange Industries finally found its footing and began to stabilize.
The real breakthrough came a few years ago when Herman's patented analysis chip technology secured a subcontracting order for weapons components from Stark Industries.
That marked the start of a period of rapid growth for the company. The whole family, along with the company headquarters, relocated to New York.
Of course, later on, something unexpected happened.
Stark Industries suddenly decided to stop making weapons—not only did this cause massive layoffs within its own company, but it also devastated the entire downstream supply chain.
Orange Industries, which had already begun transitioning and had converted 70% of its factories to customized equipment, nearly went bankrupt.
In fact, after Stark Industries canceled the deal four years ago, Gina managed to pull some strings and struck a deal with Hammer Industries, which, at the time, was rapidly rising due to having acquired a significant amount of resources.
Well... everyone knows how that turned out.
During the Stark Expo, Hammer Industries' supposedly "self-developed" army of combat drones went rogue, resulting in Justin Hammer being sent to prison.
Afterward, the military and other companies took over most of Hammer Industries, leaving behind only the company's name and a shell of its former self, barely hanging on.
Naturally, a small company like Orange Industries got caught in the crossfire once again.
In short, after learning more about his own company through Samira, Luca could only say:
'If the company still hasn't gone under after all that, then Gina is truly a force to be reckoned with!'
Even though the Orange family has been living and working in the U.S. for years and no longer holds significant power in Sokovia, their history and the legacy they built over hundreds of years isn't so easily erased.
Moreover, Gina, who grew up in Sokovia, had actually served in the Sokovian military for a long time before graduating from university and taking over the company.
So whether it was her former comrades-in-arms or loyal forces secretly developed by the family, it's not surprising that she still had a few people she could completely trust.
Take Samira, for example—her family had served the Orange family for generations, and she had also been Gina's comrade during their time in the military.
Over the past few days, aside from the information and documents left behind by his parents, Luca has learned a lot about the company thanks to Samira's help.
He suspected there might be other, more deeply hidden backup forces, but because Gina is still in a coma, they may have simply lost contact for the time being.
Now that he was sure these people could be trusted, Luca didn't hesitate any longer.
He had always believed that once the foundation for trust was laid, the rest could be strengthened over time through shared interests and mutual support.
Therefore, he went ahead and asked Samira directly.
"How long will it take for the people you mentioned to get here? Do they need identities or equipment prepared in advance?"
Luca asked.
After all, Samira had previously mentioned that the team usually operated overseas most of the time.
If they couldn't get back soon, Luka couldn't just sit around waiting, and he still needed bodyguards now.
This time, however, Samira responded promptly.
"Three days at most. Those guys have been operating near the Mexican border recently. If things go smoothly, they could all arrive as early as tomorrow. In fact, they've been following the news from New York. When they couldn't reach Mrs. Orange, they contacted me. It's just that... Mrs. Orange's condition is still uncertain, so I advised them to remain on standby."
Sensing that Luca might misunderstand, Shamira quickly added:
"I don't really have the power to order them around. I just help Mrs. Orange stay in touch with them sometimes for missions. They probably took the initiative to reach out to me instead when contact was lost."
Luca nodded in understanding.
He knew that Shamira had likely refrained from acting earlier because she hadn't yet confirmed his mother's condition. She had probably chosen to delay any non-critical decisions until Gina woke up.
Luka understood that Samira probably hadn't told him everything earlier because she wasn't sure about his mom's condition.
She wanted to wait until Gina woke up before making any decisions. That was likely why she hadn't explained everything to him directly.
He took a breath and started giving clear instructions:
"First, assign someone to investigate the background of the group protecting my uncle..."
"I'll try not to go out as much as possible over the next few days. Also, make sure there are at least two people assigned to protect my mother. And postpone all meetings with those trust fund representatives and lawyers who came knocking earlier. They can contact me again after all this is settled."
Luca calmly issued his follow-up orders while pulling out his phone to check his messages.
Suddenly...
The car, which had been driving along smoothly, suddenly screeched to a violent break.
The loud, screeching sound of tires filled the air.
At the same time, Luca heard Samira's voice with urgency:
"Young master, watch out!"