Chapter 100

“You’re up early.” I smiled at Christian and leaned against the door while he gave Siena a bottle.

“Me or her?” He laughed. She had been screaming the entire night and it was all because she wanted attention. “It’s because you spoil her too much,” I told him. “Your daughter is a drama queen.”

“Take it back,” Christian spoke, but this time it wasn’t in his usual mocking tone and he lacked an awful amount of energy. “Are you sure your dad is okay?”

The look on Christian’s face had changed and he seemed tense. “Serena, what part of he’s dying don’t you understand?” He spoke annoyed. He hadn’t spoken to me in that tone for months.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that I asked you yesterday and you told me he was okay, I sighed as I was not in the mood to argue. “I know, I’m sorry-I didn’t mean it like that.” He apologized. –

“You haven’t closed an eye since yesterday, just go and sleep while I take care of her,”

He took care of her the entire night to make sure I got my full hours of sleep and followed the same.

routine for months now. I didn’t mind because he was always eager to spend time with Siena and it was his duty, but this time it was different. The look on his face was different, “Are you angry with me because I let Gina hold the baby yesterday?” I asked him as I tried to get to the bottom of his issue. “What, no!” Christian spoke in defense.

“I’m not angry with you, I’m just stressed out about my dad.” He finally decided to open up. “The man I saw yesterday, was not the same strong man who raised me. He looks weak.”

“I would like to hug you and tell you that everything will be alright, but we both know it won’t and I don’t want to start something between us.” I let out my honest feelings. At the moment Christian was just as vulnerable as he was when I met him, and I did not want to push him. I did not want to go back to the past.

“Serena, don’t say that. Just looking at you and Siena makes my day better.” Christian smiled as he looked. down at her. The true key to his happiness was Siena and perhaps even the glue to our relationship.

Sometimes I couldn’t help but wonder how things would’ve been if we didn’t have her, but to be fair Christian and I were complete opposites and wouldn’t even be together if it wasn’t for her. We just happened to fall in love with each other and it was all thanks to Siena.

“Any plans for today?” I asked Christian. “I was going to visit my dad with Siena because he really wants to see her, but I don’t know if I want to see him,” Christian spoke.

“There’s no good way to put it but he’s dying. What do you mean, you don’t want to see him?” I disagreed with his unfortunate words.

“I don’t know. I want to see him and I want to be there for him, and I thought I’d prepared myself for the worst-but don’t feel good at all and I just need some time for myself.”

“It’s a good thing you’ve noticed it now because that means you won’t be taking out your anger on me.” I sighed relieved and grabbed Siena from his arms.

“Where’s your assistant, did you fire her?” I asked after noticing Gina wasn’t here yet. Christian chuckled. and shook his head. “I told her to take a day off, I don’t feel like working or seeing her.”

Of course, he didn’t, he had been working so hard and on the day he finally got some time off his night. got ruined. “You know what, you go and get some sleep and I’ll take Siena to Lucio.” I offered.

“Siena, do you want to visit grandpa?” I asked her. Siena giggled and buried her face in my neck.

“You see? She really wants to go to grandpa.”

“How will I survive the day without my Siena?” Christian spoke with a sad smile on his face.

Christian was the kind of person to think that not seeing Siena for a few hours made him a bad parent, while it didn’t. I remember how Luna used to worry about whether or not Christian would be able to be a good parent, but he proved everyone wrong.

“I’ll take her for the day so you can rest,” I reassured him.

He had an unsure look on his face, but agreed to it anyway. “You’ll feel better once you get some sleep. trust me, I promised him.

Not long after, Vernon drove me to the Lamberti estate. The housemates and guards seemed sad and if I wouldn’t know any better I would’ve assumed Lucio was already died.

Even Francesca who was always loud and jumpy seemed down and had eye bags under her eyes.

“Siena!” She squealed and gave her kisses. “She’s such a happy baby, reminds me of Christian!”-

“Well, that’s not something positive.” I laughed as I thought about Christian’s previous stone-cold behavior. Whatever it was at that time, I was hoping for it to pass Siena.

“Cesca, are you okay?” I gathered my courage to ask her. There was one thing no one questioned and that was her love for Lucio. The two had a habit of bickering back and forth, but at the end of the day, they were a team and a power couple.

“I’m fine.” Cesca smiled through her obvious pain. “You should take her upstairs, I know it’ll make Lucio feel better.” She spoke and grabbed Siena from my hands as we made our way upstairs.

“How is he?”

“Considering the circumstances, he’s actually doing fine.” Francesca answered. “He’s been put on bed rest, but you know how he gets.” She spoke before she opened the door to the bedroom.

Lucio laid in bed, but after hearing Siena’s babbles he sat up. “Is that my Lucia?”

“Siena, it’s grandpa!” Cesca told her and sat her down on Lucio’s lap. “She’s so big already!” He spoke as he attacked her with kisses.

“Serena, sit!” He guided me to the seat next to him. Cesca had already left the room, making it even more obvious that the two were not on any speaking turns. “Siena, where is daddy?” Lucio asked her.

“He’s home, he looked exhausted.” I lied to make him feel better, but Lucio was much smarter than that and just by the look on his face I could tell that he knew what was really going on. “It’s because he doesn’t want to see me like this, right?”

“He pretends to be okay, but he’s obviously not. I sighed, but Lucio ignored my words and was too busy playing with Siena. “My Lucia is a really happy baby, always smiling.” He praised her.

“Serena, I’m glad you’re here-I want to talk with you.” He spoke in a serious tone. In my head, I was already making up different scenarios as to why he would like to talk with me. Was he going to tell me that I was not good enough to be a Lamberti?

“I want to apologize to you, I owe you an apology and I never gave you one-but I’m so sorry for everything I put you and my Lucia through.” Lucio grabbed my hand and looked me in the eyes.

“Because of my own fear I tried to push Christian away from you. I said you were like my daughter but I abandoned you to keep my family safe. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay, it’s a long time ago.” I told him and leaned in to kiss his cheek. “Look, Siena also doesn’t mind”” I pointed to the laugh on her face.

“Listen, there’s another thing” Lucio sighed. “These next few weeks are going to be really hard for Christian, but I need to prepare him to take over.”

“I know-he won’t be a home that much, don’t worry about it.” I chuckled. It was something we had already discussed in the past and one of the main reasons why he wanted to be around Siena while he still could. It was unfortunate, but it wasn’t anything we could prevent “When things get rough, Christian has a habit of pushing people away-and I’m not saying you should accept it, but please be there for him.” Lucio requested with a desperate look on his face.

“I will don’t worry!”

His words were worrisome and made me anxious. I did not want Christian to push me away. I wanted him to be there for me and I wanted to be there for him-but this time things were different.

This time I knew. what to do and what not to do, to prevent all of that from happening.

“Dad, I’m here!” Marc suddenly burst through the door. “Oh sorry, I didn’t know you had a visitor?”

“It’s okay.” I told Marc and guided for him to come over. It was amazing to see how almost everyone, including Johnny and Luca, called Lucio dad, even if he wasn’t their biological dad-he was a warm man and a father figure. Yes, he made his mistakes-but that did not changed my opinion.

Siena babbled and moved her knees up and down while she reached out her tiny hands to Marc.

“My little demon baby, she’ll be walking tomorrow!” Marc spoke as he picked her up from Lucio’s lap.

“She can’t even crawl yet.” I giggled.

“She’s just like Christian when he was four months old, happy, cheerful, smart, and strong.” Lucio smiled. “Wait?” Marc suddenly gasped and grabbed my hand. “Did he propose to you?”

“Yes, he did-I’m just as shocked as you are.” I laughed and looked down at the ring. He had always.

introduced me as his fiancée and made it clear that he was marrying me someday, but even I did not expect a real proposal.

“Interesting.” Marc chuckled. “Interesting, but congratulations.”

“Interesting?” I wondered. Lucio grabbed my arm and gave Marc a look as a way of telling him to shut up. “Yes, he meant interesting that Christian has turned soft. Interesting that he has turned his life around and wants to be the best version of himself for you and Siena. Isn’t that right Marc?”

“Yes, yes that.” Marc podded his head and focused his attention on Siena, “So where is the Gina girl?”

“His assistant? She’s at home, Christian told her to stay home for the day.” I told him. Just by hearing her name Lucio grew a smile on his face. He liked her just as much as I did, which was not that difficult. There weren’t many genuinely good people on this planet, but Gina was one of them.

“She’s helped Christian so much-without her, he wouldn’t even have that much time to spend with Siena, and I don’t want him to turn out like me,” Lucio spoke.

Be a better parent than your dad. Those were the words he said to Christian and they definitely came through to him. While everyone expected Christian to become a cold and lacking father, I knew that it wouldn’t be the case because he didn’t want Siena to go through the same thing.

“Anyway, Marc, what brings you here?” Lucio asked him.

“I came here to tell you the Orlando’s son invited you over for dinner,” Marc told him. “Do you want me to call them off?”

“No, absolutely not!”

“I think they want to see if I’m on the verge of dying, but I’m not-so we’ll go.” Lucio growled.

“Good, I’ll inform Christian. That Orlando kid told me to make sure to also relay the message to Christian and Serena.” Marc spoke and gave me a weird look. “I understand Christian, but I don’t know what Serena has to do with it.”

“Hmm, me neither.” Lucio went into deep thoughts. “Maybe they want to see who they’re dealing with?”

“Yes, that must be it.” Marc shrugged his shoulders. “It’s in two days, so you have more than enough time to get back on your feet.”

“Dario and his father seem like nice people, but he comes off as extremely pushy.” Marc chuckled.

“And besides that, the Orlando’s came here with a purpose so I’m sure it’s all an act.” That name….

Of course, I recognized it, it was the name of the guy from the grocery store. Stop stressing Serena —It can’t be, I told myself as I tried to remain positive. But how many Dario’s were there who were new in town?

And his words…

“Serena Alfonzo?”

“You know what they say, if it’s meant to be it will be.”

I almost choked on my own spit after remembering his words as I finally put two and two together. It was him, it had to be him.

My one minute crush and the handsome man from the grocery store was an Orlando.

Christian’s rival.