Chapter 140

I knew Beau was looking out for me, but babysitting Christian would not keep him in check.

Unfortunately, that was something which he had to do by himself. “It can’t get worse than it is now, trusts me. Marc laughed.

I guess it couldn’t. You could say all of this could’ve been prevented if the video never happened, but it all started with Christian. All of this wouldn’t have happened if Christian did not cheat.

Lucio warned us about this and told us that our relationship was too risky, but he still stood behind us. He had warned us about what one bad thing in our relationship could do with the families bond, but we ignored it, and now we had to face the consequences.

“Christian’s grandpa called me his downfall.” I smiled through the pain. “He had always been so nice to me, and now he’s calling me the family’s downfall.”

“Ignore him” Marc spoke. “He’s just old-fashioned-”

“But you think he’s right?” I asked. Instead of telling me that it wasn’t true, Marc was defending Franco. “I think you can be both, but that’s not your fault. That’s his Marc spoke.

“He became so attached to you that he cannot live without you and his mood, unfortunately, depends on you.” Marc explained. “But you’re still your own person, and no one should force you to accept his crap. He cheated on you, and you handled it the correct way.”

I agree.” I spoke. Going back to Christian without making him sweat would be my own downfall. I did not want to be that person.

“Are you really thinking of getting back together, or are you giving him false hope?”

I looked at Marc and thought about his words. False hope? It wasn’t anything like that. I wanted to get. together, but I had to trust him first. I trusted him as a friend, but I was not ready to trust him in a relationship. “I want to get back together. That was not a lie.”

“Good.” Marc smiled. “But don’t you think the two of you should work out a schedule for Siena?”

“I do, but my dad-”

back “Has nothing to do with this.” Marc spoke. “It’s between you and Christian. You obviously know that he’s not going to take her away from you, so you should at least give him some rights.”

Marc was right. It had nothing to do with Matteo, and it was between the two of us-but I didn’t want to create any drama. “He’ll see her again tomorrow. It’s my weekly visit with the Lamberti’s.” I told him, but Marc seemed annoyed by my words.

“That’s not the thing. Serena” Marc spoke. “Christian is a douche, and he deserves whatever he’s getting, but he’s also Siena’s dad, and he misses her.”

“I know.” I sighed. “I’m working on it.”

“Christian went against his grandpa for you, so please tell me. What are you working on?”

Ouch The discussion created an awkward vibe which was why I kept my mouth shut for the entire drive. I didn’t want to talk about Christian, and we had nothing else to talk about..

“So we’re here,” Marc spoke after a long drive as he drove past the gates of the nursing home. My expectations were right, and it didn’t seem that different from any horror movie. “Why is my stomach doing turns?”

“It’s because it seems like we’re finally going to find out some more about Dario.” Marc sighed.

“Now, let’s go.”

We stepped out the car and made our way inside to go to the front desk. I tried to hold back my laughter as Marc’s lie shifted from seeing his old grandmother to seeing his sick aunt. “They say I’m a horrible liar. but you’re not that different from me!”

“But it worked, right?” Marc chuckled as we entered the elevator. “I do the talking, and you just sit back and look pretty.”

Before I got time to go against him, the elevator opened, and a nurse was already anticipating us.

“Are you here to see Nina? She doesn’t get that many visitors.” She smiled.

This place was as creepy as it could get, so it didn’t really surprise me at all. “Yes, poor Nina.” Marc played along. “Hopefully, she’ll get better after this visit,” Marc spoke as we followed her through the hallway and stopped in front of a door.

The nurse opened the door a little and stuck her head inside. “Nina, your grandson is here with his wife.”

Marc and I gave each other a disgusted look and gagged. “You wish.” Marc whispered as I hit his shoulder. “Please take it easy on her. She tends to say stuff that doesn’t really make sense.” The nurse spoke before walking off.

“That’s why we let me do the talking.” Marc reminded me and placed his hand on the door handle.

“Come con, let’s go.”

Marc opened the door, and an old woman was seated in a wheelchair. “Nina?” Marc carefully called out. The woman turned around and gave us a suspicious look.

“You are not my grandson.” She snarled. “That’s right.” Marc held up his hands. “We’re Dario friends, do you know Dario? You used to work for him?”

The look on Nina’s face had changed, and she grew a smile on her face. “Oh, Dario, my sweet boy.

How is he doing?” Nina smiled. For some reason I felt relieved because she called him a good person. There had to be an explanation for everything.

“He’s doing good, but he doesn’t live here anymore-he moved with his dad?” Marc asked. The look on Nina’s face had changed, and the smile on her face had disappeared. “Monster,” Nina whispered. “His dad is a monster.”

Marc and I gave each other a look. Mauro seemed to be such a nice man, but now she made him out to be some monster. “Uh, so I heard you worked for Dario. Could you tell me more about him?”

Marc changed the subject as the smile on Nina’s face had reappeared.

“Oh yes, I can do that.” She spoke. “He was always very polite, talkative and his laugh could light up the universe. A true gentleman.”

I smiled at her words. That indeed him. Dario wasn’t a danger. Yes, the stuff he did, like revolving his life around Christian or unwillingly sabotaging my brother, seemed a bit weird and problematic-

but my judgment wasn’t that wrong. He was not a bad person.

“So you have no issue with him?” Marc confirmed. “Dario is always busy, busy, busy,” Nina spoke.

“Whenever I asked him why, he always used to mention his grandfather. He will not rest until he has destroyed that man. It’s an obsession”

Marc and I gave each other a look Unfortunately, we couldn’t jump right into the details because the last thing we wanted was for her to get upset “Yes, very sad What’s the story again? Marc played along “I can’t quite remember, but his grandfather abandoned him and his family. It’s a sad story” Nina spoke We heard three knocks on the doors before the nurse walked in. “It’s time for Nina’s medicine. You guys can join us if you want to.”

“Yeah, this isn’t going anywhere,” I whispered into Marc’s cars. “Thanks for the offer, but this was only a quick visit.” Marc smiled as we all walked out of the room. “We will bring her downstairs for you” Mare offered. The nurse thanked him and walked in a different direction.

I couldn’t believe we drove all the way here, only to return without new information. The only thing we learned out of this was that Dario was a kind guy but indeed a bit too obsessed with the Lamberti’s.

“How is that other guy doing?” Nina asked as we entered the elevator. “What guy?” Mart asked.

“The sweet guy, Mauro?” She smiled. Marc seemed just as confused as I was. “Did you not say Mauro was a monster?”

“No, absolutely not, Mauro!” Nina immediately came to his defense. “Why don’t you kids listen? I told you his father is the monster-the man who doesn’t come outside. He lives in the dark. The man with the mask.”

I felt chills throughout my body, and it felt as if I walked right into some kind of horror movie. “M-man who lives in the dark?” I stuttered.

“Do you know his name?” Marc asked. “Yes, but I’m not allowed to say, I can never ever speak of his name.” Nina nodded and turned her head so she could look at us. “But we’re Dario’s friends. If you don’t tell us, Dario will be in danger.” I begged.

Nina had a troubled look on her face. “I knew it.” She spoke. “He brainwashed Dario, poor Dario.”

“So, his name?” Marc sighed as he slowly lost his patience. “Come closer,” Nina instructed us as Marc and I followed her request.

“His name is Berto.”

Marc’s eyes went big, and he grabbed his phone in a hurry. His hands were shaking and he looked terrified. “Marc, are you okay?” I asked, but I got no answer in return. “That’s the name of Christian’s uncle.” He spoke, confused.

The same man who was supposed to be dead?

Marc turned around his phone and pushed it into Nina’s face. “Monster!” Nina called out and rolled back. her wheelchair. “That’s him, the man with the burn marks!”

“He wears a mask, but I recognize him-that’s him!” She yelled. “He’s a monster, stay away from him!”

The door to the elevator opened, and several nurses ran towards Nina to calm her down. “With did you guys do?” One of the nurses asked.

“Nothing,” Marc spoke and grabbed my hand to pull me away as only one thought went through my head.