Chapter 157

“Christian,” Luca spoke and placed his hand on his shoulders to stop him from entering “Don’t trust him. I’m sure it’s a trap!”

Marc and Johnny took a step forward, but Christian raised his hand to stop them and looked at Dario who rolled his eyes. Christian’s eyes moved to mine, and I gave him a slight nod. “You can trust him”

“Beau, come here.” Christian requested. Beau took several steps forward and made his way to Christian. “Beau, you tell me-are these the eyes of a man who’s planning to betray us?”

Dario chuckled and stared straight into Beau’s eyes. “No, I can’t see it.” Beau decided. If there was anyone Christian trusted nowadays, it had to be Beau. “Johnny?” Dario spoke as Johnny turned away.

“We might have the same father, but you’re still my brother, and I don’t want to see you get hurt.

You can trust me this ti—”

“We’re not brothers.” Johnny spat. “We don’t have the same mom, and dad isn’t even fond of me, so cut that crap. We are not brothers.”

Johnny’s issues turned out to be a bit more than just his dad being alive, but the way he handled it, wasn’t working out for anyone. “I don’t know the code to the vault,” Dario admitted. “Come on. I’ll bring you upstairs-we don’t have much time.”

Dario walked in first as we all followed closely behind him while he led us to the office. “I know this code. It’s my birthdate.” Christian spoke while Dario shrugged his shoulders. “Not my idea.”

I looked back at Luca, who had a tense look on his face which was probably due to his plan being a complete failure. It was once again the Lamberti’s being a pain in the ass because Beau and Marc supported every decision, even if they disagreed with it.

The moment the office door opened, Christian pushed Dario aside and sped to the vault. “Don’t bother knocking, yelling, or whatever you plan on doing-they can’t hear you, and it’s well protected,”

Dario spoke.

“So, how do we open this?” Christian asked. It was a surprise to see how calm he remained because I was so convinced he would’ve beat up Dario-but it was the complete opposite. “There’s this code,” Dario explained to Christian as he pointed out the security system on the vault.

“You know my dad likes riddles, but he never told me the code-he won’t tell me unless I’ll find out myself “Move.” Beau interrupted him and pushed him aside. “Your dad recommended Christian birth date as the code because he doesn’t want anything to do with him.” He spoke as he looked at Christian.

“That means this code is probably for Johnny because he doesn’t want anything to do with him,”

Beau concluded. “That’s not true!” Luca immediately called out while Johnny had an offended look on his face. but Christian wasted no time and typed in Johnny’s date of birth.

A few seconds felt like minutes as we waited for the security system to show us a green light, which it surprisingly did. “Thanks, Beau. I don’t know what to do without you.” Christian padded him on the shoulder.

Christian wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer while both Beau and Dario reached out to grab my hand. “Guys?” I chuckled, confused. “I’m sorry,” Beau apologized and took a step back, but Dario wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“She’s mine, so I’ll take care of her.” Christian told him.

“Stay next to me.” He demanded and glared at Dario, who stared at the two of us. “Come on, start walking.” Christian told him.

The room behind a vault seemed like a completely different house on its own and proved just how comfortable Berto had been living. He had been living an entirely new life on his own. “I think they’re in the basement.” Dario spoke as he led us through the space.

“For how long has your dad been living here?” Marc asked. “I’m going to help my cousin and an innocent girl who has nothing to do with this, and that’s it-I can’t tell you any more than that,” Dario answered. At least he referred to Enzo as his cousin. That was a start.

“It’s down the stairs, behind that door.” Dario pointed out, but Christian held me tightly and took a step back. “You go ahead and open it.” He shrugged. “It’s your house, so you should do it.”

“Do you think this is a trap?” Dario sighed, annoyed. “Why would I put Serena in a trap?”

“I don’t know,” Christian spoke. “It wouldn’t be the first time you lied to her before-”

“How about you?” Dario asked. “You lied to her multiple times, or are you too ignorant to see your own mistakes?”

“Look, I don’t have time for this!” Christian snapped and made his way down the stairs so he could open the door to the basement. “Beau, make sure Serena stays here!” He instructed him. I ignored his words. and ran after him, but before I could take another step, Beau pulled my hand to stop me from going.

The basement was dark and cold. The stains of blood on the concrete floor were more than enough for us to realize that Dario led us in the right direction. The only moment I could breathe was when Marc walked past me to follow Christian. At least I was assured that he would not be alone.

“W-what’s all of this?” Dario muttered, confused. “Serena. I-I didn’t know, I promise!”

“Don’t lie, you knew.” I corrected him. He was the one who confirmed that Berto had been abusing Enzo and Gina to get information out of them. Dario gave me a regretful look and ran after the others while I tried to release myself from Beau’s grip. “Let go of me!” I yelled at him, but he wouldn’t budge.

Johnny and Luca had also entered the basement, but unlike Johnny-Luca’s expression had not changed a bit. He did not care.

“Serena, listen to Christian. You don’t want to go there,” Luca told me, but he was the last person who was even allowed to speak to me. “You’re sick. Stay the hell away from me!” I warned him and leaned into Beau’s arms.

Everything about Luca and his two-faced personality disgusted me. It was clear that, unlike Dario, he enjoyed doing this. He never cared for his family, so all of this came naturally to him. The biggedt difference between him and Dario was that I didn’t see one bit of regret in his eyes, while I could feel a genuine reaction from Dario.

Luca was frozen in his steps and looked at me in shock. I know what you’re doing, we all know-so you can drop the act,” I spoke. “I won’t let you touch Christian. I want you to remember this.”

“Serena, stop it.” Johnny interfered. “This is not the time to do this. Please stop it.”

I ignored Johnny and released myself from Beau’s grip to step forward to face Luca, who looked back at me with a startled look on his face. “You can’t play both sides, I can see right through you, and I’d like to say that it’s time for you to pick a side-but you’ve already chosen one.”

Luca’s eyes darkened as he smirked at me. “Very well, then.” He chuckled as he pulled out his phone. “Then I might as well put an end to it right now since all of you don’t seem to trust me.”

“W-wait, Luca-what are you doing?” I asked as he held the phone to his ears. I had expected him to deny my accusations, but he didn’t give a crap and saw it as an excellent excuse to work against us. “I’m doing what I should’ve done from the start. I’m calling my dad.”

“Luco, no-“I spoke, but it was too late.

“Dad, your favorite son, Dario, played you, Christian is here and-”

Before Luca had the time to finish that sentence, he fell down to the floor as he got hit in the back of his head by his own brother. “I’m sorry, Luca,” Johnny whispered.

“Luca?” A voice yelled out through the phone. “Luca, are you there?”

I felt chills throughout my body just by hearing the voice. So that was Berto Lamberti. He sounded just as scary as described. Johnny held Luca in his arms as his face went pale. He grabbed the phone from the ground and held it to his car.

Beau and I shook our heads, begging him to end the call, but Johnny was in shock and could only focus on the phone. “D-dad?”Johnny whispered.

“J-johnny?” Berto replied. “Johnny, is that you?”

“Dad?” Johnny repeated once again, but this time Beau took matters into his own hands and snatched the phone from his hands to end the call. “Get Christian and go.” Johnny gulped. “We have to leave, now!”

I was confused by Johnny’s actions, and so was Beau. He did what was best and didn’t even think about making the right decision. He just did what he was supposed to do and remained loyal to Christian. Despite hearing his dad’s voice, he remained loyal to Christian.

“Luca will wake up soon. I’ll handle with him-so you go and get Christian so we can get the hell out of here before my dad gets here.” Johnny instructed.

“Johnny…” I spoke, surprised. He hit his own brother just to make sure that Christian would get out safe. “Go!” Johnny yelled. “Get Christian, now!”

Beau grabbed my hand and pulled me through the dark basement. “Do you think we can trust Johnny?” I asked Beau. “He hit his own brother. What more do you want?” Beau commented.

After a while, we had finally reached the end of the basement, and the view was pretty shocking. I could finally understand why Christian didn’t want me here. “E-Enzo?” I sighed after seeing his poor state.

He was near unconscious, and his face was heavily beaten.

Marc and Dario held him in his arms, but I did not see Christian. Beau and I made our way over to Mare and Dario. “We have to leave, now!” Beau told Marc. “Luca betrayed us. Johnny took care of it —but we have to leave now!”

“Squirrel, is that you?” Enzo chuckled. “Why aren’t your cheeks fat anymore?”

Even while being in this state, he was still capable of joking around. “Yes, I’m here with you-stop talking.” I told him and held his hand in mine. “Where’s Christian?”

וויו Both Mare and Dario moved their head towards the door behind us before they looked back at me.

“Gina, she’s in a bal state,” Mare explained. “I’ll go get him” Beau spoke, but I stopped him and got up instead “I’ll go get him.”

I knew it was also our job to save Gina, but just hearing about the two of them being together made me jealous. He was all about protecting his brother, but somehow he ended up being with Gina.

I stormed away and made my way to the room but could not take another step after seeing Gina in Christian’s arms. She looked horrible, and tears were streaming down her face.

“I promise you 1-1 didn’t tell him anything.” She cried in Christian’s arms as he brushed his fingers through her hair. “Christian, we have to go now,” I spoke loud enough for him to hear, but he ignored my existence and focused his attention on Gina. “Thank you, don’t worry-you’re safe now,”

I stared down at my clenched fist and had only just realized how angry I was when a slight drop of blood streamed down my wrist.

Breathe. He’s just helping her “No one will ever hurt you again. I’m here now.” Christian spoke. After hearing that sentence, I let out a loud scoff and watched as he finally turned his head. I wanted him to have a guilty look on his face, but that was not the case. All he could do was stare at me as he waited for me to speak.

“We have to go, now,” I told him. “Your uncle is on his way.”

Christian nodded his head and carried Gina in his arms while he brushed past me without saying another word. He didn’t even care about my safety anymore. Everything was about her.

I stood frozen in my spot and tried to process everything as my heart shattered into several pieces.

He didn’t even come back for me. He just grabbed Gina and made a run for it.

“Serena!” Dario called out. He made his way over to me and wrapped his arm around my waist.

“Let’s go you have to go!”

He came back for me.

Dario, who had sensed what was going on, dragged me out of the basement without saying another word and the only one waiting to see if I had even gotten out safely was Beau. “Johnny took Luca, Marc left with Enzo, and your brother will take it from here,” Dario spoke.

“What about you?” I asked, concerned. He betrayed his dad and now he had to deal with the consequences. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay.” Dario promised, but I could see right through him and could feel his fear.

“You’re coming with us,” I told him. Dario didn’t seem to mind my order, but something was holding him back. “My uncle…”

“You can call him and tell him not to return home, but you can’t be here right now. Let’s go!”

“My sister is right. Let’s go.” Beau spoke in a hurry and grabbed Dario by his wrist, so we could finally move. “Serena, please don’t start any drama-the girl was near death, and Christian had to safe her,” Beau whispered in my ear.

It was clear that also he could see that I wasn’t satisfied, but he officially didn’t care and made it his job to protect Christian. No one could understand how I felt, not even my own brother. “Guys-let’s go!”

Mare yelled once we reached the driveway “Serena, come here” Christian called out, but I turned around to face Dario instead. Perhaps Beau was right, and maybe I was overreacting, but I had the right to be angry, and just for that reason, it was not healthy to be in the same car with Christian and Gina right now.

“We’ll go with your car. Let’s go.” I told Dario and linked my arm with his “Are you sure” He asked.

“Serena, stop overreacting and get here!” Christian yelled out.

“Dario, let’s go,” I spoke one more time. Dario nodded his head and led me to his car.

Stop overreacting?

I would show him just how much I was overreacting.