Chapter 167

I looked out the car and noticed how everything slowly turned green. The ride to the warehouse was no that short, and I could finally understand why Christian wanted to leave early in the morning.

“You’re acting like we’re going on a field trip.” Christian laughed at my excitement. Maybe I was, but I couldn’t help myself. This was the moment I had been waiting for all along. “Yeah, well, we never do anything together nowadays, so.”

“I’m sorry.” Christian apologized. “I’ve just been so busy with everything.”

1.

“I know I know.” I shrugged him off and shifted my attention to Beau. “You’re also always on the don’t forget about Isobel and the twins, poopy.”

“I hate you.” Beau spoke while I laughed at his nickname. “You too, Christian, I hate you too,” Beau added.

I continued what I was doing for the rest of the ride, stared out of the window, and asked too many questions before we finally arrived at the warehouse. Christian had this weird obsession with opening the door for me, but this time I was too nosy to wait and got out on my own.

“Wow.” I gasped as I stared at all the working people. Even though we had been together for a while, I had yet to see the true impact of the Lamberti’s power, but all of that would change today.

“Do they all work for your family?” I wondered. Christian gave me a proud look and grabbed my hand. “Whatever is mine is yours.” He spoke. “They work for us.”

“Us.” I corrected myself. “They all work for us?”

“Yes, we’re a team, remember?”

Christian led me towards the entrance while everyone stopped what they were doing and made their way towards us. “I feel like a celebrity,” I whispered, embarrassed while Christian wrapped his hand around my waist.

“What’s up, boss!” One of the men spoke as his eyes landed on me. “If I knew you were bringing her today, I would’ve cleaned up the place.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Christian shrugged him off. “She can’t even clean up her trash, so it’s not a big deal.” He joked. It made me happy to see how comfortable they all were. For some reason, I had expected. him to be strict and serious, but he wasn’t. He was the complete opposite.

Christian let out a whistle, making everyone run outside to see what was going on. “More people?”

1. whispered in his ears and almost hid behind his back. “This is Serena, my wife.” Christian announced. while I still tried to process his words.

He called me his wife.

“You’ll be seeing her face a lot-so get used to it and respect her the same way you respect me.” He -demanded.

“If1 hear one complaint from her mouth, I’ll throw you in acid!

“Acid?” One of the guys exclaimed. The way Christian threatened them seemed really casual as if he was used to doing it on a daily basis.

“You look like Beau with a wig.” Another one pointed out while he pushed Beau towards me. “Look!”

He called out while all the others laughed at him, but I felt uncomfortable.

“Are they saying I look like a man?” I whispered into Christian’s ears. They were having the time of their life and were making fun of Beau, who didn’t seem to mind their jokes and laughed along.

“They’re saying Beau looks like a girl.” Christian chuckled.

“Okay, that was it!” Christian called out. “You can all go back to work now!”

He didn’t need to repeat himself as they all rushed back to whatever they were doing, while I was surprised by their obedience. “Can I also do that?” I asked Christian. He pulled me closer and he led me inside the warehouse.

“You can do whatever you want.” He told me while Beau gave him a smack against his head. “Don’t.

She’s a monster.” He warned Christian.

The inside of the warehouse seemed different from what I imagined and even made me wonder whether Christian hid everything from me beforehand. “You look disappointed,” Christian commented.

“Where are the guns, where are the drugs, where is your vault full of money?” I asked, surprised.

“Where’s the action?”

Christian and Beau laughed at my questions while I waited for their answers. “You have a lot to learn. Come on.” Christian spoke.

I followed him to the back, where there were several containers, and gave Christian a confused look. “What’s in the containers?” I asked him.

Now it’s going to happen. I thought in my head as I prepared myself to hear something interesting.

Was it pills? Was it cocaine?

“Flour.” Christian shrugged before he threw me the keys. “Go on, open it.” He encouraged me while Beau let out a laugh. “F-flour?” I asked, confused.

Christian stepped back and stood next to Beau while I did as I was told and unlocked the container.

I threw it open, only to see it filled with packets of…flour?

“That’s not flour.” smirked at Christian while he shrugged his shoulders. He grabbed my hand and pulled me inside to grab one of the packets before he tore it open. “Taste.”

I looked at Christian’s expression to see if he was serious and moved my gaze to Beau. “Huh?”

“Taste,” Christian repeated.

My finger moved towards the powdery substance, and I took a lick, only to taste the flavor of flour.

“Wow.” I gasped, surprised. “It’s really flour!”

“Of course it is,” Christian laughed and pulled my hand to pull me back. “It’s about fifty percent flour.

I’m just happy I got you the right one,” He spoke while he led me back inside. “What?” I exclaimed while Christian laughed. “Just kidding.”

We suddenly stopped walking, and he turned me around to grab my hand. “I’m so happy to have you here, Serena.” Christian smiled.

He seemed happy, and that was the exact reason why I would follow him from now on. He was stuck with me, and I wouldn’t go anywhere because I didn’t want to lose that smile. He seemed the happiest he had been in days and was in a really good mood.

“Chris!” One of the men I had recognized to be one of Christian’s cousins gasped as he walked towards us. “What’s with the eyes, you actually look in love?”

I felt uncomfortable by his comment because I didn’t want Christmas to get embarrassed or to say the wrong thing, but he didn’t. He pulled me closer instead. “How can I not be in love? Have you seen her?” I spoke as he looked straight into my eyes.

My cheeks flushed red, and I was speechless by his words as I wasn’t used to Christian confessing his love in public. “Yes, she’s beautiful.” He nodded, “You even brought her to the warehouse. Even your brother doesn’t do that.”

“Anyway, I came to tell you something.” He carefully spoke while he gave me a nervous side-eye.

“You can talk,” Christian reassured him. “Whatever you have to say to me, she can hear it too.”

“Right.” I smiled. It was good to hear that he hadn’t forgotten about our little agreement, which involved not hiding secrets from me anymore.

“I looked into grandpa as you asked me to, but that old man barely does anything.” His cousin chuckled.

“He goes from visiting Lucio to grandma to the warehouse, and that’s it.”

“Hmm, so he’s boring,” Beau concluded. “Why did you want to know about his routine?” Christian’s cousin asked.

“It’s nothing, he’s getting older by the second, and he can drop dead any minute. I just don’t want grandpa to overwork himself.” Christian made up. “I see. I have the new list, by the way. I can get it for you if you want.” His cousin offered.

“What list?” I frowned, confused. All of it was still new to me, and I couldn’t understand what the hell they were talking about. His cousin gave Christian another look while Christian gave him a nod.

“The list of people who still owe us money.” He explained. “It gets updated every month.”

“Oh, wow.” I gulped, shocked. Why was I even surprised? This was to be expected. “And what happens if they don’t pay you back?”

His cousin was just about to answer, but Christian shrugged him off and decided to do it himself.

“Nothing much, we just invite them over for a talk so we can come up with a new agreement-let’s go.”

“Beau, does our family also have something like this?” I asked as we walked in further. “Of course they do. You’re the Alfonzo’s.” Christian laughed at my stupidity. He looked down at his phone, which went off, and looked at me for permission.

“Go and take your call. I’m good.” I reassured him while I was still fascinated by the number of people and wondered what they were doing with all of the crates. “Wow.” I gasped once again while Beau took over Christian’s job and held my hand. “It’s cute how everything surprises you.” He smiled.

“The two of you look like each other, it’s so weird-it’s…damn.” Christian’s cousin observed the two of us with a questioning look on his face. “It’s crazy, isn’t it? Twins.” Beau rolled his eyes.

I never noticed how much Beau and I looked alike until others pointed it out and often wondered how I could’ve missed the signs. Anyone could see that we were twins. We had the same hair, the same eyes, the same nose-just the same everything.

“Serena, can I get you something?” Christian’s cousin asked. “Some water, food?”

“No, thanks-I’m good.” I politely turned down his offer. I wasn’t used to people being nice to me, and it felt incredibly strange. “You can go back to work,” Beau told him.

“Do you see that, Serena?” Christian’s cousin complained. “He wants me to walk and walk until my legs off.”

He walked off with some more complaints while I laughed at Beau for being overprotective as always. really don’t want you here.” He let out his unwanted opinion again. I knew he didn’t want me near these guys and wanted to keep me safe-but I could handle myself.

I wasn’t able to keep up with the number of times I got offered something to eat or drink and almost felt like a queen. Even though I felt embarrassed to admit it, I actually liked the attention and could get used to this.

“Did they treat you well?” Christian asked after he returned and forced Beau to let go of my hand.

“Yes.” I smiled. “I really like it here, and they’re all really nice.”

“Nice?” Christian laughed while Beau joined him. Did I say something wrong?

“Did you find out more about the funds?” Beau asked Christian. “Because I have no idea where we should start, your grandpa is something else.”

“Well.” Christian sighed.

“I was thinking, where would my grandpa hide all this money-and if he hid it so well, why would he keep coming back to keep an eye on the warehouse?” Christian spoke while I went into deep thoughts, but I did not understand what he meant, and neither did Beau.

“He didn’t want anything to do with the cash because it broke up the family and promised himself to leave it for Siena.” He continued. “He could’ve given it to anyone else, but he decided to give it to a baby-which means he has eighteen more years left.”

“To do what?” I asked, confused as I still did not understand where he was going with all of this.

“To find the money for Siena,” Christian spoke.

“Knowing my grandpa, this had to be one of his secret orders, which means he has no idea where the money is. He just knows it’s here and he thinks he has all the time to look for it, because he doesn’t know my uncle is still alive.” He explained.

“He’s just as hopeless as we are.”

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