Chapter 172

Christian Not long after Serena left, the Alfonzo’s also said their goodbyes Christian felt terrible for ending Serena to check up on Dario, but he was determined to have a peek at his uncle and did not want her to get involved “111 take care of the baby, so you can spend some more time with your dad.” Cesca announced and left with the baby before Christian could even give her a proper answer, but he didn’t mind. It wasn’t as if Siena was used to seeing her grandparents on a daily basis.

It was almost time for Lucio’s daily walk, and as expected, Christian had offered to take him. “Would you really like to do that?” Lucio spoke full of happiness. Christian felt guilty for playing with his dad’s feelings, but this was the only way. “I can’t wait to see Dario tomorrow” Lucio smiled.

He moved his eyes to his grandfather, who had been eyeing him for several minutes and knew he was suspicious of him. Franco was not a stupid man and Christian had already learned a long time ago. Neither was Lucio, but unlike Lucio, Franco was in his right state of mind.

“Christian, come here real quick.” Franco suddenly called out. Christian stood still for a few seconds and wondered whether it would be for the best to ignore his request, but just by looking at his grandpa’s eyes. he could tell that, that was out of question.

“So what’s up?” Christian asked as Franco pulled him to a corner. “Don’t ‘what’s up’ me, tell me what you’re up to.” Franco smirked as he slammed his arm around his shoulder.

Christian had already decided to keep him out of it, no matter what, but he couldn’t exactly say he was prepared. He knew his grandpa was a difficult man who was determined to get to the bottom of things. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m not stupid,” Franco spoke. “You might fool your dying father, but you won’t fool me.”

“I’ve led this family for years, and I’m smarter than you,” Franco stated as he looked at him full of suspicion, but Christian wouldn’t budge. “I’ve been thinking about Serena’s questions, and how you were telling us about Dario.” Franco chuckled. “I already knew something was up when she, out of all people, came to visit me.”

“What do you want?” Christian snarled. “It’s time for dad’s walk, so what do you want?”

“You know about the warehouse, don’t you?” Franco suddenly spoke as Christian’s face went pale.

“You’re probably looking for the money, but not for yourself because you’re not like that.” He concluded. “You’re humble, and you don’t care for that money. All you care about is keeping Serena and Siena safe.”

Franco paced back and forth while Christian figured it was better just to keep his mouth shut. As expected, his grandpa was not that stupid and knew exactly what was going on.

“Dario’s suddenly on your side, my other grandson who was MIA for a while suddenly returns with a black eye, I can’t seem to reach Luca, Johnny’s being weird and so are you-” Franco continued.

“Something is going on, and I do have a theory…but that’s impossible.”

Christian hoped for the best and lowered his head as he worried his grandpa might have found a breakthrough. “Christian, are you coming?” Lucio interrupted the two.

Franco removed his arm from Christian’s shoulder and gave him a suspicious look. “I’ll get to the bottom. of this. You go and walk your father.”

Christian didn’t know how fast to walk away and made his way only for Lucio “What did he want from you!” Lucio complained. “Can’t he see you’re by?”

Christian laughed at his dad’s endless complaints and pushed his wheelchair to make his way to the garden. It was not en meter.

“Have you heard from Gio?” His dad started. “He told me Dana is finally having the baby tonight.”

Lucia spoke. “It means my first grandson will make it just in time for the photo shoot.”

“Yes, I’ve heard” Christian smiled. “He told toe about it yesterday.”

He was embarrassed to admit it, but he was a bit jealous of his brother: He knew his brother didn’t have it easy because his youngest, Pia, required special needs and could not walk, and Gianna was a handful, but still. Dana was at least open to the idea of having more children and wanted to have a big family. something Christian secretly desired.

“So no more children for you and Serena?” Lucio asked. Christian sighed as he pushed the wheelchair into the direction of the garden. “That’s a rude question, dad.” He chuckled. He honestly never liked that question and viewed it as thoughtless.

“You don’t know what someone’s going through. That question can…” Christian spoke before realizing where he was heading. That was the same question he had asked Serena. “That question can hurt people. You don’t know what they’re going through.” Christian sighed as he thought about Serena’s pregnancy.

“I’m sorry, you don’t have to attack me—it was just a question.” Lucio chuckled. “But I thought you wanted a big family?”

Christian went through the picture in his head and could finally figure out why Serena was skeptical about having more children. It’s all my fault, Christian thought as his mind went to Serena, who he initially abandoned because of his own fears.

“Dad, I abandoned Serena when she told me she was pregnant, I gave her a hard time, practically forced her to move in and gave her the cold shoulder, betrayed her while she was carrying my child, Fabio Garcia tried to kill her this pregnancy wasn’t easy for Serena,” Christian spoke. “She’s probably traumatized.”

–

“And I should be lucky that she even wants to be with me, so I shouldn’t demand that much. Having Siena is enough for now.”

Lucio smiled at Christian’s words and felt proud of his character development. The Christian he once knew didn’t care about anyone’s feelings and made it his day job to hurt others.

“I’m proud of you,” Lucio told him. Christian took in his dad’s words and slowly scanned his eyes through. the fences surrounding the garden. What if Dario was wrong? What if his uncle, Berto, just coincidentally left the house around that time?

“I already told you this many times, but I regret not being a good father, and if 1 could go back in time, I would’ve done it differently.” Lucio sighed. “I was so cold towards all of you, I never told you how much I love you, I was always busy, and I wasn’t even here to spend any time with you-I wasn’t here to hug you “It’s alright, dad.” Christian rolled his eyes. “We’ve already discussed it-it’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

“Okay,” Lucio sulked. “Can I at least hear you say it back?”

“Dad!” Christian spoke, embarrassed. He didn’t have any time for this and tried his hardest to notice anything unusual, anything which could lead him towards his uncle. “Christian, I’m dying,” Lucio spoke hysterically Christian snapped out of his thoughts and paid attention to his fatfge. That’s right, he thought. His dad was dying while he was trying to find his twisted uncle.

“I love you, dad” Christian smiled while he leaned forward to kiss Lucio’s cheek. “See Lucio pointed out “That wasn’t that difficult.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Christian spoke. “The garden looks nice, by the way” He commented. “We weren’t even allowed here, and you used to do it yourself, but now you even have gardeners.”

He couldn’t help but smile at the gardeners who brought some life back to the garden. “It looks pretty. doesn’t it?” Lucio smiled proudly. Christian scanned the gardeners and èracked a smile at one of the wholly covered men who even wore a net hat.

“What’s the deal with that guy?” Christian scoffed. “He must be sweating under all of that. I mean, come on he looks ridiculous!”

Lucio laughed and shrugged his shoulders. “He always dresses like that. Even his mouth is covered under that net.” He commented. “He’s planted me some lovely hyacinths, but he has a strange habit of staring at me.”

Christian stopped in his steps while Lucio turned around with a startled look on his face. “Uh, is there something wrong?” He asked. Christian shook his head and gently grabbed Lucio’s head to turn it around.

“No, dad-just enjoying nature,” Christian spoke, but those were not his true intentions. His eyes were glued to the man with the net hat. The man dropped whatever he was holding and stared right back at Christian. “D-didn’t uncle Berto liked hyacinths?” Christian asked.

The man kept staring at Christian and was not showing any signs of breaking eye contact, and Christian had a pretty good jdea why that was. “He did,” Lucio spoke, while Christian arms went numb. “My brother and I used to plant them all the time whenever your great-grandmother got sick.

We loved the fragrance —so it’s a good reminder of home.”

Christian’s released his hands from the wheelchair and took several breaths as he kept staring at the man. The net hat and the mouth mask suddenly made sense.

It was Berto Lamberti.

“I’m so excited to see Dario again. Do you think he likes flowers?” Lucio continued, but no words were able to reach Christian. “D-dad, you go ahead. There’s something I have to do.”

“Well, what do you have to do?” Lucio asked. “You know I have no idea how those automatic things work Christian leaned forward and held his finger against the little remote. “Front, back, left, right-that’s it!” He quickly explained while Lucio was still confused. “Oh, okay,” Lucio smiled. It’s time to figure out this thing anyway.”

“Okay.” Christian smiled. “I’ll meet you back inside.”

Christian wasted no time and walked towards the man at a fast speed. He couldn’t see the man’s face, but he could tell that he was surprised and noticed how he made his way towards the gates.

Christian did not want the guards to get involved, and neither did the man, so all they could do was walk at a fast speed until they reached the end of the gates.

The man looked around to see if there was any more security, but here wasn’t-so he didn’t hesitate and made a run for it as he. Christian froze up for a second, but quickly woke up and decided to run after the man.

“Stop!” Christian called out as his hands slowly reached for his gun. This time the sound of the cocking gun was enough to make the man stop in his steps, but he didn’t turn around.

“T-turn around and identify yourself!” Christian demanded as he tried to remain strong, but his voice failed to keep up with him. The man turned around with his head, lowered and had no intentions of looking up.

“Remove your hat.” Christian barely whispered while the gun was uncontrollably shaking in his hand. A lot of emotions went through him, but he didn’t know how to deal with them. Only Serena did. She always did.

“Remove the fucking hat!” Christian lost his patience. The man let out a dismayed gasp and surrendered himself as he let the net hat drop from his head.

Christian could only see half of his face as the other was covered with a mask, but it was more than enough. He recognized the face almost instantly and knew it was the person he had been looking for. Berto Lamberti.

“U-uncle?” Christian stuttered. His heart was beating out his chest, and he had to use every bit of strength to maintain his balance. Berto released a chuckle and grinned through his mask.

“Chrissie, I see you’ve grown up well,” Berto spoke for the first time. Christian-opened his mouth to say something, but no words were able to leave his mouth. Hearing his uncle’s voice and the nickname he made up for him was all too much.

“B-b-Berto?” Christian heard a voice behind him. It was Franco Lamberti.

“B-Berto, i-is that really you?” Franco stuttered as he took baby steps forward. Christian was startled by his grandpa’s presence but figured someone like him wouldn’t let it rest and had that’s why he followed him.

“Father,” Berto whispered with a surprised look on his face, and those words were enough for Franco to faint as his body fell to the ground. Christian dropped his gun and rushed over to his grandpa. “Grandpa!” Christian called out, worried.

He shook his grandpa’s body before his eyes moved towards his uncle. “What are you doing here?”

Christian managed to get out. “That’s what I’m supposed to ask you-you don’t belong here.” Berto immediately answered.

“Hm, he was about to die either way.” Berto chuckled at Franco before his eyes fell on Christian.

“You weren’t supposed to see me…I guess Dario betrayed me.” He whispered.

Christian held Franco in his arms and knew he had to let go of the idea of getting to his uncle. His grandpa was the biggest priority at the moment. “Grandpa,” Christian whispered. “Come on, get up.”

“That old man likes to make a scene. He’ll wake up.” Berto frowned. “It’s not his time yet. I’ll decide a time for him, but it’s not now.”

“And when he does wake up, you can tell him that I’ve come back to take back what’s mine.”

He Christian was speechless and could only stare at his uncle, who slowly turned around and walked away as if he hadn’t just threatened his own father. Dario and Luca’s words were finally starting to make sense. was not the same anymore.

Christian only knew one thing, and that was that his uncle was not the one to mess with.