Chapter 173

Dario I enjoyed seeing you today!

Dario I almost fell from my carseat and stared at the heart emoji with big eyes. He wasn’t flirting with me.

No, he wasn’t.

The heart was just meant to be something friendly and was nothing special. He said it himself. He didn’t want to create any issues with Christian.

But why was my heart beating fast? It was probably because I felt embarrassed. That had to be it.

Dario See you tomorrow, beautiful I gasped and threw my phone on my knees. Was I suppose to reply?

My thoughts got interrupted by Christian, who opened the car while he held Siena in his hands.

“Siena!” I called out in a happy tone. She squealed after seeing my face and buried her head in Christian’s neck.

I had the sudden urge to unbuckle my seat belt to get to my daughter-but Christian, who was as quiet as a mouse, made his way to the back and seemed to be in a hurry to leave.

“Are you not going to argue with me and over who should drive?” I laughed at him, but he didn’t even crack a smile. “You drive.” He spoke while he buckled up Siena.

“Oh, okay,” I spoke, confused. “Are you staying in the back, or…”

Christian gave me an irritated look which already told me everything I needed to know. “Okay, so you’ll stay in the back.” I sighed. He was having one of his mood swings again, and it made me think about. Dario’s words. Did Christian really go through with his plan and faced his uncle?

“Christian, wait!” A voice suddenly yelled from afar. Franco ran over and stuck his head through the open car window. “Oh, wow,” I spoke, surprised, but Franco ignored me and stared at Christian.

“So you’re going to leave, just like that?” Franco frowned. “No explanation, nothing as to why my son, who is supposed to be dead, is still alive?” He yelled out, but this time Christian leaned towards the window and slammed his hand in front of Franco’s mouth.

“Grandpa, are you crazy? Not that loud!” Christian told him. Christian gave me a worried look, but what he didn’t know was that Dario already told me part of the truth, so the only thing I had to process was the fact that Franco knew.

“Grandpa, we’ll discuss this tomorrow-you need some rest, and you need some time to process this news. I don’t want you to faint again, and you need to take care of dad. Dario will be here tomorrow, and we’ll tell you everything-okay?” Christian raised his voice. It was always literesting to see how he had no issue with raising his voice at his elders.

“Okay?” Christian repeated. Franco took a deep breath and removed his hands from the car window. “Okay.” Franco agreed. “You better be here early in the morning”

“I knew it.” He muttered as he stormed off. He didn’t even gave me a chance to tell him about Dario “So.”1 sighed as I turned my head to Christian. I knew he had his reasons, so I wasn’t even going to argue with him.

“I can explain,” Christian spoke, worried. We all knew I was good at throwing tantrumns, so he undeniably expected me to attack him, but I didn’t mean any harm and it was just a question. “So you saw your uncle?” I changed my original approach.

Christian was quiet for a few seconds before the realization had finally hit him that I wasn’t going to yell at him. “Uh, yes.” He frowned. He told me the entire story as I drove off and was sure not to miss a single detail.

“So Franco fainted?” I asked, shocked. This was the exact reason why Christian didn’t want to tell anyone about this. If Franco fainted, I didn’t even want to imagine what would’ve happened to Lucio.

“I can’t believe he’s been planting flowers for my dad while he’s trying to destroy everything he built,” Christian spoke in disbelief. “I don’t understand why he’s doing any of this!”

I felt sorry for him, and all I wanted to do was stop the car, so I could give him a tight hug and tell him everything was going to be alright, but we had bigger stuff to worry about. “Your grandpa knowing about him might be a good thing, Christian.”

“Why?”

“Because now we can ask him about the money without having to make any assumptions for ourselves.” I explained. “He obviously has a good idea about where it might be.”

“I don’t know.” Christian sighed. “I don’t know what will happen if I’ll tell him that. He already fainted.

after seeing his face.”

It was cute to see Christian cared for his grandfather, but that wasn’t going to get us anywhere at the moment. “Christian, he fainted because he saw his son who was supposed to be dead-that’s completely normal.”

Christian remained quiet, and so did I. I could at least give him some time to think about it.

“She’s hungry, I’ll make her a bottle.” Christian spoke after we arrived home and immediately left to go to Siena’s room.

In the past, I would’ve run after him and demanded him to talk to me, but I had him all figured out and. knew that all he needed at the moment was his space. I stood in the door opening and watched him from a distance until he was finally ready to talk. At least he wasn’t taking care of Gina, so it was fine by me.

“Does tomorrow work for Dario?” He asked. I let out a giggle and ran over to him to give him a back hug. “Yes.” I smiled. “I see you’ve decided to act like a human again?”

Christian rolled his eyes and pushed me off so he could put Siena in her crib. “Did I hurt your feelings, Serena?” He asked in the same playful tone as usual.

He turned around with an apologetic look on his face and held my hand. “I’m sorry, I just felt like I had to be alone for a second because I don’t want to take out my anger or you don’t deserve that.”

“I know.” I smiled “But that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to talkgo me I know your uncle’s words must’ve scared you-but you can talk to me about anything. I can fake it”

“No more secrets, remember?”

Christian wrapped his arms around my waist and stared into my eyes. “What did I ever do to deserve you?” He smiled “You gave me Siena.” I replied.

“How about we forget about this mess until tomorrow, and we go watch a movie, like the old times?”

I suggested. Christian grew a child-like smile on his face and gave me a nod. “Let’s do that.”

“How about I ask Enzo and Carmen–

“No.” Christian shook his head. “Just you and me.”

“Fine, just you and me.” I repeated. We prepared some snacks and blankets before we made our way to the theater room.

“What movie do you want to watch?” I asked Christian. He seemed unbothered and leaned back while he sipped his drink. “You choose.”

“You know I like Disney movies,” I sighed, annoyed. It was typically something for him to let me choose, only to complain afterward. “That’s funny, so do I.” Christian joked.

I scrolled through the movies and looked at Christian as I waited for an answer. “How about Cinderella?” I suggested. He was lost in my eyes and didn’t seem to mind. “Sure.” He smiled.

Christian scooted closer and wrapped his arm around me while I started the movie.

Throughout the movie, he made a few of his sarcastic jokes and, as always, had a lot to complain about everyone. “Remember when you became a housewife for one day?” He suddenly commented out of nowhere.

“At least you’re doing okay.” I smiled at him. I could take his comments. If that meant I at least got to see him smile, I could take it. “It wouldn’t hurt to be nice for once, you know.” I teased him.

“Nice?” Christian spoke, offended. “You’re also not the brightest, don’t pretend like you’re always good to me.” He laughed out loud. It started as a joke, but I could feel a hint of truth in his tone, so I decided to drop it and turned my head to the screen to focus on the movie. I was probably overthinking it, that was all.

“What did you and Dario talk about?” Christian suddenly asked out of nowhere. It was probably an innocent question, but my mind went back to Dario’s text message. Who in their right mind would even have the nerve to send heart emojis to their friends?

“Oh, nothing much. I gave him the necklace and the ring, and he was happy with it and can’t wait for tomorrow? I shrugged him off. Christian didn’t seem to mind and gave me a slight smile. “Okay.”

“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” I wondered. He used to despise Dario, but he eventually changed his mind and was so determined to make it work. “About my grandpa or everything else?”

Christian asked. That’s right. Franco demanded answers.

I didn’t know it was possible, but I felt terrible for Franco, knowing he would probably not close a single eye tonight. How would he be able to sleep after seeing his deceased son in broad daylight?

“Serena, the look in my uncle’s eyes terrified me.” Christian opened up “He seemed angry, unstable, out of his mind-

“And you don’t want Dario to turn out like that?” I concluded. Being around someone like that couldn’t be healthy for anyone, but we had the power to prevent that from happening. We had the power to protect Dario. “I don’t want anyone to be like that.” Christian sighed. “Not me, not Dario, and not Luca.”

“What about Luca?” I wondered. Johnny still held him hostage, and there was not a lot of progress.

Otherwise, he would’ve mentioned it. “I’m going to request everyone who was involved with the Dario situation at the birthday party to come by the Lamberti’s tomorrow,” Christian spoke. “We owe him an apology.”

“Remember when you asked me about what I would’ve done if Siena was in his situation?”Christian started. “I’ve been thinking about what I would’ve done if it concerned Siena, and those thoughts weren’t that nice.” He confessed.

“It took a lot of courage to help us free Enzo and Gina, he didn’t have to do that, and he had every right not to help me, but he did.”

I listened to Christian words and felt impressed by his sincere words. “I’ve been painting him to be the bad guy all along, but he went through a lot, and so did my uncle.”

“If anyone is to blame for all of this, it is the Lamberti’s.” Christian concluded.

“Yes,” I agreed. It was nice to see Christian was finally ready to see the truth. Literally, all of the issues started with the Lamberti’s, and they were a toxic family. Nothing would change, and this endless cycle of hatred would continue unless we fixed the family.

“I’m proud of you, Chrissie.” I praised him and ruffled my hand through his hair, but he flinched at my words and gently pushed me away. All I wanted to do was to cheer him up, but his expression changed. Was it my fault?

“I just want everyone to accept Dario, and I want Dario to accept us. That would make everything a bit easier.” Christian spoke.

“I can’t let this family create another monster like Berto, and that’s why I will do everything in my power to safe Dario and Luca.”