Chapter 179

I let out a yawn and rubbed my eyes before I sat up straight to see whatever Christian was doing. It was early in the morning, and as always, he was pulling weird stuff again.

“Hey, pervert!” I yelled at him and threw a pillow to his back. Christian froze up and looked at me with guilty eyes.

“Give me a good reason why you’re holding my bikini top and my bra.”

“That’s because.” Christian stuttered. “W-well, you see-”

“Well?” I frowned. “Okay, you’ve got me.” Christian sighed. “I was looking for your size because I think your boobs shrunk.”

I burst out laughing and decided to ignore whatever he was doing. It was obvious it was because he planned on buying me some presents, so I decided to let it drop.

“What’s with the footsteps?” I asked Christian as I focused on the sound behind the closed door.

“The nurses are leaving,” Christian explained. “We have no need for them anymore and they are moving away their equipment, so…”

The wrong question at the wrong time.

“I can’t stop thinking about Gina,” Christian confessed. I tried playing it cool and did not remove the smile from my face.

Relax, Serena, she’s already gone.

“How come?” I played along. Christian sighed and sat down on the bed. “She didn’t show me any signs of wanting to leave yesterday, and now she’s just…gone,” Christian spoke.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” I asked. “Maybe she’s ready to move on with her life an-

“Impossible.” Christian stopped me. “She went through something traumatic which you can’t move on from that quickly. That’s impossible.”

“I moved on,” I shrugged. If I could move on with my life, so could she. Her wounds turned into scars, and she could walk just perfectly fine. Christian smiled and caressed his hand through my hair. “Not everyone is as strong as you, Serena.”

I blushed and looked down as I took in Christian’s words. I wouldn’t say I liked bragging about myself, but Christian was absolutely right. I was a strong person.

“Well, Enzo said that she’s fine, and you should trust your brother,” I told Christian. I honestly couldn’t care less whether he would figure it out or not, but I had yet to thank Enzo. Knowing him, he probably bribed the nurses to keep their mouths shut.

“So, what are our plans for today?” I asked Christian. “Are we going to take care of that list? Look for the key? Sell some of that special flour-

“No, not today.” Christian stopped my imagination. “I want to spend some alone time with my cousins if that’s alright with you.” Christian smiled. “I want to visit Dana, and I want to introduce Dario to Gio.”

He seemed so suspicious, and my insecurities were getting the best of me. Why did he not want me around? What if he looked at my bra because he planned on buying some other girl stuff instead?

“Oh okay…” I murmured. “Will, you at least send me pictures?”

“I-I don’t know. I’ll see what I can do.” Christian smiled. He was a lousy liar and was guilty of whatever he had planned, but I was determined to get to the bottom of it. “Let me guess. Beau has suddenly turned into a cousin of yours?” I teased. Christian and Beau did everything together nowadays.

“Maybe,” Christian mumbled.

“Quick question for you.” Christian teased back. “Have you ever got up early in the morning to take care of the baby?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Not because I don’t want to, but because you won’t let me.” I chuckled.

There was no need to get up in the middle of the night or lose any sleep in the morning because Christian was dedicated to his job.

“You got me there,” Christian spoke, embarrassed. “Although Carmen has been taking over my job nowadays.”

“Of course, Carmen.” I smiled. I was extremely grateful for her and could not explain in words how much I loved her. “She’s planning her party. It’s in a few days already.”

“A few days?” I spoke, surprised. “Wow, she’s quick.”

“True.” Christian shrugged. Sometimes I wished I had the opportunities to go back in time so I could celebrate my youth as she did. “So are we staying here, or are we leaving?” I asked him. “Because I’m sure my parents don’t want the party to be unsupervised, but Siena can’t be here…she’s a baby.”

“We’ll see.” Christian mumbled and got up to Why was he so suspicious, and what was he up to away from me. “We’ll see when the time gets there.”

“Anyway, I’m going down-you should get down whenever you’re ready.” He smiled. It was surprising to see he was still in a good mood despite everything which was going on.

It took me some time to get ready, but after a while, I finally made my way to the living room. Beau held Siena in his hands and seemed hopeless as he was desperately trying to pull back his face so she couldn’t hit him. “Are you practicing?” I asked him.

Beau pulled a disgusted face while Christian placed his hand on his shoulder. “Yes, and he sucks at it. 1 don’t even think he likes babies.”

“Poor Beau.” I sighed. “How are you going to take care of two?”

“She scratched me in my face!” Beau spoke. “It’s not my fault you somehow gave birth to the devil’s offspring.”

“Says the one who’s having a child with Isobel,” I muttered under my breath before making my way to the kitchen. Carmen was on her laptop, and Enzo sat beside her. “What are you guys doing?” I asked.

“Serena is that you!” A familiar voice called out. I let out a gasp and ran over to the laptop so I could see Luke’s face through the video chat. “Lukey, I miss you!” I told him.

Beau and Christian joined us and pulled out a chair. “That’s enough Siena for the day, you take her.”

Beau spoke as he handed her to Christian.

“Siena, come to mommy!” I cooed and stuck out my hands, but she let out a giggle and leaned towards Christian instead. “Just a few months old, but already a bully.” Enzo laughed.

“Yeah, I wonder who she got it from.” I smiled at Christian. I could already tell that she would end up playing the same stupid games as her dad. “Any volunteers to stay here the night of the party? I think a bunch of security might scare off the kids.” Christian spoke.

Enzo gave him a surprised look and frowned his eyebrows. “Won’t you look at that? Christian cares about their feelings.”

“Stop it,” Christian spoke, annoyed. “I’m just playing with you. I’ll be there to watch these kids.” Enzo smiled before he looked at Beau. “How about you, Beau?”

Beau scrunched up his nose and shook his head. “Sorry, I’ll have to pass.”

“Christian, do we have a limit of people we can invite?” Carmen asked. “No, of course not.”

Christian shrugged. “Invite whoever you want to invite, but I do think you should make a guest list because I don’t like the idea of people sneaking into my house.”

“Yay!” Carmen clapped. “That means I can invite Logan.”

“Logan?” Beau, Christian, Enzo, and Luke spoke at the same time. “Wait, hold up a second,” Beau furrowed his eyebrows as he leaned forward. “Who the hell is Logan?”

Poor Carmen had a startled look on her face and didn’t know where to look. “Carmen, who’s Logan?” Luke asked again.

“You guys are so annoying.” I rolled my eyes and I slammed my arm around Carmen’s shoulder.

The best thing about growing up without brothers was that I didn’t have to go through all of this.

“Come on, Carmen, tell them.” I gave her a smile of encouragement.

“Logan…is the guy I have a crush on.” Carmen blushed. “Crush? You’re like four, I mean, come on?” Enzo chuckled.

“The guy you have a crush on?” Beau asked, annoyed. “And is this one your age or “Yes!” Carmen rolled her eyes. “Of course he’s my age-you’re worse than dad!”

“You know what, Christian.” Beau sighed. “Maybe I might join and supervise this party after all.”

“How about you, Luke?” I changed the subject to help Carmen out of this situation. “Do you have anyone you like? A girlfriend?”

“A girlfriend?” Luke chuckled. “I don’t exactly do titles, but I’m kind enough to put myself out there for anyone-”

“What he’s trying to say is that he’s a pig.” Carmen interrupted him as she rolled her eyes. “Just like Beau, apparently he was also like that before he met Isobel, so there is hope.”

My eyes moved to Enzo, who seemed pleased by his answer because he was probably the same-

but Enzo Tooked at Christian instead.

“Sounds familiar, doesn’t it, brother?” Enzo laughed out loud while Christian stared at me with an uncomfortable look on his face. “Were you also like that. Christian?” I frowned Christian shrugged his shoulders and had a smirk on his face.

“Let’s talk about you, Serena.”

“M-me?” I pointed to myself while everyone stared at me. “I wish I could see your face right now!”

Luke called out, but it was only a matter of seconds before Enzo turned around the screen.

“I was just like Luke,” I admitted. I wasn’t that much different. “I made all the boys fall for me, and I didn’t really have to do anything for it.”

“Just like now?” Christian smirked. “I mean me, Vince…Dario.”

“Did I miss anyone?”

It seemed to be a joke to Christian, and he was unaware of the awkward silence he had created. So Isobel was right, Christian could see through me, but he wasn’t saying anything. I felt guilty because I knew it wasn’t because he was testing me, but because he didn’t have the right to.

It wasn’t as if I had cheated on him, and even if I did he still didn’t couldn’t exactly say anything.

“You forgot me!” Enzo spoke before he planted a kiss on my cheek. Luckily he was there to save the day. “I’ve been crushing on Serena since the day I first met her!”

“That’s true!” I laughed to ease the tension. “I used to avoid you like the plague, and you just kept following me around all day.”

“And how did it work out for you?” Christian teased him. Enzo looked at Siena and leaned forward to pinch her cheek. “Obviously not so great.”

Christian let out a chuckle and smiled at me. “Can I take Siena with me today?” He asked while Enzo, Luke, and Carmen were talking about the party again.

The innocent look on his face whenever he asked me that question was to die for. “Sure, you can go ahead and take her!” I told Christian and made my way over to him to grab Siena.

“But not too long because I’ll miss her too much!” I pouted while I attacked Siena with kisses. “So what are you guys doing again?”

I looked from Beau to Christian, but both of them had a suspicious look on their face. Great, so Beau was in on it too. “Guys,” I asked again in a serious tone. “Where are you guys going?”

“I told you, I want to get to know Dario a bit better, and I want to visit my brother,” Christian spoke after a few seconds. My eyes moved towards Beau, who shrugged his shoulders before he lowered his head.

“Why do I feel as if you’re lying to me?” I whispered, confused. It couldn’t be something terrible because he was bringing along Beau, and Beau wouldn’t lie to me, right?

“Serena,” Christian said my name. “I’m not going to do anything crazy. You have to trust me on this one.”

“Okay,” I sighed. Arguing would not do anything, and he wouldn’t tell me what he was up to anyway.

“I’ll trust you.”

I was still confused about Christian’s plans for the day, but one thing was sure.

He was up to something.