Chapter 186

Christian “It looks like it’s just you and me, Siena.” Christian smiled while he carried Siena out of the car. “And us,” Dario spoke.

Christian forced a smile onto his face and gave Dario a nod. “And…you two.”

He knew his 60 hours to complete everything started the Serena left, so they didn’t waste any time and rushed towards their first destination-Franco’s house, There was a lot to take care of. There was Carmen and Luke’s birthday party, which would be tomorrow evening, finding the key and transferring the money. Not knowing anything about Berto’s whereabouts only made him more nervous because he knew he was probably up to something. He knew that he would eventually come back for not only the money but also Luca.

“Maybe if you gave Siena to her mom.” Beau began. “What’s the point of keeping her here if you’re going to make your grandparents watch her.”

“No.” Christian shook his head. “What if something happens to the baby like an allergy or something, and I’m not there to help?”

“I need her by my side, and I don’t want Serena to be stuck with a baby.”

“Yes, just imagine.” Beau spoke sarcastically. “Which mom would want to be stuck with their baby?”

He muttered as he walked past Christian and made his way inside. Christian stopped in his steps and looked at Siena, who unfortunately did not have any say in this.

Seeing the tears in Serena’s eyes as she said her goodbyes to Siena was painful to look at, but he only did it to help her. He did it so she could enjoy her time.

“Are you okay?” Dario chuckled while he patted his shoulder. Christian looked at his cousin and thought. about Serena’s suggestion to share the family business.

He still hadn’t quite figured him out yet. He could see how much he cared for Serena and that he was clearly holding himself back for the sake of his trust, but he could still not understand his intentions.

“Do you think Beau’s right?” Christian asked him. Dario gave Siena a pinch in her cheeks and shrugged his shoulders. “It’s just for two days, not two weeks, and I’m sure Serena will survive.”

Dario encouraged him.

“Just imagine what it would be like if she brought the baby along.” Dario began as the two made their way inside. “Knowing Serena, I don’t think she’ll want to be stuck in a room while the others go out and party “Party?” Christian spoke, surprised. It was one thing that hadn’t crossed his mind. “Of course she’s going to party. I mean, come on!”

Christian felt flustered as he followed Dario to the living room and thought about the consequences until he realized he was in no position to say anything.

He knew he lost that right a long time ago.

“Is that Siena?” Christian’s grandma, Maria, gasped as she made her way over to the baby. She focused her attention on the baby before she smiled at Dario and pulled him into a tight hug. “And my grandson,” She spoke proudly.

“How is your uncle doing?”

“Uncle Mauro is fine,” Dario told her. “He told me to thank you for the cake recipe. He’s really into baking. these days, so-”

“What about me, grandma?” Christian interrupted the two while he rolled his eyes. He wasn’t jealous. because he knew Dario deserved all the love and attention he could get-but he didn’t want to get ignored either. If anything, he admired Dario for how they treated him.

“I’ve seen your face for decades. Stop.overreacting.” She laughed while she grabbed Siena from his arms. “Are you going to be okay?” Christian questioned, while Maria gave him an offended look.

“I’ve raised eleven children in total, and so has your grandpa. We’ll be fine.”

“If you say so,” Christian sighed as he walked in further. “Did you see Gio’s son? He looks just like him.” Christian commented. Even though he loved Siena, he would love to have another child, and he would love to have a son who looked just like him. “I did see him, and you’re right.” Maria smiled.

“Your grandpa told me you send Serena away on vacation, is that true?”

“Well, it’s definitely not fake news,” Christian spoke. “It’s good to see you all at peace again. All this arguing was not good for my blood pressure.” Maria sighed. “Do her parents know about this?”

“Parents?” Christian frowned. The idea of calling Matteo and Lita to ask for permission to send Serena away had not even crossed his mind.

“She’s a grown woman. I’m sure she called them along the way.”

“Sure.” Maria smiled. “Anyway, your grandpa is waiting for you upstairs-he seems really stressed nowadays, so I’m happy you took your time to visit him.”

Christian felt guilty. Maria did not even know that her eldest son was still alive, but it was all for the best. The longer this news remained hidden, the better it would be for Lucio’s health-and Christian hoped that his uncle Berto also felt the same way.

“I’m kind of sad that you are leaving me,” Maria spoke, “All you kids run off to is grandpa, grandpa, grandpa-I’m also alive!”

Christian let out an awkward laugh and looked over at Dario, who got the message. “I’m actually here to visit you, grandma!” Dario made up on the spot. The last thing they wanted was for her to suspect anything.

“Oh?” Maria laughed, surprised. “In that case, we have a lot to talk about.”

“Yes, the two of you do,” Christian spoke as he stuck out his hands to grab Siena, but Maria turned away. “She doesn’t have to go upstairs with you, although it sounds tempting, I’m not going to kidnap your baby.”

“S-sure,” Christian spoke, unsure as he stared at the baby. He hated being apart from Siena, and it made him realize how much he trusted Carmen, who had been watching her a lot nowadays.

“I’ll…just go then,” Christian spoke before he made his way upstairs. He walked towards Franco’s office and stared at Beau, who had a lot to say to him. Christian was surprised and thought it was still a mystery how Franco loved Beau a lot more than he loved Serena.

“Christian, join us!” Franco called out. Christian looked at the half-empty bottle on his desk and felt chills throughout his body. His grandpa had been drinking.

It was what he had always done whenever things got too stressful, and Christian couldn’t blame him for it. It was one of his bad habits which got passed down to him, but unlike Franco, Christian had unfortunately. experienced the consequences and was determined not to touch a drop of alcohol ever again.

Beau turned around and gave Christian a worried look. “I think he’s lost it.” He whispered while Christian took a deep breath and prepared himself for what was about to come.

“Grandpa, do you know more about the key-”

“Have you already figured out what that Roberto has been up to, other than climbing out his grave!”

Franco yelled out. Christian was shocked by his sudden words and closed the door.

“Grandpa, you can’t do this-not that loud!” He hissed, annoyed. Franco had a regretful look on his face. “That’s right, my bad.”

“Where is Dario? Did he already get sick of me?”

“No, of course not,” Christian spoke. “Dario is downstairs with grandma and Siena, and speaking of Siena -how can you drink like this when you knew she would be here?”

“She’s a baby. She won’t notice anything.” Franco shrugged him off. “And besides that, I don’t even get drunk anymore…unfortunately.”

Christian had enough of his words and sat down in front of him. “The key!” Christian spoke, annoyed. “Have you found out more about the key?”

Franco stared into Christian’s eyes as he slammed a thin pile of papers onto the table and shoved it in his direction. “The key is in one of these containers, I’ve done some good research, and this is what I came up with.”

Christian was surprised by Franco’s answer and the fact that he had never stopped looking for the key. Even though it was what Franco had been doing all along, things had changed this time, and he was forced to work a bit faster.

“The vault with the cash is inside of the vault at the club,” Franco continued, while Christian did not understand a single word. “Vault within a vault?” He frowned.

“It’s all on the paper,” Franco sighed. “Just make sure you find the key first because it’ll probably take a few days to transfer the money.”

“How many days?” Christian wondered. There was a lot he had to do, but there wasn’t much time.

“About four days?”

“Four?”

“If you gather around, let’s say around forty men and work through the day-

“What?” Christian chuckled in disbelief. “Grandpa, these people have families!”

“Yes, I know!” Franco snarled back. “And your uncle Berto will blow up the warehouse and the club if he can’t get to the money, so we have to move quicker!”

Christian froze up and thought about how he had to overwork the people he was supposed to take care of.

He never wanted to be that kind of leader, not even if it was meant to protect what was Siena’s.

“Your grandpa is right, Christian,” Beau spoke up for the first time. “It’ll only be a matter of time before your uncle blows up both the warehouse and the club.”

“I don’t think he’ll knock on the door to ask us for permission to enter, so you need to move the before he finds out the exact location.” He tried to get through to him.

money “He’ll blow up the warehouse either way.” Franco yawned. Christian’s eyes turned big as he took in his grandpa’s words. “Once he finds out the money isn’t there, he’ll throw a fit like he usually does.”

“What?” Christian spoke, shocked. Franco seemed relatively calm and poured himself another drink. “We can either let him blow up the warehouse or the warehouse and the club-and I think we’ll have to go with the first option.”

“So what, we just give up the warehouse?”

Franco let out a sigh and shook his head. “You’re not as smart as you used to be.” He spoke as he looked from Christian to Beau. He had a pretty good idea of why that was, but he didn’t want to address it with Beau in the room.

According to Franco, it was all because of Serena. Even though he accepted her and grew to like her a bit more, he hadn’t changed his mind and believed Serena would end up being his downfall.

“We’ll move everything we have to the smaller warehouse and let him live a lie,” Franco explained.

“It’ll be a matter of time before he will find out he’s not going to get the money, and when that happens, we won’t be able to use your dad as a human shield anymore.”

Christian knew very well what he meant by that. The only reason why Berto didn’t do anything out of the ordinary was out of respect for Lucio, but respect could only go so far.

“So what do you suggest we do?” Christian asked. He did not want to say the wrong thing or suggest a problematic idea because Berto was still his uncle and his grandpa’s eldest son.

“I say we switch all of the containers, move them to the smaller warehouse and lead him right into his trap,” Beau suggested. “According to Dario, he plans to destroy this family and to build his own empire, so why don’t we help him out?”

“What are you going to do with him?” Beau asked his grandpa. The word ‘trap’ terrified him because he did not want to hurt his uncle.

“I don’t know yet, Christian.”

“So we’re really going to let the men work like dogs for some money?” Christian wondered.

“Yes, and we’ll give them a huge bonus for their loyalty,” Franco spoke as he glared at Christian.

“You find the key, and I’ll take care of the rest-you’re too…soft, too kind-hearted.”

“Whatever works for you,” Christian scoffed.

“I’ve been thinking…there must be a snake at the warehouse, and that must be how Berto has everything under control.” Christian began. “We can’t move the containers or find the key before we find out who that person is.”

“I agree,” Franco spoke as he went into deep thoughts. “Maybe we should ask Dario. Maybe he knows.”

“No.” Christian decided. It was something that had already crossed his mind, but Dario was just as confused as all of them. “There’s actually a lot he doesn’t know, so I think Berto played it safe and knew there was a chance he would end up betraying him.”

“Luca?” Franco suggested. “I don’t trust him one bit, but we can always try.”

Christian shook his head as he did not want to get his cousin involved. The only thing he wanted at the moment was for Johnny to keep an eye on him. “He would probably know, but he is not going to tell us.” He concluded. “I do know one thing, and that’s that uncle doesn’t work with random people, so it has to be family.”

“Grandpa, can you do something for me?” Christian asked.

Franco let out a frustrated sigh and banged his head against his desk. “Do I have to do everything around here?”

Christian ignored his grandpa’s complaints. “Can you write down the names of the people who did not attend Dario’s party?”

Christian had a pretty good idea that the snake must’ve been someone amongst those people.

“Whoever it was, the person was probably terrified and didn’t even have the nerve to show up at the party.

“I’ll do it right away.” Franco promised before he focused his attention on the laughter which was coming from downstairs.

“It seems like Dario really fits in.” He smiled. Christian agreed. He did fit in and perhaps even more than he ever could. “He does…”

“And speaking of Dario, there is something I want to discuss with you.” Christian looked at Franco. It was finally time to ask the question which would change the family line and the business.

“W-what is it? He hasn’t done anything suspicious, has he?” Franco nervously asked. He was really fond of Dario and couldn’t even bear the thought of losing him “Suspicious?” Christian chuckled. “No, the only suspicious thing he has done up until now has been flirting with Serena.” He spoke as the smile on his face slowly vanished. It was supposed to sound like a joke, but it wasn’t.

“It’s because you let it happen in the first place,” Beau mumbled just loud enough for him to hear.

Christian shrugged off his words and continued the conversation. “It was about letting him be a bit more involved with the family business.”

Christian carefully observed the look on Franco’s face, but nothing had changed. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

Christian took a deep breath. “I want to share the business…with him.” He finally managed to get out. “Isn’t he the original heir in the first place?”

Franco stared at Christian and felt confused by his unexpected words. He was waiting to find out whether this was some kind of joke, and so was Beau, who had also not expected this. “Christian, you’ve technically just met the guy-”

“That guy is my cousin who abandoned the only parent he had left to help this family.” Christian stopped Beau from talking. “Grandpa, what do you say?”

Franco felt attacked by this sudden request and thought about Lucio. Franco had retired from the family