Chapter 215

Christian “It’s nice to see all of you get along for once.” Lucio smiled at his sons. Everyone was slowly starting to arrive at the venue for the photo shoot, in the dress code Lucio had decided.

Gio proudly showed off his new son to Enzo and his dad, while Christian was unable to follow the conversation as his eyes could only see Serena and Siena.

She stood alongside the other Alfonzo’s and had an uncomfortable look on her face, while Christian was desperately trying to figure out the reason. Is it because of me?

Those were the only thoughts going through his head.

He never meant for Dario to hurt her. He didn’t even know he would-but he also didn’t realize that he meant that much to her. He had no idea that her feelings for Dario were strong enough to make her cry.

Christian’s eyes moved towards Beau and Dario, who seemed to be getting along well. He felt grateful that Dario’s calm personality was enough to keep Beau in check, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling of jealousy.

Just like he could not shake off the conversation he shared with Dario, right before they all left for the photoshoot.

Flashback “I took my distance from her, just like you asked me to.” Dario spoke. Christian felt at ease with Dario’s decision, and it felt as if the weight was lifted from his shoulders.

He knew all too well that it was indeed Serena who had told Beau about Johnny’s actions, and he was willing to forgive her because he didn’t want to argue with her and could see how frightened she was-but what he had not expected was for Dario to take the blame.

It showed him that he was capable of doing anything to keep her safe, while Christian believed for that to be his job.

“Thank you, I appreciate it,” Christian said. “And I’m sorry.

“Don’t be…I understand.”

He wanted to be friends with his cousin, and he still believed him to be of great value to the family business. He believed his kind and bright personality could be a breath of fresh air in comparison to his cold personality.

“What made you change your mind?” Christian wondered. The Dario from yesterday was heavily against the idea of breaking his friendship with Serena.

“To be honest… my uncle,” Dario answered. “I don’t ever want you to feel as if I’m disrespecting you, and considering the things I said to Serena in the past, I understand why you feel uncomfortable, and you have every right to be.” He explained to Christian’s surprise. “I told you I would stand behind you and nothing has changed.”

“L…I told Serena some stuff I didn’t mean, but it was only to push her away, so you should probably check up on her.” Dario gulped. Christian could tell that it was tough for his cousin to take his distance from Serena, but he didn’t have another choice. He had to keep his family together.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of her.” Christian told him. It was his job, after all, and all he wanted was to take away her sadness “How about Johnny? Did you talk to him?” Dario asked.

Christian nodded his head. “I did. I told him to take his distance from Beau. I’ll handle it later.”

“Yes, good-and I’ll stay with Beau,” Dario spoke. “I’m sorry about telling him. I didn’t mean to- **

“I know.” Christian sighed. There was no point in accepting his apology when he knew he was only taking the fall for Serena’s mistakes. “I should probably check up on Serena.” Christian patted his shoulder.

“Yes, you should.”

“Christian!”

“Huh, what?” Christian turned to his brother. Gio laughed at the startled look on Christian’s face and nudged his shoulder.

“I said we should take a vacation, you, me, Serena. Dana, and Enzo if he’s capable of keeping a woman “Yes, sure.” Christian smiled at Enzo. Even though Gio loved to make fun of him, Christian couldn’t join him. Not even two years ago, the family used to make the same kind of jokes about him.

“I do think you should find someone, Enzo.” Lucio encouraged him. “Gio has Dana, Christian had Serena, Stella and Mia have each other…”

“I’ll be fine, dad.” Enzo rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll settle down one day.”

“That’s good.” Lucio chuckled. “It’s a shame I won’t be able to experience that day, but I’ll be looking down at you from heaven.”

An awkward silence followed after Lucio’s hurtful words. Christian could still not understand how his day could be so accepting about losing his life. He had come to peace with it while Christian was dreading that day.

“I don’t like it when you guys have conversations without me!” Christian heard Cesca’s voice. The sound of her voice had often annoyed her, but this time he felt grateful she was there to bring some life back to the conversation.

“There’s a lot you don’t like.” Lucio smiled at Cesca. Christian stared at his mom and dad while his thoughts went back to Serena. If anyone went through a lot, it must’ve been his mom and dad-but they had somehow managed to stay together.

“Gio, tell your mom how beautiful she looks.” Lucio encouraged him. Christian ignored the ongoing conversation and turned his head to look at Serena. He noticed how Marc had joined her and managed to get a smile on her face, something he had failed to do.

He stared at the two with a defeated look on his face as jealousy took over. It was his best friend, who was supposed to be like his brother-but even that wasn’t enough. Is Dario really the issue?

Christian thought.

“Excuse me. There’s something I have to take care of.” Christian took a deep breath as he stepped away from his family, to make his way to Serena.

“What are you guys talking about?” Christian interrupted the two. He stuck out his hand to take Siena from Serena’s hand, but she turned away with a slight pout on her face. “She’s not just yours.

She’s mine too.” Serena spoke.

“S-she is, of course, she is!” Christian spoke, flustered. Serena and Marc gave each other a look before the two burst out in laughter. “Did you see the look on his face?” Serena cackled.

She squeezed Siena’s check as she stuck out her hands for Christian and stepped back. “Not today, Siena.” She spoke while Christian grew a smile on his face. Perhaps Dario did the right thing, and maybe she would change back into the person I fell in love with, Christian thought.

“I’ll leave you two alone.” Marc spoke, before he walking off.

“I like Marc. You shouldn’t shove him to the side like that.” Serena scolded him. Christian shook his head. denying her accusation.

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are,” Serena stated. “Whenever you get tired of people, you push them away and replace them…”

Christian felt terrible after hearing Serena’s worries. Getting angry at some of her conclusions was not an unusual thing for him, but this time around, things were different. He wanted to listen to her, and he tried to understand her better. He tried to get that smile back on her face and grant her the happiness she deserved.

“Is that what you think I’ll do to you?” Christian chuckled. He thought it was funny that he and Serena shared the same fears. “I’ll never replace you.” He spoke.

“There’s no one like you, Serena.”

Christian stared into Serena’s dazzling eyes and noticed the side of her lips curl. “Christian, that was so cute of you.” She spoke shyly as she covered her cheek with her free hand.

“I mean…there’s no one as annoying as you,” Christian spoke with a teasing smirk on his lips as he watched how the smile on her face had vanished. “I should’ve figured.” Serena sighed.

“You know, I think you have this thing where you can’t be nice for too long.”

Christian took in Serena’s words and brushed his finger against her cheek. “I hope you know that I do love you.” He admitted. “I know…I’m an asshole at times, but I really do love you.”

“I know.” Serena giggled. “I think we both suck at expressing our feelings, so I hope Siena doesn’t take that one from both of us.”

“Neither do I.”

Christian smiled at Siena, who looked back and forth between them as if she was trying to follow their conversation. “Do you think she understands?” Serena smiled. Christian shrugged his shoulders and poked his finger into Siena’s cheeks.

He had never fully understood why many nicknamed Serena squirrel until Siena was born. It was only then that he could see the obvious resemblance.

“We also need to do something about that ring around your finger because I’m afraid it might rust,”

Christian spoke. If it were up to him, he would’ve married Serena at this very moment-but he knew that it was not what she wanted.

As unfortunate as he felt, knowing that Lucio wouldn’t be there-he still believed Serena deserved the big wedding she had probably dreamed of as a girl.

“After all this crap with your uncle is over, we should just do it!” Serena decided. “We went through all this trouble to get this ring back for today, so yes-we should get married.”

“So you still want to marry me?” Christian asked, surprised. After the situation with Dario, he had some doubts-but Serena proved him wrong.

“Yes, of course, I want to marry you!” Serena nodded. “I’ve never changed my mind about wanting to marry you. We’ll get married.”

Well get married.

For some reason, those words gave Christian a lot of encouragement. He was unsure of whatever issue was going on between the two, but he was sure of one thing. He would marry her.

He also knew that for that to happen, he had to fix a lot of things about himself-which was why he decided to take the first step. “Luca should be here soon…where are Carmen and Luke?” Christian asked as his mind traveled to the twins.

If he owed anyone an apology, it would have to be them. He wanted their approval so badly that he ignored every threat and pushed through with the party-even though he had been warned not to.

Out of the two, Carmen was a bit more traumatized and if there was one thing Christian wished for, it would have to be her happiness.

Serena looked at Christian with a confused expression on her face. “They’re in the hall. Why what’s wrong?”

“Nothing” Christian sighed. “I’m just sorry about everything, and I owe them an apology. I also owe Beau an apology, and so does Johnny.” He spoke. “So I thought, maybe I could bring Beau and Johnny-so we could all move past this.”

“You’re right.” Serena agreed. “All of this is crazy-and we’re not going to beat your uncle like this.”

“So?”

“So, I agree.” Serena spoke. “I think we should get everyone together and hash it out.”