Chapter 217

About an hour had passed, and there was still no sign of Luca. Even then—we had already taken most of the pictures but still stuck around hoping for the best. Family members were getting impatient, and time was ticking.

“Can’t Johnny call him?” I asked Christian, who immediately shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Serena—“

“Christian, people are starting to talk.” Franco interrupted our conversation. Christian muttered something under his breath and looked across the room. Of course, everyone was curious about Luca’s whereabouts because everyone knew how important this day was to Lucio.

“He’ll come,” Christian spoke. Franco had a sympathetic smile on his lips and placed his hand on his shoulder. “A lot has happened and—“

“He’ll come,” Christian repeated. “I don’t believe Luca would do something like that.”

I wanted to believe in Christian’s words, but we talked about the same Luca who tried to take away his position under his dad’s orders. “So what do you suggest we do, boss,” Franco mocked him. He seemed just as confused as I did and had also accepted that his grandson would not stop by anymore.

Christian frowned at his grandpa, ready to snap any second before he took a breath to control himself. “Let’s announce Dario to keep them quiet.”

Franco chuckled. “That’s the same thing I would’ve suggested.”

Christian forced my hand into Franco’s. “Grandpa, please take care of Serena—I need to get Dario and Siena.”

He rushed off while I looked down at my hand. If this was Christian’s way of taking care of me—I had to say it was hilarious, considering the man wasn’t even that fond of me.

“Serena,” Franco called out my name. I prepared myself for whatever harsh words were about to leave his mouth and looked him in the eye. He would’ve probably slaughtered me if he knew what kind of feud I had started between Johnny and Beau or about what happened with Dario because Franco was the kind of person to kill anyone who stood in Christian’s way.

“We’ve been getting along well, don’t you think?” He spoke to my surprise. My eyes widened at his unexpected comment. “Y-yes?”

He carried a slight smile on his lips and caressed my hair. “Don’t worry, my head is full with a dying son, a devil of a child, and my brainwashed grandson—so you are the last person on my list.”

Only when he had mentioned it, I realized that these people had other things on their minds. My issues were not even close to being the end of the world, and for that, I felt guilty. “I’m sorry,” I told Franco, but he shook his head and pulled me along. “I don’t like apologies.”

We made our way to Lucio, who was almost asleep in his wheelchair. “Is Luca on his way, or am I dying first?” He joked, creating an awkward atmosphere. If Christian were here, he would’ve stomped away because he couldn’t take his dad’s jokes—but neither could I.

“Hmm, Serena?” Lucio looked at me. Ignoring him was not an option, so I looked at Cesca, who stood behind him for help—but she turned away instead. “You know.” Franco saved me. “Christian is bringing Dario, so we can officially make the announcement.”

“That’s good!” Lucio spoke while I was finally able to breathe. “That should calm people down.”

The worst thing would probably be that despite leading the family for years, Lucio was unaware of everything that had been going on. Regardless of his health, he had the right to know, but no one had the guts to tell him.

The moment Christian walked in our direction, with Dario beside him—I stepped back and stood next to Cesca. The presence of Dario, which had once made me feel at peace, felt uncomfortable, and it was all because of my own mistakes. It was all because I had taken it too far with my comments. Our eyes met for a split second before he immediately looked away—not being able to face me. He hated me. I was sure of it.

I focused on Siena, who was half asleep in Christian’s arms, and couldn’t help but feel sorry. She was supposed to be at home, but instead, we were here—wasting time waiting for the person who probably wanted her dead.

“I’ll take her!” I told Christian as I grabbed her from his hands. I stepped back to give everyone some space while Christian shot me a confused look. The rest of Christian’s siblings joined us while I buried myself even more to the back. It was probably the best for everyone.

“I’m glad you’ve decided to choose your family.” Cesca suddenly whispered in my ear. “But you’re not a victim—please don’t forget that you brought this upon yourself.”

I froze as Franco grabbed everyone's attention and nearly trembled at Cesca’s words. She was right. I was the one who told Christian to consider sharing the family business with Dario. Even then, there was one thing that confused me, and that was that she was focusing on me instead of her dying husband.

Franco had gathered everyone’s attention and pushed Lucio to the front. “First of all, I would like to thank all of you for coming here.” Lucio began while my attention went elsewhere. Throughout the speech, my eyes moved to the unfamiliar man who stood at the end of the hallway.

I could see him through the open door and was shocked by his piercing gaze. Could it be a family member who I had never met before?

He looked right through me as if he only had one goal, and after a while, I had finally noticed who the man was staring at. He was staring at Lucio. My eyes moved to the side of his face, which was covered with a mask, and my first thought went to Christian’s uncle.

It couldn’t be…

Was it Berto?

“Excuse me,” I whispered as I slowly escaped from the back. Christian was too focused on his dad’s speech to notice me, giving me the perfect opportunity to blend myself in the crowd as I made my way to the hallway.

The man who had appeared to finally notice my presence looked me in the eye and held the end of his hat to lower it as he looked at me with a grin. I tightened my grip around Siena and blinked my eyes to make sure I wasn’t crazy.

There was no doubt about it. The man was Berto.

“And that’s why we’ve decided to make Dario the other head of the Lamberti family.” I heard Lucio’s voice through the microphone before the room was filled with claps and praises.

The man in front of me clapped along while not losing any eye contact, and by the look on his face, it was clear to me that he was making a mockery out of the entire situation.

‘Bye, Serena,’ He mouthed right before he turned around. How did he know my name? Of course, he knew my name. I was with Christian—so everyone knew my name.

My head was telling me to go back and erase it from my mind, but my heart was telling me to follow after him—so that was exactly what I did. “Hey, wait!” I called out.

The man seemed shocked by my ability to speak and fastened his pace as I did the same. He made his way to the door while I followed closely behind. I had finally managed to catch up and grabbed him by his shoulder to stop him. “Wait, who are you?” I asked.

I heard a chuckle escape from his mouth before he turned around and raised his head to face me. It wasn’t long for me to process the dark aura around this man. “You know who I am, Serena,” The man confirmed as his eyes moved to Siena. So it was Berto.

In a split second, I released my hand from his shoulder and pulled Siena closer—while Berto scoffed. “Don’t worry, I still have to deal with Dario before I can deal with Christian, so it’s not your time...yet.” He spoke. “You should go back inside. I don’t want you to get hurt, not yet.”

“I’m sorry, I-I don’t understand—“

“Now that you’re here, you might as well deliver a message to Dario,” Berto whispered. “Tell my son that I brought him a small present...for taking over the family business and for betraying me.”

Berto turned around and made his way outside, while I was confused at his choice of words and unsure of what to do. Should I go back to interrupt whatever was going on and get Christian, or should I follow Berto myself?

I looked down at Siena as I tried to find the perfect solution, but there was none. I would not do anything else with Siena in my hands, but I didn’t want to let him go either.

“Serena, what are you doing?”

For the first time in my life, I felt relieved upon hearing Isobel’s voice and pushed Siena in her hands. “What are you doing here?” I gasped while she shrugged her shoulders. “You walked out, and I got worried.”

‘I still have to deal with Dario.’

For some reason, Berto’s words were bothering me.

“W-what are you doing?” Isobel asked, flustered as she looked down at Siena.

“No time to explain. Stay here!” I told her. I made my way outside—but Isobel, unaware of the danger, followed me with Siena in her hands. “Serena, what the hell are you do—“

We both stopped in our steps and looked across the road to stare at the man who was aggressively knocking on the window as he sat in a car.

It was Dario’s uncle, Mauro.

He locked eyes with us and yelled out some words, but we couldn’t hear him. “What is he doing here?” Isobel frowned, confused—while I could already tell that this could not be any good.

“Isobel, wait here for a second!”

I sped over to the car and tried to open the door—while Mauro knocked on the window, but it was locked. “Serena, step back!” He yelled out, just loud enough for me to hear. “W-what?”

I focused my attention on the ticking sound, which seemed to be getting faster by the second, and felt my body go numb. Was this truly happening?

“There’s a bomb in the car. Step back!” He shouted. “Go inside—now!”

It took me a second to get his words through my head before I turned around and looked at Isobel, with only one thing going through my mind. I could not let this man die. “I’ll go back inside and—“

“No!” Mauro stopped me. “It’s too late. I-I threw a letter on the floor—bring it to Dario and step back, now!”

Mauro raised his upper body, allowing me to see the equipment which had been wrapped around his waist as I could finally see that this was a lost cause. His fate had already been decided.

“You have to leave, now!” Mauro yelled. “If you care about Dario, you’ll step back—now!”

I closed my eyes and thought of Siena, who could not lose me. He was right. It was too late and too dangerous.All I could feel was guilt as I knelt to grab the envelope and ran back as instructed as the sound of the ticking fastened. “Serena, what’s going on—is everything okay?” Isobel questioned. I had no time to answer her and pulled her back inside to lock the glass door, so I could wrap my arms around her to protect Siena.

Not even a second later, we were met with a loud blast and looked at our worst nightmare.

The car had exploded.