Chapter 218

“Look at him. He’s so pitiful.” The couple next to me whispered while their eyes were glued to Dario.

Anyone would’ve expected for him to cry, and rightfully so—but he didn’t.

It was his uncle’s funeral, and he didn’t shed a tear. Only one week had passed since the unfortunate event, and there were still a lot of mysteries that had yet to be unsolved.

I watched as Christian placed his hand on Dario’s shoulder and wondered what was going to his mind. If anyone hadn’t been the same, it had to be him. After informing him about his uncle’s crimes, he told me to keep it quiet—so I did. The only ones who knew were the ones who were aware of Berto.

I listened to him for Lucio’s sake, but even he couldn’t be fooled this time. His health had declined to the point it had taken him to the hospital. He demanded answers, and Christian had decided to give them to him, but only after the funeral.

There was one thing I hadn’t told him about, and that was the letter. It seemed to be something personal, so despite all the stuff that Dario said about me—I was going to be the one to give it to him. “Serena, are you okay?”

I turned my head and looked at Johnny, who had been awfully nice these past days. He moved his fingers to my eyes and wiped away my tears which I hadn’t even noticed. “I just feel so bad for him,”

I whispered, looking at Dario.

“He’s supposed to yell, cry—maybe even resent us, but he isn’t.”

“Because he knows that’s not going to fix anything,” Johnny explained. “He chose to be in this business, and the truth is that you have to be prepared for anything to happen.”

Shocked, I stared at Christian and felt chills throughout my body. After what had happened to Dario’s uncle, I was frightened for Siena’s life and decided it would be for the best not to bring her along. I couldn’t even imagine what I had to go through if something happened to her or Christian.

“How is Christian doing?” Johnny asked. I wish I could say he was doing fine, but he seemed stressed and wouldn’t open up about his feelings—but I was used to it. “You know how he gets.”

“True.”

Some time had passed, and the funeral service had ended. Everyone had left, except for Christian, who had not left Dario’s side. I was aware that Dario wasn’t in any mood to see me and kept my distance.

The cold weather wasn’t exactly helping, but somehow I managed. “Serena, come here.” Christian motioned.

I looked around as if there was another Serena and didn’t hesitate for a second. Christian opened his arms and pulled me in his embrace. “You’re freezing. I’m sorry.”

I shook my head. “Don’t be. It’s okay.”

Dario still had his back turned against me and looked at the ground where his uncle was buried. All I wanted was to hug him and to tell him that everything would be fine—but he wouldn’t let me.

Christian pressed a kiss against my forehead and grabbed my hand to pull me forward. “Is he going to be okay?” I whispered. Dario was like a robot, and anyone could see that he was not doing okay.

Christian shrugged his shoulders.

He was just about to say something, but before he could—we got interrupted by the sound of his phone. “Answer it,” Dario spoke for the first time. “I’ll watch Serena. Answer it.”

Christian had a troubled look on his face, and I could sense that they were once again hiding something from me. Could I blame them? No, not this time. I could take a lot, but even this was a bit too much for me.

“I’ll be back, okay?” Christian spoke before walking off. My eyes met Dario’s for a split second before he turned back around. Christian not being here was an excellent opportunity for me to give him the letter. I pulled out the envelope from my purse and tapped Dario’s shoulder.

“I need to give you something.”

My touch traveled from Dario’s shoulder to his hand, but this time he didn’t let go of me. He looked down at our intertwined hands with a sad look in his eyes. “What is it?”

“I haven’t told Christian, but your uncle gave me a letter.” I showed him the envelope. “I wanted to wait but—“

“Give it.” Dario snatched it from my hands and tore the envelope to shreds, revealing the letter. With trembling hands, he read through the letter, while I could only wonder the context of it.

“I’m going to kill him,” Dario whispered as tears fell from his eyes. It was the first time he showed some type of emotion, meaning whatever was in the letter must’ve opened some kind of scars. He fell to the ground and leaned against a tree as he covered his face with his hands.

Uncontrollable sobs wracked his body while I looked around my surroundings to find Christian.

What should I do? Should I comfort him? Would he even let me?

“I’ll kill him!” Dario managed to get out. He seemed broken and vulnerable, so I did the first thing which occurred to me and got on my knees so I could pull him into a tight hug. “It’s okay. I’m here!”

Dario rested his head on my shoulder and sobbed as I brushed my hand through his hair. I was grateful he decided to let me comfort him because he needed it. Despite everything, I had always viewed him as a strong person. Unfortunately, things were different because he lost the most important person in his life.

“I’m so sorry,” I rubbed his back. Berto was a different type of evil and had shown us that he was capable of anything. He only cared about one thing, and that was taking over the family business.

He didn’t care who had to die for him to get it. He was a monster.

Dario threatening to kill his dad were not some random words. He meant it. I could tell that he meant it, and even though I had often been vocal about others not having the right to decide over other’s life, I wanted nothing more. What if Siena was next?

“Serena?”

Shocked, I stood up from the ground and stepped back after hearing Christian’s voice. “I-I’m sorry, he was…and—“

Christian sighed. “Don’t worry about it.”

He shot me a smile and grabbed my hand to pull me back to the ground. “What did you say to him?”

“I—I…”

“Here.” Dario handed him the letter. I froze up as I realized that me not telling him about the letter could potentially lead to another argument, but to my surprise Christian remained calm. He read the letter with a sad frown.

“I think we both know what this means,” Christian spoke after he was finished. I was one second away from snatching it out of his hands and could not hide my curiosity. “This means your uncle was prepared for this to happen. You need to move on and keep it together.”

Christian’s harsh words seemed to impact Dario, who had finally raised his head to look at us.

“Crying and threatening to kill him is not going to heal you, if you’re serious about it—you have to do it.”

“Christian’s right, and I think the same goes for Luca.”

Johnny appeared out of nowhere and pushed us aside so he could get to Dario. “Our father is a monster, but our brother is not different from him—so I say we take down both of them, and we do it as soon as possible.”

Luca’s name seemed to have brought up a lot of emotions for Dario. It was understandable because it was the brother who had once stuck up for him—but Johnny was right. To live in peace, we had to get rid of all of them.

Christian frowned. “Where did you come from?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Johnny sighed. “I’m here now, and I think Dario could use a brother…so could I.”

“And I hate to say I told you so.” Johnny continued. “But I handed you, my dad and Luca, on a silver platter, and you let them live—“

“I know, and I’ll fix it.” Christian looked at me. “We’re working on their whereabouts, but we don’t have anything y—“

As soon as Christian noticed the look on my face, he stopped talking and covered my ears with his hands. “I’m afraid this doesn’t concern you, Serena.” He smiled.

Usually, I would argue back, but this time I knew he was only trying to protect me. The less I knew, the better—and I did not have an issue with it. “Oh, don’t worry about me,” I spoke. “I’m done playing mob wife. I’ll just be a stay-at-home mom.”