Chapter 96

Book 2 His Promise: Happily Ever After “Someone save me,” I muttered under my breath as I almost fell asleep from the girls’

conversations. All they did was gossip, gossip-and gossip, while all I wanted was to spend some alone time with my daughter.

“Do you also want to be saved, Siena?” I whispered to the smiling baby in my hands and attacked her with kisses. “Look at you, you’re getting so big” I spoke to her and bounced her around while she giggled.

Four months had passed and a lot had changed. Life was back to being peaceful and Siena was growing bigger by the day. In the beginning, I was definitely a bit nervous and often doubted whether I would be a great mother or not, but until now everything had worked out.

Christian, Siena, and I made the perfect little family and nothing could ever change that.

“Is that the latest collection?” Daniela asked and pointed to Siena’s dress. Unfortunately being Christian’s fiancée also came with the less unfortunate things like these.

Francesca and my mom gave me some advice on how to be a perfect Lamberti without getting in Christian’s way, and this was one of them. Interact and mingle with the wives and daughters of the other families.

Daniela was a Sala, which was not that hard to miss by her personality. She was dominant, liked to boss people around and loved to gossip. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, were Francesca’s words after she had told me about all of the families.

“Oh, I wouldn’t know-Christian bought it.” I shrugged my shoulders. Trying to manage my new luxurious lifestyle was definitely something I had to work on and if the girls would ask me to name ten brand names on the spot, I most likely couldn’t.

Upon hearing Christian’s name all of the girls turned their heads to listen to the conversation. It was just as Francesca had warned me. The only reason they were even interested in getting to know me was because of Christian.

Everything they did, including inviting me to their daily hangouts was because it was clear that Christian was going to take over anytime soon. Even though Lucio still kept his declining health a secret, it was quite obvious because he had been keeping him busy.

All the girls wanted to gain from this friendship, were some bonus points for their husbands or families.

“It’s like you and Christian have been in the honeymoon phase for months now, you guys are so cute,” Maddie commented Maddie was my brother, Marcello’s fiancée, and somehow very involved in my life.

After noticing that I was still alive and well and that Christian did not ditch me after the baby was born, they were all trying their hardest to cozy up to me.

“Yes, you guys look really cute together.” Karina agreed in a desperate attempt to take over the conversation from the other two as the other girls at the table looked at me as if they were expecting an answer.

Karina was from another family, and until a few months ago I didn’t even know about he existence, so I was extremely confused why she loved to pretend as if we were close.

Daniela, Maddie, and Karina were like the three musketeers and were supposedly best friends, but somehow it seemed as if they were fighting for my attention.

“Thanks.” I forced a fake smile on my face and put Siena in her stroller. Them looking at me was one thing, but them eyeing Siena as if they were going to kidnap my baby was another.

“How is Beau doing?” One of the girls asked. “My brother is doing fine, thanks for asking.” I immediately cut my answer short. These witches would not get to Beau, not my precious twin brother.

Beau and I were close to being inseparable and I spend a lot of my time with him and Luis who he was taking care of. Even though he still hadn’t completely forgiven the Alfonzo’s, they were all trying their best to work along-and my father had been mentoring him about business-related stuff.

“He’s been visiting Vince almost every day, your brother is really amazing.” One of the girls whose name I didn’t even know praised Beau. Unfortunately, Vince’s situation had not changed and he was still in a coma. His brother Nic had moved back to the states to take care of him as well as everyone else.

Christian and I often took our time to visit Vince in the hopes of getting through to him.

“Apparently he’s off the market, I heard he’s dating my cousin, Isobel.” Daniela once again jumped into a different gossip.

All the girls’ heads turned towards me as they yet again expected to hear an explanation, but this time I would gladly give it to them. “They’re not, they just both visit Vince very often-so it’s impossible to avoid her.”

“God, do you guys know that I’ve never been more embarrassed to be a Sala?” Daniela rolled her eyes. “She ruined the entire family name!”

“What’s left for Isobel? Her dad has disowned her and she’s the reason why Vince is in a coma.”

One of the girls sighed while the others followed behind as chickens and agreed.

I had nothing else to add, technically it was true-but even then I felt like it was wrong because she wasn’t here to defend herself, but what else could I do?

There was not much to do when Francesca and my mom made it their daily jobs to remind me to remain. neutral for Christian’s sake. “So who is going to take over the Sala’s?” Maddie took a sip from her cocktail and looked at Daniela with curious eyes.

“Her brother of course!” Karina jumped in while Daniela had a proud look on her face. “My grandpa actually doesn’t want anything to do with Aldo or Isobel, but he’s just playing pretend for the looks of it.” Daniela sighed.

“Isobel is a perfectly good example of why you should not depend on daddy’s money.” Daniela spoke as the other girls laughed at her words.

The gossiping was just too much for me and I wondered how much longer I could take it. Whenever I looked at Daniela, all I could see was true evilness. I saw it in her eyes and it was difficult to avoid, if I called Isobel satan, then I did not know what to call Daniela. Isobel was a child’s play compared to these girls.

No matter what they had done, I would never throw my family under the bus like that. Not the Alfonzo’s, not the Lamberti’s, and not Christian.

“Wait, have you guys heard about the new family who’s moved to this city?” Daniela and the girls moved on to the topic of the day while I slowly observed them. “The Orlando’s, do you guys really don’t know?” Daniela whipped her hair to the side and leaned in closer.

“Well, long story short-someone needs to strengthen the city now that the Garcia’s have been wiped out and the Orlando’s are in town. Apparently, the eldest son is in charge.” Daniela explained. If these girls weren’t gossiping about their own husbands, it would be someone else’s-but one thing was for sure, they would gossip.

*Did Christian not tell you about it?” She asked with a smug smile on her face.

“No? Should he?” I answered with the same smile on my face. Christian barely spoke with me about work, and ever since we didn’t have anything to worry about-I did not mind. All he had to do was be there for me and Siena.

“Of course he shouldn’t.” Daniela sighed before she began yet another subject and started gossiping about one of the girls who wasn’t even here. It made me wonder what kind of rubbish they were saying about me whenever I wasn’t there.

Faith, Luna and Olivia were my only true friends and the only ones I could truly trust, but meeting up with them was difficult. Faith was busy with school and Luna and Olivia had their own lives. Besides them I got along well with Dana, Gio’s wife, Carmen and Christian’s sisters, Bella and Mia: Even Christian’s assistant, Gina was nice and a much better person than any of these girls would ever be.

I felt my phone buzz and immediately picked it up to see a text message from Christian.

“Missing the both of you, send pictures and get here soon!” I read and immediately did as told. “Is that Christian?” Karina asked as I once again grabbed all the attention and all eyes moved to me.

“Yes.”

“What’s he doing?” Daniela had the nerve to ask me. My true self wanted to tell her that it was none of her business, but I had already done more than enough damage in the past. “Working on a project.”

“Yes, did you guys hear that he’s opening a hotel and naming it after Siena?” Maddie bragged. No matter what, she was still Marcello’s fiancée, meaning she would grab every single opportunity to brag about Siena while I did not care for any of that.

“Yes, that’s the rumor.” Daniela frowned her eyebrows and rolled her eyes before she once again started a different subject.

The remaining hours were as suffocating to me as it was to poor Siena till the point she even fell asleep. When Vernon stepped out of the car and raised his hand for me to come over, I immediately got up from my seat and threw some cash on the table.

Another tip from Francesca, paying was a way of showing that Christian was in control.

“It was nice seeing you guys, but we have to go now.” I politely excused myself. “Are you going to Christian? To Siena’s hotel?” Daniela asked me. It was truly beyond me how these girls were more interested in other people’s lives than their own.

“Yes, we are,” Laold them and once again excused myself before I made my way over to Vernon.

“Thank you so much for saving me.” I pulled him in a hug as he laughed at me.

“Even Siena fell asleep, do you want me to help you?” Vernon laughed and pinched her cheeks.

“Yes, please. I still don’t know how this stroller works.”

I grabbed my phone to text Christian that we were on our way while Vernon put Siena in her car seat and got rid of the stroller. Nine months ago I hated the idea of having a personal driver because it felt like Christian was keeping watch over me from every angle, but a lot had changed and I did not mind Vernon at all. Matter of fact, we became buddies. “We’re all ready to go,” Vernon spoke.

I sat in the back so I could watch Siena and took a lot of pictures to send Christian Even when he wasn’t here, it still felt as if he was because he asked for an update every five minutes “Smiling in your sleep? Are you dreaming about milk again?” I chuckled at her smile on her face and kissed her cheeks. Stena was definitely a happy baby, and it did not come from me and definitely not from Christian “Oh shit, I forgot her milk powder 1 huffed as the thought had suddenly occurred to me “Vernon, do you think we can stop by a grocery store along the way?” I asked him Siena was a happy baby, but when it came to her food she was known to have a temper. “No problem-I’m still a bit traumatized from the last time, so I think that’s a good idea” Vernon laughed and made a turn to park the car “Thank you,” I spoke and patiently waited until he parked the car. “You go and grab your stuff. I’ll watch her.” Vernon offered. Leaving Siena with others wasn’t my favorite thing to do, but I trusted Vernon so I had no issue with that.

“I’ll make it quick,” I told him and grabbed my bag before I ran off to the store. Getting distracted by little things was something I usually did, but this time I walked straight to my destination and made my way over to the baby aisle.

Siena’s milk powder was easy to find, but there was one issue. It was on the top shelf. “Shit,” I muttered under my breath and stood on my tippy toes to reach for the powder.

1 stretched out my arm and tried to reach it with my pinky, but before I could even realize what was happening the box fell from the shelf. I closed my eyes and covered my head as I prepared myself for the impact, but surprisingly enough there was nothing.

With a startled look on my face, I opened my eyes and looked at the hand right above me. “Here you go.” A male voice spoke.

“Thank you so much, I thought I was going to die.” I cracked a smile and turned around to stare at the who had saved me from disaster.

guy For a split second I frowned my eyebrows and looked at the attractive man in front of me. Just because I had Christian, did not mean I couldn’t look. “Done staring?” He asked me with a cocky smirk on his face.

“Yes, done staring.” I blushed and stared down. Why did I always have to say stupid stuff?

“I think I need to thank you again, you saved my life.” I awkwardly laughed.

“Yes, baby formula is deadly.” The man sarcastically joked as I blushed even more, but this time out of embarrassment. “How are you going to thank me for saving your life?” He suddenly asked me.

“W-what?” I stuttered and figured he might’ve misunderstood me. I wasn’t flirting with him, I was just being Serena. “I don’t know, you tell me.” I tried to keep my cool. Perhaps if I worked along, he would leave me alone.

“Well.” The man sighed and pushed the baby formula into my hands.

“You can start by giving me your phone number.”