Chapter 45

“The baby doesn’t want you to go.” I sat on Christian’s suitcase and made sure it could not move an inch.

“Sticking to you like honey.” Johnny chucked and tried to push me off. Christian had to leave on a business trip and decided to leave me all alone. A few weeks ago I would’ve jumped up and down, but I became attached to him and felt as if I was saying my goodbyes to my best friend.

“I’ll be back before you know it.” He smiled and grabbed both of my hands to pull me away from his suitcase. “You can’t leave for three days. Who will I annoy now?”

“Not me.” Christian chuckled. “Don’t worry, I told Luna to keep you company.” Johnny told me.

It was interesting to know that he was the one communicating with my friend instead of me, and I couldn’t help but wonder. “So what? Are you guys together?” I asked him.

Johnny looked up at me and scoffed before he shook his head. “I don’t do relationships.” He confessed. It had appeared Johnny and Christian were indeed cousins. “Of course you don’t.”

Luca had been very open in telling me how surprised he had been to have heard that his cousin was getting married, because the most ideal would be for him to remain single.

As if Luca had made it his goal to ruin my day he had told me all bout the in and outs— and them sometimes snuggling up to daughters of important families to get the deal done. It is better to remain single than to willingly cheat on your significant other, was what he had told me— despite not knowing Christian and I were in a fake relationship.

“We should go, Isobel told me Aldo is waiting for us.” Christian said to Johnny. Just hearing her name made me want to beat up the air. Her being so involved with everything and their families being close had bothered the hell out of me, and her coming along on this so called ‘business trip’ made matters even worse.

“Of course she is.” I sarcastically spoke. “Don’t be like this.” Christian told me and gave me a pitiful look. That’s right, he should feel bad about leaving me alone.

“The next time when the baby is here— I’ll take you.” He said and pulled me into a hug. I smiled to myself and leaned my head against his chest. The conversation of me leaving after the baby was born or us cutting off our fake engagement, was one which had not came up in a while and gave me hope that perhaps if I tried a bit harder— we could have the happy future I had wished for. Me, him and the baby.

A few months ago he wouldn’t have hugged me goodbye, but now he did— so that was definitely a progress. “I really have to go now, so if you can let go of me.”

I puffed and crossed my arms after he had pushed me away once again. “Serena...I’ll be back soon, don’t be like this.” He rested his arm on my shoulder before he moved his hand to my stomach and lowered his head to look at my pregnant belly.

“Daddy will be back soon— with even more presents for you.” He smiled and rubbed his hand over my stomach. Seeing him being this gentle and being able to experience this side of him made my heart melt and was something I wouldn’t mind seeing every day.

“I want more designer clothes and diamond rattles.” Johnny mimicked in a baby tone while both Christian and I were wondering what he was even doing. “What? You heard the baby.” He said.

“Serena wish me luck.” Christian greeted me one more time and looked at Johnny who was in his own world. I giggled at the combination of the serious Christian being stuck with the playful Johnny and nodded my head. “Yes I will.”

After Christian and Johnny left, the house felt extremely empty. Emmanuella had been leaving more often than before, and it was not that difficult to see that her little date had worked out.

The first night was lonely and even a bit scary, being alone in this big mansion— but the second night I could manage because Luna came over.

“There’s really nothing going on between you and Johnny?” I teased her, but the glare on her face was enough for me to shut up. “I told you I’m not interested.”

“Your type might be guys who are in the mafia, but my isn’t. I had a fun time at his house last week, and that’s it.” She shrugged her shoulders, not noticing that she had just exposed herself. “You were at his house last week?” I opened my mouth.

“Let’s talk about something else, you’re annoying me.” Luna tried to change the subject. “The thing you should be worrying about is Isobel, she’s the most annoying thing I ever came across, my lord.” She spoke dramatically and threw her head back on my bed.

“She is...wherever he goes— she goes, and I can’t believe he’s sleeping around with her right in front of me as if he’s trying to make his point clear— while I confessed my feelings to him an-“ I huffed and stopped right when I realized I had exposed myself.

“Uhm...girl?” Luna sat back up to look at me. “Wait you’re really falling for him?” She asked for confirmation.

“Yes, I’m pretty stupid right?”

“No, of course not. Feeling like that is completely normal.” She reassured me.

“Although it sucks that he rejected you, but keeps running around with other women— that’s terrible.”

“Right!” I agreed with her. If I could, I would’ve taken revenge or even try to make him jealous, but it was kind of difficult to do so with a balloon belly. “The worst thing is that I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

“The way he looks at me?” I asked, wondering if she had also seen what I had seen. “Yes, I thought he liked you but...why would he reject you?” She spoke confused. If only I had the answer to that.

“I don’t know, I thought maybe because he didn’t want me in this life, but that can’t be it because he already brought me here, so.” I thought about more reasons while Luna did the same.

“Have you ever asked him why he doesn’t like you?” Luna asked and I immediately shook my head. “No, I don’t need him to reject me again.”

Luna chuckled and shrugged her shoulders. “That’s fair, but still.”

“Have you ever directly told him that you have feelings for him?” She wondered. Technically I didn’t, but the signs were definitely there and he made sure to let me know that he was aware. “No, not directly.”

“You should tell him and ask him why he doesn’t feel the same, it’s as easy as that.” Luna encouraged me. Unlike me she had always been confident and honest “Enough about me, what’s going on with Johnny?”

“Stooop!” She begged me, but my curiosity got the best of me. “I haven’t even been to his house yet, did you guys have a nice date?”

Luna burst out laughing and tried to catch her breath. “Date? We barely spoke— I came there with different intentions.”

“Of course you did.” I smiled back and thought of Johnny who I had originally thought was a soft person who did everything according to the books. “Too bad.” I laughed.

“Did you know his dad passed away? He gave his life for Lucio and Lucio had been helping his mom take care of them ever since.” Luna told me brand new information. “Are you serious?”

Christian had never told me anything, but only now I had more answers as to why Luca did not seemed extremely fond of Christian. How funny was that? Johnny had given Luna more information in a day than I’ve received in months.

“Yes, Christian didn’t tell you?” She casually asked while I sat there in silence. “There was a hit on Lucio, but his dad took the bullet and protected his little brother. It happened at a feast, and he died in Lucio’s arms while Johnny and Luca saw it happen.” She had almost told me his entire life story. So much for not talking to him.

“B-bullet?” I stuttered as Luna rolled her eyes at me. “Yes, don’t be surprised— you know what you got yourself into. Do you really think Christian and Johnny are on a business trip? He told me he was meeting an important person who has betrayed him.” Luna sighed.

She was right, I thought I knew what I was getting myself into— but I didn’t.

“You see the look on your face? That’s why he’s not confessing to you or giving you information like this, you’re not completely ready to live this life yet.” Luna spoke her truth. She was right, I wasn’t— but I wanted to.

“So are they going to...”

“Kill that person? Who knows, it’s not something you should get involved with anyway— you just sit there and look pretty.” She told me. It was surprising to hear this from her mouth, because she was the one who had originally encouraged me to run as far as I could.

“After seeing the look Christian gave you, I’m sure that he won’t do anything to hurt you or the baby— so don’t try to think about it too much, but be prepared for the consequences, that’s what Johnny told me.”

“Consequences?” I wondered.

“Yes, like him not getting home in one piece or at all, him not being in the mood to talk to you— someone making a dumb mistake which will land him in prison...” She kept talking— while I tried to process everything.

Would I be able to take it?

Yes, as long as I did not know about it I would’ve been able to take it. At the beginning I was concerned about putting my baby’s life in danger, but now I trusted Christian.

“That’s all fine with me.” I told Luna and gulped. I wanted it to be sincere because I wanted to have a family, but perhaps he was keeping me away and not telling me anything for a reason. “You should think that one through one last time.”

“Anyway, who is this?” Luna asked, referring to the polaroid picture I had left on my nightstand. I took it from her hand and smiled at the pictures.

“That’s Vincenzo, that’s Beau and the little one is Luis.” I told her and smiled at the picture we had taken a few days ago.

“I know him!” Luna pointed at Beau while I turned around to face her. “Really, how?” I asked surprised at the small world we lived in but her face told me otherwise.

“He stood in the parking lot of the club and asked all the girls what they knew about you.” She spoke with a worried look on her face, while I got weirded out by the situation.

“W-what, that’s not normal?” I told her while she agreed. Perhaps I had been feeling a little bit too comfortable around my new friends, because why the hell would he go around and ask people about me?

“He asked me if we were close and I told him we weren’t....do you think you can trust these people? You have to be careful nowadays.” Luna reminded me. Could I trust Vincenzo? I was sure this was all some kind of misunderstanding, it had to be.

“He showed me a picture of a baby— asked me if it was you and I told him no...it was a baby with a pink blanket and yellow butterflies I think, there was a name at the bottom but it wasn’t yours, I can’t remember.” Luna went in to deep thoughts, while all I could think of was what the hell his business was with a potential baby picture of mine. “I was going to tell you, but you were so MIA, that I forgot all about it.”

“It was Alicia or Anita...” She tried her hardest to remember while my thoughts were all over the place.

“Angelica, it said Angelica!” She spoke as I felt my face go pale. Angelica, that was the same name Matteo Alfonzo had called me. That was right, I was meant to ask Vincenzo about that person.

A pink blanket with yellow butterflies...

I jumped up from my bed and ran to the box with all my photo albums while Luna followed behind me. “What’s the rush, wait up!”

In one movement I threw all the stuff from the box and grabbed my baby album to go through all the pictures. “Hello? Tell me what’s going on please!” Luna asked confused. “Not now.” I told her and flipped through the pages until I found the picture I had desperately been looking for.

Baby Serena wrapped in a pink blanket with yellow butterflies.

“So it was you?” Luna who was looking over my shoulder asked, but everything went out through one ear— while my eyes traveled to the name at the bottom.

Angelica...