Chapter 74

“Eat as much as you want baby.” I caressed my fingers through Luis’s hair and watched him as he ate his breakfast. The poor kid was eating as if he hadn’t eaten in days, and considering the circumstances I could totally understand.

“So Beau...what did he say?” I asked him. I felt guilty for pushing him to speak, while he obviously didn’t want to—but I hadn’t closed a single eye. All I could think of was my brother and whether he was alive or not.

All I wanted was to call Christian, so he could save him—but to do that I had to tell him about Luis and I didn’t want to put any of them in danger. There was no doubt that Christian would do anything in his power to protect Luis, but I could not say the same about everyone else.

There was one thing I could say. Luis did absolutely not want to go back there.

Once the Garcia’s would find out that I had Luis, it would only escalate even more.

“Beau told me that you are his sister and that I can trust you.” Luis munched his sandwich. At least he told someone the truth.

“Do you understand what’s going on, Luis?” I asked him. It just seemed so terrible to me that a child had to be in this unfortunate situation. “Serena, I’m eleven—not five.”

“Right, I’m sorry.” I chuckled and ruffled his hair. “Just enjoy your food, I’m sorry for bothering you—don’t mind me.”

I paced back and forth the room, thinking of who to call. Luis needed more clothes and I had to know that Beau was doing alright. I could not wait another week to find out whether my brother was alive or not.

“Don’t worry, Beau is alive—Fabio will use him against you,” Luis spoke. I turned my head and looked at his surprise. “W-why?”

I walked over to my bed and sat down. “Luis, tell me why?”

“Because that’s how he is.” Luis sighed. “Beau is a strong person, he will be alright. Luis comforted me. It was crazy to see how an eleven-year-old could remain calm, but I couldn’t. I was stressed, extremely pregnant, and my head was spinning.

When I heard three knocks on my door, my heart stopped for a second and I quickly pulled Luis from my bed to shove him into my closet. “Serena?” I heard Christian’s voice.

“Just...one moment!” I called out. I had not expected a surprise visit and especially not from him. “Do not make a sound,” I instructed Luis and pulled the covers to the floor to hide his shoes and closed the closet door.

“Why are you acting like I’m a stranger?” Christian opened the door as I quickly turned around and held my hands behind my back. It was a good thing I was not aspiring to become an actress.

“I’m sorry.” I breathed and replaced the look on my face with a smile. “I know you’re eating for two, but?” Christian laughed and pointed at the plates on my bed.

“I’m sorry, let me clean this for a second.” I walked to the bed and tried to pick up all the plates, but got stopped in the process by a hand around my wrist. “I’ll get it.” Christian frowned at me with a suspicious look on his face.

“You’re being weird, come on.” He grabbed the plates from my hands and walked out of the room. Thank god.

“So what are you doing here?” I asked Christian as we walked down the stairs. “Doing the same thing I’ve been doing these past weeks? Visiting my...fiancée?”

“Yes...right, I’m sorry.” I tried to behave as calmly as possible, but my acting skills truly sucked. I wasn’t made for this. “How is my princess doing?” He asked me after he had dismissed the maids and cleaned off the dishes.

“I’m fine, I’m doing fine!” I tried to play it off. “Not you idiot, the baby.” He laughed.

“Oh, of course, the baby,” I spoke embarrassed. “She’s also doing fine, Ramiro says she has no plans to come out any time soon so.”

“That’s good.” Christian took a seat at the opposite side of me. “One week from now, this will all be over and you’ll be able to go home so we can live our lives in peace. You, me—and the baby.”

His words gave me the strength I needed, but they also made me feel conflicted. I wanted all of this to be over, but I also did not want to pressure anyone.

Another reason would be that him saying it would all be over made me think about Luis, and what would happen when he would find out that I had basically kidnapped him—but I could absolutely not send him back. It was not going to happen.

“Be careful Christian, don’t rush yourself,” I told him and grabbed his hand. “I won’t, don’t worry about me.” He reassured me. “How is your dad doing?”

“Alive and annoying.” Christian immediately answered. As always the two must’ve bickered back and forth for him to react that way. “So he’s doing fine?”

“Yes!” Christian lied straight in my face. His overly positive tone told me enough.

“You know, he’s been calling me almost every day—that’s very nice of him.” I tried to start a conversation about his dad, the conversation he had been trying to avoid for a while now. Talking about his feelings every now and then would definitely help him, but he seemed to think otherwise. “I guess.”

“There is actually another reason why I came here.” He sighed. “Really?” I played it cool with a relaxed smile on my face, but from the inside, I was freaking out. Did he somehow found out about Luis? It had not even been a day yet.

“Isobel stopped by.” He spoke to my surprise. Isobel, if there was any name I did not want to hear besides Fabio it would have to be Isobel’s. “For?”

“To apologize,” Christian said, not even trying to beat around the bush. “So w-what did you tell her?”

“I’ve accepted her apology, but it felt wrong because it’s not only mine to accept—we are a team now, and you are the one stuck in a safe house, not me.”

I’ve accepted her apology. It was just a sentence, but to me, it wasn’t. That sentence felt like betrayal to my ears. If it wasn’t for Isobel, I wouldn’t be here. She did not have a solid reason to put my life in danger, but she did—and here he was, forgiving her just like that.

“Yes, you’re right—so why did you accept it?” I asked him and tried my hardest to not yell at him. I was not in the mood for an argument, I didn’t have time for any of this.

“Serena...I’ll come back to talk about it when you’re calm,” Christian told me, but before he could even get the chance to leave I grabbed his hand to stop him from moving. I was not in the mood to argue, but I was also not in the mood to worry about whether we were okay or not. “No, I am calm—I just don’t understand why you forgave her when you couldn’t even forgive your own brother.”

“That’s different,” Christian said. I understood that they had been close for an extremely long time—but things had changed and it was time for her to understand that she had lost whatever position she thought she had.

It was beyond me how Christian could not stand Enzo, but forgave Isobel in just one night.

“Christian, are you stupid?” I blurted out. So much for not trying to argue.

I had expected him to raise his voice at me, but surprisingly enough he didn’t. This time he was the one, ready to have a conversation as the two grownups we were, while I was picking a fight. “No, please tell me so I can understand. I am not trying to argue, I am not trying to attack you—all I want is to understand.

“Because she’s obsessed with you—and she was willing to hand over our baby because of this unhealthy obsession, I can’t accept her apology because I don’t want her near you!” I couldn’t help but to raise my voice. I didn’t mean to, but it just happened. “Happy?” I sighed.

“If you think something is going on between us, there isn’t.” Christian ignored my outburst.

“Christian, that’s not what it’s about. I know that you would never betray me—but I just don’t know if I want anyone like that near you or my child, but at the end of the day it’s your decision.” I desperately attempted to end the conversation. His decision had hurt me, but Isobel was not a priority at the moment.

The guilty look on his face was killing me, and at times I hated myself for loving him the way I did. His decision confused me and so did the look on his face. It would’ve been so much easier if he would’ve gotten angry because in that case, I wouldn’t be feeling as bad as I did.

“I’m sorry, I should’ve discussed it with you first—and if you want me to cut her off, I will do that right now.” Christian apologized.

“But please know that her words were sincere and that she would probably do anything for you to accept her apology.”

He was still going. Even until now, he was still trying to create excuses for her, while a few months ago—I wasn’t even allowed to say her name.

And the fact that she would do anything for me to accept her apology?

My eyes suddenly got big as I ran it through my head one more time. He was right, Isobel was desperate at the moment and must’ve known that Christian would never fully forgive her until I would.

Isobel was the idiot I was looking for.

If I were to trust Christian’s words, it meant that I could ask Isobel to bring fresh clothes for Luis as well as asking her to check up on Beau.

To her own family she was already known as a snake, so what more could it hurt to get some information out of Vince?

Even more important than clothes for Luis, was my brother’s safety, and going out by myself was already a risk.

It was not that hard to conclude that God was with me yesterday as all of the doors, including the back door, were suddenly heavily protected. It was understandable because there was only one more week left, but I was still very lucky.

“She would do anything, are you sure?” I double-checked with Christian as he nodded his head. “Yes, anything. But I understand if you don’t want me to forgive her an—“

“Can you give me her number?” I interrupted him and grabbed my phone.

“Her number?” Christian chuckled. “Serena, if you don’t want anything to do with her—let’s just ignore her okay? There’s no need to create an even bigger issue.”

“I just want to talk to her, see what she has to say for herself.” I had once again put my acting skills to the test. At the moment she was the only person who could help me.

I still did not want her anywhere near Christian, but if she was so desperate for my forgiveness—I would make use of it.

“Suddenly? Because it just seemed like you wanted to kill me for forgiving her.” Christian commented. Right, I was being too suspicious.

“Oh, I still do,” I confirmed. It was true, I still wanted to kill her for getting me into this mess and everything which had happened was because of her, but that was something I could deal with after she would give me what I wanted. “But I think we both agree that we have way bigger issues at the moment.”

“Right.” Christian spoke. He still had the same guilty look on his face, and I actually felt bad. I was no different from him, and also did things behind his back. “What’s with the look on your face, what’s wrong?”

Christian shrugged his shoulders and took a deep breath. “I only care about you. I had no plans to forgive her, but I felt bad in the moment and missed our friendship—without thinking about your feelings or what she has done to your or our baby and it was immature, stupid and selfish.”

“I’m sorry.” He apologized. He had said the word ‘sorry’ more times in minutes than I’ve heard him say it since I’d met him.

“Christian, you’ve apologized a few times in a row—so unless there’s something else you’re sorry for, it’s fine.” I smiled at him.

“Okay.” He spoke releaved. “Okay,” I repeated.

“Good.” He spoke again, while I once again gave the same answer. “Good.”

I loved his presence, but I wanted him to leave, I had better things to do at the moment.

“So we’re fine?” He asked, as I put my acting skills to test again and yawned as I over-dramatically stretched my arms. “You’re tired? You should go and sleep.” He got up from his seat. It worked.

“Wait, Isobel’s number.” I pushed my phone into his hands.

“Right, Isobel’s number.”