Chapter 80

“Christian, you’re here.” I tried to play it off with a nervous smile on my face and hugged him. He really wasn’t kidding when he said he was on his way.

“Well, you called me—so.” He spoke and looked around the house. “So how was your day, what did you do?” I tried to start a casual conversation. One he clearly did not want.

“Nothing much, just some stuff which shouldn’t concern you—and my dad has this personal assistant for me, long story I do not want to get into it.” He spoke as made his way upstairs.

“We should get you more security, every corner of this house is empty.” He sighed as he walked through the hallway and opened every door as if he was trying to find something.

“Personal assistant? That’s nice, maybe this guy can—“

“It’s a woman, Serena.” He sighed and made a turn for my room. “A woman? Oh—so when is she starting?” I asked and ran to the door, so I could cover it with my entire body. The old Serena would’ve probably freaked out, but I did not have the time to worry about a female assistant when I did not even know whether I’d be alive to experience it.

“When all of this is over—now move,” Christian spoke. He wasn’t stupid—and he definitely knew something was going on. “This has to do with all those plates from the last time, doesn’t it? Move.” He sighed and grabbed my hands.

“Serena, move—I’m not asking you again. Move, or I’ll carry you.” He spoke more gently this time. I took a deep breath and moved aside so he could open the door.

“Luis?” He spoke. Luis held his hands behind his back and looked down. He was probably too afraid to meet Christian’s eyes. “I thought you were hiding another man in here...a bit older maybe.”

“Serena, what the hell is he doing here?” He slammed the door shut.

“Christian, please don’t be angry with her—I called her to safe me.” Luis tried to stick up for me. Christian took a deep breath and turned his head to look at me. “What is he doing here? Are you trying to get us all killed?”

“Please calm down so I can explain,” I told him and made my way over to Luis so I could keep him close to me. No one would touch him. “Yes, please tell me what you’re doing—because I’m a bit lost. What is he doing here?” Christian sat down and looked at me, waiting for my explanation.

Just as promised I told him everything, starting from Luis’ phone call and me breaking out the house to get him to Beau being held as a hostage, Isobel saving the day, and Vince begging me to return him.

“And you didn’t tell me any of this, because?”

Just by the look on his face, I could see that he felt betrayed—but I had my reasons. “Because you would’ve told me to bring him back—you know that.”

“And why do you think that is?” Christian sarcastically asked and looked at Luis. He wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that he wanted to sent him back.

My head turned to Luis who had a worried look on his face—and all I wanted to tell him was that he wasn’t going anywhere. Luis told me he trusted Christian.

“Luis, how about you go and play another game.” I ruffled my hands through his hair before I pulled Christian’s wrist and dragged him to the hallway.

He seemed pissed, and pissed was probably an understatement, but so was I. Even after telling him the entire story, including Vince pushing Luis, he still planned on sending him back to that horrible place.

“Beau told him to call me, so he did.” I glared at Christian. It took me some time to realize, but I had once again opened my eyes. After Christian had used my poor brother, he had not even noticed that he had gone missing. “Beau, how is he?” Christian’s eyes softened. So now he cared?

“Oh, that’s funny because after he gave you what you wanted—you abandoned him.” I crossed my arms. I did not understand why he was acting as if I was the bad guy, while we both screwed up. “Serena, if I knew your brother was tied up somewhere—“

“You wouldn’t have saved him because he’s of no value to you.” I spared myself and finished the sentence. As long as I didn’t hear those words from his mouth, I could eventually forget about it.

“Don’t say that, he’s your family—of course, he is. If you had asked me, I would’ve found a way!” Christian spoke, but the expression on his face told me otherwise. “And all of this? It still does not excuse you not telling me anything.”

“It’s because I can’t tell you anything!” I yelled out. “You’re confusing, unpredictable and who knows what you’ll do!”

“Really?” Christian spoke. His sarcasm was starting to bother me, and he had once again proven my point. “I did not feel like telling you all of this, just for you to call me stupid...again.”

“When have I ever called you stupid?” Christian asked with a genuine curious look on his face. “Are you serious?”

He frowned his eyebrows as if he had no idea what I was talking about. “You have called me stupid on multiple occasions, told me I lack brain cells and what else.”

“It was all a joke!” Christian defended his actions, but maybe if he never made those jokes in the first place, we wouldn’t have been here. “And I’ve never laughed, not once,” I told him. “Jokes are supposed to be funny.”

After I had told him about my true feelings there was an awkward silence, but it was something that had to be said. It was the truth. Maybe if he would’ve never made fun of me in the first place—I would’ve been able to fully trust him. “Anyway, Luis is not going anywhere—he’s staying here with me.”

“Have you thought about what will happen if anyone finds out I’m keeping him here? The son of the enemy?” He asked.

Whatever he was planning on doing, it wouldn’t work. I would not change my mind. “Serena, I don’t agree with all of this—and you’re right, I think you took a big risk in taking him here.”

“See, this is why I didn’t want to tell you.” I spoke and turned away from him, but he grabbed my arm to stop me from walking.“Listen, whatever we do, we’re in this together—and if you would’ve told me this from the beginning I would’ve supported you right away, whether I agreed to it or not.”

“We have five more hours until someone will notice Beau is missing,” I informed him and ignored his words. We were in this together? Right, and that’s why they threw me into a safehouse.

“Five hours? We had everything planned, we still had one week left—but you just had to go and...”

“Ruin it?” I cut him off. “I ruined it by saving my brother?”

“You’ve erased all of Enzo’s wrongdoings for the sake of your family, you forgave Isobel without discussing it with me—and now you’re telling me I can’t save my own twin brother?”

“We’re not doing this right now, we don’t have time for this.” Christian turned around and prepared himself to leave. “I’ll send over Luca and Johnny—they’ll give you further instructions and please, I’m begging you—please do as they say.”

“And Luis?”. After his words I had a pretty good idea of what was about to happen and expected the house to be full of security within the next hours. Having Luis around a bunch of Lamberti’s would only put his life in danger and was not what I wanted. I really hadn’t thought this through.

“I will take him with me, and I’ll keep him safe—don’t worry.” Christian turned around to face me again. He seemed irritated and I knew that he was only doing this to keep me satisfied. All I could wish for was for him to not screw me over.

“I know Beau doesn’t want anything to do with your family, but it’s time for him to start talking. I can’t just call everyone and tell them that plans have changed because you’ve decided to free a random person.” Christian explained.

He was right, everyone was probably unprepared and would demand answers—but I did still not regret my decision. If I had to save my brother all over again, I would’ve. “I understand.” I agreed. “You can reach him through Isobel, he’ll listen to you.”

“Chris.” I stepped forward and held both of his hands. “You have to protect Luis, do not betray me.” I forced him and looked into his eyes.

“Yes, I know,” Christian mumbled and avoided my gaze. “Christian, if you hand him over to Vince or your family—I will never forgive you.”

“What?” Christian furrowed his eyebrows. He had heard me loud and clear, and I was not going to repeat myself. Love could only go that far, and I would not be able to forgive him if he would set up an innocent child. Things had changed, and as a parent I could not do that.

“Am I going with you?” Luis appeared from behind the corner. He must’ve heard everything. Christian opened his arms and knelt to pull Luis into a hug. “Yes, I’ll take care of you.” He smiled and picked him up. “Since when did you became so heavy?”

“Serena—I’ll do everything in my power to keep him safe—so please don’t say something as stupid as not forgiving me ever again.” He sighed.

My eyes shifted to the warm smile on Luis’s face. It seemed like Luis trusted Christian with all his heart, while I was the one who had my doubts. “Christian, you also have to stay safe,” I told him and took a step closer.

“So that’s it? No hug, no kiss...no I love you?” I frowned my eyebrows. I was aware of the danger that was about to come—and that anything could happen. I was aware that this might’ve been our last time together.

“Bleh.” Luis pulled a disgusting look and shook his head in disapproval. “What Luis said.” Christian agreed with him.

“I’m not saying goodbye Serena, we’ll see you later—right Luis?” Christian looked at Luis who nodded his head. Even until now, he was trying to reassure me that everything would be alright, while not even a few minutes ago I could read the fear from his face.

My biggest worries were him not staying true to his words, and turning his back on Luis the moment they’d walk out.

What if he didn’t care about my feelings and thought I would crawl back to him no matter what?

What if he would betray Luis after all?

“Serena, after all of this is finished we will go home. You, me—and the baby.” He gave me one more smile before he walked off with Luis in his arms.

Would we?