Chapter 89

Christian

4 HOURS

Vince will take Serena, don’t try to fight back, those were the words Christian had told Johnny.

Right before everything went down he had decided to call his cousin, so he would not interfere. When it came to protecting the people he loved, Christian knew Johnny was ruthless and he did not want to see Vince get hurt, but the last expected was to get a phone call from Luca instead.

Luca being willing to give his life for Serena’s safety came as a shock.

While everyone was panicking, Christian remained calm because everything was going according to plan.

“They have my daughter and you’re just standing there.” Matteo grabbed him by the shoulders. “Give your orders or I’ll go and take her myself.”

“No, you won’t,” Christian told him. He did not wish to disrespect Matteo Alfonzo, but he could not let him ruin his plans. “I will get to her in four hours, everything is going according to plan.”

“The hostages in the safe house have already been released and help is on its way. We gave Fabio what he desired, so there’s no reason for him to attack us.”

“Do you really believe that you can walk in there and grab Serena and that Fabio is just going to hand her over?” Emilio grabbed him by the collar.

“Yes, I do.” Christian remained calm. “Now that Serena is there, we can all go over there in peace without having to worry about anyone else getting hurt in the process.”

“So she’s your sacrifice?” Marcello chuckled. “You better hope this fucking works out for you, or we’ll be sacrificing you instead!” The usually calm Marcello lost his cool.

“So be it.” Christian shrugged his shoulders and looked at his dad. “From now on we’ll move as planned. Remember, we’re only going to surround them and we’ll spare everyone who decides to work along.”

“Spare?” Gio frowned his eyebrows. “Are Vince and Luis not enough? Are you insane?”

“According to Vince, Fabio is planning to light the house on fire—we have around four hours to save Serena.” Christian ignored his brother.

“This is ridiculous, you’ve lost your mind.” Matteo sighed. “These people are Fabio’s followers, they won’t just surrender because you’ll politely ask them to.”

“Yes, these people are followers and they need a leader—Fabio’s own family doesn’t want anything to do with him, so after I’ve taken care of him, I will find them a proper leader,” Christian spoke. Franco laughed and wrapped his arm around Christian’s shoulder.

“That’s actually not a bad idea, Fabio does not know that Beau is missing and his attention is only on Serena, so that’ll give us enough time to get there.” He agreed. “My grandson is a genius.”

“He is, all of you are overreacting—all we have to do is sit back and relax.” Lucio stood behind him. Just like Matteo and his sons, the remaining Alfonzo’s and all the other families weren’t impressed with this new plan, but there was no turning back. He had already made up his mind.

“Do you really think we can trust Vincenzo Garcia?” Emilio scoffed. “Yes, we can—and after that we let him and Luis go.”

“No, hold them hostage.” Matteo corrected him, but Christian shook his head. “No, we let him go—we let him go and we let Luis go, that was the deal.”

“The deal you made with them,” Matteo spoke against him. “Sir, I don’t want to argue with you—we both want the same thing.” Christian reminded him.

Matteo took a deep breath. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

Christian gave him a reassuring smile and did not want him to worry. “Serena will be safe, don’t worry about her—she strong.”

“Marc, Beau, Gio, and I will go ahead to check out the situation, I want you all to remain here for now,” Christian told Lucio.

“Beau? You just told me she is safe unless Fabio finds Beau. He’s staying here!” Marcello decided and grabbed Beau by his arm. “No, we could really use Beau’s help—he’s been very useful and he knows the Garcia estate as the best, we will need him,” Christian spoke.

“So I just have to wait here for some more hours and trust that you will bring back my sister unharmed?” Emilio scoffed. “As you can see I don’t bail on my sister, or any family for that matter—so you don’t have to worry about that.” Beau glared at him.

Christian gave Beau a pitiful look and felt sorry for him. He felt sorry that Beau’s life was also in danger—but no one seemed to care or notice, including him. Serena was a priority.

“I’m coming with you,” Lucio spoke and grabbed his coat. “No, dad—you’re staying here!” Christian demanded. Even though Lucio was ill, he was still determined to stay by Christian’s side—but Christian thought otherwise.

“Christian, you want to protect Serena and your child—and I want to protect my baby, so I’m coming with you.” Lucio released himself from his grip. “And I’m going to protect my baby.” Franco stepped forward.

It had come to Christian’s attention that his grandfather who had retired and had not shown his face in a while, was determined to take care of Lucio.

“Grandpa.” Christian sighed. “You shouldn’t even be here, I thought we had discussed that the oldies would sit this one out and stay home.”

“I’m coming whether you like it or not, come on—let’s go!” Franco snarled.

It wasn’t long before the six had all left in pairs and gathered near the Garcia’s estate. Even though it would’ve been the smartest for him to pair up with Beau, he had to admit that he felt a bit threatened by Serena’s cold but obeying twin brother.“So what’s the plan again?” Marc asked as he leaned back in the car seat.

“Four hours from now Fabio will notice Beau is missing, Vince told me that he checks on him in four hours.”

“He will lose his mind and we’ll surround the house while I will go back in to take care of him,” Christian explained. “And to take back what is mine, Serena.”

He felt guilty for even handing her over like that, but in the end, it had all worked out because Fabio had forgotten all about them. “You should’ve stopped your dad,” Marc said.

Christian had always told Marc everything, and this time it was no different. He told him about Lucio being on the verge of dying, Enzo betraying the family, and came clean about betraying Serena. “And where’s Enzo?” Marc asked.

“Not here, I told him to stay out of our business.” Christian sighed. He could still not forget about his brother’s words, and if he had to be honest with himself, they weren’t all that wrong.

“I appreciate you being here to help me, I know you’ve been avoiding me.” Christian chuckled at Marc. He had never forgotten his reaction after he came clean about cheating on Serena.

I didn’t drag you out the house so you could cheat on a pregnant woman, Marc had told him before he had almost put an end to their friendship. “Yes, I work for you so.” Marc yawned.

“I told you I’m sorry.” Christian expressed his feelings. He knew that he had a lot of fixing to do and that he should probably be kissing Serena’s feet until the day he died. “Don’t apologize to me, apologize to Serena.” Marc scoffed.

“I mean, you are going to tell her right?” He turned around with a worried look on his face. Marc's words were just the same as Lucio’s, he had to tell her.

After everything was finished, Christian did want to tell her and he knew that he had to beg for her forgiveness, but he didn’t want to ruin their relationship.

Agreeing with everything Serena had done was a way to wash away his guilt. He had thought about whether or not his reaction to Serena hiding Luis and saving Beau would’ve been the same if he had not betrayed her, and the answer was no. He would’ve been furious.

He knew that he did not have the right to get angry, so all he said were the same words. It’s okay and I don’t want to argue.

“Marc.” Christian sighed. “Do you remember how difficult it was to convince her to move in with me?”

“Of course I do.” Marc rolled his eyes. “It’s like history is repeating itself, because how do you think I feel?”

“I’m the one who told her to tell you, and look at how things have worked out? Christian, you cheated on her.” Marc spoke. “I know!” Christian stopped him from talking. “I know I did, and there’s nothing I can do to fix it—but what do you think will happen when I tell her?”

“It’s Serena, she will grab her bags, grab the baby, give you the ring—and leave,” Marc told him. “But this time it’s different, this time she has a family to take care of her—so you can let her decide that for herself.”

“And if you’re worried about the Alfonzo’s hating you, don’t—because you know that Serena loves you and she will always protect your good name.”

“I don’t care about them hating me—I care about Serena not loving me. I care about her leaving with my daughter.”

“You should still tell her, you know that. You might lose Serena, but she won’t keep the baby away from you—she grew up without a family, you know she isn’t like that.”

“Maybe it’s for the best.” Marc shrugged his shoulders as Christian looked at him in shock. “What?”

“I mean, let’s be honest—the two of you in a relationship? Very toxic, extremely toxic—maybe it’s for the better.” Marc let out his true feelings.

Throughout the months it had become clear to him that the two were probably better apart than together. Their personalities did not match, their ideas of life did not match—and not even their love for each other could change that.

“Toxic?” Christian chuckled. He knew very well where Marc was coming from. He was aware of their toxic relationship and Serena making him out to be the nicest person on the planet still confused him. If the roles were reversed, he would’ve left her a long time ago.

Only after hearing how many times he had broken her heart by calling her stupid, he knew that whatever might’ve been a joke to him, was definitely not a joke to her.

Gio’s words came back to him. How can you love someone you barely know?

It was something he still hadn’t found the answer to, because he did love Serena. He knew she deserved better, but he did not want to lose her or the baby.

“Let’s not forget about you forgiving Isobel.” Marc kept talking in his ear. “You can’t forgive your own brother, but you can forgive Isobel—the same Isobel who also tried to get her killed, you were even screwing her while Serena was in the opposite room of—“

“I know!” Christian snapped. “I know, you don’t have to remind me—I know!”

“Oh, you know?” Marc sarcastically spoke. “Then do better, do better as a fiancé and a father.”

“I will.” Christian made a promise to himself. Not many dared to point Christian in the right direction, and not even Johnny would’ve been able to make him realize his mistakes, but Marc could.

Christian knew he was wrong, but hearing it from his best friend felt different.

After all of this was over he would change as a man and just as promised, change the family business so everything could go to his daughter.

“You know, a lot of your problems come from you not being able to express your feelings, so you turn to alcohol and smoking instead and from there everything goes wrong. Maybe you need professional help.” Marc suggested.

“I’ve already stopped both, I don’t want to be a bad example and I don’t want to end up like my dad,” Christian defended himself.

“That’s good, that’s a start.” Marc smiled and patted his shoulder. “If you would’ve done that a bit earlier—“

“Then I wouldn’t have to worry about Serena walking out on me.” Christian finished his sentence.