Chapter 92

Christian

“Look who’s here!” Luca opened his arms and pulled Serena into a hug. Just as instructed by Christian—Luca, Johnny, and Marc had been waiting for them at the end of the cave.

“Where’s Enzo?” Johnny immediately asked after noticing his cousin was missing. “He went back for Vince,” Christian explained. He always thought Enzo was brave and knew that he would have no issues getting through Fabio’s men.

“I can’t stand crying children.” Luca rolled his eyes as he took over Luis from Christian. “Luis, listen to me.” Christian cupped his cheeks.

“Your brother will be alright, okay? Vince will be okay.” Christian told him. In the worst-case scenario, Vince would’ve already been dead, but Christian was determined to do everything he could to calm him down.

“Remember what I told you, keep her safe.” He told Luca. “The majority has surrendered, they’ve all dropped Fabio,” Marc informed him. “A lot of men are pissed by the way—“

“I’ll deal with them later.” Christian cut him off. Killing the men in the cave was already bad enough for him, but he knew that he did not have a choice. Unlike all the others he did not care about the amount of people who had to die, he was only interested in one specific person and all the others who got in the way. “Take her to Ramiro right away.” He instructed Luca.

Serena looked at Christian as a tear fell down her cheek. She could not accept that they had just reunited only for her to let him go once again. “Hey, don’t cry—there’s nothing to cry about!” Christian wiped away her tears and held her hands. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Please promise me you’ll come back in one piece.” Serena rested her head against his shoulder. “I promise, I always do.”

“Yes, our cousin is made out of steel—we’ve learned that a long time ago.” Luca chuckled.

“Now that I know you and the baby are safe, I can breathe.” Christian smiled and pressed a kiss against her forehead. “Serena, I love you.”

“I love you too,” Serena whispered and stared into his eyes. If he hadn’t told her himself, she would’ve forced it out of him so she would at least have something to remind him by.

“This seems like one of those cheap movies where the main characters express their love for each other, while we actually don’t really have time for that.” Luca sighed and grabbed Serena by her arm. “Come on Serena, we have to go.”

Luca didn’t hesitate to drag Serena with him, while all she could do was look back at Christian. “Luca, stop!” Christian suddenly yelled. Luca turned around to face his cousin and let out an annoyed breath. “What is it now?”

“Don’t take the car, no matter what you do—don’t take the car, walk,” Christian instructed. He did not trust Fabio one bit and knew that he had to be cautious. Fabio was an experienced man and more than two times his age.

“Christian, walk? Don’t you know how many miles that is? She’s pregnant, are you crazy!” Luca exclaimed.

“Don’t question my decision, just walk!” Christian spoke. The idea of Fabio not having a backup plan seemed crazy to him.

“If Christian says we walk, then we’ll walk!” Serena backed him up and pulled Luca by his arm. “I trust him.”

“Fine, then we better start walking.” Luca scoffed as he turned away. “It’s a long road.”

Christian felt guilty for letting a pregnant woman walk, but he did not want to take any chances.

“Marc I need you to stay here just in case, Johnny you come with me,” Christian demanded.

The two wasted no time and made their way back into the cave. “Disgusting, my shoes are getting dirty,” Johnny complained as they stepped over the body’s Enzo had taken care of. “Well, no one told you to dress like we are going out for dinner.” Christian rolled his eyes.

“I feel bad, it wasn’t supposed to go like this.” He sighed. “Christian, if they don’t want to work along—they don’t want to work along.”

“On the bright side, look at you?” Johnny patted his back. “Who would’ve thought this crazy plan of yours would actually work?”

“Not yet.” Christian reminded him. “We have not succeeded, Fabio is still alive.” He spoke as they had reached the end of the cave. “Until now everything has been way too easy, we should not underestimate a man like Fabio Garcia.”

“Johnny, I need you to stay here.” Christian had a sudden change of mind. “This fire thing is worrying me, and I don’t know what Fabio has planned—“

“I get it, but are you sure you can take it from here?” Johnny worried for his cousin. “Yes, I’m sure—please stay here, I might need your help.” He patted his shoulder.

Christian raised his gun and opened the door. The roles had reversed and this time Fabio Garcia was the one who was tied to a chair, while his own son pointed a gun to his face. “Hah, Christian—you’ve decided to join the party.” Enzo smiled at him. Christian was relieved to see his brother was still alive, but he did not expect anything else.

He made his way over to Enzo and Vince so he could take a good look at Fabio, the strong man who was suddenly not that strong anymore. “This is where it ends,” Christian told him as he stepped forward.

Fabio raised his head and let out small chuckles which led to loud laughter. “Instead of accepting the war, this is how you are going to take me down?”

“As a coward!” He yelled out. For Christian it did not matter how Fabio would die, all he knew was that he had to die, and he did not care how. “Vince, are you still not speaking? Is this how you are going to betray your own father?”

“What father?” Vince chuckled. “One second ago you told me you were going to rip out Luis’s heart, so what father?”

“Yes, Beau saved Luis from this hellhole and Luis gave out Beau’s location and there’s nothing you can do about it,” Vince told his father. “And Enrique’s body in the woods? Yes, I killed him.”

“This is why you’ll never achieve anything in life.” Fabio grinned. “This is why you’ll always stay in Christian’s shadow, and after this is all over the Lamberti’s and the Alfonzo’s will throw you and Luis in a dungeon!”

“That’s not true, Vince,” Christian spoke for the first time. He did not want Vince to get the wrong idea and he did not want him to change his mind again. “Yes, I know.” Vince agreed.

“Christian?” Lucio called out as he entered the basement with Matteo following closely behind. “Christian, what is this?” He whispered.

Fabio’s death was something he had been anticipating for a very long time, but what he could not appreciate was the unfair fight. “Yes, tell him Lucio—tell him how pathetic and sad it is that this is the only way to beat me—by turning my own son against me and by tying me to a chair.” Fabio laughed.

“Ah, Matteo—where are my manners? Tell him to shoot me, tell him to shoot me for taking both of your children. Do it!” He focused his attention on the other two.

There was one thing holding Christian back from shooting, and that was the mood Fabio was in. He was strangely enough very happy for a man who was about to lose his life. “Or tell him not to, I knew this was going to happen—so at the last moment I gave one of my men a last request.” Fabio shrugged his shoulders.

“I knew you were outside, and I knew you were up to something. One bullet to my head, and Serena, Luis, and your cousin?” He smirked as he looked at every single one of them. “Boom!”

“W-what?” Matteo stuttered.

Christian dropped his gun and lunged at Fabio to grab him by his neck. “You’re wrong!” He yelled out as his mind went numb. Only one thing went through his mind, his family. Serena, Luca, the baby—and Luis who had been as a family to him. How was Fabio willing to play with all these lives as if it was nothing?

“No, I’m not.” Fabio smirked. “I was actually going to burn this house to the ground, and I still will—but if I’m going down, we are all going down, together.”

Lucio tried to grab Christian by his shoulder, but Christian pushed him away. “No, you’re wrong—because I knew you were going to pull something like this, so I made them walk instead.” Christian smiled in his face.

“This is where it ends,” Vince spoke. Fabio’s words about blowing up Luis were the last straw.

Fabio let out a deep breath and shrugged his shoulders while everyone else had a relieved look on their face. “You’re smarter than I expected, I’ll give you that.”

“You see, dad?” Christian looked at Lucio. “Is this the man who deserves a fair fight? I don’t care how everyone else will see us as, but I will execute him the same way he planned to execute Serena.”

“I agree, so do it now before I do it.” Matteo who had kept himself quiet spoke. Also, he did not care for a fair fight when there was nothing fair about having to give up Serena and Beau in the first place.

“Enzo, you look comfortable don’t you?” Fabio suddenly laughed. “W-what?” Enzo stuttered as he looked from Lucio to Fabio.

“I said you look extremely comfortable after betraying your father and Christian—I know the leak about Serena came from you and Isobel, but strangely enough you look extremely comfortable.” Fabio laughed as everyone’s face went pale.

Christian wondered how he could’ve known, but what he worried about the most was his father. “Oh, you didn’t know?” Fabio spoke to Lucio who wobbled back in disbelief.

“I told you I’d leave behind damage before I leave this earth. One way or another.” Fabio grinned. “Dad,” Enzo whispered as Lucio and Matteo stared at him with a shocked look on their faces. “Enzo, is that true?” Franco who had just entered the room asked in utter shock. Also he felt disgusted by his grandson.

Lucio’s head went dizzy at the sudden news. Isobel betraying the family was a sad case, but his own son?

“Dad.” Enzo stepped forward while Lucio took a step back.

“Get away from me.” He spoke as he clutched his heart. “Dad!” Christian yelled out and was just in time to catch his father before he fell to the ground. “Lucio! Lucio, get yourself together!” Franco shook his son’s body while all Enzo could do was stand in complete silence.

“Get him out of here,” Christian instructed Franco and Matteo who had picked up a numb Lucio and dragged him out the door. “Since when did he became so weak.” Fabio scoffed. “He had so much to say back in the days.”

“I’m sorry, but I hope you rot in hell.” Vincenzo managed to get out. Although his original plan was not to turn against his father, he had left him no choice. Fabio Garcia was a monster.

“Tick, tick, tick,” Fabio mumbled as Christian turned around and pointed the gun to his head. “The car might not blow up, but this house will,” Fabio spoke and stared at the clock.

Christian pointed the gun to Fabio’s head and closed his eyes—but he couldn’t do it. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t done before, and he was so certain about his revenge, but he couldn’t do it.

“Chris, do it!” Vince yelled out. “If you don’t do it, I’ll do it!”

“Tick, tick, tick.” Fabio kept laughing.

Christian followed his gaze until the realization hit him and it became clear what Fabio meant. In a split second, the ropes around Fabio’s hand had disappeared and he pulled out a gun. “Two bullets, one for you and one for Vince.” He growled.

Not a second later Christian’s ears were filled with the sound of several explosions and his vision was disturbed by smoke and light flames.

“Christian, watch out!” He heard Enzo yell as his brother covered him with his body and bullets flew into the air. This time Christian did not hesitate and pulled the trigger.

He had finally ended Fabio’s life.

“Come on, grab your brother and let’s get out of here!” Johnny opened the door to the cave and tried to remove the smoke with his hands. Christian’s body froze as he stared from his brother’s body to Vince’s. He could not save both of them, there was no time.

Fabio had shot Vince and Enzo.

“Christian—grab your brother and let’s go!” Johnny yelled at him as he desperately made his way through. “Christian?” Vince barely managed to get out and reached out his hand.

“Christian, wake the fuck up!” Johnny aggressively pulled Christian’s arms and dragged him towards Enzo. “Help me with your brother, and let’s go!”

“I’m sorry,” Christian whispered as he finally worked along. His eyes moved to the pool of blood that had streamed from his brother’s waist, giving him the wake-up call he needed.

“Stay with me, Enzo,” Christian told him as he grabbed him by one arm and help Johnny before they made their way to the tunnel.

Christian felt guilty for leaving Vince behind, and this was not the way how things should’ve gone. If I had only shot Fabio when I had the chance, he thought to himself. Maybe his dad was right, maybe he was a coward.

“Is this how I’m going to die?” Enzo spoke to himself as he tried his hardest to keep his eyes open. “Dad hates me, did you see the look on his face? He hates me!”

“Shut up!” Christian growled. He knew that Enzo’s words were true, but at the moment they were not of importance.

“Guys!” Marc who had found his way through the tunnels called out. To Christian it was as if God had given him a second chance, it was an opportunity to do what he originally intended to do. “Take him,” He spoke and handed Enzo to Marc.

“Chris, if we don’t leave now—we’ll all die!” Johnny yelled out, but those words didn’t mean anything to Christian.

“Not keeping my word to Serena and Luis is the same as dying—I won’t leave him behind, now keep moving and get Enzo out of here!” Christian spoke as he turned around and ignored Johnny’s calls.

He was going to keep his promise.