“About Christian?” Vincenzo frowned his eyebrows. I felt bad because it seemed as if he had expected me to ask something else, but he was the only one who could give me answers at the moment. “What about him?”. “Is he ignoring you because you threw a drink on Francesca?” He asked while my eyes went big. “News travels fast, all families know about it. ” He continued. “He’s not ignoring me. we’re okay. ” I smiled. “Well for starters, you said you’ve known him for a long time. What was he like when he was younger?” I asked the first question which popped up in my head. For some reason, I could not imagine a young Christian. Vincenzo laughed and sighed while shaking his head. This was going to be good. “We grew up with a lot of children from all the other families. ” He began. I thought about Isobel who had also said she was a family friend. “No matter which game we were playing, Christian always had to be the boss. He was the youngest out of all of us but everyone followed him and no one questioned him. ” Vincenzo explained. “So it’s not very different from how he is now?”. “No, not really,” Vincenzo confirmed. “Although, when he’s not working or not in a bad mood he’s actually a really funny person. He loves to joke around, laughs a lot-“. “Laughs a lot?” I chuckled and thought about the standard cold look on his face. “Yes, he laughs a lot. he loves to tease people and is even a bit childish I would say. ” Vincenzo smiled. The way he was speaking about Christian made me wonder if the fight they had was really about me and I couldn’t help but feel guilty. “I guess one thing is different. ” Vincenzo suddenly changed his mind. “Instead of looking up to him, they are looking down on him. He’s not that ambitious so him taking over his dad got a lot of people angry. Hearing Vincenzo’s side made me feel sorry for Christian. While I was worried about a few girls looking down on me, he had all eyes on him— waiting for him to fail just as he had told me. “How about. your dad?” I asked, unsure whether his dad or his mom was the powerful one. “Dad. ” Vincenzo quickly confirmed. “My mom passed away when I was younger. ” He explained with a forced smile on his face. Why did I always have to cross the line?. “I don’t know my parents. ” I quickly sulked to get myself some pity points. “My dad. let’s just say his relationship with the Lamberti’s is complicated,” Vincenzo spoke. Complicated? Stuff like that made me even more curious because there had to be a reason behind it. “Why?” I asked and tried to read Vincenzo’s face. Whatever must have happened had to be serious. “Let’s just say, there was a misunderstanding but there’s nothing that can be done about it. ” He shrugged off but his answer only made me more curious. If the Lamberti’s were some crazy family after all, I at least had to find out before the baby got here. Talking about his dad was definitely a no go to Vincenzo and showed me I had to stay in my lane. “Well, you still hung out with Christian all this time, so it couldn’t have been that bad

Right?” I asked and felt at peace when I saw a smile on his face. I was probably worrying about nothing. “I assume Luis is your half brother?”. “Yes, you assumed right, but we don’t do half— he’s just my brother, my only brother,” Vincenzo explained and my gaze moved to Beau. “And Beau?”. “Beau. he has been staying with us since he was fourteen. My dad brought him from Canada. ” Vincenzo explained. “To be your bodyguard ?” I asked and Vincenzo nodded his head. “Yes, something like that. His answers were getting shorter which meant it was time for me to stop get ting on his nerves. Not long after we had arrived at the zoo and Luis and I were having the time of our lives while Vincenzo and Beau walked behind us. Luis and I took the time to look at all the animals an d had a great time together. “I really like having you here, I feel like you get m e!” Luis said and hugged me. I patted the young boy o n his head and held him close. “I feel the same way. Being with Luis made me wonder about what my child was going to be like. “The next time you have to come over to my hous e!” Luis offered and ran to his brother to tell him the same. “We should if she wants to of course. ” Vincenzo agreed and gave me a wink. “Beau, can you wait here with her while Luis and I get some foo d?” Vincenzo asked and walked away with Luis before Beau could answer. I smiled and made my way to Beau who sat down at the rock by the fountain and joined him. “Are you happy to get out of the house ?” He asked me and those were the first words he ever said to me. From the start, I had already noticed that he was a quie t person, but I was okay with it because I was the same. “I-I mean, not that Christian is holding you hostage bu-“ . “What do you know about Christian?” I asked him and looked into his eyes. He blinked a few times and moved his face back. “W-we have the same eye color, won’t you look at th at. ” I stammered and looked the other way. I had to stop putting people under pressure. “He’s always been nice to me, so. ” Beau sighed. “But I can understand why he hates Vincenzo at the moment— he let you work in a factory while you’re pregnant. “Yeah he didn’t know, that was on me. ” I chuckled embarrassed and did not want to get reminded of what I had done to Vincenzo. “So your family is from Canada? You grew up there?” I asked to change the subject, but once again knew I screwed up when I saw the dull expression on his face. “Just me. family is a big word. “I also grew up without a family,” I reassured h im to make him feel better, which seemed to have worked. “You must be happy about your pregnancy. “Yes, I am,” I spoke. At first, I was scared a nd did not even want to think about having a ba by, but so much had changed. “How old are you?” . “I’m twenty-one, in six months twenty-two, ” I told him. Beau frowned his eyebrows in surprise and smiled. “That’s funny, me to-“ . “We’re back!” Luis interrupted us and hugged Beau. Even though Beau grew up without a fami ly, the smile he had on his face whenever he played with Luis made me believe that he was o kay with how things were. Would I also be okay with how things were once the baby got here? . I spend my day eating and laughing with the three and for the first time in a while felt in a goo d mood with someone other than Olivia. Vincenzo who had originally annoyed me at the factory was too nice for words that I even felt bad about him having a crush on me, but he was a good friend. An unexpected feeling of sadness came over me when it was time to leave and I wished I could’ve st ayed for a bit longer. “You can call me whenever, I’m stuck at home doing nothing so,” I told Vinc enzo and hugged him

“Me too!” Luis yelled and pushed away his brother so he could hug me instead. “Beau!” I called out and opened my arms. He seemed flustered but accepted my hug anyway. “Beau won’t even give me a handshake. ” Vin cenzo scoffed, making Beau pull away with a shy glare on his face. “Bye guys!” I said one more time and walked in a different directi on. I had no idea whether Vernon reported everything to Christian or not, but what I was doing wasn’t exactly any of their business. He had his car parked at the same location where he dropped me off and opened the car door for me to get in. “Did you have a go od time?” He asked as he sat down in the driver’s seat. “I did. “What was it you were doing again?” He tried to get information out of me. Once again it was hard for m e to decide whether he was babysitting me or just genuinely curious. “I went to the zoo with a friend,” I told him and yawned before closing my eyes. If I pretended to sleep, he could not talk to me anymore. After a short drive, we had arrived back home an d I walked into a dark house. Emmanuella was pro bably asleep and Christian probably wasn’t home- . “You’re late, did you went clubbing or something? ” Christian who had turned on the lights asked. I flinched in fear and held my heart for a second. “Don’t scare me like that!” I sighed and looked at the confused expression on his face. “You get scared very easily. ” He decided to get to the bottom of i t and walked circles around me. “Well yeah, if you are doing shit like this. “Sorry. ” He apologized and stopped what he was d oing. “What are you doing here anyway. You’re ho me early. ” I rolled my eyes and walked past him. “You, the temporary housemate— is asking me what I’m doi ng in my own house?” He questioned and let out a laugh a fterward. Ah, so that’s what Vincenzo meant by childish. “You know that’s not what I meant. ” I giggled . For some reason, he seemed more at ease and I started to like this side of him way better. “I came home early because I made you a promise but why are you home so late?” He dar ed to ask me. My first instinct was to tell him that it was none of his business, but we were having a peaceful moment and I did not want to ruin it. “I went to the zoo. “Could’ve just looked in the mirror ,” Christian spoke boldly. I laughed in disbelief at his offensive joke. “I just couldn’t get enough of you so I went and paid you a visit instead,” I spo ke back, determined to get the last word. Christian closed his eyes for a second before he opened them again and shrugg ed his shoulders. “I’ll let you win this time, you’re not capable yet of hand ling my clapbacks. Come on!” He gave up on our game and walked to the kitchen. “What is all of this?” I asked him and looked at the snacks o n the tray. “I told you I’d try, it’s for the movie we’re goi ng to watch. ” He explained and pushed the tray into my hands. “And because you showed up so l ate and almost embarrassed me, you can carry them to my room. “Room?” I repeated and watched as he nodded his head. “I ’m pregnant, you can’t let me carry stuff,” I told him a s an excuse. He sighed and pulled the tray from my hands. “It is eight-ounce snacks, but I’ll spare you. Let’s go. ” He said and made his way to the stairs as I followed right behind him. When he said he would keep his pro mise I had not expected him to tak e me to his room to watch a movie. This shou ld be int eresting