CHAPTER 247 : END

Three Years Later

I squeezed the ball gown dress around my body, desperate to see my little bump. Promising to get married within three years while not being pregnant was a stupid thing to do.

Especially when I had a husband who was a bit too obsessed with expanding our family as if a three-year-old and a two-year-old weren’t enough already.

That’s right. Baby three was on its way.

After having the grand and perfect wedding ceremony I had always dreamed of, it was time for the reception—and to be honest, I was over it already.

Morning sickness had not been the kindest to me, and I needed some sleep.

The two little demons running circles around me weren’t of that much help either. Siena, who was three, and our youngest son, a little ball of energy named after his grandfather—Lucio, had not taken any naps for the day.

One would expect them to be quiet, but no—it was the complete opposite.

“Come on, guys, knock it off,” I tried, knowing it wouldn’t work. They weren’t listening because they viewed Christian as the cool parent and me as the weak parent who could not give them any punishments.

“Lucio, don’t stop!” Siena encouraged her brother, pulling the ends of my dress.

“Yes, yes—Sisi!” Lucio listened to his sister as the two began to play a game of tag around my dress.

Siena was a stubborn toddler, a great speaker, and had a will of her own. She knew exactly what she did and didn’t want—and had no problem bossing others around.

She might look like her mommy, but everything else she had gotten from Christian.

“Siena, stop it!” I made another attempt. “Si—“

“Hey!”

I turned, and so did the children as Christian stood at the door opening with an unhappy expression.

As always, the two listened to their dad and let go of my dress to stand with good posture.

“Siena, Lucio.” Christian scolded the two. “What did I tell you about not listening to mommy?”

“Daddy? Bad, bad Sisi!” Lucio folded his arms, forcing an angry expression on his cute face. The overly manipulating ways of the two-year-old boy were a trait he didn’t get from either of us. Not even Christian was like that.

Franco had once shared that Christian’s dad used to do the same and always got away with everything. That’s how we concluded that Lucio’s behavior was nothing more than him honoring his grandfather.

“You did it too!” Siena stomped her tiny feet and folded her arms, imitating Lucio.

Her lips twitched out of anger, and she ran toward Christian. “Daddy!” She flew in his arms, followed by Lucio, who did not like losing.

“Thanks for that,” I spoke sarcastically as Christian lifted the two and held them upside down by their legs.

I guess old habits die hard.

“No need to thank me.” Christian shrugged, playing around with the kids. It gave me enough time to fix my dress and my hair. There were photographers in every corner, and everything had to be perfect.

“I want the same princess crown-like mommy—daddy!” Siena demanded. “I need a gold one to fit grandpa’s necklace.”

Christian put the children back on their feet.

“Daddy will buy you whatever you want.” He got her hopes up.

“First say, I promise!” Siena pinched her dad.

“I promise!” Material © of .

Siena was a spoiled little girl, and it was all because of Christian. He did not know how to say no to her, and because of that concern, I was heavily against leaving him alone with her.

One day it’s a frog, the next day a dog, then a pony. Who knew what would happen the next time?

Regardless of his busy schedule, Christian had always managed to juggle his life and spend enough time with both children. I admired him for that.

‘Why would you want all these children if you won’t even be able to divide your time between all of them?’ Those had been my original thoughts—but Christian proved me wrong and ensured not one child was lacking attention. Not even the baby in my belly.

“Luci, buy candy!” Little Lucio pulled Christian’s pants, trying to form a sentence. “Many, many!” He squealed.

“No—no more candy!” Cesca stuck her head through the door, being the strict grandma as always. “Siena, Lucio—we’ve got to go. Come quick!”

The children ran to their grandma and grabbed her hand. Besides Christian, the kids also listened to their grandma. Who wouldn’t? Cesca could be really scary if she wanted to. “The two of you should hurry as well. We’re all waiting!”

“We’ll be there soon. Don’t worry.” Christian nagged his mom, kindly telling her to leave, which she did.

“Now we have a few seconds to ourselves.” He smiled at me through the mirror. “So, how are you feeling, Mrs. Lamberti?”

“Mrs. Lamberti,” I repeated with a stupid grin. “It still sounds unreal.”

“You look unreal.”

I was only an Alfonzo for about three years, but those years were one of the best of my life. However, I was ready to take the next step.

“We should go before Jade blows up this place.” Christian joked around, mentioning my scary maid of honor.

The two of us remained best friends, and after learning Jade was a wedding planner, our bond had only tightened as I had been planning this day for years.

Her relationship with Dario was still going strong, and he had become a great father figure to her daughter.

Dario and I had patched up our friendship and owned an organization for youth care.

Giving children a better life so they wouldn’t have to go through the same misfortunes I once had, had come to me as a natural.

“Yes. Jade’s taking this maid of honor thing a bit too seriously.” I thought about my friend who didn’t mess around with her schedule.

“You wanted friends,” Christian said, shrugging. “And now you have them.”

I did, and I felt whole.

Before moving to the west coast, Jade had introduced me to many different people who had all become my friends.

Faith, Luna, and Olivia, who shared no harsh feelings for me favoring Jade, were among my many bridesmaids. We had a good talk about our feelings and came to terms with our misunderstanding.

I was afraid to call the girls, thinking they might’ve forgotten about me—and they were afraid to contact me, thinking I would rather hang out with friends of my own status.

“I’m ready when you are.” I turned to Christian, reaching out my hand.

“Let’s go.”

—

The sun had already set, and the party was in full swing. Loud music was blasting from the speakers, and as always, all of the families were present.

Most of them brought a lot of gifts, trying to outdo the other—but Christian and I didn’t care for any of that. Just the thought of taking home all those presents gave me the chills.

The Lambertis and the Alfonzos' golden bond was slowly returning to what it used to be before I got in the way of everything. Believe it or not—but even dad got along with Beau and Franco.

“Don’t leave my side.” I locked my arm with Vince’s as we were in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by a bunch of drunk people. Christian, who had been drinking and was nowhere to be seen, was having way too much fun and even forgot about his wife—but that was fine with me.

He had been waiting on this very day for a long time, so I wanted him to enjoy it.

“Don’t worry. I won’t.” Vince spoke over the loud music. “You’re holding me hostage. I can’t see how I could escape!”

Not that he didn’t mind the attention. Ever since his brother, Nic, had moved back—the Garcia’s were on a mission to restore all Fabio had destroyed. Unfortunately for Vince, being in a room with a bunch of families that had a strong disliking for the Garcia was not the best thing at the moment.

He didn’t have to be here today, and we told him that—but he wouldn’t take no for an answer and wanted to be there for the both of us.

Vince didn’t care for their opinion, just like Christian and I didn’t mind all the side-eyes and backlash we had been receiving for still being involved with the remaining Garcias.

“Where’s your husband?” I heard Beau’s voice behind me. At all times, he believed it was his job to keep my relationship with Christian in check and had a habit of making sure he was still treating me right.

“Out and about.” I sighed, exhausted. “Drunk.”

“Where’s your ex-fiancee?” Vince chortled, nudging Beau’s shoulder, and a sigh escaped from my brother’s lips.

Not surprisingly, the relationship and engagement between my brother and Isobel didn’t last. All it took for him to break her heart was one argument too many. He couldn’t take it anymore, and one day, he just snapped and decided to end it.

“Glaring at me.” Beau pointed to Isobel, who had her two toddlers seated on her lap.

The two-year-old Emma and Ethan waved their tiny hands to their daddy while their mom was too busy trying to murder him with her eyes.

The thought of my brother pushing her aside made her furious, and she had officially lost it.

I was on good terms with the mother of my niece and nephew and wished for it to remain that way.

The Sala’s were still running Siena’s hotel brand until she turned of age, and I didn’t want to create an uncomfortable atmosphere for my daughter. She loved the Sala’s and had stayed over at Emma and Ethan’s grandparents quite often.

“I’m sorry things didn’t work out for the two of you,” I spoke for what would have to be the thousandth time this month.

“Oh, don’t you worry about me.” Beau laughed, throwing back his head. “I’m good. I have never been better.” He said, and I could feel that he meant it.

“I can tell,” Vince commented. “It’s good to see you happy.”

“It’s good to be free finally,” Beau spoke, patting our shoulders. “If the two of you don’t mind—I’ll go back to enjoying my freedom!” His eyes shimmered with joy as he walked off.

“I feel bad for her,” I confessed. “I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if Christian would jump around like that after dumping me.”

“Meh, she shouldn’t have mistreated him.” Someone as kindhearted as Vince could admit. “She’ll get over it.”

“You think?”

“Yes!” Christian, who had appeared out of the blue, leaned his head over my shoulder. “Who are we talking about?”

“No one, and you’re annoying.” I pushed him away, laughing.

After taking over his dad, there was a while when he was too boring, serious, and all about business —but as the years passed, he had become more open and carefree.

“Yep, he’s being weird.” Vince looked around, embarrassed—not wanting to be associated with him. Neither did I, but he was my husband.

“Who’s weird?” Christian followed Vince’s gaze with curious eyes. “Vince—you should get married soon.” He leaned forward to bother his friend, trying to pull me away from him. “Maybe that way, my wife will leave you alone for once.”

I let go of Vince’s arm and smacked Christian, widening my eyes to tell him it was enough. Luckily Christian, who had dropped his drunk act in a heartbeat, received my message.

We all knew Vince was into me—and joking about it made the both of us feel uncomfortable. The only one who could joke around about it was Christian.

“No, I don’t think so,” Vince spoke awkwardly. “I do not think I see myself getting married any time soon and—“

“Chrissie!”

Vince shut his mouth and smiled at Stella Lamberti, who had thrown her arms around her brother.

His sisters, Stella and Mia, who had barely been present, changed a lot after their father’s passing. There was a time they used to stop by the mansion at least five days a week—but that didn’t bother me. Getting along with them was another win for me and my list of friends.

Behind Stella stood a girl who couldn’t keep her eyes off Vince and was staring at him just like she had been doing for the entire day. I had sharp eyes and had not missed her hopeless attempts.

Forget the bride and the groom. All she wanted to look at was Vince.

Her staring at him made me feel sorry for her because Vince was not looking for a relationship. Despite his gentle ways, he was known to be a player who surrounded himself with many different women—and ever since my brother was a single man, the two didn’t know how to act.

“Oh, right.” Stella clapped her hands when the girl finally released a loud cough. “I would like to introduce you to Oscar Morales’ daughter, Aria.”

The Morales’

They were new in the city and led by Oscar Morales with the help of his mysterious only daughter, who I had never seen before. Today was a first.

“And Aria,” Stella turned to introduce us. “This is my brother Christian, his wife, Serena and Vincenzo Garcia.”

Nothing had changed as the girl would still not give us any time of the day and kept her eyes locked on Vincenzo.

Christian, who couldn’t deal with not being the center of attention, almost jumped in front of her and grabbed her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Ariel!” Christian shook her hand. “I’ve heard so much

about you!”

I was pretty sure he knew her name as he had mentioned her a few times before, but whenever things were not going Christian’s way, he would turn into this big petty baby.

“Her name is not Ariel. It’s Aria!” I corrected him. “That’s what I said, right?” Christian mumbled, confused.

Embarrassed, I pulled him back and stood in front of the girl, who looked like she had a strong personality. She didn’t care that she was in our house, at our wedding. When Christian mispronounced her name, her eyes twitched as if she wanted to correct him herself. That was something many did not have the balls for.

“Excuse him, I’m Serena—and I’m thrilled you could make it!”

I only received a nod and a cold stare, making me feel insecure. There was something dangerous about her, and I couldn’t explain it.

Franco had always called me out for having ‘scary eyes,’ but this girl was on a whole other level. ‘I do not care about you, but I will play along for now.’ Her cold and rude glare told me.

“You look like a goddess,” Aria spoke after a while, complimenting my appearance.

I was not too fond of compliments and didn’t know how to react to them. Ugly was not a word in my dictionary, I was aware—but saying thank you could come off as too confident, and saying nothing could come off as cocky.

Luckily Christian saved the day and pressed a hard kiss on my cheek. “She does, doesn’t she?” He agreed. “You know, Ariel, many said you were spoiled and rude, but I like you!” He messed up her name again. “You’re nice to my wife, so I like you!”

Okay, enough was enough.

Completely bothered by his actions, I placed my hand over his mouth and shot Stella and Aria an apologetic look. “I’m so sorry. Please excuse us!” I spoke while dragging him away.

He furrowed his brows as I pulled him to a corner. “I wasn’t done talking.” Christian tilted his head, a mischievous smile on his lips.

“Yeah, yeah—whatever.” I ignored him, looking over his shoulder so I could watch Aria and Vince from a distance.

Stella must’ve set them up, and it didn’t seem like that Aria girl would leave without Vince’s number.

Too bad I could tell that he wasn’t into her. She was drop-dead gorgeous but also the heir to the Morales’ business, and someone like that was not Vince’s type.

“Do you think he’ll give her a chance if she’d try a little harder?” I watched the two walk off to the balcony.

“Don’t know and don’t care,” Christian answered calmly, making me wonder if he had been pretending to be drunk this whole time or was trying to play sober to please me.

“What do you mean you don’t care?”

“I don’t want you to focus on him. I want you to focus on me.” Christian grabbed my shoulder, making me face him, and planted a soft kiss on my lips.

“So you don’t care about your friend’s love life?” I pulled away, bothered. “What could be more important than Vince having his happily ever after?”

“You, my wife.” Christian leaned in for another kiss. “You are my happily ever after.”

~The End~