Traded In

Chapter 37

A few days had gone by since our return to Calabasas, I felt at home but Christoph and I were quite distant.

He spent as much time as be could with Allegra which I appreciated.
But seeing the two together ate me up inside, for I felt like a monster that tried to keep a father away from his daughter.

I finished doing my makeup and went down stairs where Vinny was waiting for me.
"You took forever."
"And you are very patient." I said grinning.
"You look beautiful." I smiled as I stood before him.
It had been ages since I'd seen or spent time with Vincent and today was a day specially reserved for us to catch up on everything. Allegra was with Lucciano, I wasn't really concerned for I knew she would be fine.

We sat outside a coffee shop, sipping coffee as we chatted about anything and everything.
It was a moment of fresh air, I felt good.
"Do you mind if I ask some questions?" He let out, making me feel quite uneasy.
"I don't mind." I said hesitantly.
"I just wanna know what transpired between you and christoph, how you got to Glendale.." my visage carried a stern expression as I stared at him.

I could trust him, right?
I didn't know whether to tell or not to, could I trust him?
"You can trust me." He said like he read my mind.
I gulped, "well.... I found myself in christoph's office and I came across a file, this file is a particular was of interest to me because of the information it contained, didn't intend to go through your files but when I saw it's contents I was drawn to it. The file is about my mother and apparently it..... I didn't understand it."
"Your mother? We have no information on Dante's personal life, the man was very good at keeping that under wraps, I can confidently tell you that we have no such file." I looked at him puzzled, "perhaps you are mistaken." He finished.
"No, I can't be mistaken, I know I haven't seen my mother in the flesh, but I had seen her photos growing up, She is my mum, I can't be mistaken." He stared down at his coffee now a cold espresso. "Amara...Amara Nel... who's Neluca?"
His eyes darted in my direction. "I remember Christoph asking me many questions about this man."

"He, he is the leader of some mob." He replied looking around making sure no one heard him. Why?"
"Just curious..... The file read Amara Neluca... That clearly isn't my mother's name, well Amara is but not Neluca." I went silent as soon as I noticed Vincent's concerned look, "are you_"
"We should go."

Night fell pretty quickly, I returned home earlier in the afternoon, a few minutes before Christoph returned with Allegra.

But he left immediately after... I couldn't tell if he was trying to avoid me. He was so cold towards me these days.
I didn't like it.

I let Allegra play around in the water as we were done with her night time bath.
I got up to grab her towel, and I jumped, startled as Christoph stood at the door as silent as always.
"You scared me." This apparently was funny to Allie for she let out a giggle.
"I didn't mean to." He said, as I wrapped Allie in the towel and christoph carried her into her room.
We dressed her and we're ready to put her to sleep. She was constantly chatting with Christoph about anything and everything, and the amusement on his face was captivating. I loved how much he loved Allegra. She wouldn't even sleep until he left.
Which I asked of him.

I walked out to the back yard, feeling watched by all the guards that surrounded the place. But I ignored it, I needed some fresh air. I sat down at the pool and dipped my feet into the cold water.

"I didn't expect to find you here." I looked behind me to Christoph, causally dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt.
Seeing him like that was refreshing.

"I just need some fresh air, Allegra can be a bit of a hand full." I said with a little smile.
"Can we talk." His voice deepened, I knew exactly what he wanted to talk about but I decided to play dumb.
"About?"
"These past 4 years..." Silence consumed our presence. "I'm really sorry Leilani."
I got my feet out of the water and stood up to face him.
"You don't have to apologize, I understand why you did what you did." His gaze was locked on to me. "Besides these past 4 years weren't awful. Having Allegra was the best part although I thought I was gonna die." I let out a breathy laugh, christoph's expression not changing once.

"Die? Did anything happen?"
"Well.." I bit my lower lip. "It was the situations that surrounded Allegra's birth. She was born a few weeks early." I turned away from him to the pool. "I had pre-eclampsia, she was so very delicate when I had her, I was so scared...... It was even harder after I had her, I couldn't help but feel depressed ever so often, but I didn't want Allegra to go through what I went through."
"I should have been there for you..." He turned me to him and held me. "I swear I could have dropped everything if you told me, I wouldn't have let you live in such horrible conditions, I would have done everything in my power to keep you from, from..." I cupped his cheeks, I knew exactly what he was thinking.
"It wasn't your fault Christoph."
"It is."
"No." I pulled him in and hugged him tightly, I felt his body ease up. "Our relationship lacked a lot, we could say we're both to blame."
"I'm sorry." He repeated.
"I'm glad you found me." I truly was. I planted a kiss on forehead, savouring the moment.