Chapter 25 – A Serious Conversation
Already at the lake house, Dante looked at his mother and said:
— Well, since you want a non-violent way to solve the situation, then what's your plan?
Dante thought: I know she's with Luke, but I don't know where he hid it. I don't have mind-reading powers to find it if he's determined to hide it. So it's better to just follow the original plot so I don't get any unpleasant surprises.
Sera said, looking at her impatient son:
— Well, I'll try to talk to my father to know what we should do.
Dante replied:
— Looks like that's all we can do right now.
He got up, left the room, and before closing the door, looked at his mother and said:
— Mom, if you haven't told Dad about your past and about Grandpa, now is the time to tell him. Because if this plan to recover the master bolt goes wrong, things could get really bad.
Sera looked at her son and said:
— Yes, I'll tell your father. Considering the situation where the world might end at any moment, keeping secrets isn't a very good idea.
Dante said:
— And also, call Bella. After all, this is part of her family too. She deserves to know.
Hearing that, Sera smiled and said:
— Well, you can leave that to me. I'll talk to them about everything later today.
Dante smiled and said:
— Good, that's great to hear. I'll go outside. The girls are waiting for me.
When Dante was closing the door, Sera said:
— Son, just be careful. I know you're strong and have power to solve everything by force, but I hope you're careful with how you use that power. After all, one small moment of anger from you could kill many innocent people.
Dante looked at his mother and said:
— Well, I promise. I'll be careful. I don't want you, Bella, Dad or the girls getting hurt because of some stupid decision I make.
Sera smiled with relief and said:
— That's all I ask, son.
Dante left the door and heard a commotion outside. He went to see what was happening and saw Rob running after Marcus.
Dante sat on a chair on the porch and looked at Amber
Amber it says Well, looks like there was a misunderstanding and dad thought Jasmine was with Marcus last night. Apparently Marcus told him he was with a blonde girl and that she almost didn't get out of bed. Then Jasmine appeared limping after our night playing, and her dad ended up thinking he was talking about her.
Dante said:
— My father-in-law likes me after all. When he found out the situation, at least he didn't try to kill me.
Jasmine appeared beside Dante, hugging him while saying:
— He didn't try, or he couldn't?
Dante pulled Jasmine onto his lap and said while kissing her:
— Couldn't you let me keep thinking my father-in-law doesn't want to kill me?
Jasmine said:
— Well, sorry.
She then looked at Marcus and Rob, still messing around, and said:
— Well, it's time to separate them, right?
Dante said:
— But they're having so much fun.
Jasmine and Amber grabbed Dante's arms and headed toward Rob.
At that moment Rob was on top of Marcus and shouted:
— I'm going to kill you, you bastard! How could you do this to me?!
Marcus said:
— Calm down, man, it was a joke!
Then Dante, Jasmine and Amber arrived. Jasmine told her father:
— Dad, nothing happened. Do you really think that I, having such a handsome and strong boyfriend, would be interested in Marcus? No offense, Marcus.
Marcus looked at her and said:
— It's okay, I'm not offended.
Rob stopped and looked at her and asked:
— But what about your injury? Why were you limping?
At that moment Jasmine looked shyly at Dante, who looked up trying to change the subject:
— The weather is so nice today, isn't it, everyone?
Roxane, Diane and Sally smiled and thought What lucky girls.
Rob looked at Dante like he wanted to kill him, but calmed down and looked at Marcus and said:
— I owe you an apology, my friend.
Marcus stood up and said:
— She's your daughter. I'd never do anything with her. You're my friend, and she would never want me… I mean, look at me — he muttered — and besides, I don't want to get hit like those giant piranhas.
Marcus then looked at everyone and said:
— Sorry for not having the happy life that Lenny has.
At that moment Roxane remembered why she was there and said:
— Lenny's happy life?
She then looked at Lenny and said angrily:
— I answered your phone, hypocrite. It was your assistant. I asked if he had canceled the Milan flight and he said yes, right before the trip to this place.
Lenny said:
— He said that? I think he made a mistake.
Roxane said:
— Don't come with your lies, Lenny. Take responsibility.
Lenny said:
— I'm taking responsibility. Okay. I just thought it would be better for us to be with normal people instead of going to Milan.
Dante said:
— I was right. I'm a totally normal person and a good example for the younger ones.
Everyone looked at Dante with a strange expression. Dante looked at them confused and asked:
— What?
Lenny continued telling Roxane:
— I was afraid to tell you. It was easier to keep it secret.
Dante, watching Lenny have problems just for hiding the cancellation of a trip, thought: Well, later I'll introduce the girls to each other and be honest with them as fast as possible. I don't want to end up like Makoto Itou.
He rubbed his neck fearfully.
Lenny continued:
— Roxane, it's just that our kids became spoiled, gross and entitled. Damn it, we even have a nanny.
Kurt said:
— I knew she was the nanny. Erik, you owe me ten bucks.
Lenny said:
— No, no.
Roxane yelled:
— Of course she's the nanny! When are you going to stop lying, Lenny?!
— I'll stop a little later — Lenny said.
Lenny looked at her, sighed and said:
— Okay, here's the deal: the lies end now. I'll never lie to you again. I swear.
At that moment Diane's mother yelled:
— Men lie! They can't hold it! Kurt lies!
Everyone turned to Kurt. Kurt said:
— What do I lie about? Elephant feet?
Diane said:
— About the nanny. You have a crush on her.
Kurt said:
— I'm a married man. I feel nothing for her. Period. But I admit it was nice talking to a woman without her screaming "Where are the keys?", "Where's the wallet?".
Diane said:
— You could talk to me.
Kurt said:
— I really want to talk to you, but you never have time.
Diane said:
— Maybe I've ignored our relationship because of work. I'm sorry. What if we go on a date every Thursday night?
Kurt said:
— Not Thursdays, I have my favorite shows. But any other day is fine.
Erik said:
— Since everyone is being honest, I think I will be too. I'm not a partner at the furniture store. I don't even work there anymore. I got fired. I rented that car because I didn't want my friends to think I'm a failure.
Lenny said:
— Erik, you don't have to hide anything from us.
Dante nodded and said:
— That's it, everyone. Everyone being honest and nobody hiding anything.
Jasmine and Amber grabbed Dante's arms and said:
— Well, it's good you think that, sweetheart. Because we think our boyfriend here has been hiding a lot. What do you think, Amber?
Amber said, squeezing Dante's arm:
— Yes. Our boyfriend thought we were asleep when he got into the room yesterday, but we saw a little something. Now we want to know.
Jasmine said:
— No secrets, right?
Dante looked at them and saw everyone staring at him. He then said:
— Well, I guess I have to be honest with my girlfriends.
He looked at everyone and said:
— Sorry, everyone. I need to tell them privately. What I'm going to say is very personal.
Roxane, knowing what he would say, said:
— You don't have to say anything. Everyone here understands that there are things you can't share with everyone.
Lenny said:
— Roxane is right, kid. This is an issue between you. Everyone here understands that.
Dante said:
— Well, thank you, everyone.
He then looked at Jasmine and Amber and said:
— Well, come with me. I'll tell you everything you want to know.
Watching his son leave, Charlie said:
— Well, this is going to be a very long conversation.
At that moment Sera arrived and said:
— Bella, Charlie, come here. I also have something to tell you two in the room.
Dante sat with the girls on the bed and asked:
— What do you want to know?
Jasmine and Amber took a deep breath and said:
— Everything. We want to know everything.
Before telling them, Dante asked:
— Do either of you have any health problems or heart conditions?
Jasmine and Amber said:
— No, we don't.
Dante took a deep breath and began to explain.
On the other side, Bella was also learning everything about this family.
After some time, the explanation finally ended.
Jasmine and Amber sat on the couch with their worldview completely shattered and said:
— Let me see if I got this right. You're telling me you have two more girlfriends? Well, that's not so important. After all, we already date you together. Two more doesn't make much difference. And after hearing your story, I honestly wish that your multiple girlfriends were the only problem.
Amber said:
— I agree. I never thought our world… Gods exist, and our boyfriend is a dragon.
Jasmine finally calmed down and said:
— Well, leaving the less important issues aside, here's the real one: what do you mean our world might end if someone doesn't find Zeus's thunderbolt?
Amber said:
— And why do they think my mother-in-law took it?
Dante said:
— Well, only a demigod can steal it. So when godly artifacts go missing, the most suspicious demigod is either a child of Aphrodite or a child of Poseidon. Any normal person would think Poseidon told his son to take the bolt.
Amber said:
— But why will our world end if they don't find the bolt?
Dante looked at them and asked:
— Do you know anything about Greek mythology?
Amber said:
— I know a little.
Dante said:
— Then if you know a little, you know Zeus is not exactly a kind god. On the contrary, he's very hard to deal with. Prometheus brought fire to humanity, and Zeus liked it so much that he gave him a present: he chained him to a rock where every day, for eternity, an eagle eats his liver, which regenerates just so the punishment can continue forever. This god had his thunderbolt stolen. He's not going to stop until he finds it, even if it means war.
Jasmine said:
— But you're a dragon. You're powerful. Can't you do anything?
Dante said:
— Well, I am strong enough to fight him head-on, but that's the problem. If I help my grandfather Poseidon against Zeus, Hades won't stay still, because if my grandfather defeats Zeus, Hades will be alone facing two beings at his same level. And unless he's an idiot, he'll never let that happen.
Dante saw the two were confused and not understanding the danger, so he gave a simple example:
— Think of a fight between us as if we were a bunch of living nuclear bombs that can explode as many times as we want. Now do you understand the problem?
Jasmine and Amber fell silent as they heard this. With Dante's explanation, they finally understood how serious the situation was.
Dante said:
— So that's the truth. Now you know.
Jasmine, smiling tiredly, said:
— On one hand I'm happy that we're the safest women in the world with a dragon with godlike power protecting us. On the other hand, I'm really worried.
Dante looked at them and said:
— Don't worry. Things aren't that bad yet. We just need to find the master bolt and give it back to Zeus the crybaby.
Amber said:
— I just hope everything goes well. I'm still too young to die. I didn't even have a real family.
Jasmine said:
— Right. So don't let the world end, sweetheart. Because we still want to have a big family with lots of kids with you.
Dante said:
— Well, I'll give my 100% to make that happen.
Then Dante said:
— Well, we should go outside. We've been talking here for a long time. Your father and everyone else must be worried.
Dante left the room with the girls and ran into Bella, who had the expression of someone who discovered she was living in the Matrix and finally stepped into the real world.
Dante walked up to her and asked:
— You okay?
Bella looked at him and said:
— Well… I'm just still trying to understand everything I heard.
Dante smiled to calm her:
— No need to rush. Just accept it little by little.
Bella looked at him and said:
— Thank you.
At that moment Lenny said:
— Guys, who wants to go to the festival?
Seeing everyone excited, Dante looked at Bella and said:
— Well, let's go too. Maybe having some fun will help you think better.
Bella nodded. They then headed to the festival.