Where life leads us

Chapter 39

Completely tired and with suitcases in tow, I opened my room door in the hotel and got a shock. On my bed I could see a silhouette in the dark. Since I had screamed, the person had probably also been frightened and turned to me. I had almost left the room when the light went on, and I recognized the culprit.

"Uncle Antonio you scared me, what are you doing in London," I had fallen into my uncle's arms. Laughing, he had wrapped his arms around me and pressed a kiss on my head.

Antonio pushed me a bit: "My niece is getting more and more beautiful, so I have to be careful that the bad guys stay away from her. I heard that I was already late, where is the Casanova?" Embarrassed, I had leaned back on my uncle, who was just laughing at my reaction.

"At home, and you still haven't said what you're doing in London," So I broke away from my uncle. He had his black hair gelled back and his suit was so tight that you could see his muscles. The tattoo on his neck made him look even more dangerous than his distinctive facial features did anyway.

With a mischievous grin, my uncle dropped on my bed: "Can't an uncle visit his favourite niece? Finally, I missed you, because we haven't seen each other since We're May. We hadn't even been able to celebrate your birthday together. We absolutely have to make up for that." I knew he was hiding the real reason. He was full of secrets, which probably made him even more attractive to many women, sometimes it just slammed me. He hadn't even betrayed his profession, but when I asked him about it, he always changed the subject. This had always stimulated my imagination as a child, from king to secret agent everything had been there.

"Apart from being your only niece, I missed you. But there is still a long way to go to celebrate, after all, I have to be back in the factory tomorrow at eight o'clock," I explained. Only from Thursday I had the long weekend off again, but the following week I would lay down another seven days a week because of the race weekend in Mexico. Lando and I had planned that we would spend the long weekend together again, this would probably fall into the water thanks to Uncle Antonio. But I wasn't that sad. I loved Lando, but Sometimes I needed to distance myself from him.

After my first sentence, he had looked at me: "Even if I had a thousand nieces, you would be my darling. That's what we should be pushing for." He had probably just missed the part that I had to work again tomorrow. He had my other objections bounced off, instead he had opened a champagne bottle and grabbed two glasses.

For mid-October, it was actually warm, but after the hot summer, even 17 degrees felt cold. Luckily, I didn't have to hide anything from my uncle, so I could light a cigarette. He also smoked, and I could not imagine that he was also using drugs. Antonio was something like the black sheep of the family, which is why Nono treated him more and more harshly than Dad.

Tired, I had closed my eyes and left the rafter out of my lungs: "Has Mario ever spoken up since your argument?" My eyes opened immediately and looked at my uncle in amazement. How did he know about the dispute, he and Dad weren't the fattest friends? Normally, they didn't talk about their lives.

'He went to me; he was crying Laura. He thought you would never want to see him again, he's always had that fear, but it's never been so bad. Before you came, he was very different. He was like me; no risk had been too great for him. The serious world of adults was against us, we just wanted to have life and fun. From the moment he heard about you, he became the serious businessman at the age of just 17. He had changed so much because he wanted to give you a safe life. He hadn't hesitated for a second, because you weren't an accident or a mistake for him, you were and are the greatest gift for him and for all of us," I could only smile at my uncle. I would have used these words much earlier.

Again, and again, envious classmates had thrown at me that I was just an accident and would only stand in my way of my parents. Mirella had always rebuked her, for which I was still grateful to her, but she had not been able to save me from my own thoughts. Especially in my teenage years, I had often wondered if they were telling the truth and I was just an obstacle. Because most of the time my parents really didn't have time for me.