Lost Lombardi

Chapter 54

When dinner time came, Pietro and Dino started cleaning the fish to cook them.

"Oh, the smell is so bad," Dino said, and Pietro smiled.

"Never cleaned a fish before?" Pietro asked.

"No. They bought fish that were already cleaned. I only had to clean the dishes after they cooked and ate," Dino said without thinking.

"What do you mean?" Pietro stopped what he was doing and asked.

"Oh, I mean the Johnsons. I had to clean after they finished eating," Dino said.

"Did they at least feed you?" Pietro asked, with a concerned look.

"Well, they fed me. But not everything they cooked. Like, I was allowed to eat pancakes but not cakes. No candies or chocolate, no ice cream. I wasn't allowed to eat anything special," Dino said.

"You weren't allowed to eat all the unhealthy food?" Pietro asked, and Dino thought about that.

"Hell yeah," Dino said, smiling. "But I didn't think like that back then. I was just staring at them like an idiot when I was little, then I started to ignore it. But Emily forced me not to leave the table until they finished eating all the tasty stuff in front of me. She's weird," Dino said, and Pietro felt angry for what Emily did.

"Yes, that's weird. After they got money for keeping you, they still treated you like that?" Pietro said angrily.

"Got money from who?" Dino asked, shocked.

"We don't know. We never found out. One day, someone called me and said I had a son and gave me the address. They said the person who gave you to them paid them to keep you. I don't know who called me. At first, I thought it was some stupid joke. I tried to call back, but the number didn't work again. So I asked Luca to check on you. He took some photos of you and brought them to us. Papa said you were definitely his grandson just by looking at the photos. Then we brought you home," Pietro said.

But Pietro didn't tell Dino that he suspected Rosalia and her family gave Dino to the Johnsons. He had no evidence and, for some reason, didn't want to make Dino hate his mother.

"So, they got all that fancy stuff because of the money they got for keeping me, yet they treated me like crap?" Dino said angrily, throwing the knife down. "Why? Why did they do that?" he asked Pietro.

"I... I don't know, son," Pietro said.

Dino calmed down a little, picked up the knife again, and started cleaning the last fish. What was the point of yelling at Pietro?

Pietro stared at Dino for a moment. Dino was cleaning the fish with anger, like the fish had done something wrong to him.

"We tried to find the Johnsons after they tried to kidnap you again. But we couldn't find them. Don't know where the hell they vanished," Pietro said.

"What are you going to do if you find them?" Dino asked.

"I'm planning to lock them up," Pietro said. "We could do something more than that too," he added, looking away. He said it more to himself than to Dino.

"Like what?" Dino asked, curious.

Pietro gave Dino a strange look. "Nothing. I just said it."

After dinner, Dino went to bed. He felt sleepy and tired from all the things he had done that day. Tomorrow, they were going to hike and swim again. Dino was excited for it. He missed May's calls and messages after going to bed. He missed Kacper too. The internet signal was so bad at the cabins.

"Wait, I can make a regular call," Dino suddenly realized. He dialed May's number, and it rang.

"Dino," he heard May's sweet voice, but it wasn't clear. He tried to talk to her, but the signal kept breaking up, so he hung up. Before coming here, he had told May and Kacper that he was going to a remote place with no signal, so he figured they'd understand. At least he heard one word from May, and that made him happy. He went to sleep thinking about her, imagining that one day he'd come here with her, and maybe they could sleep in the same bed, cuddling.

Dino hugged the pillow instead of May and closed his eyes.

—--

In the morning, Dino and Pietro had breakfast, then got ready for the hike. Pietro packed the necessary stuff, and Dino put on the new clothes he had bought for hiking. It was his first time going on a hike, and he was excited.

"You ready for this, Dino?" Pietro asked with a grin, tightening the straps on his backpack.

Dino nodded, adjusting his own small pack. "Totally. Just try to keep up, old man," he teased, a playful spark in his eyes.

Pietro chuckled, shaking his head. "We'll see who's out of breath first."

They set off from the cabin, the fresh morning air cool against their skin. The trail wound through a beautiful mix of towering trees and sun-dappled clearings. Birds chirped from the branches overhead, and the scent of pine filled the air. Small wildflowers dotted the path, and occasionally, they heard the faint rustling of small animals scurrying through the underbrush.

"This place is amazing," Dino said, his voice full of awe. "It's like stepping into a postcard."

Dino was climbing the path, full of excitement, jumping on rocks here and there.

"Dino, be careful," Pietro said, already knowing his son often met with accidents wherever he went.

"Don't worry, Papa, nothing will... ohhh," Dino leaped onto a larger boulder and slipped. He wobbled for a moment, arms flailing, before losing his balance and tumbling down onto the trail below.

"Dino, are you okay?" Pietro quickly rushed over and asked.

"Don't worry, Papa, I'm okay," Dino said, standing up slowly. Fortunately, there were no bad injuries. He was fine.

After a few hours of hiking, they both returned to the cabin. Dino felt a little tired. Thanks to Ruby's training, he was now able to handle this kind of physical activity.

After lunch, they didn't do much but stayed at the cabin, and in the evening, they went to the lake to swim like the day before.

"So, did you enjoy the weekend?" Pietro asked Dino while they were having dinner.

"Yeah, it was cool," Dino said, smiling.

Pietro looked at Dino chewing his food and smiled. He was happy Dino enjoyed their time together. At home, he was often busy with work and didn't have enough time to spend with Dino. That's why he tried to spend weekends with him like this whenever he could.