Você pode tentar a agregação abaixo do mongodb 3.6 e superior
List.aggregate([
{ "$match": { "_id": id }},
{ "$lookup": {
"from": Items.collection.name,
"let": { "items": "$items" },
"pipeline": [
{ "$match": { "$expr": { "$in": [ "$_id", "$$items" ] } } }
],
"as": "items"
}},
{ "$lookup": {
"from": Lists.collection.name,
"let": { "included_lists": "$included_lists", "items": "$items" },
"pipeline": [
{ "$match": { "$expr": { "$in": [ "$_id", "$$included_lists" ] } } },
{ "$lookup": {
"from": Items.collection.name,
"let": { "items": "$items" },
"pipeline": [
{ "$match": { "$expr": { "$in": [ "$_id", "$$items" ] } } }
],
"as": "items"
}},
{ "$project": { "allItems": { "$concatArrays": [ "$$items", "$items" ]}}}
],
"as": "included_lists"
}},
{ "$unwind": "$included_lists" },
{ "$replaceRoot": { "newRoot": "$included_lists" }}
])
