by Seth Eden
So I took it.
“You think you can steer the ship better than me, brother? Be my guest.”
That was Luca’s problem. He wasn’t supposed to be steering the ship. He was supposed to be commanding it. Anyone can turn the wheel, but it takes a leader to decide where the ship is going. That leader was me.
I used my keys to let myself into the office and sighed. After what had happened with the Binachis, both the floor and walls needed to be replaced. The carpet, which was originally a golden color, was now umber, and the walls were a deep magenta color. Luca had kept the office exactly as my dad had it arranged—the desk in the middle, two leather chairs facing it, his imposing office chair behind it with the window at its back, a couch on either wall, and the wardrobe that hid the gun collection in the back left corner. It didn’t work for me. I’d tossed the desk and ordered an L-shaped one and moved one of the couches to face it. One of the leather chairs had been moved back by the window for Willow, and the other replaced the couch against the Western wall, along with two more that had been ordered to match it. The capacity for bodies to fit in the office had to be increased, anyway. My layout was better.
I shut the door behind me and locked it before changing into my suit and getting myself cleaned up. I set my laptop and phone down on my desk and then went and stood right in front of the door. I mentally counted the seconds as they passed and only got to twelve before I heard a light knock. I opened the door and stood aside, and Willow walked in, right past me, and went to situate herself in her chair.
I stayed quiet as I went over to my desk and sat down. I opened my laptop and started clicking through Marco’s reports while Willow opened her laptop and started her fashion buying work for the day. The garden was Willow’s favorite part of the estate, so the chair had been positioned where she could both look down into it and be near me. It was our near-daily routine. She was never far from my side, and as long as she wanted to be there, I would let her.
Another hour or so passed, and then the rest of our family started to file into the room. Gabriel and Stacy showed up first, fresh off their flight in from Maine, and Marco wasn’t far behind them. Luca and Molly were last into the room, and when everyone was situated, I closed my laptop and heard the snap of Willow shutting hers behind me.
I sat at attention and looked over my brothers and their wives. Even if they didn’t believe me, I was ready to end things. They all had bags under their eyes. This business had sapped us of everything we had. We owed it to ourselves to close this chapter of our lives.
But not without a little bit of revenge first.
“Marco, I read your reports,” I started. “Can you connect with your contact today?”
Marco nodded. “I’m taking a few heads with me and meeting up with him this evening down in Sling’s Row. He’s not liked there, so he should be good.”
“Good. Keep me posted on what he says.”
“Yes, boss,” Marco replied.
“Molly, how’s Maine?” I asked.
Molly’s branch of the business, the drug run, was the first thing we shut down. It was the most dangerous part of our business, and I’d caused some trouble there when I went Binachi hunting about a year ago. Ever since then, Molly took on getting a new estate established for us in Maine.
“Good. Yours and Willow’s house finished up today, so all four are done now. They’re moving onto the main house, and Marco and I are gonna run through security options. We’ll need your input for the technical aspect,” she replied, although with venom in her voice.
“Okay, we can work on that tomorrow. I want to keep the slate clear in case I need to go with Marco.”
I looked over at Stacy. “Stacy—”
Gabriel held up a hand. “Actually, I was hoping we could give Stacy a break, if for no reason other than she’s still got the studio and is working on getting it and her parents shifted to Maine.”
“That’s fine, but I was going to have you two do a club run to cash out some favors, so you’re on your own. She was your muscle, so you’ll have to figure something else out.”
“Maybe Molly can go? She’s way tougher than me,” Stacy said with a laugh, and then her eyes shot over to Willow. “O-or Willow. They’re both tough.”
It wasn’t a good cover, but a glance over proved that Willow couldn’t be bothered. She barely blinked at Stacy’s statement and sat in total silence.
“I can go,” Molly said.
“Excellent. Luca, where are you with getting everything else shut down?” I asked,
Luca let out a long, frustrated sigh before responding. “It’s slow going, but it’s happening. I’ve got some runs to make today to make sure the last of the laundering sites are down, but I imagine it’ll be done by the end of the week.”
“It had better be, or we’re gonna have a problem. As soon as we dig out Dario, we’re moving, and I don’t want any loose ends keeping us here any longer than we have to be.”
Luca’s jaw clenched. “Fine.”
“Does anyone else have anything they need to tell me?” There were no responses. “Good, then you’re dismissed.”
Molly was the first out, and Stacy and Gabriel were out after her. Luca and Marco remained on the couch that faced me until Luca looked over at Marco. “I gotta talk to Sandro.”
Marco let out a groan. “Can you two knock it off? I got a kid on the way. Let’s end this and get the fuck out of here.”
Luca’s passing glance turned to a glare. “I gotta talk to Sandro.”
Marco growled as he stood up from the couch and walked out, slamming the office door behind him. Luca’s glare turned to me. “Don’t you threaten me in front of everyone again, child. I will put you in the ground.”
“I’d put you in first,” Willow snapped from next to me.
Luca barely acknowledged her. “Don’t forget your place.”
I opened my mouth, but Willow leaned forward. “Currently, my place is higher than yours, so I should be telling you not to forget it.” I looked over at Willow, and her stare was borderline murderous. “A weak spine like you who could barely keep the business together without his daddy for a year has no right to speak to me that way.”
Luca leaned forward, shaking his head. “You do not want to go toe-to-toe with me. I’ve got demons you haven’t even seen.”
“I know,” Willow hissed back. “They were so overwhelming that some of them came to live with me.” She was unmoving against Luca. “But if you’d like to battle it out, I welcome the opportunity.”
Luca took a deep inhale and then let it out. He stood up off the couch and walked around toward the front door. He threw a nasty look back at me. “You had better learn how to muzzle your dog.”
“You had better learn how to watch your mouth before I slice it off,” I spat back.
Luca slammed the door open, causing the handle to crack the paneling in the wall, and stormed out.
I sat back and looked over at Willow, and when our eyes locked, she smiled. No matter what had happened between us, we still didn’t hesitate to go to bat for one another, and as long as that was true, there was still a shred of hope.
4
Willow
Once Alessandro and I moved back to Philly to sort out things with the Binachis and moved into the suite belonging to the head of the family, Alessandro insisted I sleep in the bedroom. Though there are multiple rooms in the suite given that the heads would ordinarily have their children nearby, there wasn’t another suitable bed. Alessandro was too concerned that his family would notice us bringing in another bed, so he decided to just sleep on the couch. I hated that. I should have been the one sleeping on the couch, or at least curling up in the small bed that used to belong to Luca’s daughter, Anna, but Alessandro wouldn’t have it. My compromise was that if he was going to let me sleep in the bed at night, then after his business in the morning, he needed to go back to the room and take an extended nap in the bed.
I didn’t know what mental illn
ess Alessandro was suffering from, but I knew being exhausted wouldn’t help. Given that I wouldn’t agree to sleep in the bed until he agreed to nap in the afternoon, he gave in. Whether his family anticipated that he was sleeping more for his mental health or they just didn’t mind him disappearing after the morning meeting, I wasn’t sure, but no one asked. I walked Alessandro back to the suite, and then I was free to work unimpeded while he caught up on his sleep. There was an added benefit that I kept to myself. When Alessandro slept in the bed during the day, it still smelled like him when I went to bed at night. I didn’t sleep well on a good day. I missed sharing a bed with Alessandro, and not being under the same roof as my daughter was stressful, but when I could pull a pillow close and smell Alessandro lingering on it, it helped.
“You don’t have to walk me all the way back, you know,” Alessandro said. “Nothing would happen here in the house.”
I unlocked the door to the suite and tipped the door open without even acknowledging the statement. He knew full well why I insisted on staying by his side. He passed me to enter the suite, and once he was over the threshold, he turned on his heel, taking me totally by surprise, and pulled me into a kiss. Despite my brain screaming for me to stop, my arms drifted to the sides of his suit jacket to pull. His lips were like ivy—as poisonous as they were soothing—and my body went to war with itself, both leaning in and leaning away. My hands developed sense first and moved up to wedge between us, and I pushed, sending him away.
“In case someone was watching,” Alessandro replied with a smirk. I just glared at him and kept my mouth shut for fear that something against my wishes would come out. He let out a little chuckle before turning around again. “Good night.”
“Night,” I grumbled back.
I wanted to follow him, and he knew it going by the slow, teasing steps he took toward the bedroom and the way he seductively peeled off his suit jacket and tossed it over the back of the couch. He turned around at the doorway to the bedroom and looked at me, loosening his tie, something he knew drove me crazy.
Damn you, Alessandro Varasso. Why are you so good looking? Weren’t people supposed to get less attractive after marriage and their first kid?
“What are your plans for the afternoon?” he asked with velvet in his voice.
I swallowed hard, refusing to fall into his trap. “I have to prepare Sasha’s wardrobe for her red carpet next month, and I’m working with Stillworth’s to supply their Spring line. I’ll probably work down in the garden or up here if it ends up raining.”
He frowned a little. “Okay. Well, don’t work too hard.”
“Don’t worry about me. You get some rest.” As if knowing I was reaching the edge of my willpower, Alessandro started to unbutton his shirt. He dragged the sleeves over his full, muscular arms, so I literally closed my eyes to the sight. “Sleep well.”
I whipped around as fast as I could and left the suite, pulling the door shut behind me. I heard the bedroom door open and close with a slam once I was out. I’d have to yell at him for that later, but for now, I just had to put space between us and focus on cooling down my overheating body. I traveled one floor down to the main floor of the Varasso estate and into the kitchen. I wasn’t shocked to see Molly, Luca, Marco, Gabriel, and Stacy all gathered there. It had become something of an unofficial gathering spot in the house since Alessandro took over. Luca rarely left his office, or so I’d been told. With Molly still mostly deferring to Luca and Marco, Gabriel, and Stacy trying to play peacekeeper, they all tended to collect in the kitchen out of Alessandro’s earshot to discuss things with Luca.
I’d fallen out with Molly the first time I caught them doing it. I was nice enough when I asked them to respect Alessandro’s position, but Molly went straight for ruthless and bad-mouthed Alessandro until I had chucked a glass of orange juice in her face. Marco found me sometime after and told me they never went behind Alessandro’s back, but it made Luca feel better and kept him in line, so I let it go after that. That didn’t stop the conversation from screeching to a halt the second I walked in. I got my usual leers from Molly and Luca, but I preferred those to the sympathetic, if not partially pitiful, ones that I got from Marco, Gabriel, and Stacy.
“I told you already. I’m fine,” I hissed. “There’s enough going on as it is, so the least you could do is not treat me like an outsider.”
“You are an outsider,” Molly retorted.
Luca shrugged. “That’s what you wanted, remember?”
“Knock it off, you two,” Marco jumped in immediately before looking at me. “You’re right, I’m sorry. We weren’t really talking about much, anyway, just tying up loose ends. We know you’re stressed, and we don’t want to add to it.”
“Luca’s right,” Gabriel said, and everyone turned to him, shocked. Even Stacy, who was sitting in his lap, gave him a light swat on the shoulder. “No, I don’t mean that in a bad way, just, you didn’t want to be involved in this stuff at all, yet somehow, you ended up helming the ship. I’m sorry, Willow. We let you down. Both of you, and Lexi, too.”
I looked at the youngest Varasso brother with rare warmth. “It’s okay, Gabe. Thank you for saying that, but I’m fine.” I stuck a hand into his hair and ruffled his black curls. “Softie.”
“Please don’t take this the wrong way, Willow,” Stacy said, “but you don’t look okay. I mean, you look great, always, but you look tired, and your stress is all over you.”
Marco nodded. “Sorry, sis, I can see it, too.”
“You should come to the studio!” Stacy yelped. “I have a class in, like, an hour. Come with me.”
I grabbed a cup of coffee from the pot near the stove and leaned against the counter. I hated black coffee, but it kept me awake. “I don’t know about that. Leaving the house with Alessandro still here makes me really uncomfortable.”
“You shouldn’t be so reliant on him,” Molly growled, and when I glared at her, she threw her arms out to her sides. “What? I’m not saying it in a mean way. I’m saying you should feel okay going to do your own thing.”
“What Molly is trying to say,” Gabriel said, taking over, “is that we’ll look after Sandro. The house is safe. Marco has security at max capacity. Nothing will happen on our watch, and if he so much as sneezes, we’ll let you know.” Marco nodded in agreement before Gabriel continued. “Besides, yoga changed my life, and I’m not just saying that because I met the love of my life there.” He squeezed Stacy a little closer. “It’s really relaxing, it alleviates stress, and it’s good for your bones and muscles. I even sleep better at night. Seriously, it’ll be good for you.”
“Plus,” Stacy cut in with her sickeningly sweet voice, “I’d love an opportunity to spend more time with you and get to know each other better.”
That almost sounded worse than the yoga, but Stacy had spent most of her time with Molly since becoming part of the family, mostly because I refused to be around at first. Then after I started coming around, it was to be glued to Alessandro’s side. She’d spent some time with Kelly, as well, on trips to and from Maine. Stacy and I knew each other very little.
“If you come, I’ll give you the sister discount, which is free.”
“Stacy’s a great teacher,” Molly said, doing her best to keep her voice as kind as possible, even if it was obvious how forced it was. “I was going to her, even before Gabe. You’re stressed. It’s obvious. I know better than anyone how it can be. It’ll be really good. Trust me.”
I could see the seriousness in Molly’s eyes, so I let out a sigh and nodded at Stacy. She clapped, and Gabriel chuckled at her excitement before kissing her on the cheek.
“Yay! I’m so excited. The first group of the day is at eleven, so go change into something comfortable, and we’ll head out.”
5
Willow
I tried to remember the last time I did something without Alessandro as I got into Stacy’s white Range Rover while she loaded a flurry of mats, bottles, and other materials into the trunk.
The past six months had me sewn to his hip. The furthest I would get from his side was out in the garden when he was up in his office, and even then, I could still see him. Before the Binachis kidnapped us, Alessandro and I spent a healthy amount of time apart. He and Ricky would go out from time to time, as would Sasha and I. He had a regular day job, and I had my fashion buying business, so we’d work during the day and reserve nights for spending time together and with Alexis.
When Stacy just barely saved the day, Alessandro was so shocked that he wouldn’t leave my side. I found out that he’d been making secret trips to Philly and had been arrested after a bar fight, and things started to unravel. We were that rare, odd couple that somehow started spending more time together on the precipice of divorce, and every single day since then, we haven’t been more than a stone’s throw from one another. To say I was anxious would be an understatement.
“Okay.” Stacy’s door slammed as she climbed into the driver’s seat. “Ready?”
I nodded. “As I’ll ever be.”
Before she started the car, Stacy turned and smiled at me. “I just want to say that I’m really glad you decided to do this. I know it’s scary, so if there’s anything I can do, please let me know, okay?”
It was hard to keep my rocky exterior up in the presence of such a sweet, sunshiny person. Being around Stacy, in her light gray sundress and with a crown of white hyacinths around her blonde hair, was like being around an actual angel from heaven. If I hadn’t seen her storm into a room with a pistol in her hand, untie the four Varasso brothers, just barely saving them from the brink of death, and then turn and open fire on their attackers, I would say she was too innocent for this world.
“I’m glad, too,” I said. “I know that my weird attachment to Alessandro can be difficult to swallow.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you wanting to be near your husband, Willow, especially not in his state. I love Molly, but she was out of line.” She left it there for the time being, situated herself in the seat, and started the car.