by Seth Eden
“They did,” I said. “Maybe that’s just how good she is.”
“If she’s so good at it, why would she use her real name?”
Just like the last time I did research, the answers I found only raised more questions. The one thing I was certain of was that Denise wasn’t who she said she was. Whatever she had to do with the Binachis or the Carduccis didn’t matter to me. I wanted her out of my house and out of my family’s lives.
My phone rang, and I answered it without looking. “Hello?”
“Hey.” Alessandro’s voice crashed against me and pushed me below the waves. “Where are you?”
“I’m out getting drinks with Mira. How are you?”
“I’m okay. I don’t like it when you’re not here when I wake up.”
I remembered saying the same thing to him when I woke up that morning. “It won’t happen again.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m glad you’re out and getting away for a little bit. Be careful, enjoy yourself, and tell Mira I said hi.”
“I will. Bye.”
“Bye.”
I dropped my phone from my ear and just sat there, looking at it. Suddenly, I wanted nothing more than to be back in his arms.
“Sandro?” Mira asked.
“Yeah.” My nose started to burn. I looked up at Mira, and tears were already streaking down my face. “I miss my husband, Mira.”
She nodded before scooting her chair around to snuggle next to me. “I know, sweetie. I know.”
Mira did her best to nuzzle the pain away, but no amount of comfort was able to ease the pain I felt when I missed Alessandro.
15
Alessandro
It was well past the time that Willow would normally be awake. I didn’t think much of it. I knew that she’d been out late last night with Mira. I was still awake when she walked in early that morning, around three. She had definitely been drinking and was trying to rattle something off about Denise and her research. She wasn’t making much sense and was probably as tired as she was drunk, so I promised to listen to what she had to say after she woke up, and I helped her to bed. That was a handful of hours ago. It was nearly ten o’clock now, and she still hadn’t emerged from the bedroom. She wasn’t the type to sleep in, and even if she’d only had a couple hours of sleep, she always woke up around seven like clockwork. She’d learned to sleep in a bit after Alexis was born, but once Alexis was on a normal schedule, Willow went right back to her old habits.
My stomach growled, something it had been doing for the past hour or so. It never occurred to me before that moment, but I never skipped breakfast, mainly because Willow always made it for me. Even before we started sleeping apart, even before we came back to Philly, Willow would wake up and make me breakfast almost immediately. Whether it was just toast and coffee or a full breakfast of bacon, eggs, and pancakes, she always made sure I was fed. I’d subconsciously been waiting for her to wake up and make me breakfast and, as such, was sitting on the couch hungry.
One day, in the painfully close future, I wouldn’t have that luxury anymore. I’d be on my own to feed myself. If I wanted bacon and eggs, I’d have to get up and make them. I’d sit at a table by myself and eat them, knowing that the woman I loved was in some other house, at some other table, maybe even making someone else breakfast. The thought made me want to set my own gun to my head. I didn’t want to be without Willow. Not because she made me breakfast, but because she made me…me.
The years between her leaving for college and coming back to Philly were so much more empty and painful than I gave them credit for, and when she came back into my life, it was like I’d replaced the light bulb in a long burnt-out socket. I didn’t want that light to burn out again. I was terrified of that darkness, the kind I knew could only be illuminated by her. Once she was gone, it would consume me, and I feared I wouldn’t be able to claw my way out.
Instead of dwelling on that any further, I decided to start small. I’d start with breakfast. One couldn’t face the impending doom of heartbreak and endless isolation on an empty stomach, so once another fifteen minutes had passed without Willow waking up, I finally got off the couch and walked into the kitchen. I wasn’t so dense that I didn’t know how to cook at all. I’d seen my mom do it, I’d seen Molly do it, and I’d even watched Willow cook. I knew bacon went in a pan. I grabbed one out, only after opening every cabinet in search of one, and set it on the stove. I turned on the burner, unsure of how high I should put the heat but hoping medium would work, and then I lined in a few pieces of uncooked bacon.
I poked at the meat curiously with a fork. I could see it bubbling and hear it crackling, but the color didn’t really seem to be changing. How quickly was it supposed to happen? In the back of my mind, I remembered Willow flipping bacon, but when in the process did she do it? I fought with the flabby pieces to try and bring them to their other side, but the fact that they were still totally flimsy made me think I’d jumped the gun. I hated feeling like I’d have to Google how to cook bacon. Maybe, once everyone knew that Willow and I were split up, I could swallow my pride and ask Molly for some tips.
My phone started to blare from the living room so loudly that it made me jump. I normally kept my phone on vibrate or silent, but when I realized Willow was gone last night, I turned it on its loudest setting so that if she called, I’d wake up immediately. It didn’t make much difference. I wasn’t able to sleep while knowing she was outside the house. After she returned, I forgot to turn it back down. I bolted into the living room, grabbed my phone, and answered it just to shut it up. I didn’t want it to wake Willow.
“Sandro?”
I looked at the screen and saw Luca’s name on it. “Hey.”
“We thought you’d be in your office by now.”
I walked back into the kitchen. “Yeah, Willow went out last night, so she’s still sleeping.”
“Oh. Well, can you come up? Denise is here. She says she has something important to talk about with us. Marco and Gabe are already here.”
I looked in the direction of the bedroom, remembering Willow’s complaint about me being gone when she wakes up. I promised her it wouldn’t happen again, and for all the broken promises I’d made her, I planned to keep that one at least for as long as I could.
“I need to wait for Willow to wake up.”
Luca’s audible scoff sent a tinge of irritation down my spine. “She can come up when she’s awake.”
I could have argued but didn’t really have it in me. “I need to wait for her.”
Luca let out another loud sigh, but said, “Fine.”
“Can you keep Denise busy? Keep an eye on her, and I’ll gather everyone once Willow is awake.”
“Fine,” Luca repeated, and the line went dead before I could say goodbye.
I set my phone down on the counter and returned to the task at hand. The bacon was starting to darken and crisp up in the pan. I could see bits of it darkening much quicker than the rest of it, almost to the point of burning, but it was cooking, at least. I decided it was best not to risk it by trying eggs, too, so I took out four slices of bread and started on some toast. When the bacon was cooked to the point that I thought it would be consumable, I pulled it out of the pan, set a couple of pieces on a plate for Willow and a couple on a plate for myself, and then adorned each plate with a piece of toast. I set both plates down on the table, settled into my seat, and started eating. The bacon wasn’t terrible, even if cooked a bit unevenly. It was something I could get better at with practice, but as I looked over at Willow’s empty seat, it still made me sad.
I finished my food, then I grabbed one of my suits from the closet in the living room and went back to the second bathroom in the suite. I took a shower and got dressed, and when I returned to the living room that bled into the kitchen, Willow was sitting at the kitchen table and nibbling on a piece of the bacon.
“Good morning.”
She looked over at me. “Good morning.” She rubbed her head. “I think being a
mom means getting hungover regardless of age.”
I laughed. “Yeah, maybe.”
She looked down at the plate. “You cooked.”
I crossed my arms and kept my distance. I wanted to kiss and hold Willow just like I’d always been able to. I had to break myself of the habit of doing it, even though I knew it hurt her. “I did. I figured I’d need to learn how eventually, so…”
Willow’s eyes sparked with shock. I didn’t know if she just couldn’t believe that I actually would do it, or if she hadn’t cemented to reality the impending end of our relationship, but she seemed pained at the sentence.
“I mean…” I started, hoping to recover. “It’s just miserable in general that I can’t even cook bacon. I should know the basics. Then, I can be the one cooking sometimes.”
It didn’t really seem to help. As much as I didn’t ever want to be parted from Willow, I would be happy when her days weren’t filled with the pain I caused her. “Yeah,” she murmured. “It could use some work, but it’s good.”
“Thanks. Um, listen, I have to go. Denise is here. Apparently, she has something she needs to tell us.”
Willow looked over at me with a look of confusion on her face. “What?” I asked.
Willow blinked a couple of times. “Nothing. I feel like there was something I needed to tell you about her, but for the life of me, I can’t remember.”
“Oh. Well, if you remember, you know where to find me.”
She let out a chuckle, forced and full of hurt. “I do.” She stood up from the table, leaving a piece of bacon and part of a piece of toast behind. “Give me three minutes. I’ll come with you.”
“Fine. I’ll call the guys.”
I used Willow’s three minutes to call Luca back and tell him that Willow and I were on our way up. I asked him to gather Marco and Gabriel. They were down in the kitchen together, so they headed up as a group, and Willow and I left the suite shortly thereafter to make our way to the office. All of my brothers and all of their wives were standing outside with Denise. I supposed once I allowed Willow to involve herself in our business with Denise, the no-wives pact fizzled, bringing Stacy and Molly back into the fray. I unlocked the door and led us all in, and everyone took their usual spots, leaving the couch right across from my desk to Denise.
“All right,” I started. “What’s so important?”
An evil smile crossed her face. “Well, an opportunity for vengeance has presented itself. Dario made the mistake of bringing the new woman he is dating to the house last night. I got a good glimpse of her and talked her up enough to get some information out of her.”
Next to me, Willow gasped. I looked over at her. “You okay?”
She was as white as a ghost and staring at Denise like she was going to transform into a monster. She scanned the room, and then her eyes landed on me. “Yeah. I just remembered.”
“Oh,” I said. I could see the guys and Denise’s confusion at the statement. “Can it wait?”
She shrugged. “I guess it’ll have to.”
I waited for another second to see if she would offer anything else, but when she didn’t, I looked back at Denise. “Sorry. What were you saying?”
Denise was eyeing Willow but eventually continued. “I got her name and where she lives. My brother took your wives, right? What if you played a little tit for tat? He seems crazy about her. If you took her, you could lure him out and end things for good.”
Willow shifted uncomfortably next to me, and I was surprised when even Molly and Stacy exchanged leery glances. “What?” I asked.
“Yeah, I don’t get what the issue would be,” Luca added. “It’s the least he deserves for what he did to you.”
“She’s innocent,” Stacy said. “Gabe and I had only been together a couple of weeks when the Binachis broke into my house and beat me senseless.”
“I agree,” Molly said. “We can’t drag her into it.”
“Besides,” Willow said, her eyes dead set and glaring at Denise. “It could be a trap.”
Molly rolled her eyes, and Denise frowned. “I’m sad that you still don’t trust me. Why can’t you see that we want the same thing?”
“Because—” Willow was cut off by Marco’s phone ringing. Everyone’s gaze shot over to him. He had his phone set to only allow calls from Kelly and Ricky to pass through.
He pulled out his phone, looked at the screen, and then answered it. “Hey, Ricky. Is everything okay?” He shot up off the couch. “What! Okay! I’m on my way.” He hung up the phone and looked at Alessandro, wild-eyed. “I gotta go. Kelly’s going into labor.”
She was about two weeks ahead of her due date.
Everyone else jumped up, too, and I nodded. “Go. Gabe, you take him to the airport. Luca, can you call about the jet?”
“Yeah.”
I looked back at Marco. “I’ll walk you down to the car. Tell me what I need to know on the way out.”
Everyone started to move, apart from Denise, who just clapped her hands with the same, sick smile. “Oh, how fun. I’m so excited I got to be here for such a huge family moment.”
16
Willow
Alessandro was out the door with Marco before I could pull him aside. I couldn’t believe that I’d let the booze cloud my vision and make me forget about what Mira and I had learned about Denise. I looked at her snake-like smile as everyone rushed out of the room and was filled with a sense of dread at her statement. She was happy to be there for such a huge family moment? What did that mean? I almost felt like our family was violated by her presence, and knowing that she wasn’t being truthful about who she was made it worse. There was a lot going on all of a sudden, but I had to try and pull Alessandro aside. He had to know the truth about Denise, or at least as much of the truth as I had learned.
I stared at Denise until she finally got up out of her chair and walked out, and then I grabbed Alessandro’s keys off his desk and left the office, locking it behind us. I ran down the hallway to the stairs, hearing Denise’s footsteps trailing behind me. Paranoia told me she had managed to figure out that I at least knew something was off and that she wasn’t going to give me a chance to tell Alessandro. I wanted to put space between us, so when we got to the stairs leading down, I turned off toward Alessandro’s and my suite. Denise watched me go, and I saw her calculate whether she could follow me or not. I threw her a warning glance, and she continued off down the stairs.
I used the back staircase to get down to the first floor and then walked through the kitchen and toward the front door. There was a bustle and a present murmur in the foyer as Marco rattled directions off to Alessandro and Molly about what to take up in his absence to make sure security still ran smoothly. Gabriel and Stacy were discussing travel plans. They were going to bring Marco to the airport and then come back and check in before deciding whether to drive to Maine themselves. Luca was on the phone, barking instructions at someone, presumably the staff maintaining the family’s private jet.
I ran up to Alessandro and grabbed his arm. “I need to talk to you.”
I didn’t see Denise at first, but when I looked up, I saw her making her way down the stairs. It felt like she should have beat me down, but I didn’t have time to worry about that. I needed to talk to Alessandro before she was able to get near us again.
“I need a minute, Willow. This is kind of important,” Alessandro replied.
I took note of Marco’s disgusted look that I would even try and distract Alessandro at the moment, but I ignored it. None of them knew what I knew, and if they did, they wouldn’t blame me for interfering.
“This is important,” I looked into Alessandro’s eyes. “Very important.”
“Is it something I can help with?” I looked over, and Denise was closing in on us quickly. “I’ll help in any way I can.”
Alessandro nodded at me. “Can you work with Denise? Maybe help Molly get security checks in place?”
“What? No,” I replied. “I’m not working with
her, and she shouldn’t know anything about our security.”
“I promise, I’m not going to do anything to the Varassos, Willow. I just want to help. You guys are doing me a big enough—”
I held up a hand. “Alessandro.”
Alessandro looked at me, and I instantly recognized the darkness behind his eyes. My loving husband wasn’t in at the moment. Only the mob boss Alessandro was present. “I need to focus on this right now. You can work with Denise and Molly on security, or you can stay out of the way.”
It shattered me. I didn’t like it when Alessandro spoke to me like that, especially when it involved treating me like I was just one of his flunkies. I knew Denise wasn’t going to give me a moment alone, but I wasn’t about to help them give her inside information about our security, so I just backed out of the way and stayed quiet. Once Marco was off, I could pull Alessandro aside and tell him what I needed to.
My skin crawled as Molly started to go over security details with Denise. What happened to keeping her on the outside? What had she done in such a short period of time to convince my family that she was worth telling such sensitive information to?
“Okay. I got it. You have to go.” Alessandro started to push Marco out the door, and I followed after them. The rest of the family filed in behind, and we started to walk Marco to Gabriel’s car, each of us giving him passing wishes of good luck and congratulations.
“Call us when you land,” Alessandro said.
Marco nodded, pulling open the passenger’s side door to Gabriel’s truck. “I will. Let me know whe—”
“Marco!”
Denise flew past me and jumped out toward Marco. My heart dropped, convinced that Denise was finally making her move, but when I heard a gunshot, it was from the bushes next to the parking lot. Alessandro jumped in front of me and pulled out his gun, as did Gabriel and Luca. They open-fired as a figure dressed all in black rushed out from the bushes and started down the driveway. Luca and Molly took off after him as Denise and Marco clattered to the ground.