The door to the studio opened, and Gabriel and I immediately pulled our guns and pointed at the door. Luca, Molly, and Marco came walking in, and we relaxed. Luca turned and locked the door to the studio while Marco, the Varasso’s muscle, pulled his own gun and trained it on Denise without hesitation. I took my first real look at the woman in the chair then. She had long, black hair hanging over her shoulders and down her back and lavender eyes, and she seemed oddly calm for the situation. It seemed like Willow and Stacy were right to suspect something was up. Anyone who could sit calmly with two guns pointed in her face after being taken into custody by a ruthless yoga instructor wasn’t a run-of-the-mill citizen.
“What happened?” I asked.
“After Stacy introduced me to her class, Denise here called herself a Varasso fangirl. She knew exactly who Stacy and I were and about Kelly being pregnant.” Willow said and eyed me with venom in her eyes. “She asked about Alexis…by name.”
My blood boiled at the thought. If she was subtly trying to threaten my daughter, I’d be hard-pressed to let her out of that yoga studio with her life.
“She knows about Harpswell, too.”
“What?” Luca growled, and then his hand went to his waist, where he pulled out his gun and cocked it on Denise, as well. “How do you know that?”
Marco’s finger was flexing on the trigger of his gun. “She’s too much of a risk, regardless. Please let me neutralize it.”
“Relax, Marco,” I instructed, but when Marco looked back at me angrily, I raised an eyebrow as if to say, “Soon, but not yet.” Marco probably didn’t like hearing that Denise had asked about Kelly any more than I did hearing that she asked about Alexis, but if she had such sensitive knowledge, she had to get it from somewhere. “Let’s get a little more information out of her first.”
I was a little surprised when all three of my brothers responded, “Yes, boss,” in unison, the bit of unity probably thanks to our bonding over lunch.
“Oh?” Denise spoke finally, and her voice was sultry and low. “Are you the boss now?”
Willow looked at Stacy and then back at me. “She sounds different.”
“Well, it seems you figured out that I was putting up a bit of an act there, Mrs. Varasso, so it shouldn’t be all that surprising,” Denise responded. “I apologize for deceiving you.”
“Sandro, get the information you want from her quickly. I’ve got one in the chamber that’s eager to meet her,” Marco hissed.
“My patience has already run pretty thin,” I replied, “so I suggest you tell us who you are and why you know so much before I allow my brother to empty his gun into you. It’s been a long time since he’s shot someone, and I can tell you he’s eager for the opportunity.”
Marco took a menacing step closer so he could set the barrel of his gun directly on Denise’s head. Denise held up her hands, her cool expression turning panicked. “Okay, okay, okay. Relax. There’s no need for things to get messy here. We all want the same thing, to eliminate Dario Binachi.”
The tension in the room grew exponentially. “How do you know Dario Binachi?” I asked.
Denise rolled her eyes. “He’s my brother.”
I looked in confusion at my brothers, but they all seemed just as lost. Our family had worked closely with the Binachis for years. Even before things turned sour between us, our businesses were closely intertwined. There was a point at which we considered the Binachis allies. At no point in any of the time that we’d worked with them had we seen a female Binachi. Donovan was careful to keep his wife uninvolved in his affairs. In fact, she believed he and his sons were day traders. He kept her identity unknown, even to us. He’d only ever talked about having sons, and as far as we knew, he had two of them, Dario and the now-deceased Dante.
“I was unaware Donovan had a daughter,” I said to her. “I find it hard to believe we wouldn’t have heard of you.”
“I was more of an inconvenience to my dad and his family than anything else.” She side-glanced Gabriel. “I was a mutt.”
I saw Gabriel shift uncomfortably in place. Gabriel didn’t share a mother with Luca, Marco, and me. My dad stepped out on my mom and had Gabriel, and for most of our lives, he was more of an outsider than anything. It was only after I left with Willow, leaving Gabriel and Luca with nothing but time to patch things up, that we started to all come together. I always saw Gabriel as a brother—that’s what my dad told me I should do—but Luca and Marco always treated him poorly, often calling him a mutt to his face.
“You know what that’s like, don’t you, Gabe?” Denise asked. “I was born between the boys and was intentionally left out of the family business. Apparently, I wasn’t good enough to sell stocks. I was always treated like I didn’t belong, even though Dario and Dante’s mom raised me like one of her own.”
Gabriel’s voice was softer when he spoke up. “I understand.” I eyed him, silently warning him not to fall into Denise’s trap, but he just shook his head. “But you and I are different. I’m not stupid. You must be to wander into a Varasso business as a Binachi.”
“I’m almost done with you,” I warned her.
“I didn’t lie when I said I was a fan of your family. It’s very true. I’ve admired the way you’ve handled my family up to this point, and I’m very much interested in seeing the job through to completion.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” She smiled. “I want to help you kill my brother.”
I looked at Willow, and I could see the suspicion in her eyes. My brothers were exchanging looks, and I could see Luca calculating the way she could aid the cause. I wouldn’t admit it, but I was lost on which way to take the information. I let Willow’s subtle shake of her head inform my decision.
“I wouldn’t trust you enough to let you.” I crossed my arms. “We will kill your brother exactly as we intended to, without your help, and unfortunately for you, we want all of the Binachis gone. So, it seems this is the end of the road for you.”
Denise’s expression turned desperate. “You don’t understand. My last name, Binachi, has ruined my life. My mother is too stupid to see what’s going on, or maybe she just prefers not to, but I know well what my poor excuse for a father and brothers have been up to. They cost me my real mother’s life, among other things. I want the Binachis dead as much as you do, maybe more. I say I can help you, but you’d be doing me a much bigger favor. I’d owe you for this lifetime and my next. If we both want Dario dead, why can’t we form an alliance? Dario thinks I’m taking on my role as a Binachi now that Dante and Donovan are dead. I can get you inside information. I can warn you if he’s about to make a move.” She turned to look at Luca, and it stoked my rage. “You’re smart enough to see that this is the best option.”