“Don’t.” I finally did lift my hands, but only to pull his arms from around me and shove him away. He fell back on his heels and looked up at me with red, puffy eyes. “I’m not doing this anymore, Alessandro. You can’t keep pulling this shit and then try and paper over it with apologies. I’m done.”
“But—”
“No.” I stared right into his eyes to let him know how serious I was. “Get away from me.” I watched the words shatter Alessandro, and it crushed me. I never wanted to tell him that, but I had to protect myself. I couldn’t do the back and forth with him anymore.
Alessandro gave me a weak nod before standing up and walking over to where Luca and Molly were sitting. He settled down into a chair a couple chairs down from Luca and dropped his head into his hands. I watched Molly and Luca’s gazes go from him to me and back again, and when I finally dared a look, they didn’t seem angry or malicious anymore, only sad. It made everything worse. It would be so much easier for me if the rest of the Varassos hated me. I wanted them to blame me for the downfall of the relationship, to still look at me with that disapproving sneer. That would make leaving a simpler task.
I thought about talking with Gabriel before leaving to go see Mira and him telling me that the Varassos did love me and felt bad about my situation. He was sure to mention that even Luca and Molly felt that way. I wasn’t sure I believed him then, but every time I let my gaze flit over to Luca and Molly, they were both looking back at me as though they desperately wanted to say something. At one point, Luca stood up, but Molly grabbed his hand and shook her head. It wasn’t like she disapproved of his coming over, but more that she sensed it wouldn’t help. Luca looked at me sadly, but he sank back into his chair before looking over at his brother with a lost expression.
All the emotions I was holding back started to seep out. I couldn’t handle them being sad for me. If it was just something I had to go through alone, it was fine. I didn’t want it to be sad for them. I thought it would be a relief, but they seemed almost as heartbroken as Alessandro and I were. I didn’t know what to make of it.
I was more than a little relieved when a male doctor in a white lab coat stepped into the room with a clipboard. “Varasso family?” I stayed seated while Luca, Alessandro, and Molly jumped up and rushed over to the doctor. “Hello. Denise is doing well. The surgery went fine, we were able to remove the entire bullet without issue, and she’s recovering now. She’s still a little drowsy, so you can visit with her, but one at a time. I can take someone back now if you’d like.”
“Thank you,” Alessandro said. “I can—”
“Can I go?” Luca, Molly, and Alessandro all turned to look at me with shock. “I’d like to apologize to her.” I poured as much sincerity into my voice as I could muster.
“Really?” Molly asked.
I nodded. “Really. I was so distracted by wanting to protect you that I acted outside of myself.”
Molly, Luca, and Alessandro all exchanged glances before finally looking back at me. “Okay,” Alessandro said.
I stood up and walked over to the doctor, and Alessandro reached out for me, but I stepped away from him. He dropped his head before going to sit down in one of the chairs. The doctor sensed the tension in the room but ignored it.
He pointed toward the glass doors he’d come through. “This way.”
“Thank you.” I ignored the intense stares of Luca and Molly as I walked away and was glad when the doors closed behind me.
The doctor led me back into a pod of hospital rooms and around a small nurse’s station to the room furthest back in the pod. He pulled aside a curtain, and I saw Denise laying in the hospital bed. She was connected to a series of machines, looking something like a puppet, but she still managed to turn a vile smile to me when she noticed me arrive.
“Willow. I didn’t expect to see you.”
The doctor smiled. “Okay, I’ll leave you to it.”
“Thank you,” I replied. I watched the doctor closely until he was entirely gone from the room and then walked over to Denise’s side. “How you feeling?”
Denise seemed confused by the question. “I’ve had better days, but it could have been much worse.” She looked up into my eyes. “I hope now you see that I just want to help your family.”
I smiled at her, doing my best to mimic the evil ones she’d given me prior. “What I saw,” I leaned down to whisper to her, “was a very convoluted plan go exactly as you wanted it to go.”
Denise scoffed. “Still on that are you? I told you—”
“I wasn’t done,” I cut her off. “Now. You’ve gotten my family’s attention, so it’ll make getting you out more difficult, but if you leave of your own accord, it should go smoothly enough.”
“And why would I do that?” Denise asked.
“Because if you don’t, I’ll tell them all who you really are, Denise Costa.” Denise’s eyes went wide, and the heart monitor started to beep a bit faster. I smiled at the sound. “I know that you’re trying to hurt my family, and if you think I’m going to let that happen, you’ve got another thing coming.”
19
Alessandro
Even though I expected that Willow wanted nothing to do with me, I still waited for her to wake up the next morning. She hadn’t said one
word to me since she told me to get away from her at the hospital, and she even asked to ride back with Luca and Molly. I was broken. I never meant to hurt her, but I realized when she pushed me away that it was all I had done. I should have considered myself lucky. I inched closer and closer to Willow’s breaking point with careless disregard for the fact that I’d one day push her beyond it. I’d finally stepped over into a place where Willow didn’t run to me. It was more painful than I expected.
The bedroom door opened just as tears were gathering in the corners of my eyes. “Morning.”