“Ugh. Gabriel’s crying again. Shut up, you mutt,” Luca spat.
I searched through the different c
orridors, desperately trying to find a way out, or at least to my brothers. “Marco? Luca?”
“Sandro? Where are you?” Gabriel yelled. “I’m scared.”
“Tick tock, Varassos. Time’s running out.”
“Dad!” I yelled. “Help me! Get me out of here!”
“Shut up, Alessandro. He’ll throw us back in here tomorrow. Figure it out,” Marco’s voice called out from somewhere deep in the hedges.
“I hate this stupid fucking hedge maze!”
My dad’s guttural laughter emanated from somewhere outside the maze. “Come on, Alessandro. It’s not so bad. All you have to do is get out.”
My throat started to tighten as the memories washed over me. I hated that hedge maze, always had, always would. Once we dragged Denise out of here, I was having the entire thing pulled down. I didn’t care if we were leaving in a few weeks, and I didn’t care if the house would sell for more with it. I didn’t want this black stain on my memories back here anymore.
“Willow?”
As my senses came back to me, I realized the hedge maze was eerily silent. The yelling had stopped, the running had stopped, everything was totally still. I stopped running and started to step quietly. I kept my gun pointed out in front of my face and turned the next corner ahead of me, and what I saw nearly made me puke.
Willow was on her knees, her hands in the air, and my gun was tossed off to her side. Denise was standing over her with the barrel of her gun pressed directly to Willow’s forehead.
“Perfect timing,” she hissed, before peeking over her shoulder at me. “Drop your gun.”
I didn’t hesitate. I tossed it off to the side and held my hands up, as well. “Denise.”
She maneuvered so that she could keep me in her sights while keeping her gun set against Willow’s head.
“You should have just left it well enough alone, Willow. I really do want my brother dead.” She grasped the gun tighter, setting her finger on the trigger, and my heart sank. “Any last words for your husband?”
22
Willow
My body wouldn’t stop shaking. As much as I didn’t want to show Denise any weakness, with the cold steel of her gun set to my forehead and both Alessandro and I unarmed, I knew there was no way out. I’d taken a gamble on the Varasso family, and I’d lost. All I could do was hope that someone was waiting in the wings, ready to shoot Denise as soon as she shot me and before she could get to Alessandro. Alexis needed at least one of her parents alive.
In all of my nightmares of imagining her having to attend one of her parents’ funerals, I assumed it would be Alessandro’s, not mine. I might have known it would go the other way. It was just my luck. I knew Denise was bad news. I never should have stayed. From the second she arrived, I should have thrown down an ultimatum—her or me. It was too late now.
I looked up at Alessandro, his eyes wet and glistening as he looked back at me. He was so handsome. Even with his hair messy around his head and deep bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, he was still the most beautiful man I’d ever seen in my life. Every time he kissed me came flooding into my mind. He was an amazing kisser. He knew how to kiss me softly when I needed it and forcefully when things were hot and passionate. He wouldn’t struggle to find someone else. It would take him a while to get over me, but he’d charm some new woman someday. Hopefully, all of the mess with Denise and the Binachis would be behind him by then, and they could have the happily ever after I’d been denied.
“Sandro,” I started, my voice shaking. “I love you. I love you so much. I always have. More than myself.”
Alessandro nodded. “I love you, too.”
Tears started to stream down my face. “I never stopped loving you. Not for one second. Not once since we started dating all those years ago did I stop loving you. I always did. I know things got hard for us. I know things got hard for you, but one thing I knew unwaveringly is that you are my soulmate. I couldn’t watch you continue to hurt yourself. I couldn’t watch you continue to hurt your family, or me, or Lexi. I hope you understand that. I stepped back because I love you, not because I don’t. Okay? Promise me you’ll always remember that.”
Alessandro nodded weakly. “I promise.”
“I wish I could do this past year differently. We both made so many mistakes. I just wish that I could have had more time with you. I just did what I thought was best for us. For all of us.” I thought of my sweet baby girl, her peppery freckles and bright blue eyes, and started to sob. “Remember that Alexis doesn’t like carrots, but keep trying to get her to try them. It might change as she gets older. And she’s allergic to peanuts. You have to check everything—everything—for peanuts, okay? And if she eats them by accident, take her straight to the emergency room. Her symptoms are delayed, but once they start, they cut off her breathing and could get bad quickly. Okay?”
Tears were streaming continuously down Alessandro’s face. “Okay.”
“I know she loves having other kids around, so make sure she gets to see her cousins a lot, and tell her that I love her every single day, and when she’s old enough, tell her I said to tell you, too.”
Alessandro tried to take a step closer, and Denise pressed the gun harder into my head, so he stopped. “Willow.”