Gabriel laughed. “You’re gonna have to do the same with the front door, too,” his voice gruffed from the other side, and I sighed. Two broken doors, courtesy of Marco’s thor-like strength.
“I suppose we’ll have to have those fixed,” Willow chuckled.
“Well, us or Luca and Molly. Once I hand things back over to him, we’ll have to move out. Sorry about that.”
Willow smiled. “As long as you’re there, I don’t care.”
It was difficult not to pull her against me and either fall back asleep or into other bed-bound activities, but I rode the momentum of being woken up suddenly and climbed out of bed. I walked over to the bathroom door and held it open. “Want to take a shower with me?”
Willow smiled widely at me. “Do I ever.”
She got out of the bed, smiling at her ring before taking it off and setting it on the nightstand next to her side of the bed. I fingered my own rings off, hesitating at the ring that belonged to the head of the family. I snatched it off and set it amongst the array of my dad’s gaudy rings on the bathroom counter.
Willow wrapped her hands around my waist. “You’ll have to return one now.”
“That’s fine. I don’t think I’m putting any of them back on.”
She kissed my back. “None of them?”
“No. I’ll keep them since they’re my dad’s, but they’re too heavy.” I clenched my fingers, ringless for the first time in many years. “Well, I’ll put one back on.” I pulled my wedding band from the collection and set it aside. “The only one I want to wear.”
I leaned down and gave Willow a kiss before releasing her so that she could turn the shower on. As much as the interaction could have turned naughty, Willow and I were happy just to share one another’s space. I curled ribbons of her body soap over her body and smoothed it across her skin. She nibbled at my chin as I washed her body and ran shampoo through her hair while she turned her attention to washing me. I lost count of how many absent-minded kisses we took, but eventually, the water started to cool, even with it on its hottest setting. I turned the water off, and we wrapped ourselves together in towels for another short makeout before finally toweling ourselves off and going to get dressed.
I grabbed a suit from the closet outside the bedroom and pulled it on, and when I turned, Willow was there waiting in a blush-colored sundress, rather unlike the muted blacks and whites she normally wore.
I grinned and pulled her against me. “I love you.”
“I love you.”
I took her hand in mine and led her around the broken suite door. We went together up the back staircase to the third floor. When we were far enough down the hallway that we could see our family, they all started to clap like in a cheesy movie. Willow pulled from me and charged forward, shocking everyone when she threw her arms around Molly.
Molly hugged her back tightly, and when they released, she flicked Willow’s forehead. “Doing better?”
“Thanks to you,” Willow replied.
Luca poked Willow’s shoulder. “Uh, can I get in on that?”
He held his arms open, and Willow smiled before walking into them for a hug. She pulled away, pressing herself back against me. Luca looked at her with remorse. “Willow, I’m—”
“Nope,” Willow said. “It’s behind us.”
Luca nodded. “Thanks.”
I unlocked the door and led everyone into the notably lighter office. Before Luca could get to it, I walked over to the couch across from the desk, and Willow was right behind me. Luca and Molly stopped and looked down at us in confusion. I took my dad’s ring and slammed it on the desk.
“This is yours.” Everyone was silent while Luca considered what I said. He looked at Molly, who looked at Willow, who looked at me, and I looked back at Luca. “You were right. I could barely control myself, let alone carry the family. You’re much more grounded and level-headed.” Luca opened his mouth to protest, but I held up my hand. “Nope. I won’t have it. Dad gave that to you. I had no right to take it.”
Luca stood in silent consideration. I thought back to the day I demanded control from the family. I barely recognized the man who did that. There was a part of me, like an itch I couldn’t quite reach, that wanted to crawl across the desk and sit myself down in my dad’s old chair. It wanted to maintain control of the family and keep everything under my thumb, but I looked over at Willow, her shining face reminding me of the important things in my life, and it helped me keep it all buried down. I would eventually need professional help keeping the urge to run back to the shadows at bay, but for now, I could do it—for Willow and for my family.
Luca walked over to the ring and picked it up. I took a deep breath while I waited for him to put it on, but instead, he walked around the desk, unlocked the window, opened it, and chucked the ring out into the yard. Gabriel, Marco, and I all let out little gasps. It was like there was an invisible cord that tied all of us to that ring, and when Luca threw it out the window, we were all briefly afraid that we’d go flying with it.
He shut the window, and it snapped those cords. It was freeing, if not a bit nauseating. Luca sat down at the desk, and Molly went and stood next to him. “Dad’s hold on us has kept us shackled for too long. We’ll end this together, and then we’ll walk together into our new life.” We all exchanged looks of relief as we felt the imposing ghost of Angelo Varasso fade from the room, and then all eyes fell back on Luca. “So, I’m told you have information?”
Willow and I took turns explaining what she had learned about Denise, the Binachis, the Costas, and the Carduccis. I expected everyone to come to the same conclusions that we did, but Marco, Luca, and Gabriel all had different theories. In our different interactions with both our father and the Binachis, we’d gotten different views on the business and our alliance with them. The only thing we all agreed on was that Denise wasn’t who she said she was and had been using our family to a selfish end.
“I still don’t get how Anthony factors into it, though,” Gabriel said.
Willow had her brow hunched. “Yeah, that part confuses me, as well, but in a way, I think it actually has something to do with Anthony’s daughter, Callista.”