Dark Castle by Shanna Handel

9

Willow

I want to obey him,really I do. I want to do anything to make him put his hands on me and make me feel the way he did when my back was pressed up against that wall. To have his fingers dancing on me while pleasure surges through my body.

Unfortunately, obedience is not an option.

My heart beats harder as I near the meadow, as it always does.

Please, let him be here this time.

I reach my big sequoia, leaning against it. I can’t help but think of the feel of Santo’s arms as they wrapped around me the last time I was here. The heat of his whispered words still lingers against my ear. There are wolves in these woods.

I scan the meadow. I don’t see him. My heart falls.

There’s a low whistle from the trees; our signal. I rush through the meadow, toward the sound. He steps out from the tree line.

A smile breaks out on my face at the sight of him.

His brown beard has a little more silver in it than the last time I saw him, but his almond shaped eyes have that familiar twinkle. He reaches for me. “Willow!”

I throw myself into his arms.

He laughs, hugging me back as I almost tip him over. His arms still around me, he rights us. He holds me at arm’s length, examining my face. “Have you been well?”

“Well enough, I guess.” A shadow casts over my good mood as I remember why I’ve asked him to meet me here today. “Other than someone meddling in my business.”

His brow narrows. “What do you mean?”

My hands go to my hips. “You know exactly what I mean, Tano.”

“Tano?” His eyes cut away from mine. “I guess I’ve lost the right to be called father, haven’t I?”

I don’t want to hurt him, but after all this time apart, there’s a limit to my level of comfort with him. “With you gone so long…with so much time between us, it feels weird to call you Dad.”

“I understand.” He smiles, reaching out and patting my shoulder. “Tano is fine.”

His gaze goes to the other end of the woods, his hand moving to the pistol at his belt. “I heard something. Come.”

I follow him to the tree line, hiding with him behind a massive trunk. “What was it?”

“Rustling. There. In the leaves.” He points across the meadow to my sequoia.

“Maybe it was just a bird. Or a squirrel.” I listen but hear nothing. “Are you sure you aren’t just making it up to get out of talking about this marriage you’re trying to arrange for me?”

He turns to me with a smile on his face, but it disappears quickly, his eyes growing wide, staring behind me.

I turn, following his gaze.

Santo stands behind us, weapon drawn, the dark circle of the barrel pointed right between the eyes of my father.

His angry gaze flits to mine. “So, this is who you sneak out to meet?”

I move between the two men. “Santo, this is my father. Put the gun down.”

“Your father?” Santo’s dark brow knits for a moment, then a flash of recognition washes over his face. “Finally, we meet in person.”

My eyes flit to Tano’s. He’s looking at me with dread. Something’s passed between these men, an understanding that’s lost on me.

“Step aside, Willow.” Santo’s tone is so low, so deadly, it makes me obey.

I step to the side.

My father slowly raises his hands in the air, his gaze flitting to the gun at his waist.

Keeping his gun trained on Tano, Santo takes another step closer. He tilts his chin toward Tano’s weapon. “Take that from him, Willow.”

I look at the gun and I hesitate.

Where do my loyalties lie? With the man who abandoned me as a child, but is my flesh and blood? Or with Santo?

Santo’s stern tone makes the decision for me. “Now, Willow.”

I obey, avoiding my father’s eye as I slip the gun from his belt. Tano’s voice is soothing. “It’s okay, Willow. Do as he says.” The metal is cool, and I’m surprised by the weight of it in my hands.

Tano’s eyes shift to Santo’s. “The safety is on, by the way. You might have asked before you told her to take it.”

A dark, dangerous chuckle rumbles through Santo’s chest. “Are you really one to be lecturing me on her safety? The best you can do is leave her in the woods with an unfit mother, then sell off parcels of Meralo land and beg my brother to marry her.” Santo clicks the safety off his gun, glaring at my father. “What right do you have?”

Meralo land?My father’s not involved with the Meralos. I look at Tano. “I thought it was your family’s forest that you offered to Aldo when you arranged his marriage with Briar. What’s he talking about?”

“It is my land.” Tano’s eyes grab mine. “Mine…by marriage.”

I don’t understand. A cold sweat breaks out over my skin. I shake my head, trying to make sense of it all. “You married a Meralo? After leaving my mother? Who?”

“He’s married to Demi Meralo.” Santo cocks his chin at my father. “Willow, meet Stefano Bianchi. I knew it was him the second I saw his face. He looks exactly like his son, Rocco.”

My heart speeds up as time slows down. I can hear the blood whooshing by my eardrums, the ticking of my watch. Stefano died years ago. He killed his lover then drowned himself in the ocean. It’s a story that still circulates through the village, one my mother told me many times.

The man that stands before me is Tano, my father. Right? “What do you mean…”

My dad stares at me, begging me to understand. “It’s true, Willow. Your mother, Prue Rosa, knew me as Tano. We never married, not officially. When you and your sister were born, your mother gave you her own last name, Rosa. When I married Demi, she called me Stefano as did the village. Only you girls still call me Tano.”

My hand covers my mouth as I gasp. “But…I don’t understand. Stefano is…dead.” Is this a ghost, a mirage? Am I hallucinating?

But he’s very real as he takes a step toward me, his eyes pleading with me to trust him. “My wife, Demi Meralo, killed my lover, Penelope. I took the blame and faked my death. I ran from Demi, from my heartache.” He shakes his head. “I’m not proud of it. One of my sons with Penelope, Rocco, found me and brought me to my senses, telling me to come back.”

“How could you be with my mother and married to Demi?” My gut twists as I remember the salacious stories of the infamous lovers that still pass through the village. Penelope Romano and Stefano Bianchi. “And with Penelope too? It’s not possible.”

Santo glares at Tano. “Looks like your father is a very busy man.”

My mind spins as I think back to what I know. Me, my mom, my dad, and Briar all lived at the edge of the village. Then, my mother started to get sick. My father moved us into the woods, making us self-sufficient with livestock and gardens and solar power. Mother got pregnant; Father left. I shake my cloudy head. “We were a happy family, living alone in the woods. At least, I thought we were happy. You went missing…when Briar was five or six…Mother was pregnant with Esme at the time…”

He shakes his head. “Esme and Posie aren’t mine.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t even know Prue was pregnant. She’d stopped sleeping with me after you were born. She took up with another man. She was seeing things…do you remember how she was seeing things?”

It was a dark time, my mother gazing off into the distance, murmuring about bad things, visions that plagued her. I nod. “I remember.”

“Prue grew cold toward me, telling me bad things happen in threes, always talking about things in threes. She was obsessive, and things got…darker.”

“And you left.” Tears burn in my eyes. I try to blink them back. I try to be tough, but my next words come out in a whisper, my heart shattering as I say them. I ask him the question that’s been heavy on my heart almost my whole life. “How could you leave us?”

His eyes lock on mine. There’s so much pain and sorrow there I feel discomfort in my chest. He says, “She made me.”

And I know he’s telling the truth.

My mother made people do things. She had that power over them. She’d done it to me and Briar. I know how impossible it was to try to go against her.

I understand, but I need to know more. “Why? Why did she make you go?”

“Prue and I were never in love. When we met, I was spinning out after Penelope married John. I thought for sure we’d make it through our breakup. We always did. But that time, John came into the picture, giving Penelope what I couldn’t. The day Penelope married John I was beside myself. I wandered off into the woods. I found your mother there, living in a tent she’d pitched at a campsite she’d made for herself by the creek. She was so stunning with her long blonde hair, dressed in a patchwork quilt, silver bells tied to her ankle like a beautiful gypsy.”

I can picture my mother as he describes her, and it makes me feel a pang for the good times. When she wasn’t crazy.

“It was like she was waiting for me. I was so drawn to her…” He shakes his head as if to break away from a trance. “It was almost like she put a spell on me.”

I sigh. “Maybe she did. It’s quite possible.”

His eyes flicker to mine and an understanding passes between us. The Rosa girls have always been surrounded by a touch of magic. Passed down from my mother. Something I dread and do my best to avoid.

His voice is a choked whisper. “She said something to me once, something that made me think she did put some kind of spell on me.”

Santo gives a disbelieving grunt.

“What?” I move toward Stefano.

“She said: To think love is the most powerful force and yet I’ve conquered it. At the time I thought nothing of it, but all those years in exile, I’ve had too much time to think. I wondered if she meant she overpowered my love for Penelope and took me for her own. Crazy, I know… but anyway…” He shakes his head again, twisting the silver wedding band on his finger. “It doesn’t matter, now.”

“What happened next?” I ask.

Tano—Stefano—glances at the sun. “It’s getting late. I’ve got to go before I’m missed.”

Santo stands by quietly, letting my father make his confession, but never taking his gun off him. He gestures at Stefano with the barrel of it. “You’re not leaving without telling us the rest of the story.”

“Let him go. Please?” I beg Santo with my eyes. “He’ll come back and meet us tomorrow.” I turn to my father. “Won’t you?”

My father nods. “Same time, same place.”

Santo looks like he’s deciding between shooting Stefano on sight, dragging him back with us, or letting him go.

Putting my hand on his arm, I plead with Santo. “Please.”

“Fine.” Santo nods at Stefano. “But if you aren’t here tomorrow, I’m hunting you down.”

“Fine.” My dad embraces me quickly, then takes off into the trees.

When Stefano’s gone from my sight, I release a deep breath. “God, that was a lot to take in.”

“Come here.” Santo wraps his arms around me, pulling me into his chest.

He feels so good. He smells so good. His body heat and masculine scent envelop me in a blanket of protection. I press against him, snuggling deeper into his chest.

Santo makes me feel safe.

“You’ve been through a lot.” I can feel the rumble of his words as he speaks. “But that doesn’t excuse you from being punished.”

“I know.” My knees go weak, my panties damp because this time I know. It’s going to be his belt.