Chapter Six
Alicia
Running my hand through Jellybean's fur, I swipe at the lone tear that trickles down my cheek and nuzzle my face into her tan coat, giggling as she licks my ear.
"I'm going to miss you so much, baby girl," I whisper, scratching at her tiny head, careful not to dislodge the cute little bow that's clipped onto the hair between her pointed ears.
I barely managed to survive the last few days in London without her. As soon as we landed back in New York last night after the disastrous dinner we had, I raced home and spent the rest of the night cuddled up on the sofa with her.
My heart aches when I think about having to leave again tomorrow.
For the past two years, since I bought her, I've spent almost every day with Jellybean, and when my father told me it was best to leave her behind and not take her to London with me, I threw a fit.
Yes, it was childish, but it was justified.
She's my baby, and I don't want to be without her.
Eliana walks into my room and sighs when she sees my face buried into my Pomeranian's small body.
"Are you crying again?"
"No," I mutter, turning away from her as my tears soak into Jellybean's fur.
The bed beside me dips, and Ellie's arm slides around my waist as she pulls me into her side, ignoring the way my dog is growling at her for touching me.
"You know I'll take good care of her for you," she says. "And I'll FaceTime you every day so you can see each other."
"She's going to be a nightmare without me here," I tell her, sniffling and wiping away my tears as I lower Jellybean to the floor.
Straight away, she nips at my sister's ankle until Ellie moves her arm from around me.
"Maybe the distance will do you both some good. She might actually learn to like other people."
I laugh as Ellie rubs her ankle with a pained expression while Jellybean bounds over to her fluffy pink dog bed across the room, her little, dark eyes glued to mine.
"See, she has attachment issues. She's going to be so sad without me."
"If anyone has attachment issues, it's you. She's just territorial and seems to think if anyone's near you, they're trying to take you away from her."
"I blame el diablo for that. She was fine as a puppy, but after he locked her in that cupboard for hours and stopped me from getting her out, she's never been the same."
We both roll our eyes at the mention of our brother.
"I'm so glad you'll be away from him once you're in London. Hopefully, I will too if I can convince Papá to let me move in with Miguel."
"You really think it's a good idea to leave Papá alone in this house with Lenny?" I ask, cocking a brow.
She chuckles and nods her head.
"Honestly, yes. It might actually give him a chance to really see Lenny's evil side."
I roll my eyes and shake my head, standing from the bed and moving over to one of the many suitcases that's half-filled on my bedroom floor.
"Lenny would never do anything that could jeopardise him taking over the syndicate."
She scoffs as I start folding more of my clothes and place them in the suitcase in front of me.
"Maybe not, but he doesn't have to. Papá would be stupid to give control to Lenny.
He may not realise how disturbed Lenny really is, but he knows he can't hand everything over to him.
Everyone knows Lenny would run us into the ground.
Besides, if Papá did hand things over to Lenny, it'd start a war between every single Mafia family that's part of our organisation. "
I shrug. "Maybe, but he hasn't mentioned anything about retiring and handing things over to one of us, either."
Her eyes quickly flit away from my face, and she stands from the bed, moving to grab a stack of clothes from behind her.
I watch as she avoids eye contact with me while she puts them into another suitcase, and then starts straightening out the covers on my bed.
"Eliana, what do you know?" I ask, watching her with curiosity.
She glances at me, then at my closed bedroom door before she walks over to me, crouching on the floor beside me.
Jellybean yaps from across the room when Ellie leans in close to me, and she huffs as she moves back a few inches.
"Miguel said that Papá has a meeting scheduled with his parents for when he comes back to New York after your wedding.
He thinks that Papá might suggest they hold a gathering with the heads of each family in the syndicate to discuss the future of things.
It's possible he might hand things over to one of the other families," she whispers.
I frown and immediately shake my head.
"No. There's no way. The Garcia family has been the head of the syndicate for years.
It's a part of our legacy. Papá would never hand it over to anyone else.
If he's not handing it off to either of us, then surely he'd hand it down to Miguel once you two are married, because then it'd still technically be our family that's in charge. "
"I have no idea, Lissa. All I know for sure is he won't be handing things down to Lenny, and I assume he's being secretive about this meeting with the other Mafia families because he knows if Lenny finds out, it could be catastrophic."
"Catastrophic is an understatement, Ellie."
She blows out a breath and nods.
"Yeah, I know. Anyway, enough about all of this shit. Let's focus on getting you packed before Papá freaks out about you not being ready in time tomorrow."
I groan and flop down on the floor, staring at the patterned ceiling above me while my sister laughs.
Jellybean pads over, leaping onto my stomach and lying down on top of me as I continue feeling sorry for myself for a position I purposely put myself in.
"Lissa, come on. Stop moping around," Ellie says, nudging my foot with hers.
"How can I not mope around? I'm getting married in two days to an arrogant, small-minded English bastard who I can't stand, and I can't do anything about it."
She sighs. "You can't know for sure that he's arrogant or small-minded, chica.
You met him once, for all of ten minutes.
You can't judge someone off of that. Besides, isn't it a good thing you both don't seem to like each other?
That means you can get this wedding over and done with, and then go about your lives, right? "
"You make it sound so simple, El. I have to live with him. I won't be able to escape him. I'll be stuck with his insufferable arse."
"Well, worst case scenario, you constantly bicker with each other, maybe try and kill each other as well knowing you, and then maybe have some angry make-up sex. Sounds pretty nice to me," she says, smirking when I shoot daggers at her.
"That sounds very unrealistic… Well, the last part anyway. I will not be giving myself up to that man."
She giggles, throwing a lacy pink bra at my face.
"We'll see, hermanita."