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I yanked my arm from Marco’s grip and ran over to where I had heard the sound come from. “Mr. Fluffy!”
And on hearing my voice, my beloved dog gave an excited, loud bark and leaped up from Debi’s arms to come bounding over to me. For the first time since I had arrived in this hellhole, I had a reason to smile. As I threw my arms around my pooch, he barked nonstop and couldn’t help himself from licking my face, causing a giggle to burst from my throat.
“Mr. Fluffy?” said Alessio. I looked up and saw Alessio and Camillo had come into the room. Alessio stood with his arms folded across his chest, a less than pleased expression on his face. What was it with these guys? They obviously weren’t big animal lovers.
“I’ve missed you, Mr. Fluffy,” I exclaimed. “I wasn’t expecting you for a few more days. I’m so happy to see you.” And I couldn’t help giggling more as he ran around me in animated circles. Danio and Debi, who had been sitting on the floor with him, laughed along with me.
“So help me God, you better start talking, Juliana,” said Marco. I looked up to see him scowling. “What is this?”
I shrugged. “He’s my dog obviously.”
“What’s he doing here?”
“I know he’s arrived a few days sooner than expected, but that’s a bonus, right?”
“Bonus?” thundered Marco. Oh Lord, we were back to the angry one-word utterances again.
“Yes. I didn’t expect him until next week because he’s been poorly and has been at the vets, but they must have decided he was well enough to come home. Before the wedding, I had arranged for a pet courier company to bring him to Chicago because the vet wasn’t going to release him until after I had left L.A.”
“Nobody said anything about a dog.” Marco griped.
“We’re definitely not having a dog in this house. No way,” objected Alessio.
“And a Made Man can’t have such a ridiculous-looking animal for a pet,” commented Camillo, with a look of complete bewilderment on his face. Camillo was the scariest looking out of the Marchiano brothers, being built like an ox and having numerous tattoos all over his body.
I sighed. “I don’t see what the problem is. He’s just a dog. Surely having one dog in the house isn’t going to threaten your big scary reputation?”
“Maybe he’s got a listening device implanted in him? He might be some sort of Società spy,” commented Camillo as he eyed up my pet suspiciously. “Are you sure he’s even a dog? He looks like a rust-colored grizzly bear.”
“Of course he’s a dog. He’s a Chow Chow dog. This is what they look like.”
“How the fuck did he even get past the perimeter guards?” Alessio asked, as if Mr. Fluffy was some sort of lethal intruder who should have been detected.
Danio looked up at Alessio. “The pet courier company needed a signature for delivery. One of the soldiers at the gate signed for him.”
Alessio looked even more annoyed now. “For Christ’s sake, one of our own soldiers let him in? When I find out which soldier was stupid enough to do that, he’ll wish that he’d never been born.”
Marco carried on glaring at me. “It doesn’t matter. The dog’s not staying. And that’s final.”
“You’re the one that insisted you wanted me. And I come with Mr. Fluffy. Don’t the marriage vows say something like ‘with all my worldly goods I thee endow’?”
“Yeah, but we didn’t actually get married or get around to making those marriage vows, remember?” said Marco, using my words from the first night back at me.
“Let me return to L.A. then,” I retorted in a sweet voice. “Mr. Fluffy is more than welcome there.”
“What sort of stupid name is Mr. Fluffy anyway?” Camillo interjected, while he kept looking at my dog as if he were some sort of alien.
“It was his name when we got him at the animal shelter. Anyway, it suits him with his big fur coat.”
“Ow, ow, ow! He just bit me,” shrieked Camillo.
I smiled to myself. I’d always known my dog was a good judge of character.
“He should be calledMr. Fuckyinstead,” Camillo muttered in a voice loud enough for me to hear.
“We come as a package. Take it or leave it,” I announced, taking my pet and marching back upstairs.
CHAPTER 16
