"Can we talk?"

Dinner was over but the Valdez family was still gathered together, situated in the backyard as if all was well. Emilio was the one who had commanded everyone to come out and take a seat because the weather was 'too nice to sit inside'. Unable to disobey his order, everyone had done so—obviously apprehensive.

The whole family was in bits and pieces. Nobody other than Cat liked Damian. Alexia didn't speak with Cat, avoided her father and tried to keep her distance from Damian. Teo hated Damian. Stefano hated Damian and wasn't speaking to Cat. Dominic hated Damian and tried to keep himself, his wife Carina and his son Toby as far away from the family as possible. Freddie was too young to understand. Emilio wasn't aware of the hatred that everyone had festered for him, though the only person in the house he actually hung out with was Damian. Nobody spoke to Cat other than Damian, and even though she didn't hate any of them, there was still a rift.

Thus, imagine the ineptitude vibing throughout the backyard at this very moment.

Alexia glanced at Cat angrily, her jaw locking. "No." and then she added, "What would we even talk about?"

Sometime during the awkward in situ, Cat had walked over to Alexia and demanded her attention with the question. Alexia, as resentful and stubborn as she could be, hadn't granted Cat any for the past week, avoiding her as much as she could. It wasn't that difficult since she'd been out every day getting things ready for the wedding.

"You know what we would talk about." Cat responded, her head bowing in shame. Alexia glowered at her. "Oh, you having sex with my fiancé behind my back? That?"

"The fiancé you hate."

"Did you know I hated him when you were kissing him?"

"No..."

"Then that answers your question. No, we can't talk, Catalina." Alexia was obviously still infuriated. Who does that to her own sister?

Cat's eyes stood determined as she took a hold of Alexia's wrist and pulled her up. "You have to talk to me sometime. This is killing me!"

"Good," Alexia spat, but then her eyes fell on her fiancé. Damian had his back pressed against the prop of the chair, his dark hair swivelled backwards casually. Though his eyes were covered with a pair of upscale Tom Ford sunglasses, she knew he was looking back at her because of the smug smile curling his lips. Slowly, he raised his vodka gimlet and nodded.

Then, her father said something, which caused her fiancé to laugh. Dominic, Teodoro and Stefano all cringed. Where Dominic was looking disgusted—Stefano appeared fuming. Teo was the only one who'd given up on his father.

"Please, Alex."

The wedding was in a week and a half. July had gone by in a fast pace, Alexia being distracted by all of the planning. She buried herself into it in order for her to forget her initial worries. Chloe and Chaz called on a daily, letting her know where in Europe they were residing and what they'd been up to that day. Chloe texted her all throughout the day to update her about things Chaz wouldn't talk about. She let Alexia know about the baby and everything she was feeling. Alexia was glad.

Ryan didn't call that often, but still did it occasionally. Alexia knew he was busy with getting drunk and sleeping with other women so she didn't blame him. Dealing with a break-up was difficult and it was sad that he had to go through it, especially now that Sienna was his ex-girlfriend.

The only person she hadn't heard from since that last encounter was Jason, and she wasn't surprised. She was definitely worried off her ass—the guys had informed her how their calls never went through. It seemed that the only people who'd spoken to him when he landed in Italy were his parents and even they were concerned. It was almost like when he disappeared for the first time; only now everyone knew where he was—he just didn't want to talk to anyone.

Alexia understood and accepted it. She'd hurt his feelings and would never forgive herself for it, but he'd got it all wrong. Yet, she knew that if she wanted to keep him alive she couldn't correct him. He was still on Damian's radar.

She was lonely. The only people she spoke with were her brothers and Maya. She missed her best friends. She missed her sister. She missed Jason.

"Fine." She curtly muttered, "We'll talk."

Cat squealed and clapped her hands. "Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

They ambled inside, the eyes of the rest burning holes into their backs. Alexia didn't understand how her dad was just as hung up on Damian as he was before they found out about the two's stupid infidelity. Emilio Valdez had all of his priorities upside fucking down.

When they entered the living room, which was admittedly cooler than the backyard, they both sat down on the sofa. Cat looked nervous, her long, pink nails tracing circles on her bare thigh. Alexia sighed, closing her eyes. How had everything gotten so messed up?

"Look," Cat spoke, "I know that I don't deserve your forgiveness, and I get that, but please, try to anyway. I miss you. I've never been so sorry for anything. He's your fiancé and I don't know what I was thinking."

Alexia opened her eyes. "Before I say anything—you have to know that I don't care about Damian. Out of everyone he's the lowest on my list. I'm pretty sure I've cheated on him more than he has on me. That's not my point. It's just fucking my mind how out of everyone, you, were the one sleeping with him. You didn't know about everything that's happened between me and him—you still don't know. I don't get it. Why would you do that?"

"I don't know." Her eyebrows downed on her eyes, "I swear, I don't. I don't have a good explanation. We've always been close, but when mom died he really helped me. I was a mess."

Alexia held back the comment on how she was still a mess. "Not an excuse."

"I know! I'm telling you, I don't have one. It just happened out of nowhere and it kept happening. I tried to tell you guys one time..."

"When?"

"A few months ago. I actually told everyone during dinner that I met a new guy and that he was different, but everyone brushed if off. I thought back then... I thought that Damian and I really would end up together. He made it seem like we would—always told me about how you treated him badly and how he suspected that you were still interested in your ex-boyfriend. It really hurt him, you know? Now that I think of it, he talked a lot about Jason."

Alexia felt her throat closing, a known hollow feeling stretching in the pit of her stomach. Damian had been prying information about Jason out of Cat, clearly. In fact, she probably unconsciously helped him with a lot of things.

"You know what?" she decided that her sister's safety was more important than her loyalty. Cat was a deep lover and hadn't meant to hurt Alexia. Alexia knew how manipulative Damian was and knew she couldn't blame her sister for everything. "I forgive you if you promise me one thing."

Cat's eyes widened, "Anything!"

"Don't talk to Damian again. Don't hang out with him. Don't listen to him. Cut him out of your life completely."

Her lips parted, the excitement in her eyes gradually dimming. Cat's shoulders slumped. "I can't do that. He lives here and—and so do I and-and—"

As anticipated. Alexia hadn't expected her sister to immediately agree with her, especially considering how much she loved Damian. Alexia didn't have to imagine how much it would hurt if she was deliberately staying away from Jason—it was happening, and it was like hell.

"Please Cat," she begged, "He's no good. I swear this on mom's life, he's dangerous and psychopathic. I don't want you near him."

"I c-can't,"

It was like something exploded inside of Alexia. Anger and irritation pulsed through her veins, her back straightening. "Yes you fucking can. I'm so sick of everyone ignoring my advice when I am the only fucking one who knows shit! This is what you're going to do Catalina—you're going to cut all of him out of your life, meet a new guy and forget about this psycho. I don't fucking want to see you get killed."

Cat gasped, "He wouldn't kill anyone!"

For fuck's sake.

"Cat!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I just can't imagine that he'd kill someone!" her voice was loud, her hands up in the air. Alexia narrowed her eyes, "Take it from me."

"Lex..."

"Promise me, Cat. You have to."

Cat closed her eyes briefly, her eyebrows furrowing. A moment later, she opened them again and nodded. "Okay. I promise."

xxx

Hours later, Alexia was cramped up next to Maya on her semi-small bed, a light blanket covering them. Both of them had their eyes trained on the television. The bed was filled with snacks; a bowl of Crunch 'n Munch buttery toffee popcorn with peanuts, Andy Capp's Cheddar fries, Ranch flavoured Bugles, a bucket of mini Chips Ahoy!, a sack of Goldfish, a plate of Hostess brownies and several packets of Mike & Ike's Zours.

They were having a sleepover, alright. As soon as Alexia had picked up the phone to let Maya in on everything she'd discussed with her sister, Maya invited her over. Alexia hadn't hesitated, ultimately forgetting to run the idea by Damian. Whatever. She'd deal with his screams later.

"See, here's my problem." Maya uttered in annoyance, "If this wedding was a normal one, I would've scolded you for not picking Randy Fenoli as your wedding dress counsellor, but this is not a normal wedding and I'm not supportive of it, so obviously I'm not scolding you, but I mean..." she pointed her pinky finger at the television, which was showing reruns of Say Yes To The Dress, as she shoved a Goldfish into her mouth.

Alexia snickered. So far, Maya was the only person she could talk to about the wedding without getting anxious and ending up in the bathroom, retching. She was the only person that made her forget all about Damian and focus on other things, like the dress.

The woman on the television was crying in happiness, embracing Randy Fenoli and thanking him for picking the perfect dress. As if the happening wasn't all that cliché enough, she wiped away her tears, twirled and sassed, "I'm saying yes to this dress!"

Maya and Alexia erupted into one united groan. "God, how awful." Maya spoke with a full mouth. Alexia agreed. Yet, they kept watching the show.

Secretly, Alexia wished she was just as excited for her wedding as the women on the show. She couldn't imagine being that happy and enthusiastic. In her world, marriages sucked. Weddings sucked. Everything was about power and the business. Besides, she wasn't even marrying the man she loved. Wasn't that the whole point?

"For real, though," Maya muttered, popping a Mike & Ike Zour into her mouth, "It's fake, we all know that. I bet all of these women's weddings sucked—the dresses aside."

"Uh-uh." Alexia agreed, grabbing a fistful of Bugles. She knew where Maya was heading with all of this empty talk—Alexia's dress.

"Just out of curiosity, do you have a picture of your dress?" the question was innocent enough, but Alexia rolled her eyes.

Over the past few weeks Maya had shown a big interest in Alexia's wedding gown, trying to suck as much information out of Alexia as she could. Alexia knew it was because she had some evil plan to cut up the dress or shrink it somehow in order for the wedding to be cancelled. Although Alexia loved Maya for it, she knew she had to go through with it.

Jason's life was at stake.

Plus, that wasn't the only reason Maya was curious about the dress.

She was interested.

"You're not finding out about the dress until you see. Sorry bébé, no fabric cutting for you."

Maya huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You owe me, you didn't take me dress fitting with you! At least tell me what designer."

"I didn't know you back then!" Alexia retorted, a cheddar fry disappearing into her mouth. "It's Hayley Paige, and that's all you're getting from me."

"Semantics." The blonde shrugged, but seemed overly pleased with the little piece of information Alexia had given her. They chatted a little more about the dress until the room's door clapped open.

Teo had a distant gaze on his face but it quickly vanished as he saw his little sister and his girlfriend laughing and stuffing their faces with foods they'd regret later. He slowly made his way over to the bed and climbed in. "Move, fatass." He commanded.

Alexia growled but moved closer to Maya, spreading the blanket further over Teo. "Did you order?"

"Roast pork Chow Mein, mushroom Thai red curry, King Prawn fried rice and chicken foo yung, am I right?"

"You're absolutely right, handsome." Maya winked.

Alexia made barf noises. "Stop it! I'm in between you guys."

Teo and Maya guffawed. Then, the conversation went on and they switched over to talking about food until Alexia's phone rang—the exact same moment the doorbell rang.

"I'll go get it." Maya muttered, getting out of the bed. Teo was still recovering and though he was almost completely fine, he wasn't as fit as he used to be and got tired fast. Maya did her best and tried to keep him grounded at all times.

Teo thanked her gratefully.

The voice on the other side of the phone was the last Alexia had expected. She was in a great mood until she realized it and morphed herself further underneath the sheets, her eyebrows downing on her eyes.

"Is this Alexia?"

"Yes." She murmured in astonishment, her eyes darting to Teo. He picked up on her apprehensiveness and clenched his jaw, cocking his head to the side. 'Who is it?' he mouthed.

"Ah, I'm glad. You're speaking to Claudia Alarcon."

"Yeah, I noticed, Claudia." She said Claudia's name slowly, letting Teo digest it. His eyes widened when it hit him.

Claudia and Felix Alarcon were the first people to take Jason in. He lived in their villa in Boston and if Alexia wasn't wrong—they'd gotten pretty close. Felix was only one year older than Jason and they'd really bonded back then.

The memories came flooding back, her throat hitching.

Jason.

"How are you doing, chiquita?"

"I'm fine, thank you. What about you?" There was no way in hell that Claudia Alarcon only called to check up on Alexia, especially since the two weren't close at all. They only met up during business gatherings and albeit Alexia liked Claudia and Felix, they'd never bonded. This was weird.

"I'm okay, chula. I actually called to run something by you, is that okay?"

"Of course. What is it?"

Claudia cleared her throat. "It's about the wedding."

"Oh." Alexia's stomach plummeted.

"It's just..." She paused shortly, "Felix and I can't come."

Something imploded inside of Alexia's head and fizzled until it was drained. It wasn't like Felix and Claudia were the guests of honour, but Alexia considered them important because of their big help to Jason. They mattered to her. They connected her to him.

"Why?"

Claudia cleared her throat again, an awkward sound emitting her mouth. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I know that the wedding is a big event and everyone in the business is ought to come, but Felix and I just can't support this."

"W-what?"

"We've been through it for a while, you know. With you guys. Jason was living with us, he told us all about you and Damian and the wedding. I know you're forced into this, we both know this. You're a strong woman and I respect you for being able to put up with Damian's craziness and being away from Jason. But, we're loyal to Jason as well. The poor man is so in love with you, he wouldn't let you go. And now you're about to get married and we don't want to imagine what he's going through. Please, don't mistake our absence for side-picking. It's totally not that. It's just that Felix and I don't agree—and will not ever—because you and Jason belong together. If we showed up it would seem like we supported the marriage and we don't. Besides, I don't think we'd be able to fake happiness in front of sir Emilio."

Teo leisurely pulled Alexia closer, her head leaning against his shoulder. He'd obviously noticed the tears brimming in her eyes.

"I get it." She answered shakily, "I respect that. I—I agree."

She did. Stefano had picked Felix and Claudia Alarcon for a reason—the two were as humble as ever wouldn't rat him out, no matter what happened.

"I'm glad you do. I'm sorry you have to go through this."

Claudia was the first outsider to say this and Alexia had to bite back the sobs that had threatened to come up, burying her head into Teo's side. "It's okay." She whispered, "You did everything you could to help."

"Maybe. If you need anything, we're always here."

"Noted."

"Now, Felix and I have to catch our flight so I'm afraid I have to hang up. Felix says hi by the way."

Alexia swallowed, "Hug him for me. Enjoy your flight, wherever you're heading."

"Italy, and thank you. Stay strong, jefe." And with that, the tone died.

It was silent for a long while before Alexia sat up straight and threw the phone against the wall. It cracked and landed on the floor with a low thud. She was reeling with horror, realizing how close the wedding was.

"They're not coming. Because of Jason." She muttered, looking at Teo. Teo eyed the phone and then glanced at his sister. "Felix and Claudia?"

"Yeah."

Then, Alexia burst into tears. Maya entered the room not long after, throwing her arms around Alexia as if she'd heard what had happened just mere moments ago, and Teo sheathed his arms around both of them, his heart aching.

But no one's heart ached as much as Alexia's. 

xxx

a/n: Okay so true, it's quite a filler but then again THERE ARE ONLY 2 (!!!!!!!) CHAPTERS LEFT. Chapter 55 (the last one) is split in two updates and on top of that there's still an epilogue which means that after this there will only be 4 more updates. 

Oh no, I'm not hysterically sobbing. I, too, do not know what that sound is!

Anyway, hope you liked it! Don't forget to vote & comment!