Chapter Eight One

‘Non ho scelta piccola, mi dispiace.' [I have no choice baby, I’m sorry.]

He said softly but she looked away letting his guards take her to the room he knew it was going to take him a long time to win her trust back again. Juliette paced the room they had locked her in cursing the Council for their sexist treatment of her. Romero left her alone for the next few days knowing she would be angry with him for obeying the Council and not listening to her, when he finally went to see her she cut him dead,  

‘I’m going crazy stuck in this room day after day Romero, can’t you see its what they want? You are letting them dictate to you, and I have had enough.’

She was right, and he knew it the Council had deliberately took their time to come to their conclusions as a way of provoking a reaction from her and also from him.

‘I will send them a message, tell them they must give their decision tomorrow or I am setting you free.’  

He sent Luigi, who he had promnoted to his second, with the message he wanted to make sure they got it,

‘Be patient with me for one more day, little tigress.’

He asked her and she nodded her eyes hard,

‘Tomorrow’

He went down to his office where his Uncles were waiting, they were both married with children, Miguel had twin daughters aged two and Rico had a daughter aged eighteen months and another newborn baby girl. It seemed only girls ran in the family; he had told them to semi retire after they had been involved in Juliette’s escape. He planned to remove them from his inner circle altogether as soon as he could but for now they were in his office because he needed their older, wiser heads,

‘Devo spiegare?‘ [Do I need to explain?]

They shook their heads,

‘Lo sappiamo. Hai escogitato un piano se cercano di prenderla?’ [We know. Have you come up with a plan if they try to take her?]

It was his greatest fear, if they came back and said she had to be punished or even worse eliminated because of what she had done he would not let them. Everyone knew she had acted within the Mafia’s own unwritten code, in their world she had done nothing wrong, apart from the fact she was a woman. That was what grated on their patriarchal values, women were not Dons, they were pretty accessories only there to please their men and do as they were told.  They had no voice, no power and no choice, brought up from birth to obey the men in their lives and traded as possessions with no rights.                                          Juliette was none of those things, she was incredibly clever, knowledgeable and strong, she was toned and fit and knew how to kill, with a gun, a knife or a wire, whatever was required she could use. Above all of that she was the most stunningly beautiful woman any of them had ever encountered and they were very jealous because from the very beginning she only had eyes for Romero.

‘Non c'è nessun piano, se non accettano che io la sposi, o la minaccino in qualsiasi modo, li ucciderò tutti’ [There is no plan, if they do not agree to my marrying her, or threaten her in any way I will kill them all]

He shrugged so matter of fact and calm they were stunned, before they could find a reply his phone rang.

‘Ciao’ [Hello]

’Si’ [Yes]

‘Si’

He looked at his Uncles,

‘Abbiamo una riunione tra due ore. Ogni Don e ogni membro del Consiglio. Devo portare Juliette e saremo entrambi cond Julietteti’ [We have a meeting in two hours. Every Don and every member of the Council. I am to bring Juliette and we will both be sentenced]

They waited and he went on,

‘Preparate gli uomini, Luigi tornerà presto e saprà cosa fare. Il jet è in standby e arriveremo a questo incontro in elicottero. Se tentano di sparare per uccidere, non devono mettere le mani su Juliette’ [Have the men ready, Luigi will be back soon he know what to do. The jet is on standby and we will arrive at this meeting by helicopter. If they try anything shoot to kill they must not get their hands on Juliette]

He ran lightly up the stairs and opened the bedroom door, she looked up at him from her seat on the bed,

‘Siamo stati convocati per un incontro con il Consiglio, Piccola Tigre. Noi dobbiamo comparire davanti a loro, ed essi ci giudicheranno insieme. [We have been called to a meeting with the Council Little Tigress. We are to stand before them and they will judge us together.]

Her eyes darkened,

‘Insieme?» Perché? Non mi hai ascoltato, Romero? Non ci siamo più, non mi interessa quale sia il dannato verdetto del Consiglio, non appena tutto questo sarà finito tornerò in Inghilterra. Da solo’ [Together?’ Why? Didn’t you listen to me Romero? There is no us anymore, I do not care what the damn Council verdict is as soon as this is over I am heading back to England. Alone.]

Romero shook his head,

‘No Juliette, non ti lascerò mai andare. Tu appartieni a me, te l'ho detto e hai accettato di essere mia moglie, quindi ci sposeremo qualunque cosa accada.’ [No Juliette, I will never let you go. You belong to me, I have told you that and you agreed to be my wife so we are going to be married come what may.]  

She was ready to fight him green eyes flashing with her temper and he found himself very aroused when he saw the fire in her eyes but they had no time for such things he snaked an arm around her waist and he pulled her tightly to his body kissing her possessively,

‘Smettila di combattere con me piccola tigre, siamo in questo insieme e qualunque cosa decidano mostreremo loro che la nostra forza è nella nostra unione. Ora hai un'ora per prepararti, Vai!’ [Stop fighting me little tigress, we are in this together and whatever they decide we will show them our strength is in our togetherness. Now you have an hour to get ready, Go!]