Chapter Forty Eight

She berated herself, Carlotta had warned her that Romero would use her and once he got what he wanted he would disappear that was exactly what he had done.  She dressed and went to see her friend,

‘I’ve been so naive’

She told her her beautiful eyes glistening with unshed tears,

‘You warned me, you told me what he would do and you were right.’

Carlotta comforted her,

‘Oh Sweetheart, I’m so sorry you. I really hoped  he would be different he seemed to really care about you,’

She stroked her hair back from her face and Juliette broke down,

‘It hurts so much. I trusted him’

She cried and sobbed in the older woman’s arms,

‘It’s okay, it’s okay’

She soothed the distraught girl,

‘Honey we all go through this, these bloody Mafia men are born to break our hearts’

Juliette pulled herself together,

‘Why do we let them get away with it?’

She dried her tears and looked at Carlotta,

‘We don’t Sweetie, now you’ve got it out of your system it is time to teach that bad boy a lesson’

She grinned at her,

‘You up for a little revenge my sweet girl?’

Juliette nodded her head totally unaware she was wronging Romero, he had not abandoned her in fact he spent the whole day thinking about how he could spoil her and let her know how special she was to him. The only mistake he made was not contacting her to reassure her he was so busy with meetings and Mafia work it never crossed his mind she would feel that way. He made a second mistake, he was needed on the mainland and he headed off to sort it out without telling her where he was going. Romero was not used to considering anyone else's feelings especially a woman's, all the ones he had been with had been so grateful for his attention he had just used them and moved on.                                                                           Juliette was very different from them, she was headstrong and independent and she had not been brought up in the Mafia way. She was feisty and clever, and also now she was very rich and had no reason to rely on any man. When she discovered he had left to go to Italy without a word to her she was furious at his selfishness. He had used her and she meant nothing to him, well two could play the game, she had learned a very hard lesson. Burying her feelings for him deep inside she decided to teach him a lesson too, he had told her she belonged to him now, but he was wrong, she belonged to no one. Two days later when he came back he expected to find her waiting and eager for him when he called at the villa,

‘Mi dispiace tanto signore, lei non è qui’ [I am so sorry Sir she is not here]

The maid who answered the door told him politely and thinking she had just gone out to visit a friend he replied,

‘Sarà lunga? Posso sempre entrare e aspettare’ [Will she be long? I can always come in and wait]

He smiled but the maid shook her head,

‘Non è possibile signore, non sappiamo quando tornerà, sono andati in crociera’ [That is not possible Sir, we do not know when she will be back they have gone on a cruise]

He was stunned and returned to his own villa it did not take much digging around to find they had been invited to join the Crown Prince of Arabia on his huge luxury yacht for a cruise around the Mediterranean.  

‘Perché non lo aveva aspettato?’ [Why had she not waited for him?]

He thought angrily, he had so many plans for them he thought they had connected after their night together,

‘DJuliettezione, penso seriamente di sposarla’ [Damn it I was seriously thinking of marrying her]

He told his number two Angelo,

‘Non mi sono mai sentita così con nessuna donna prima d'ora’ [I’ve never felt like this about any women before]

Angelo waited for him to stop pacing,

‘Le hai detto qualcosa di tutto questo’ [Did you tell her any of this?]

He questioned raising an eyebrow,

‘No, certo che no, non le ho parlato da quando l'ho lasciata a letto l'altro giorno’ [No, of course not I have not spoken to her since I left her in bed the other day]

Romero replied and stopped to look at Angelo,

‘Cazzo, ho rovinato vero?’ [Fuck, I’ve screwed up haven’t I?]

Angelo sighed softly

‘Non è una delle vostre, diciamo, solite, placide donne. Non è mafiosa, non ancora comunque. Inoltre, è molto giovane e innamorata di te. La mia ipotesi è che stia male e voglia farti soffrire per averla ignorata.’ [She is not one of your, shall we say, usual, placid women. She is not Mafia, not yet anyway. Moreover, she is very young and in love with you. My guess is she is hurting and wanting to make you suffer for ignoring her]

He was close to the truth but they did not know that and Romero was irritated because he knew it was his fault. He could have taken the time to call her, text her even, to apologise for leaving her and explain he had important work to do that could not wait. Instead he had selfishly done his own thing and expected her to just sit around and wait for him without knowing when that would be. It was what he had always done, women were there to do what he wanted and he did not answer to them he was the Grand Don every one obeyed him. Except Juliette, as they pointed out she was not Mafia born and bred so she did not obey unconditionally like the Mafia women were taught to do from birth. He ground his teeth in frustration he would get her back and teach her to obey him regardless of where she had been brought up she needed to know that she belonged to him.

A few days later there was a news item on the main news channel showing the Prince on his yacht with his arm around a bikini-clad Juliette,

‘È questa la nuova fidanzata del Principe?’ [Is this the Prince’s new girlfriend?]