Chapter Seventy Nine

She screamed at him pounding his back with her fists but that only earned her more slaps,

‘Ti suggerisco di fermarti e fare come ti viene detto Juliette, il tuo comportamento da monello non sarà più tollerato nei confronti delle mie guardie. D'ora in poi hanno tutti il permesso di Romero di portarti nella tua stanza in questo modo.’ [I suggest you stop and do as you are told Juliette, your bratty behaviour will no longer be tolerated toward my guards. From now on they all have Romero’s permission to remove you to your room in this way.]

He carried her through the villa slapping her ass hard until she went limp and then he dropped her onto the bed,

‘Ti odio.’ [I hate you.]

She sobbed glaring at him and he smirked,

‘L'hai chiesto Brat, sei fortunato a non essere nei sotterranei perché è ciò che il tuo comportamento e la tua linea di sangue meritano.’ [You asked for it Brat, you are lucky not to be in the dungeons because that is what your behaviour and your bloodline deserve.]

She glared at him in shock,

‘La mia linea di sangue.’ [My bloodline?]

Angelo sneered down at her,

‘Pensavi che non lo sapessimo? Tutta la famiglia sa chi sei Santini, Romero è un Marconi, siamo tutti Marconi e non abbiamo bisogno di feccia come te che diluisce la nostra fottuta linea di sangue.' [Did you think we didn’t know? The whole family knows who you are Santini, Romero is a Marconi, we are all Marconi’s and we don’t need scum like you diluting our fucking bloodline.]

Juliette reeled back at his hate,

‘Tutto quello che ti è successo è stato per un motivo, puttana, questa famiglia non ti accetterà mai e continueremo a rendere la tua vita un inferno fino a quando non lo accetterai anche tu. Il Consiglio sa chi sei e si occuperà di te di conseguenza: prima ti porteremo nei loro sotterranei, meglio è. Spero che ti trattino come tuo padre ha trattato tutte le altre famiglie, puttana’.[Everything that has happened to you was for a reason bitch, this family will never accept you and we will continue making your life hell until you accept it to. The Council know who you are and they will deal with you accordingly and the sooner we get you removed to their dungeons the better. I hope they treat you like your father treated all the other families bitch.]

He turned on his heel and walked out slamming the door behind him leaving Juliette stunned and afraid,

‘She had been kidnapped and abused because of her father?’

Pain lanced through her,

‘Why couldn’t these fools see she was not her father's daughter? She had been removed from his influence as a baby so how could she be she still be blamed for the things he had done?’

When Romero came to take her to dinner, he was surprised to find her curled on the bed, staring at the wall in her jeans and t-shirt,

‘Juliette?’

She lifted her tortured eyes to his and he moved quickly to the bed pulling her into his arms,

‘Baby, what’s wrong?’

He said, kissing the top of her head, she moved off his knee and stood,

‘This is never going to work.’

Romero frowned not understanding,

‘What are you talking about?’

‘Ask your fucking number two.’

She snapped at him, turning on her heel she walked out of the room and headed down the stairs she would have walked out of the house but his guards stopped her and she could see the glean in their eyes. They would have loved her to step out of line so they could punish her like Angelo had but she retreated and sat in the lounge.

‘Juliette, what the fuck are you talking about?’

Romero strode toward her but she held her ground staring straight back at him,

‘I told you to ask that fucking number two you call a friend.’

Angelo walked into the room with a sneer on his face pleased to see what he had engineered coming to fruit, Romero spun around his face thunderous,

‘Talk now.’

He growled and Angelo hesitated then lifted his head stubbornly,

‘Le ho solo dato alcune verità domestiche, qualcosa che hai trascurato di fare'. [I just gave her a few home truths, something you neglected to do]

Romero was confused,

‘Angelo, ti chiederò ancora una volta cosa hai detto a Juliette? [Angelo, I will ask you one more time what did you say to Juliette?]

His second in command would not meet his eyes but blurted out,

‘Ha bisogno di sapere perché tutti noi la odiamo. È una Santini, la sua linea di sangue è marcia fino al midollo ed è la figlia di quel mostro che ha cercato di spazzarci via tutti. Non si può sposare una creatura del genere, dovrebbe essere nelle nostre segrete o, meglio ancora, consegnarla agli uomini, lasciare che le mostrino come un Marconi tratta un Santini.’ [She needs to know why we all hate her. She is a Santini, her bloodline is rotten to the core, she is the daughter of that monster who tried to wipe us all out. You cannot marry such a creature, she should be in our dungeons or better still hand her over to the men let them show her how a Marconi treats a Santini.]

Anger radiated off him as he lifted his head to glare at his Boss, the guards looked at Romero who had gone very still,

‘Conosci il suo background. Sai che non è per niente come suo padre e sai che non ha MAI fatto nulla per giustificare le cose che insinui. Lo ha ucciso perché stava per violentarla e venderla alla Bratva. Lei è una delle sue vittime, lo sai. Perché Angelo? Per favore, dimmi perché?’ [You know her background. You know she is nothing like her father and you know she has NEVER done anything to warrant the things you imply. She killed him because he was going to rape her and sell her to the Bratva. She is one of his victims, you know this. Why Angelo? Please tell me why?]

Romero’s voice was ice and steel his anger barely controlled as he gazed at his best friend, the man he called brother,  because he had befriended him as a frightened child being trained by his Uncles.