Chapter Twenty Six

Romero sent his Guards everywhere he could think of up and down the country and it was sheer luck that he found the tiny hotel. One of his Guards had pulled up at it on his way to the main city with car trouble, he had gone into the hotel and spoken to the owner asking for the name of a garage as his car appeared to have broken down and the elderly woman behind the reception desk had smiled up at him,

‘Deve essere qualcosa a che fare con il nostro hotel, sei la seconda persona in un mese che ha bisogno di un garage.’ [It must be something to do with our hotel, you are the second person in a month who has needed a garage.]

The Guard was instantly alert but his face showed no emotion,

‘Lo sono? Probabilmente è una coincidenza. Il garage?’ [Am I? That is probably a coincidence. The garage?]

He knew right away the woman wanted to chat and she did not let him down, rummaging around in the drawer of the desk she came up with the card from the garage,

Un vero peccato, era una ragazza molto carina e così giovane. Pensiamo che avesse problemi con il fidanzato, stava sicuramente scappando da qualcosa o qualcuno. È decollata per l'aeroporto prima che qualcuno fosse alzato il giorno successivo e ha lasciato la maledetta moto qui.‘ [Such a shame really, she was a very pretty girl and so young. We think she had boyfriend trouble, she was definitely running from something or someone. Took off for the airport before anyone was up the next day and she left the damn motorbike here.]

The Guard took the card and nodded at her before going outside to ring his Boss, within an hour Romero’s helicopter landed in the field next to the Hotel and he strode into the Reception fighting to keep his notorious temper in check. The elderly couple told him all they knew, sitting side by side on their sofa they knew they had no choice his reputation preceded him. He listened carefully to what was said, his mind working overtime, he quickly understood this couple had nothing to do with her disappearance he established that within minutes. In the end, he walked out of the hotel towards his helicopter ordering his men to leave the couple in peace making sure they were gone a large amount of cash as recompense for their time, showing the other side of his Mafia faces. When he wanted to be very generous, he knew he had scared this elderly couple unnecessarily. Still, he knew where she had gone as he boarded the helicopter and headed back to his villa thinking,                                                                                                          ‘How stupid he had been, where else would she go? England had been her home of course it was the place she would run back to when she had  nowhere else to go.’

Juliette dreamed of the handsome Don she had known since her birth,   every night, his soft kisses and hard-toned body pressing against hers had awoken something inside her and she did not know what it was. She was completely innocent in the ways of men, she had never even been kissed before until his lips had touched hers. She could not help herself she thought about him all the time, his rich chestnut curls falling past his shoulders and those bluer-than-blue eyes gazing into hers. The way he had known her instantly even though she had been only a year old when he had last seen her, his gentle touch and the warmth in his eyes. She sat looking out over her familiar cliffs, it was raining heavily and had been for most of the month she had been back, she was surprised to realise she missed the sunshine of Sicily. It had been her home for less than a year but she belonged there, she smiled sadly, well of course she did she had been born there after all.

‘What are you going to do today my Dear?’

Her ‘Mother’ came bustling into the room, she was thrilled to have Juliette back even though their relationship had changed greatly, she no longer called her ‘Mother.’ The day after she returned home they had sat down and had a long chat and the older woman had explained her side of everything. The fact she could not have children, the gift of the little girl and their joy at being parents at long last. When Juliette learned of the ‘contract’ that meant she had to be given back whenever her Mother deemed she wanted her made her frown.

‘That was so unfair on you but you need to know my mother knew nothing of this arrangement. It was all Mafia’s idea, to keep you unsettled and keep their claws in me.’

Juliette looked at her sadly,

‘You did all the hard work raising me, and when you needed me the most they came and took me away from you. My mother was very shocked when I was delivered to her, we did build up a loving relationship eventually when we realised we had both been used.’

It was the Mafia’s way, and her biological mother had told her simply that she should stop fighting them,  'They will never let you go, you belong to them, you were born into their care and the only way they will let you leave is death.’   

They had decided that ‘Aunt’, was the best way forward as that was technically what she was, Juliette’s Great Aunt, they had traced their family tree to find out where she fitted in and she had laughed and said that was a bit of a mouthful so she shortened it and that was what she now called her.

‘We did not care what signing the contract entailed dearest girl, we wanted you so badly we would have agreed to anything to get you. Your father and I loved you from the first time we saw you and the sixteen years you were ours we would not change for the world. If it had not been for that damn cancer you might never have known, well, that’s not quite true, we did write it into our Wills, so you would have found out after we had both died.’