Forever, Amore

12.

Monroe's P.O.V

Walking into the grand hotel, Leo led us all into the elevator, going up to the top floor - floor 35.

The entire ride up to the top floor, I kept playing with a strand of my hair, nerves washing over me at the thought of seeing him again. "Don't be nervous, amore.." Leo whispered into my ear as the elevator dinged, indicating we were there. He took my hand, rubbing it with his thumb as the doors open. The sound of music and laughter hit me the minute the doors slid open, instantly overwhelming me.

Leo snaked his arm round my waist tightly and we walked into the grand hall. It was full of colours from different Mafias attending. But, as soon as we entered, eyes were burning into me. People were talking loud enough for me to hear as we walked through them.

Who's that girl? Why is she with Leo? Is she part of their mafia? How come she's wearing navy? She must be important.

But there was one conversation that caught my attention as Leo stood greeting the Americans who hosted this event.

"That must be Miss Winter. Don't let her out of your sight." A male voice barked at someone else with an accent I didn't recognise.

"And this must be Monroe Winter." The American man spoke as he shook my hand. "I'm Charles. It's a pleasure to finally meet the girl that we've been fighting for." I shot him a confused glance and he chuckled. "Our mafia and Leo's work together as allies. It is a way to make each other stronger in times of need. So we know all about tonight and who's looking for you." He spoke to me, drawing my attention back to what I was going to say.

"Someone's watching me.." I spoke quietly making Charles and Leo look at each other. "I heard someone behind me telling somebody to keep watch of me. They knew who I was." I spoke bluntly.

Leo's girl tightened round my waist as he carried on looking forward. "Don't turn round. Just make it look like we're having a normal conversation, okay?" I nodded at his request as Charles started laughing, which made Leo start laughing. "I have visual." Charles stated after he stopped laughing. "They're watching so you need to act as if you don't know about this."

My heart thudded against my chest as Leo kissed my temple. "Let's go find my father." Charles told us that he'd have some of his men keep an eye on the person who was following me, just in case as we left, heading back to Gio and the others in the corner.

After filling them in on the situation, we stood and talked about what the plan was going to be. I scanned the room, confused about all the stuff they were talking about. Honestly, I didn't understand half of the words they used. But my eyes landed on a familiar face sat at the bar. He smirked at me and raised his drink with a wink before sipping it, still maintaining eye contact. The sight of him sat there now made my blood boil in fury.

"We just need to find Thomas." I heard Leo say to the others as I scoffed, capturing everyone's attention. "Don't worry. I've already found him." I nodded my head in the direction of the bar as they all glared at my father sat there.

The others turned, talking about how they need to get our men to watch him but I still faced my father. He stood from the bar and walked towards a balcony before leaving out of sight. Instinctively, my feet started moving into the same direction. "Monroe!" I heard Leo shout after me but I kept storming towards the balcony where my father was, anger flooding from me now.

I felt Leo's presence next to me as his land rested on the gun in his waistline as we entered the eerily quiet balcony to see him looking at the view. "Manhattan looks great at night." He stated still facing away from us.

"Makes a change from the scenery in Germany that you've become so used to." I hissed at the man stood before me. I once would've felt nothing but love for this man. Now I feel betrayal and anger looking at his smirk plastered on his face. "Now that's no way to talk to your father, Mon."

"You're not my father anymore. My father wouldn't try to have me killed. My father wouldn't have abandoned his grieving child!" I yelled at him but he just chuckled. "Oh, Monroe. You're still as naive as ever. None of this is about you. I'm not doing this to intentionally hurt you. But you're leverage in a war I need to win." He spoke bluntly as I heard a grunt behind me, followed by a heavy weight dropping to the floor.

Anxiety filled me as I knew what had happened, I just didn't want to see it so it was real. Slowly turning round, I saw Leo laid unconscious with the back of his head pooling out blood before the doors to the balcony slammed shut, the lock being heard from where I was stood.

I was alone and trapped.

I turned back to face my father who wasn't by the edge anymore. Instead he was right in front of me. His hands grasped my wrists tightly as he chuckled. "Imagine how he'd feel waking up to see you dead, knowing he could've stopped it happening. He'd die inside!"

I felt so much fury right now that my body started fighting despite only having a few combat training sessions. So my knees flung up and collided with his manhood, making his grip on my wrists loosen. I yanked my hands back and kicked him in the face, making him stumble back. Spitting out some blood, he turned to face me again. "I have to hand it to the man, he trained you quick." My father said sadistically walking towards me.

He threw a punch straight to my stomach, causing me to wheeze at the sudden loss of air. He then collided his fists with my face, my ribs, anywhere he could. Too weak to fight back, I felt his hands wrap around my neck, pushing me to the edge of the balcony. I was now dangling off the balcony, knowing I would fall if he pushed me any further.

I thrashed around, trying to break free from his grasp but he just laughed. Looking in the corner of my eye I noticed just how high up we were. I knew that he would kill me by throwing me off this ledge. There was no way I could survive this.

I fought against him as hard as I could but my vision started to go black from the lack of oxygen. My eyelids closed and my hands fell from his chest where I'd been pushing him off.

The last thing I saw was the city below me when everything went black.