Forever, Amore

36.

Leo's P.O.V

We landed in Ireland and were greeted by Christopher who led the Irish mafia and some of his men. Out of all my allies, he was the man I trusted the most. I flew over here a few years ago with everything I had when he was under attack. They took his wife who was pregnant too. So he knows how I'm feeling right now.

I helped Monroe off the jet and Christopher and Lucy came over to us. "It's been a while, my friend. How are you?" Christopher asked as he shook my hand, both of us smiling at each other. "Apart from the obvious, everything is perfect."

Lucy hugged me before looking at Monroe. "You must be the famous Monroe. I've heard so much about you. You truly are beautiful." I watched as Monroe smiled at them. "Thankyou. And thanks for helping us out, it's all been a bit sudden."

I sighed, feeling like I'd failed as I knew she wasn't happy right now. Christopher and Lucy both looked at me with sad smiles before Lucy led Monroe into a large car. Christopher placed his hand on my shoulder as the girls left. "I know how you're feeling right now, but it's not you fault. Just remember that. You need to put aside the self blame and focus on making sure she's okay. The last thing she needs is to worry about you too."

I nodded and patted his arm back as we got into the car, driving off to the safe house. It was a wooden cottage hidden in the middle of a dense forest, making it nearly impossible for someone to find. There was bush surrounding it too, hiding it from the world. Chris assured us that there were weapons hidden in every room just in case we needed them. The house was bulletproofed and had hidden security surrounding the house. This way, if anyone walked within 300 metres of the house, we'd know.

Walking in, Monroe headed straight upstairs to our bedroom and laid down on the bed sighing. I followed her up and sat next to her, running my hand through her hair. "I don't want to keep running Leo...I hate the fact that I'm running to protect our children from my own family, that's fucked up!" She yelled before rubbing her stomach. "Sorry babies, pretend mommy never said that.." which made me chuckle lowly before pulling her into my chest. "I know, amore. We've got people working on it. I'm trying to make things safe as fast as I can, but it's just difficult at the moment."

She nodded at me and we laid there in silence for a while. "What do you want to call them?" She asked, breaking the silence as her had rested on her stomach. "We need to come up with two names for both genders, just in case."

I sat thinking for a moment. "I like the name Everleigh. Everleigh Grace after my mother.."'I suggested as Monroe smiled. "That's perfect. And maybe Enzo for a boy, I told Lorenzo I'd name a child after him.." I held her tight as we both sat coming up with more names. Turns out we had quite a few options and we couldn't decide on which we preferred.

After talking for hours, we decided to go to sleep and try to figure out what we're going to do tomorrow.

I turned over in the middle of the night and felt an empty spot where Monroe was supposed to be sleeping. Panicked, I shot up and scanned the room but there was no sign of her. I looked in the bathroom, the spare bedroom, the living room, kitchen, dining room. But I couldn't find her.

I was about to phone Christopher when I caught sight of a shadow stood about 350 metres in front of the house. They just stood there looking in my direction before walking away.

I rummaged under the kitchen cabinet and pulled out a gun which was stashed there. Right as I was about to walk into the hallway, the sound of a gun cocking turned my attention to the staircase.

Instantly I lowered my gun as I saw an alert Monroe stood there with a gun in hand. "What the fuck, Roe.." I spoke quietly as she pressed her finger against her lips, telling me to be quiet. She then gestured to the door which led to the basement as I nodded at her.

Someone knew where we were...they had to. Monroe insisted she was coming with me so I made her walk behind me as we slowly and silently made our way down the basement stairs.

Both of us with or guns raised, we turned the corner to see a young girl. She looked to be around six/seven years old, with dark. hair cascading down her back and freckles lining her tanned skin.

I aimed my gun at her and pushed Monroe behind me more. "Who are you!? How did you get in here?" The girl held up her hands in surrender as she shook, clearly petrified. "Don't kill me..please.." she whispered. "Some guy was chasing me and I saw this place and I ran in. I'm so sorry...please just don't hurt me.." she began to cry as Monroe walked from behind me over to the girl.

I kept my gun in my hand as I stuck by Monroe's side as she embraced the young girl. "It's okay.." Monroe cooked as the young girl shook. Monroe pulled away and lowered herself to be face to face with the girl. "Whats your name?"

"Grace."

"Who was after you? Do you know?" Monroe asked.

She nodded her head. "It was my mothers old boyfriend..he got into some trouble with some men and always talked about needing to pay off his debt. Only he was trying to trade me for his freedom from them. When I found out, I ran away and he chased after me. I just ran for ages until I saw this place."

I lowered my gun, realising she wasn't a threat right now. Monroe looked sadly at Grace. "We can help you, ok? We just need the name of the guy and we'll make sure you're protected."

Grace nodded once more as she looked up at me. "His name is James. James Winter."