Bitch-boy Beaumont lay on the ground, seeming lifeless, but the cazzo [dick] revives as if he's got 9 lives.

So I do something that's so out of my character, that even I'm surprised.

No matter how much I hate her, she's soon going to be my wife, my person to protect with my life. I had asked her to act as though we're a united front in public earlier, and I'm convincing myself that, that was the reason I chose to drag her along with me to hide from the crossfire, rather than some unidentified feeling within me.

I take her into a secluded hallway because I knew that Christos and Matteo would be here shortly with my sisters in tow.

When I stop in the hallway, I notice that Amélie's hand that I'm holding onto is shaking.

I turn around and I'm faced with a terrified, trembling Amélie.

Shit. Did I do something wrong?

"Amélie? What's wrong? Are you okay?" I question.

All she does is let out a cry filled with agony whilst saying something along the lines of "Maman, s'il te plaît, ne me quitte pas, s'il te plaît! Je ne peux pas le faire sans toi! [Mum please don't leave me, please! I can't do this without you!]" and then chanting the words "S'il-vous-plaît [please]" over and over again whilst gripping onto her hair and shaking her head side to side.

She begins retreating away from me making her back hit the wall, whilst tremors rack through her body as she slides down the wall and crouches into a ball.

As I try to approach her she whimpers in fear and slides away from me.

"Mia belleza [my beauty]? It's only me, you're okay. No one's going to hurt you. I promise." I say, softening my tone, trying to get her to realise that I won't hurt her.

As she looks up at me, an unknown feeling pierces my heart when I see the track marks of her tears, imprinted onto her cheeks. You hate her.

I think she's having a panic attack. But I don't know how I can help her. Why would you help her if you hate her.

So I do the only thing that comes to mind. I fight this inner battle and I stand her up, hugging her in hopes of calming her down.

Her arms lay limply by her sides as my arms wrap around her shoulders and my hand reaches up to lightly push her head further into my chest so that her ear is right by my heart, allowing her to listen to my heartbeat. I begin playing with her hair, brushing my hand through it, hoping that this'll help her.

Hopefully I'm doing the right thing. I mean, I don't know what to say or do, so I hope this is the right thing to do in a situation like this.

After a few minutes pass of her erratic breathing echoing through the desolate hallway, she begins to regulate it and I can physically feel her relax and slowly begin to wrap her arms around my torso.

Mia belleza [my beauty] looks up at me with these beautifully blue, doe eyes that captured me in a trance. You hate her, don't forget that Romeo.

Subconsciously, our heads come closer to one another, as if there is a a magnetic force pulling us towards one another. Our lips are mere millimetres away from each other and my arm moves down her body, resting on her waist, my thumb stroking up and down, this position bringing me a feeling of warmth and comfort.

Just as I'm about to ask if she's okay, it's as if realisation dawns on her and she snaps out of this joint trance that we were in, she pulls away from the hug (much to my dismay) and quickly reaches up to wipe under her eyes as well as plastering a (fake) reassuring smile on her face - which I know is fake, much like the smile she gave Amara and I in the ballroom. I knew she was faking it. Which is why I couldn't leave her.

I must admit her plan was smart. She got all of her 'father's' men to turn on him and shoot him instead of her. I mean considering she is the new mafia leader (I got her father to agree after I shot at him roughly 1cm away from his head and Amélie threw 7 knives at him), she had every right to overrun her father's orders.

Dio [God], I really hope he's dead. If not, I'm sure my soon-to-be-wife and I can arrange for that to happen.

My thoughts were cut off when I was backed up against the wall by Amélie and had a knife pressed against my neck.

"What-." I began, but got cut off. I hate when I get cut off. Just a friendly reminder as to why you hate her.

"I want you to forget everything that just happened in this hallway and pretend you saw nothing. Capisci [understand]?" She says, asking in Italian.

I twist her arm and disarm her, throwing her knife on the floor.

"Don't worry baby, it's like I was never here." I say in a humorous tone, whispering against her ear which causes her to shiver.

Suddenly, the door to the hallway opens and I pull out my gun and put my arm in front of Amélie's body to provide her protection, although I don't think little miss assassin needs much protection, I think she's strong enough and powerful enough to kill a whole ballroom full of people on her own. Still. When she's with me, she won't have to worry about things like that. It's human decency, I still hate her. Definitely.

As soon as we see Christos and Matteo - along with my sisters - enter the hallway, both Amélie and I let out a sigh of relief.

They all rush towards us and usher us out towards the emergency exit.

Once we get outside, my car arrives and we all hop in. Except for Amélie.

"What are you doing standing there? Hurry your ass up and get over here Amélie." I tell her.

She shakes her head no "it's okay, I've got to make sure my men are on clean up duty anyways so I need to get going."

I quickly get out the limo and drag her back with me inside the limo. I get into the limo and pull her down onto my lap and secure her there with my arms around her waist, just in case she's thinking about running away.

"Don't worry mia belleza [my beauty], my men are on it and they'll help your men." I tell her as I close the door. "Capisci [understand]?" I say in a mocking manner, imitating what she had said to me earlier in the hallway.

She just turns around and looks at me with what seems to be a blank face, but upon further inspection, I can clearly see the glint of amusement shining in her eyes.

She begins shuffling about on my lap causing me to get hard whilst thinking about how her plush ass is pressed up against my growing cock. As she tried to get off of my lap, I encircle my arms around her waist and press her against me "just give me a minute belleza [beauty]." I rasp out, in quite a bit of pain. She notices my hard cock poking her thigh and immediately pauses what she's doing.

Dio [God]. Think of something else Romeo. Think about kittens, think about food, think about how much you hate her. That manages to deflate my cock just a bit.

Much to my dismay, when she realises that I'm not as hard anymore, she shifts off of my lap and begins asking if everyone's okay and if they got hurt.

Whilst the girls converse and Amélie tells them about the contract and out arrangement, the boys and I start up a conversation about business and each take a drink.

Soon, we make it back home and, as promised, I showed Amélie to a separate bedroom with all the essentials she'd need in there. She insisted that it wasn't necessary to have a bedroom in a completely separate wing if all of the other bedrooms are here.

After I make it to my bedroom, I quickly take my clothes of and throw them in the laundry bin and make my way into the shower. When I'm finished, I put on my Calvin Klein boxers and grey jogging bottoms (leaving my gold chain on) and lie in bed hoping that I will finally be able to sleep after not having slept for 2 days straight. I hate sleeping, that shit always ends in stupid ass nightmares that I can't control because it always has the same ending. My mother. Dead. At the hands of my tyrannical father.

Today's been a long day, but the night's not over yet, nothing else could happen. Right?