.

Bernard Romero was getting restless.

He couldn't help but feel as though something ominous had happened. Dread was slowly crawling up his skin as though something very wrong had occurred....something which he had no control over, which was completely nonsensical!

After all, he was the head of the Romero Crime family.

Nothing and no one could hurt him!

No one.... except Cristina Romero, his youngest child, his only daughter.His pride and joy, who had hurt him very much with her decisions in her life. Even thinking about his beautiful daughter hurt him. Her smiles, her tinkering laughter, the way her eyes would twinkle mischievously... by god's, he missed her.

With a heavy sigh, he slowly started walking towards his office where a meeting with some of his associates was scheduled to occur.

When he entered the room, he saw that his elder son Rickard was already seated at the table, a stoic expression on his face, but as Bernard entered, he stood up in respect to the man that wasn't only his father but also his superior- The Don.

"Father,is everything alright?", he asked, a small frown on his face.

Just as he was about to reply, a knock was sounded on the door. Aware that it must be their men who had come for the meeting, both father and son took their seats at the table.

"Come in", Bernard commanded authoritatively.

The door opened and walked in three of the high ranking members of the Romero Crime Syndicate.

After paying their respects to the Don and the Underboss, they took their seats and the meeting began.

Two hours into the meeting, they all heard loud bangs coming from outside the door to the meeting hall. They all stood at once, taking out their guns and aiming them at the door, as the sound of shouting and gun fire grew loud until suddenly it stopped and the door opened.

Bernard was left utterly shocked as inside walked a man who he thought he would never see again. He looked roughed up and seemed to be bleeding profusely from his shoulder.

"Pietro!", he growled out in disbelief and rage."You have a lot of nerve coming here. How dare you stand before me? How dare you show me your face after betraying me?"

"I did not betray you",the man named Pietro replied forcefully. "I was doing my duty, fulfilling the oath that I had taken on my honour."

"Honour?", Rickard spat, coming out of his stupor. "So it was your honour that made you assist my sister to run away with that bastardo?", he fumed.

He walked towards Pietro until he was standing right before him, his gun digging under Pietro's chin. "Give me one good reason..... One good reason to not slaughter you, right here, right now!",he spoke in a deceptively calm voice.

Pietro looked at him, an edge of desperation peaking into his otherwise blank face."And I surrender my fate in your hands. I will not even attempt to fight my way out of here if it's my life that you desire, Master Rickard. But please I need to tell you about -"

"Silence",Rickard roared,"You've done enough." He motioned to the guards who had filtered in the hall, to take Pietro away. "Take him to the cellar, and keep a surveillance around him at all times. I will arrive shortly."

Pietro struggled as the guards tried to hold him and tie him up. He couldn't allow this to happen. He had a very important responsibility on his shoulders, he couldn't fail it. He struggled harder as he was being dragged out.

"Per favore, dammi la possibilità di spiegare capo.Voi sapete che ho potuto tradire e male a nessuno, ma non il suo",Pietro screamed desperately, looking at the Don and willing him to see the sheer desperation in his eyes.

Bernard Romero stared at his ex-employee impassively. His face was a blank mask which contradicted with the storm that was raging inside him.

On one hand he wanted to kill the man standing in front of him, no questions asked. On the other, he wanted to know the reason behind his betrayal.

Pietro had been one of his most faithful before he had decided to betray him.

But he finally had an opportunity in front of him. How many months had he spent searching for the one who had become lost to him? How many nights had he spent, wondering, anxious about the whereabouts of his only daughter? Maybe, he could finally get the answers that he had been seeking since the past four years.

Nodding his head, he motioned for the guards to release Pietro.

"I don't know where to start from honestly",he began,"Everything is so complicated.... So much bloodshed could've been avoided, if only both of the families had not been so stubborn", he sighed."Cristina left because she knew that you would never except the man that she had choosen for herself. You would never agree to give him a fair chance for her hand. After all, according to everyone she had sinned by falling in love with the enemy..... ", he spat the last part bitterly.

"How could we ever accept that she loved that Irish bastard William Sullivan? That bastard was just playing with my little sister's heart. Our enmity runs too deep for love to replace it", Rickard yelled.

"You would have accepted them if you saw what I did. William loved Cristina like he loved nobody else. You would have understood them if you had given them a chance. But what did you do?", he asked rhetorically. "You started a full out war with the Irish crime families as soon as you came to know about it. Those poor children had no choice but to run away from this bloodshed, they loved each other very much. They were forced to build a world for themselves because they were given no other choice."

"And you helped her."

Bernard who had been silent the whole time stated accusingly, a hint of his previous rage bleeding in his tone.

"I- I did", Pietro accepted. "I had sworn long ago to protect her from any danger, as have my father before me for your sister, Don, as will every man in my line born will do for every Romero princess. I vowed to protect her and I did what I was bound to do, even if it meant helping her escape from the place she called home to a new world", he said stoically.

"What are you doing here then? Is my princess finally coming back home?", Bernard questioned, trying to suppress the sudden flare of hope in his heart.

An emotion of intense pain shot through Pietro's eyes as he chocked out, "No...."

"What do you mean? Tell me where my sister is", Rickard commanded, "I'll go and get her back home myself. I don't even care now that she loves William Sullivan, I just want her to come back home. It's been four year's since we last saw her, spoke to her. There was a time when she couldn't last an hour without speaking to us and now......just tell me where she is. I'll go, no matter where the place is", Rickard shouted.

"She's not here..... And you can't get her back from where she is either.... no one can......She has gone far away.... Very far... ", Pietro told them softly, pain clear as day shinning in his eyes.

As realisation dawned on them, Rickard breathed out,"No!"

"She's dead. They both are", Pietro informed them

"NO! I can't accept that, I'm NOT going to accept that, this can't happen" Rickard yelled out desperately.

He had flown to the other side of the office and had slammed Pietro roughly on the office wall, his hands closing around Pietro's throat."Don't lie to me Pietro. Tell me where my sister is."

"Son, let him go",they heard Bernard's voice, clogged with pain."He's not lying son. He cannot lie about this",Bernard said emotionally.

"Tell me what is your purpose here then, Pietro", Bernard ordered, "Why are you here? You couldn't have come here just to inform me about my daughter's death, knowing the danger it imposed on your life to even step a foot in my territory."

"Like I said before Don, I've sworn to serve the Romero princess and my duty still continues....",he looking him straight in the eyes, willing him to understand the underlying meaning behind his words.

And as realisation slowly started seeping in, Bernard's eyes widened in disbelief and then unfathomable joy.

"Where?",Bernard chocked out.

"I hid her in a safe place before coming here. I had also made sure that you would have received the news of her existence today, irrespective of the fact that I live or die",Pietro informed him. "Please allow me to get her here Don", Pietro pleaded.

Bernard gave him a nod,"Be quick",he told him impatiently. "Guards, go with him."

Pietro bowed low once and quickly left, the Romero guards shuffling out behind him.

"Father?" Rickard whispered, shocked.

Bernard ignored him, pacing the floor restlessly. After what felt like an eternity but were actually only fifteen minutes, he heard footsteps coming towards the office and Pietro entered in, though this time he wasn't alone.

In his arms was a small child, not older than four, a girl with blonde curly hair which fell in waves over her shoulder.

She was facing the other side, but as Pietro placed her gently on the floor and she turned around, Bernard felt like he had been knocked out, leaving him breathless. She was a miniature of Cristina, her eyes the same amethyst as his daughter's had been.

Seeing that the attention of every man in the room was on her, the child yipped softly and ran behind Pietro to hide herself.

"Hey, princess it's alright. You remember what I told you about your mother's family, yes?",Pietro asked softly, as he knelt on the ground beside the child trying to calm her down.

The child nodded and peeked out from behind Pietro.

"Are you my grandpa?", she asked curiously.

Bernard walked towards the girl who was his granddaughter and knelt in front of her. "Yes princess, I am. What's your name?"

"Amara", she replied shyly and stepped out from behind Pietro.

As she took a shy step forward, and slowly came to stand before him, Bernard felt as though his heart was going to burst from happiness and love for the child who he had met only a few moments ago.

Very gently he took her in his arms handling her as she was a precious china doll and rose to his feet.

He was overcome with emotions that he had buried deeply after losing his daughter. Pain and anger at the loss of her but also unparalleled happiness and joy at seeing the last piece of what was truly left of her, besides her memories.

This child was his daughter's daughter, his precious granddaughter, the only Romero princess, she was Amara Romero.

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