Heat.

| Chapter 1. |

Five months prior.

The slight, yet beautiful breeze of the Italy air blew lightly through the cracked window of Aaron's father's BMW X5, as he was being driven by his personal driver Edward. They were on the highway, driving about 65 miles per hour on their way somewhere Aaron wasn't aware. Speeding, with no caution to the road, the corners of Aaron's mouth slowly twitched before they curved into a slight frown.

He didn't like this. Whatever the hell this was. All he knew was that his father and mother were sending him away. Where? He had no idea. There was no warning. And no reason.

"Non ho capito bene," Aaron spoke, finally breaking the awkward silence between Edward and him, as he shook his head side to side. He knew it was clear that Edward didn't want to speak, but that wasn't going to stop him. He came home from school and before he could blink, he was getting shoved in the back of his father's BMW, a car that never saw the light of day, with his sobbing mother kissing and telling him that everything would be okay. 

"Perché esattamente i miei genitori mi mandano via?" He scoffed and crossed his arms across his chest. But Edward knew he was scared. He had every reason to be.

"È meglio se te ne vai per un po'," Edward said, a hint of sadness detected in his voice. Aaron glanced at him through the rearview mirror and took notice of Edward's glossy eyes and quivering bottom lip. He knew that he felt bad for him, and that made Aaron cringe with anger. He hated pity. "Un posto dove nessuno può trovarti." 

"Dove mi stai portando?" Aaron shot back, his voice rising as he rolled his eyes in frustration.

"Da qualche parte al sicuro." Edward sighed, as he put the car into the correct gear and unbuckled his seat belt.

"Incredibile." Aaron muttered, listening for the sound of his seat belt leaving the lock. He climbed out of the car, behind his driver still unamused with what was going on.

"Vorrei poter dire che era credibile, signor Aaron." He sighs, as he walks away towards the entrance of the airport. He turns around to face the young man, before gesturing for Aaron to follow him. Aaron stands with his arms crossed, before giving in and making his way over to Edward's direction.

"Edward..." He starts to say his name as he turns to face him, tears almost threatening to spill out of his wet eyes. Aaron hated to see someone who meant so much to him upset, but that didn't make him want to tear up himself. He couldn't convince himself that this was all for real. After all, his parents had seemed to be happy the day before. Aaron couldn't tell anything was wrong. But here he was.

Edward shook his head in defeat, handing Aaron a sealed white envelope. He snatched it from Edward's hand, tearing it open as he frowned at the sight of what was in front of him. It was a new ID, not issued in Italy, a picture and his passport. But it was the picture that hit home, his favorite of his mother and father, holding him on the day of his birth. He looked up at Edward, tears filling now as he tried to gather his words. 

"Stai attento." Edward whispers, pulling Aaron in for a hug as two bullets pierced his body, through his back, with blood pouring out of his mouth as he dropped to the floor. Aaron stood in disbelief, and before he can even protest, an arm was dragging him, dragging him away from Edward's lifeless body.

The grip on Aaron's arm tight, surely going to leave a bruise as the person let go and tossed him against the creme colored wall of the airport, surprising him. Aaron gasped, turning his body around as the man began patting him down, pulling out a flashdrive Aaron didn't even know what was in his pocket, but clearly was planted by Edward.. 

He grabbed him up again, leading him straight outside of the airport, towards a black escalade truck with tinted windows. He tossed Aaron into the back seat roughly, not caring how much Aaron didn't like it as he shut the door closed.

"Let him go!" Aaron turned his head to glance out the window to see a woman, around the age of maybe 40-45. Looking at her, you could tell that she was beautiful back in her time as she was beautiful even now, her eyes never leaving the man. Next to her, stood a taller and muscular dark skinned man, a little darker than her, with a gun in his hands as well as they aimed it at the man who snatched Aaron.

They both wore casual clothes, jeans and a shirt as the man taking care of Aaron glanced back and forth from the man and the woman... then back to Aaron. There was an awkward silence for about 10 seconds before the woman parted her lips to shout once more before being interrupted by the man.

"Il bambino viene con me." The Italian man rudely replied, and Aaron wasn't sure if they knew what he said in his aggressive tone, but he sure did. And it didn't matter because then in a split second, Aaron watched as the man appeared to make a attempt getting into the driver's side before a clear gunshot went off. He hadn't even recovered from Edward's yet, and here was another one. 

"Aaron Russo?" The same woman was questioning him now, opening the backseat and leading him out. He stepped over the body of the rude Italian man, bending down and picking up the flash drive beside him. Neither agent was looking, and Aaron wasn't even sure if he was dead, but watched as the man accompanying the woman searched inside the guy's jacket. Aaron tucked the drive back into his pocket discreetly. 

"We're Agents Hill and Black, we're the agents assigned to take you to your destination." She explained, Aaron choosing to ignore the pun around the agent's name as he stopped dead in his tracks. 

"Non c'è modo. Sono due persone in 20 minuti," He seemed to finally find his voice. "Non andrò da nessuna parte finché non so cosa sta succedendo e non vedo alcuni dannati distintivi." 

They both blinked blankly after the teen spoke, shaking their heads as they processed his words. She turned, giving the man one look, her eyes saying it all as they both pulled out their FBI badges and flashed them in his face. "Clearly, two years of Italian didn't fail me. Look, if you want to live, you need to start speaking English here on out."  

"If you're FBI agents, then who was that?" He finally responds in English, a language he knew well, but never needed to use. His heart beating a mile a minute.

"One of the men after your parents." Agent Black replies coldly, grabbing Aaron and steering past the little amount of people in the airport.

"One of the what? What the hell is going on here?" He shouts angrily, glaring at both Agent Hill and Black. He had just met them and he already didn't care for them.

"We can't tell you all of that. Just know that it's important that you're alive and safe." Agent Hill ensures, patting his back softly as Agent Black directs them to a sign that read customs for international flying.

"How could you not tell me if it concerns me? And are you telling me that if I stay here in Italy, my home, I can possibly lose my life?" Aaron asks another question, gaining a shy head nod from Agent Hill.

"Which is why you're not staying in Italy." Agent Black hisses, directing him through the back of the airport and to a private plane seated for three. He got in, his blood boiling as Agent Hill took the liberty to strap him like a kid. He knew she didn't mean no harm, but he was mad enough as the high temperature seemed to blow right in his face. 

"Can we turn down the heat? I'm hot enough."