Rickard was in a meeting again.
This time it was with the high members of the Romero organisation. And the topic of discussion —The increasing tension between American -Irish and the Romero mafia organisations.
Rickard stood up from his seat, signalling the men to stay seated and continue with the discussion as he himself walked over to the large glass window that overlooked the backyard of the manor.
A smile crossed his face as he found what he was searching for.
Life had indeed changed for the Romero family since the day Pietro had returned to the manor with a little girl in his arms, four months ago.
Amara, his precious niece had brought back with her the joy and love which had been missing in the family for a long time.
He watched as she ran around the massive grounds, being chased by his sons Allister and Damien, under the watchful eyes of Pietro and several of the other guards.
His heart filled with joy at the childish innocence and glee that could be seen on their faces clearly.
With her arrival, Amara had brought a sense of peace and contentment that were missing in both his and his father's life since the day they had lost Cristina.
Not one who had ever met the Don would claim that Bernard Romero was an emotional man. He was known for his shrewd, reserved, cold hearted and stoic persona. Therefore, it had come as a shock to see Don Bernard Romero bowing down to the whims of a little four year old child.
In the last few months, Amara had really changed him. Rickard was sure that his father would reshape the earth at his granddaughter's one wish.
And Amara, the lovely child that she was, loved to spend time with her "Nonno", as she had taken to calling him.
Rickard still remembered what had happened when his father had needed to go to Florence for some business deal two months after Amara's arrival.
It was the very first time that he was going to leave the city for an extended period of time after Amara's arrival.
Amara, who had gotten so used to seeing her grandfather had not really understood the implications of what was happening when he had hugged and kissed her forehead, asking her to be a good girl for her aunt.
Seeing him walk out of the door must have made her realise that he was probably going away, and to a child's mind 'away' had a wholly different meaning.
Panicked, she had ran out of the mansion, stumbling on her little two feet before Rose, his wife, could've stopped her.
She had raced out and straight to his father, clinging to his leg and crying softly.
"Please don't leave me nonno",she whimpered.
Smiling softly, Bernard knelt on the ground before her to the shock of the guards and staff present.
"Don't cry la mia bella principessa, nonno will come back very soon. And he will also get a beautiful crown for his little princess while coming back home. How does that sound?"
"No",the child had stated stubbornly.
"I don't want a crown, please don't go away."
Sighing, he stood up again,"I have to, my child. Rose please take her back inside",he said heavily.
Rose who had also come out rushing after Amara bent down to pick her up and carry her inside.
"Ssh darling, don't cry . You will have me here as well as your cousins who are going to come back home from their camp in two days. Then we can have lots of fun", Rose soothed the child, walking back inside the manor.
But Amara had started crying in earnest now.
"NONNO ", she had kept calling for him loudly, each call getting more hysterical before his father had jumped out of the car, a look of pain on his face at seeing her cry. Running towards her he had taken her in his arms and hugged her to himself tightly.
"Hush now child, I'm not going anywhere. Stop crying now. Nonno is here.... ", he kept on repeating, trying to calm her down.
Turning towards him his father had ordered,"Cancel all my meetings that are scheduled to take place outside this city for now or send Tony to attend them."
And he had walked back inside the manor leaving the guards and other staff stunned at seeing this soft side of the Don of the Romero family. Bernard Romero never cancelled a meeting for anyone, not even his own children.
Rickard smirked internally at the recollection of those stunned expressions on the faces of his most stoic guards.
Taking a last look at the scene being played out in the backyard, he returned back to the meeting.
**********
Same time, New York.
Sean Sullivan was going through the pictures that had been sent to him by one of his resources in Italy.
The pictures were of the members of the Romero family.... his enemies.
If he was an ordinary man then he would have dismissed the photographs. There seemed to be nothing unusual about them.
But Sean Sullivan was not an ordinary man. Far from it. He was the Don of one of the most powerful American- Irish mafia family.
And one particular photograph had left him baffled.
It was a picture of a small child, a girl, looking no older than four. As far as he knew Bernard Romero's son Rickard had no daughter nor did anyone else in their immediate family, not as young as the girl seemed atleast.
Nor was her presence in the photograph a coincidence, he concluded, seeing an endearing expression on the otherwise stony face of Rickard Romero as his son swung the girl around.
Even though the girl's face was partly hidden by her flying hair, Sean could see the childish glee in the small girl's eyes.
Something was stirring deep within him as he kept on looking at the picture. The child seemed familiar to him, and as far stretched as it sounded it felt as if he knew her from somewhere before but for some reason he couldn't pinpoint exactly where.
Sighing, he kept the picture back on his office desk. He knew that the girl must be of some great importance if out of the many pictures on his desk, he had only a single in which she was present. Someone who was being highly protected. But who exactly was she if not a family member to be getting this kind of protection?
Seans' head was filled with questions now, question for which he needed immediate answers. Picking up the phone he called the man who could get him the answers he needed without risking a war with the Romero's over such an inconsequential matter.
"Hello?", the man answered.
"Daniel, I have a very important job for you......"
******
la mia bella principessa- my beautiful princess.
Nonno - grandfather
Hello everyone 👋
Thank you for reading the story :)
I think that the next few chapters are going to be in flashbacks showing Amara's childhood and of course her first meeting with Valerio ;)
If anyone has got any suggestions on who should the characters be portrayed by, please do tell me.
Also please vote, share and comment if you liked this chapter :)