Callahan Organization Event , Chicago.
Patricia was lounging in the party hall of the Callahan hotel with the other women. It was just after lunch time and the women were relaxing listening to music and talking with each other while the men once again engaged themselves in their business talks.
She was quite relieved that the next day would be the last one of the event after which they would return back to Newyork . The past three days had been really hectic for her with all the mingling and meetings that she had done with the women of her husband's allied families.
She really missed the warmth of her own home and couldn't wait to return. As one of the most important partners of the Callahan Organization, the Sullivan family was obligated to remain till the entirety of the event, otherwise she was sure that Sean would've left the city right after the first meeting. She knew how eager he was to see Amara. He had already been in Chicago when Amara had arrived and even now he hadn't got a chance to speak with her.
Patricia also did not think that she could handle the stressful atmosphere any longer after what had happened the day before with the O'Reilly family.
She scowled as she thought about them. After so many years, the Sullivan and O'Reilly alliance had finally crumbled.
Personally, Patricia had thought that Sean would break it off the day Aiden O'Reilly had undertaken the role of the head of his family after his father's demise two years ago but it seemed his friendship with the ex O'Reilly boss had made him a little hesitant towards breaking off all ties with them straight away.
But Patricia couldn't have been more happy with the decision, Aiden O'Reilly in her opinion was a greedy, power hungry and backstabbing man who would not hesitate to set his own family on fire if it meant that he would receive an ounce more of power. The alliance had been rocky since the past few years and now it had finally come to an end.
What had surprised Patricia was the reason behind it. She would never have guessed that the Romero's would be the catalyst behind ending the business relationships between their family and the O'Reilly Organization.
She had been quite shocked when Sean had informed her the news yesterday night.
She knew that the O'Reilly's were not happy with her family's new closeness with the Romero's, even though none of them had dared to bring it up until now.
Sean had explained to her how Aiden had brought up the topic of their generations old nemesis with the Romero's even after explicit warnings and implied that their alliance with the Romero's had been a foolish move on the Sullivan's part.
Not only that but he had blatantly declared that unlike them he would continue with the legacy of enimity and would not let a foolish little girl influence his organization's decision.
That had been the last straw for the Sullivan men and Logan had punched Aiden repeatedly for daring to bring up his niece's name in there conversation.
It did not matter that what Aiden O'Reilly had uttered was under the influence of alcohol, the damage had been done. Sean had immediately broken all the ties with the O'Reilly organization and declared that any O'Reilly member found snooping in their territory would die.
The Callahan head of the family following his example had asked Aiden to leave the same night with his entourage as he had not wanted to risk spoiling his relations with the Sullivan organization.
Shamefaced and enraged Aiden had left late at night spewing out promises of retribution for his insult.
She knew that even Logan was relived by his father's decision, it was no secret that he didn't hold his brother in law Aiden in high regard and shared a very cold relationship with him.
What worried Patricia slightly was Alyssa's reaction to the news. She was sure that Alyssa would definitely not be happy about it. Just how upset she would be though, Patricia had no idea.
She took another sip of her drink and keenly observed her surroundings. With the soft music that the band was playing, the atmosphere was quite calm and relaxing.
From where she was sitting, Patricia could see a number of security men passing by the corridors hurriedly and as she looked around she saw that the number of Sullivan guards posted around the hall had increased significantly.
What's happening?..... she thought to herself, confused by the sudden increase in the security. From the flurry of movements going outside, she could feel as if something had occurred.
Placing the drink on the table she excused herself from the company of the other ladies and walked towards the exit, intending to know what was happening. She had not kept even one step out before she was flanked by numerous Sullivan guards.
"Has something happened?", she asked a little bewildered by their actions.
"We've been ordered to escort you to your suite ma'am", one of the guards said bowing his head slightly.
"And where is my husband?", she asked
"In the Conference Hall ma'am", was the prompt reply.
"Then I would like to go there as well, Lead the way", she commanded.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Sullivan but we are under strict orders to escort you back to your suite by the Don," the guard said apologetically.
Patricia was feeling more uneasy by the minute. She looked around and saw that the hotel lobby was crowded with men wearing black suits and carrying guns, while the entire staff was slowly lining up in the lobby with scared expression on their faces.
"Why has the security been increased?" she asked while staring at the happenings in the hotel lobby. When she didn't receive any answer she looked back at them only to see them exchanging nervous looks.
"Has something happened?", she repeated.
"We are not allowed to say anything to you about it ma'am ".
Patrticas eyebrows touched her hairline at that reply, "And why ever not?", she asked placing her hands on her hips and trying to appear intimidating.
"Mr.Logan's orders ",he said bowing his head.
"Well I'm his mother, so my order's take precedence over his. Now tell me what's happening. "
The guards exchanged uneasy looks between them again. Fed up with their cautious behaviour she commanded,
"If it is related to my family then I want to know what's wrong. And you will tell me whatever you know and if you cannot then lead me to the person who can."
And with that order Patricia began making her way to the conference room of the large hotel while the guards hurriedly formed a protective circle around her.
By the time they reached the corridor leading to the room where her husband was, Patricia's uneasiness had developed into dread. There were numerous guards lined outside the conference room one after another as if awaiting some orders.
One of the guard stepped forward and opened the door of the conference Hall and stepped back silently so that Patricia could enter. Even from where she was standing she could hear loud angry voices coming from inside the room.
With her heart hammering inside her chest she cautiously entered the room alone while the guards stood vigilant outside.
The first thing she felt was the heavy distress and tension that the room was shrouded with, it was almost too suffocating for her to be in the room but she forced herself to move forwards when she saw the dark expression on Logan's face.
"Logan?", She called hesitantly, wanting to know what had happened to make her son so enraged.
Logan's head snapped towards her at once and even though his facial expression remain hard, his eyes softened slightly when it came to rest on her.
"Mother", he replied and all the activities in the room stopped as the men realized that she was present amongst them.
"What's happening? Is everything alright? ", she asked walking towards him worriedly. She came to stand before him, placing her hand on his cheek as she gazed at him anxiously.
"Logan? What's wrong son?", She asked again but Logan didn't reply, instead he stared straight over her head at someone.
Patricia turned around only to come face to face with her husband. Her eyes widened when she saw the same dark look on his face as well.
"Sean? I'm getting scared. Please....tell me what's wrong", she pleaded anxiously.
"We received a call from New York an hour ago....... Claire and the kids were ambushed while they were out of the estate ", he stated his voice and face devoid of any emotions.
Patricia gasped, "Claire and the kids? Cian an-and A-am..ara? They're safe right? The guards must've protected them", she said anxiously her eyes filling up with tears.
Sean however, did not answer her question and just continued to stare down at her emotionless. But Patricia knew her husband all too well to see the brewing rage in his eyes and it was really scaring her. He alway did this, hid his emotions from her whenever he thought she couldn't handle the news. The last time had been when he had informed her about William's demise.
"Sean tell me they are alright, tell me that Amara and Cian are alright", She cried putting her hands on his shoulders and trying to shake him out of his stoic stupor.
And it seemed that her words had worked because the fury that was contained only in his eyes flashed across his face and he roared enraged before turning towards his left and sweeping off the the many glasses and plates placed on the long table on the ground where they broke spilling the fluid on the floor along with broken glass pieces.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY? THAT I FAILED HER? THAT I COULDN'T PROTECT HER? SHE'S GONE, THEY TOOK HER AWAY.
THEY KIDNAPPED AMARA ", he yelled furiously.
"N-No, no this cannot happen ",she muttered to herself in disbelief.
"She's fine I'm sure, Amara is just angry with us for not getting her along and she has decided that she'll punish us by pranking us. You know how kids are Sean, she's just fooling around and Claire and everyone else decided to go along with it. I'll go and call Amara now and clear this misunderstanding."
And with that she turned and walked towards the door quickly ignoring her name being called by Sean.
Before she could pull the door open she felt two strong arms go around her waist and they held her tight as she struggled to get away.
"Let go of me Sean, I need to talk to Amara... She must be so upset with us", Patricia cried in turmoil.
Even though she was resisting his hold, slowly her mind was starting to catch up with the reality of what had happened. Patricia knew her granddaughter well enough to realize that she would never prank them or anyone for that matter in such a way.
"PATRICIA!" Sean called again."Stop these hysterics this instant! We'll find her, I promise you. Hold yourself together. I swear that I'll bring her back home to us safely".
At once Patricia fell limp in her husband's arms. He relaxed his grip and she twisted around and grabbed his face with her hands, ignoring his hiss as she jerked his head forward.
"Tell me that Amara will return back home to us without even a scratch on her. Tell me you'll kill all those responsible behind this painfully Sean", Tell me you'll do it , she screamed as she shook him hard.
" I. Promise. You. ", Sean replied enunciating each word darkly.
With little effort, Sean pulled her hands away, turned her around and pulled her along making her sit on one of the chairs placed around the table while Logan handed her a glass of cold water.
Over her glass, she surveyed the room, before she was so lost in her turmoil that she had failed to notice the presence of the Callahan, Avdonin, McIntyre family boss's and their associates in the room. It seemed that they had got the news in the middle of their meeting.
"W-who?", she chocked out.
Understanding the meaning behind her words Sean replied, his eyes lit up with a fire of such intense malice and rage, one that Patricia had rarely seen before.
"The O'Reilly's ", he spat the name venomously. "That traitorous scum of a family is behind this ", Sean raged.
Patricia gasped, she could never have guessed that they would attempt such a feat and be successful in it.
"Has the Romero Don been informed about this?," she asked looking around the room at the other men.
"He was informed about it at the same time we got the news. He's on his way to Newyork with the Romero forces as we speak ",the Avdonin boss answered her question.
"Then what are we doing here Sean? We should leave immediately ", Patricia said looking desperately at her husband.
"We were discussing just that mother" Logan who had remained silent throughout her arrival told her." We cannot leave just yet".
"Why not? "She asked displeased by the delay.
"Because we might have some O'Reilly worker's keeping tabs on our moves here. Even our single step in the direction of Newyork will alert them and they might try to harm Amara then", Logan replied faltering slightly at his niece's name.
"So what are we doing? ",She asked
The Callahan family boss stepped forward, "I suggest that we all leave for Newyork immediately. The O'Reilly family forces don't stand a chance in front of the Sullivan men and combined with that the Romero, Avdonin, McIntyre and Callahan forces, we can bring them to their knees without even firing a single bullet", he proclaimed arrogantly.
"Don't be rash ",the McIntyre boss snapped at his colleague."We cannot take this route until we eliminate the O'Reilly eyes in Chicago. I agree with Logan on this, it's too risky. They have the child with them, one wrong move from the Sullivan side and the consequences can be very severe".
"You're acting as if you are afraid of some action. It's alright though, if you don't want to assist Don Sullivan in this mission then the Callahan forces are more than enough ",the Callahan Don said sneering.
"How dare you suggest -", the McIntyre head stepped toward him furiously.
"SILENCE ", Sean roared glaring viciously at his allies. "You can continue your juvenile arguments outside this door, I don't have time for your power games right now.My granddaughter is in grave danger, I will kill anyone who even thinks of putting her at even more risk " he snarled to the room at large.
Patricia got up and quickly moved towards her husband to calm him down knowing how deeply this was affecting him.
But as she reached him, she heard loud noises coming from outside the door and a few moments later the room was thrown open to reveal the presence of their security chief Michael. Behind him she could see several guards surrounding a struggling man who's hands were tied behind his back and face covered with a black cloth.
"Caught them all, Don" , Michael said as he pushed the man behind him in the room where he fell on the floor.
Patricia turned to look at her husband in question only to see a dangerous and dark look of satisfaction on his face.
"He's one the O'Reilly commanders boss. He was hiding in the hotel under a disguise along with the other O'Reilly guards. In total there are about twenty of them. " Michael informed him. He pulled the O'Reilly commander up so that he was sitting on his knees and then proceeded to remove the black cloth from his face.
The man's face contorted in immense fear as he realized who exactly he was surrounded by. "Please sir, I swear I don't know anything. Please let me go", he cried trying to desperately move away from the approaching figure of the Sullivan Don.
His movements though were ceased by Michael who punched him so that he could stay in place.
Sean slowly approached him towering over the kneeling man. In that moment Patricia realized that she was about to witness a side of her husband that she had rarely seen before.
"This doesn't have to be hard," Sean whispered, trailing his fingers along the O'Reilly man's head before yanking his head up roughly "All you have to do is tell me what I want to know. Sounds good?
The man nodded, his face scrunched up in pain. "What do you want to know?"
"Just one thing, really," Sean said,"You see, the current whereabouts of Aiden O'Reilly are not known. He has taken something that is very precious to me. Only a few of the O'Reilly men would be privy to that information, one of them being you."
"I-I don't know where he is," the man replied, a nervous tremor in his voice as his eyes widened. "I swear it!"
"Wrong answer," Sean said, his warmth fading as he grabbed the man by the hair and dragged him to the side of the room where he slammed his head back against the wall. He took the man by the front of his shirt and hauled him up so they were face to face. "Let's try this again, shall we? Where is Aiden O'Reilly?Where has he hidden my granddaughter Amara ?"
The man looked dazed and on the verge of blacking out. The wall where Sean had slammed his head was now stained with blood, indicating a serious head trauma. "I'd nev-never tell you."
Sean gripped the man by the jaw and wrenched his head forward so he was looking directly into his eyes. "You should really think long and hard about your rather precarious situation".
"What are you going to do if I don't tell you? Kill me?" he rasped out. Bruises were already appearing where Sean held his face.
"Oh, no," Sean laughed a bit ominously. "You're too important to kill yet. We're going to have a lot more fun than that."
The look of terror that crossed the man's face was more than satisfying, but it still wasn't enough for Sean . It wouldn't be enough until he experienced the fear and hysteria that his dear Amara might be feeling at the moment.
"So, I'll give you one more chance," Sean continued, drawing his gun and trailing the tip down the man's throat. "Are you going to be smart and give me the answer I'm looking for?"
"Go to hell," he spat at him.
"WHERE IS SHE? WHERE IS AMARA? !"
Sean continued to repeatedly slam his foot into the man , who could only make feeble attempts at protecting himself from the vicious attack. Sean had completely disconnected from his rational mind, driven only by anger and hysteria now. He was protecting that man who had taken away Amara from them. As far as Sean was concerned, he deserved every last bit of this. He, along with the rest of them, deserved to burn.
"Father ! FATHER !", Logan shouted bringing Sean out of his stupor. Sean turned around to look at his son, furious at the interruption but Logan held his mobile indicating that he was receiving a call.
"Private number. It must be the O'Reilly's ", he said.
"Keep the phone on speaker and answer the call " Sean ordered.
Logan nodded and hit the answer button. Patricia was expecting it to be Aiden O'Reilly who spoke on the other line or maybe one of his henchmen, but when she heard the voice on the other line her heart nearly broke in pain
"Grandpa? Grandpa? ", Amara cried.
Sean's eyes widened before he quickly covered the distance between him and Logan and snatched the phone from him.
"Amara! Little flower! Are you alright? Talk to grandpa baby", he said frantically.
"Help me Grandpa! Please! I don't want to stay here", she sobbed.
"Where have they taken you Amara?" Sean asked her quickly. "I-I don't know", her voice cracked.
Patricia too quickly moved towards her husband so she could speak to Amara.
"Amara, this is grandma talking baby. Tell us are you hurt? Do you feel any pain? She asked her anxiously
But before Amara could reply they heard a sharp sound of someone being slapped before Amara's cries resonated throughout the room.
"NO", Sean roared in rage.
"Don't you dare touch her! You hear me?!", he yelled into the phone furiously, his knuckles turning white with the pressure he was exerting on the phone.
"I think it's a little late for that Don Sullivan", a man chuckled ominously from the other end.
"If you touch a hair on her head, you will rue the day you were born", Logan snarled from his place near his father.
"Ohh, Mr. Logan you're there too. What a pleasure it is speaking to you. But really sir, we are practically family. It doesn't look nice if you choose an enemy's spawn over your own family or allies, does it?, the man enquired.
"What do you want? Where is your boss?", Sean asked the man.
"All in due time sir, all in due time. This call was just a small reminder to you to not take any rash steps. I hold the life of your precious granddaughter in my hands. A beautiful and innocent little thing she is, eh? Won't be so pretty and innocent by the time I'll be done with her. And after that we'll disappear and you'll never get her back ", he threatened.
Sean closed his eyes tightly at the implied threat to Amara. "Don't be under the pretence that you will get away with this. I will come after you no matter wherever you hide. I will make you weep tears of blood for every tear that my granddaughter has shed. You will beg me to kill you for that will be a mercy to you but I will not grant you that." his each word was laced with a promise of torment and suffering beyond anyone's imagination.
"We'll see sir. Until my next call then. Meanwhile don't think of leaving Chicago, believe me I'll know", he said finally before hanging up.
Sean flung the phone away from him in rage. Patricia knee's buckled under her and she would have fallen if it had not been for Logan who quickly supported her.
Sean walked towards the O'Reilly commander again and kicked him hard in the stomach. "Tell me everything you know", he commanded.
The O'Reilly commander spat a mouthful of blood before replying ,"I don't know what you're talking about".
Before anyone could blink, Sean had drawn his gun out and fired a bullet which pierced the man's left thigh making him scream.
"Another chance.Where have they hidden her.Who was responsible for this mission? Where is Aiden O'Reilly?"
"Jo-jordan is the man who spoke to you right now. I don't know anything about where Amar -" he screamed at the top of his lungs as he got hit by two bullets in quick succession.
"How dare you say her name? You scum! This is your last chance, tell me where have they hidden her".
The man was sobbing now lying in a pool of his own blood which was quickly gushing out of his wounds.
"Please no more. I'll tell you. I'll tell you. They have taken her to the O'Reilly warehouse some miles away from the main city. It is very secluded, surrounded by forest cover from all the four sides.No one knows about that place except the high ranking members of the O'Reilly organization They are there, now please let me go. I've told you everything that I knew", the man pleaded at the end.
Patricia looked at her husband wondering what he was about to do, she didn't have to wait long because he quickly fired more bullets at the man lying at his feet killing him on the spot instantly.
Patricia turned around from the sight and buried her face in her son's shoulder who put his arms around her consolingly.
"Don", Michael said, "Mr. Patrick is on the other line. I'd put the phone on speaker so that he could hear what's going on here ", he said giving his phone to the Don.
Patricia had totally forgotten about Patrick. He had left for Newyork just before lunch so that meant that he must've already reached the estate by now. She finally felt a sense hope.
"Patrick, did you hear the location?" Sean asked his eldest son.
"Yes father, I did. Don't worry father I'll take care of everything here. I promise you by midnight today Amara will be back with us", he said determined.
"See to it that there are no blunders son, I'll be coming there as soon as I take care the O'Reilly men hidden in Chicago. Bernard Romero too, is on his way to Newyork. I think it'll take him around six hours more to reach there".
"Alright, I'll go and make the arrangements."
"Patrick, see to it that you get Amara out of there safely before anything else,her safety is the top priority".
"I will sir," Patrick replied seriously. "Also the man named Jordan is not to be harmed fatally. I want him alive. All the best son". Sean said.
"Yes father", Patrick said before hanging up.
Sean sighed before looking to the room at large. "Let's go. We have some O'Reilly's to hunt and kill, the sooner they die the faster we can get to Newyork".
*******
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