"AAHHHHHH !"

Axel cringed as another loud scream echoed in the dead silent headquarters. It had been more than two hours since the screaming had begun and it didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon. Yet, Axel stood silently outside the basement door, performing his guard duty.

He was still pondering on Carlos words of caution to him about holding his tongue lest anyone take offence to what he said. He had no means to protect himself yet, he was at the bottom of the ladder so he knew that Carlos warning had been for his own benefit.

If Axel was being honest to himself, he had to admit that he was still in a shocked state because of the presence of in the headquarters. He had never expected that he would almost come face to face with such a powerful and influential being within two months of joining the organization.

Despite how ignorant Carlos assumed Axel to be, he wasn't. He had off course known who and how dangerous Valerio Valentini was, he had never seen his picture before though and therefore had been surprised to see that the man was only a few years older than himself and yet he commanded such a high level of authority and fear amongst all.

Another surprise had been his appearance in the Milan headquarters. As far as he was told , the boss never visited these headquarters. This region was under his brother's control so he did not frequent this place much.

He sighed as another bloodcurdling scream tore through the building before everything went silent.Minutes later the silence was broken by the door opening and the sound of footsteps approaching. Somewhere at the back, Axel could also hear faint moaning sounds.

Axel bowed his head in submission as he heard footsteps approaching, and only once did the group pass that he raised his head and saw that it was the boss who had walked out followed by Paulo and Antonio. Finally Carlos emerged with a hard expression on his face. Axel had to admit, in the two months that he had worked under the man he had never seen him smile. Ever.

He nodded at Axel and motioned him to walk with him.

"Have you double checked the security arrangements? The boss is going to spend the night in the headquarters today. There should be no problems with any security measure" ,he said.

Axel internally rolled his eyes. There were more than a hundred trained men scattered in this base of the Valentini crime organization, and it was not even a major one. How more secure could things be?

"Yes sir. Everything has been taken care of ", he replied back respectfully.

"It's good you are learning everything, boy. I know your talent lies mainly in the computer and technical department but you need to learn weapon handling as well, otherwise you'll become a shooting dummy for our enemies to practise on", he finished, smirking coldly at the end part of his speech.

"Of course, I would just love to become a practice board sir", he said sarcastically, not bothering to hide his scowl at the older man's almost gleeful look at the prospect of him becoming dead mince.

"So Carlos....", he began.

"Who is Amara? " ,this question had been burning inside him since he had heard that man who was getting his life beaten out of him scream out the name before.

Carlos stopped walking and quickly turned looking around in panic to see if anyone had heard his question.

"Where did you hear that name?", he asked angrily.

"Uhh...that guy screamd it earlier, remember?! So.... who is Amara?"

"Don't say her name", Carlos whisper yelled at him.

"What? Am....?", but before he could complete the name he was punched in the gut.

"Shut your mouth boy. Do you have a death wish like that bastard Roberto? I told you to not repeat her name. "

"Why not...? " he heaved clutching his stomach

"Because you're not worthy enough", he replied back without missing a beat.

"Huh? " was his confused response.

"I don't want you to repeat name again. Don't go poking your nose around and DO NOT ask anyone else about her, if you wish to keep your life intact. You're new here, that is the only reason I'm letting you go without consequences", Carlos said warningly.

He then continued," I'm giving you these three days off. Go, and stay away from the headquarters for the time being till the boss is here otherwise God knows you'll end up with a bullet planted between your eyes or worse being caught by your superiors talking about people who you should know nothing about and then they will slowly cut you up piece by piece",he stated. Axel scoffed internally at his exaggerated words. He wouldn't get tortured just because he was a little curious.....right?.

Completing his command Carlos turned and walked away briskly leaving a thoroughly confused albeit happy Axel in his wake.

He rejoiced in the fact that he could spent some time with his older sister who worked as a nurse and therefore had very limited free time in her hands. Smiling to himself despite the strange conversation he just had with Carlos, he walked to his alloted room to pack his bags for his leave. The curiosity about the identity of the girl named Amara still present at the back of his mind.

*******

"Home sweet home ", Axel muttered to himself as he unlocked the door to his small apartment and entered inside.

The place was way too silent for his taste which meant that his sister was probably at the hospital working her shift. Axel sighed in disappointment. He had hoped that she would be at home so he could spend some time with her.

Ashley, his sister was five years older than him with Axel being only 21 years old. Axel loved his sister to death. She had sacrificed alot in her life in her struggle to take care of him after their parents had passed away. Even with the limited support that they had, she had kept going on, never once complaining about having to take care of her little brother. And Axel for his part had never expected or asked for more than he was given.

Sighing he entered his room to find it as messy as he had left it two weeks ago. With nothing to do but wait for Ashley to come back home he decided to complete some of his work on the computer. Maybe that old coot Carlos would stop threatening him with every small mistake he made then.

Like Carlos had said before, Axel was very good in the computer and technical aspect of work. He was a very good cyber hacker. He could break pass the most secure locks and access the most confidential files in minutes. Whenever the higher ups needed background information about anyone, he was called to work. He wasn't the only one off course, there were more people who had the same job, he was just one of the best .

Thinking about his work reminded him about the screams he had to endure while he was on duty.

"That guy must have truly committed some horrible crime",he thought to himself.

Curiosity about the mystery girl Amara filled him again. And damn him, If curiosity wasn't his greatest flaw.

"It wouldn't really hurt to know more",he muttered.

As he moved to switch on the computer screen he stilled for a few moments, Carlos' warning ringing clear in his mind.

"I'll find the information quickly, no one would ever come to know about it", he convinced himself. Switching on the computer screen he began his work........

.

.

.

.

.

Tick tock tick..........

Axel sighed frustatedly. The sound of the clock ticking reminded him that it had been almost four hours now but no matter how hard he tried he was not able to find any kind of information.

All the files having any information about the Valentini family were blocked with the most secure and complicated systems that he had ever come across before. He had figured that the girl Amara was probably a family member since she was held in such high regard that a low ranked member like him was not even worthy of saying her name.

Axel was completely worn out with fatigue now. He had tried many complex ways to access the files without alerting anyone but nothing had worked. His curiosity had reached it's peak and he wouldn't back down now. Deciding to have another go at it, he got to work again and to his astonishment it finally worked as a sign lit up the screen reading

Now that he had a means to satiate his curiosity ,he was feeling extremely jittery and he had no clue as to why. With his clammy hands he clicked on the search file icon and typed AMARA and pressed the enter button.

In what felt like an eternity to him but in reality were only a few seconds, a page was displayed on the screen. He finally read the girl's full name and to his complete shock she wasn't a Valentini as he had previously guessed.

Amara Sullivan Romero.

Axel gasped. She was a freaking Sullivan and a Romero. Both very powerful families in the crime world. So how was she connected to the Valentini's then? Just as he was about to read further his cell began ringing loudly. Getting up, he fetched his mobile from the bed and flipped it open to see that it was Carlos who was calling him. Pressing the answer button he opened his mouth to speak but before he could even get a word out he heard Carlos screaming at him,

"WHAT IN THE BLAZES ARE YOU DOING ,YOU STUPID BOY ?! HOW DARE YOU DISOBEY ME AND SLIP PASS THE SYSTEM TO ACCESS ANY IMPORTANT FILES? GET BACK TO THE HEADQUARTERS RIGHT NOW!" and with that, he cut the call.

Schocked and terrified now, only one thought floated in his mind.....I am so dead!