Romero estate, Italy.

Patricia stood anxiously behind her husband as men from both the families raised their weapons against the other. Sean had pushed her behind him as soon as Bernard Romero had declared for war.

"Oh God! No!",she cried to herself, knowing that even one bullet fired from either of the sides would bring with it a war where many powerful families would clash. Their most trusted allies would be bound by their oaths to retaliate against the one who had brought harm to their Don's family.

Patricia knew this would happen despite her husband's reassurances, the Romero's and the Sullivan's were bound together....... by hatred for each other, a legacy which was passed from one generation to next, no questions asked.

Just when she thought that bullets were going to be exchanged between the two parties,an unexpected voice was heard from the doorway.

"Nonno?"

Patricia peaked from behind her husband to see who had entered the meeting room and was astounded to notice a child standing there.

Sparkling amethyst eyes, blonde hair and fair skin.....she was the same girl whose picture she carried with herself since the day she was informed of her existence.

"Lower your weapons",she heard Rickard Romero order in a harsh voice.As if in a trance, Patricia stepped forward towards Amara, coming in her line of sight.

"Amara?",she asked softly, not daring to believe this unexpected turn of event.

Amara who had been staring at Bernard Romero the whole time, turned around and Patricia took another step forward, the men in the room too shocked to intervene.

"Amara,is that you?", she asked again.

The child finally looked at her and a beautiful smile lit up her face as she exclaimed,"Grandma!" .

In that moment Patricia felt as if a long forgotten prayer of hers had just been answered.

Before another word could be exchanged, Amara ran towards her and hugged her knees,smiling up at her she greeted, "Hello Grandma Pat."

Surprised at the way she was addressed, knowing that the Romero's wouldn't have mentioned the Sullivan's in any way Patricia slowly knelt on the ground in front of the child.

"Yes, I am your grandma Patricia. How do you know about me little one?", she asked curiously.

"Daddy", she replied back simply.

Patricia felt another presence next to her before she heard Sean's gentle voice,"Hello, my little flower I'm your grandpa Sean."

"Hello grandpa", she said, now appearing shy.

Before things could escalate any further, Bernard Romero addressed Amara,"Child, what are you doing here? Did you not like the theme park?".

As if suddenly remembering something, she turned and shook her head.

"No,nonno. I wanted to go there with you",she replied sweetly.

"I promised you that I would take you there sometime later princess and I will, you should have stayed with your aunt. But for now you need to go back to your room",he told her before turning to one of the guard,"Pietro take her."

"Now, wait here",Sean Sullivan said as he and his wife stood up from their positions.

"You can't send her away. I want to meet Amara properly. She's our granddaughter too Romero, don't forget that",he stated in a cold tone.

"You didn't even know that you had a granddaughter a few days ago", Bernard scoffed.

"Careful now",he hissed."If it weren't for your dog, you would not have known about her either",Sean said in a hard tone gesturing towards Pietro.

"Gentlemen please", Patricia interrupted before any more words could be exchanged."Maybe we should continue our discussion away from innocent ears",she said, glancing pointedly at Amara.

Both the Don's looked down to see a look of confusion and distress on the child's face.

"Very well. Let her be taken back to her room" Sean sighed, reluctantly.

Pietro walked forward and took her hand in his,"Let's go princess, it's time for bed."

Amara stood there gazing at both her grandfathers and Patricia with an adorable look of confusion on her face.

"Okay",she mumbled, but before she could leave she turned and asked to the shock of everyone, "Grandma will you come with me to read me a story?"

A look of surprise crossed Patricia's face before she composed herself and replied, "Not now little one, you go to bed it's getting late."

"But then will you be here when I wake up?",she pressed,"I want to show you my picture book."

Not knowing how to reply to that question the older woman just nodded.

"And you grandpa?",Amara asked Sean.

"I will, little flower",Sean replied back confidently.

"Promise?" ,she asked softly.

Sean walked towards her and bent down to plant a feather light kiss on her head. " I promise ", he whispered back softly.

Satisfied with the answer,she beamed up at him before turning to wave at Bernard one last time, who smiled softly at her before walking out with Pietro.

The smile on Bernard's face slipped as soon as the door was shut.

"I am giving you this chance, leave my land tonight with your family. I will not taint this place with blood, especially when I have promised safe passage for your family, which I admit I forgot about in the heat of the moment."

"I cannot, I just promised the little flower that I'll see her in the morning and I plan to keep my promise to her....Just as I plan to keep my promise to my wife", he replied back simply.

"I forbid it. Who knows what poisonous lies are you going to fill her head with against my family?", Bernard spat, not paying heed to the Irish Don's words.

Patricia gasped softly when she heard her husband's words and turned to look at him. He was staring at the spot where Amara had been standing with a look of wonder and contemplation on his face.

"I propose a deal",he said strongly, finally turning to look at his fuming Italian counterpart.

"Father wha—?"

"Stand down",he said harshly to Logan, who had stepped next to him with a look of incredulity on his face.

"What kind of deal?",Bernard Romero asked suspiciously.

"Leave us alone", Sean ordered his men. Taking the hint Bernard too, gestured for his guards to clear the room. Once the guards had left the room, only the family members remained inside along with the Romero family's consigliere Tony, who had been standing silently behind Rickard the whole time.

Now finding the room safe enough to disclose his deal Sean began,"One that we should have agreed on when we were informed about my son and your daughter's love for each other. One deal that we will need if we want to prevent any unnecessary bloodshed. One which will change our families present and future as we know it...... I propose an alliance between the Romero and the Sullivan families", he finished to the utter shock of everyone present in the room.

"Since the beginning of our respective families venture in the world of crime, there has never existed such an alliance. We have always remained rivals. Our father's and grandfathers never agreed to it. What made you think that I will agree to such a preposterous proposition then? " Bernard enquired curiously.

"There was no need for them to propose such an alliance. Never before had a Sullivan and a Romero fallen in love with each other and out of it borne a child with both the families blood flowing through her veins. I believe it is time that we put the feud behind us for the peaceful future of our only granddaughter", Sean answered

"Hypothetically speaking, if we agree on this alliance then what would it entail?",Bernard mused.

"A peace treaty between the two organisations for starters. With the history that we share it will be slightly unconventional, but necessary. "

"Slightly?", Bernard asked with raised eyebrows.

"What about Amara?", Rickard enquired impatiently.

"Both the families will get equal custody over her", Sean said at once.

"Not possible. I'm not letting you take her away", Bernard spat.

"Then the deal is off. The whole point of initiating this alliance is for Amara to know and live with both her families and that would not be possible if she stays in Italy alone. She has a family in New York also, one which is eagerly waiting to meet her."

"The risks are too high Don" , Tony interjected.

"Go on", Bernard ordered.

Clearing his throat under the hard stare of both the Sullivan men he began, "Not all of our allies would be happy if this alliance goes through. If the little princess goes to New York in such a situation, it could prove to be dangerous for her. She would be the lone thread tying two powerful rival familiestogether, a fragile thread at that. Our enemies too, would look to strike us down through her",Tony stated.

"Do you think that I'll let my granddaughter be exposed like that?" Sean asked in a dangerous voice.

"No sir, but it does not change the fact that she will be at a risk there. Even now, not all of the Romero allies know about her. ", Tony replied back respectfully.

"Those families are our allies but they have no authority or power to question our decisions Tony, my granddaughter will go wherever she so pleases without any fear of anyone. I'll personally eliminate any man or woman who even look at her with the slightest malice." Bernard said his words becoming ice cold by the end.

Sean nodded. "None of my allies would dare harm her and if they even try....." he left the threat hanging in the air ominously.

"I'm very curious Sullivan.... why this sudden change of heart now, after so long!? "

Sean sighed, deflating slightly "We did not give our children a choice when it counted , I'll regret it till the end of my day's, so will you.....", he said with a piercing stare at Bernard.

"But their child will get a choice ", he said not knowing what else to say to express his feelings on this matter.

"Our families may not be at war now, we are quite happy with our lives even, but being happy now doesn't undo what we did in the past, but being miserable and rehashing the same old enimity over and over won't undo it either......"

Bernard seemed startled by the sense his words made making Sean scowl.

"So this is your atonement? Is that why you are here? ", Bernard questioned.

"NEVER suggest such a thing again, caring and loving my granddaughter is not for any restitution. I have loved her even before I knew about her. No girl child has been born in my family line in the past four generations and now this little miracle has graced our life. It is only for her happiness and peace that I'm putting forward such an alliance",he stated,"The question now stands is do you care for her enough to forgo an age old of rivalry and bitterness, of hatred, mistrust and secret conspiracies?",Sean finished passionately.

The end of his speech was greeted by utter silence from all those present. The Italian head of mafia was staring at his life long rival piercingly, trying to evaluate the extent of his sincerity.

Finally after a long moment of silence he said, "It will not be easy ... we'll still clash.....but nothing that we wouldn't be able to overcome as long as Amara is safe and happy. Very well". He grudgingly offered his hand to Sean, a verbal agreement of a monumental alliance.

Sean stepped forward and grasped the offered hand, "For Amara", he stated.

His words echoed by Bernard too.

With this alliance,theirs and the child's lives were intertwined, rooted deeply in fate's fertile soil and as the last stars in the night sky began to fade with the influence of the blushing east, the light that shone on them was that of the rising sun...........of a new dawn.