Sullivan estate, Newyork.

Claire was standing next to the window in her room at the Sullivan mansion. A few hours had passed since she had returned back home. From her window she could she several men coming and going out of the mansion hurriedly.

"Ma'am please I've been ordered to not let you strain yourself, you need your rest, please come back to bed ", the nurse standing at the corner of the room pleaded to Claire but she paid her no mind as she continued looking outside the window.

Claire was feeling numb. She couldn't believe what had happened. Not many people could stand against the Sullivan family, they were a force to be reckoned with it. It was something that Claire had learnt shortly after her wedding with Patrick. And even though the immense power had scared her initially, she had always felt a sense of security through it.

Even at the time when war had almost broken out between the Romero's and them, the women of both the families were never attacked. Women belonging to the mafia families were very rarely dragged in the middle of any conflicts.

But after today Claire knew that the gender of the accused wouldn't matter to the high boss's of both the families. Why should they care about it if their enemies had first chosen to strike them down through this way?

Amara, the family's little princess was in the clutches of the enemies, she didn't want to think about what could be happening to her now. Claire took solace in the fact that very soon Amara would be back home with them and after that she would never be exposed as she had been when with Claire.

Claire couldn't believe how irresponsible she had been. She should never have taken the kids out on her own. Tears pooled in her eyes as she remembered a helpless Amara's screams and Cian's broken expression when he realized who exactly was behind the ambush but she quickly brushed them away.

Her eyes roamed the compound grounds as if searching for the giggling and running figure of Amara, desperately hoping for the morning events to be nothing more than a bad nightmare.

Disappointed and tired she was about to turn away when she heard loud bangs and shouts coming from outside. She quickly searched the source and her breathing quickened when she saw the bloody figures of two men being dragged inside the manor roughly.

Even through the blood that covered the first man's face, Claire recognised him at once. It was imprinted in her mind and she could recognise him anywhere, she had seen it from very close up afterall.

She knew they would be taken to her husband Patrick who was holding a meeting with the members of the organization in his office. He and Caden had arrived only an hour ago and after checking up on her he had left to discuss the situation with the elite members who had arrived soon after the news of Amara's kidnapping had spread.

Quickly she turned around and limped towards the door, a pained hiss escaping her as she put pressure on her left foot which had been sprained when she fell down.

The nurse's eyes widened when she saw that Claire was walking towards the door. "Ma'am -", she began in her high pitch voice but Claire waved her off and closed the door behind her.

Very slowly she limped all the way to her husband's office only to find it empty. Confused as to where everyone had disappeared she turned around only to see a guard passing through the corridor who stopped at the sight of her.

"Do you know where my husband is? ", She asked the man as she limped towards him.

"The Boss is at the basement floor ma'am ", he replied at once.

"Very well ", Claire nodded and made her way to the elevators.

In almost twelve years of her marriage, Claire could count the number of times that she had been on the basement floor on her one hand which was to say very few times. It was a floor reserved solely for business purposes , and Claire had learnt well enough to not think about what kind of business went down there.

The elevator doors opened and she stepped outside to the shock of the guards present there. But she didn't acknowledge them and tried to move herself as quickly as she could towards the close door at the corner, behind which she knew her husband would be present.

"Ma'am you can't enter ",the guard standing outside the door said hurriedly but Claire had already pushed the door open.

Nothing could've prepared her to the sight that greeted her when she took a step inside. Her eyes widened in disbelief when she saw a man hanging upside-down through the chains that were attached to the roof. Three guards surrounded him, all three carrying long iron rods which were stained with red, it quite clearly indicated to her the purpose they had served.

"Claire what are you doing here? ", Patrick asked her as he strode towards her from the opposite side of the room where he had been standing. He quickly pulled Claire towards him shielding her from the sight of the upside-down man.

"Darling, what are you doing out of bed? The doctor said that your blood pressure is very high, you need to rest" Patrick murmured in her ear.

"I couldn't ", she replied.

Patrick's eyes did a quick scan of her figure, darkening when they came to rest on her arms which were wrapped in gauze from all the deep scratches that she had attained during the scuffle when she was holding onto Amara and the O'Reilly guards had forced her to lose her grip on her.

"This is not the place for you Claire, you should have sent a guard to me if you needed me for anything ", Patrick told her as he began walking her towards the exit.

"No, stop ", she told him as she looked around the room searching for the person for whom she had come here in the first place. She finally found him at the far corner on his knees, his hands bound tightly with chains.

"Patrick, he's one of them ", she told him her anxiety rising.

"I know that he's one of the O'Reilly guard darling, I was interrogating him right now ", he replied trying to calm his suddenly frantic wife down.

"No, you don't understand. He's the one who pulled Amara away from me and took her to the car while Jordan had his gun pointed at Cian", she cried.

At once Patrick's head whipped towards the man, his nostrils flaring as he breathed out angrily.

"That is something that you very conveniently left out of your confession", Patrick said coldly as he slowly began walking towards him.

Terrified the O'Reilly guard crawled backwards but his back hit the wall.

"I didn't know anything about the mission that we were being taken to until the very last moment, not many guards did. It was kept under tight wraps until we attacked the Sullivan cars, please, I swear I'm not lying".

"That dose not change what you did, does it. You dared to touch my niece? My wife? ", Patrick screamed at him as he landed a solid kick to the man's torso.

Claire winced slightly. She was sure that he had definitely broken a rib or two.

"Mr. Sullivan, we need him alive", the McIntyre employ said hesitantly when Patrick kicked him hard a few more times.

Patrick glared at him darkly making him gulp but he stopped his attack.

"Tell me what else you've been hiding, don't forget that your wife's life is in my hands. One snap of my fingers and even her essence will ceaze to exist ", he growled.

"I've already given you the exact location ", he breathed out clutching his chest.

"What about Aiden O'Reilly? Where is he?"

"I.... I don't know ".

"You want to play games, do you? Let's play it then. Bring her in", Patrick ordered harshly making Claire's eyes widen. ' What is about to happen? 'she thought.

The O'Reilly guard sprawled across the floor tried to get up when the door opened but another harsh blow by Patrick made him lose his balance and he fell again.

"Oh my God ! JAMES !", a woman screamed as she tried to reach him but was held back.

"Let my wife go, please! She is innocent in all this, she doesn't have anything to do with the O'Reilly and Sullivan dispute " the man now known as James pleaded.

"Innocent, huh? Wasn't my wife innocent? Wasn't my eight year old niece innocent too? Did you think about it before kidnapping her? ", he asked him rhetorically.

"Tell me where Aiden O'Reilly is and her life will be spared. Unlike you scum, we Sullivan's don't kill women until absolutely necessary. I will let her go if you tell me what I want to know fast. I don't have much time left and frankly neither do you ", Patrick stated in a hard tone.

"I don't know where he is ", James replied automatically.

"That's it ", Patrick shouted and stepped towards the woman, his gun in his hands.

"Wait, wait! Stop! Please! I swear I don't know where that fucker has disappeared but I know something that's even more valuable to you. It's about the girl ", he shouted desperately.

"What about Amara?", Patrick asked at once stopping in his tracks.

"Sh- she is going to be shifted to another location tonight ", James replied.

"Where and when?" Patrick asked furious at this turn of event.

"At midnight today. Please understand that I have no hand in it. Jordan is the one who has made the arrangements. He's the one who is getting direct orders from Aiden" , James tried to defend himself.

"Where? ", Patrick hissed.

"I don't know where exactly but I heard bits of what they are planning ",

James gulped trying to force the words out which might very well end his life in the next moment.

"Spit it out ", Patrick commanded sharply.

" She is to be sold in the African trafficking business ", he blurted out finally.

The silence that met with the confession was broken by Claire's shriek of denial. "NO", she screamed loudly her hands over her mouth in disbelief.

Patrick's eyes clenched shut at what he heard. His blood was boiling by the mere thought of little Amara being forced into- into....he couldn't even complete the thought in his mind. He would kill Aiden O'Reilly slowly and painfully for what he had planned.

He opened his visibly darkened eyes and Jordan gasped before taking a step behind. Patrick wanted to crush the man in front of him like one would do to a cockroach but he controlled himself. James was important for the rescue mission, now more then even, he couldn't kill him just yet for not sharing this information at the start.

" Over the dead body of the Romero and Sullivan men will he succeed in it ", called a harsh voice from behind and Patrick turned around only to see Rickard Romero standing at the door along with his men.

Rickard strode inside the room and came to stand next to him."I will burn the entire fucking world down if there is even a scratch on my niece ", Rickard snarled.

"I was told that you won't be reaching the country until sometime later ", Patrick asked him not bothering with any pleasantries in the current situation.

"Father is the one who's flying from Italy. I was in Oklahoma for some business and I'd planned to surprise Amara before returning back home. Never thought that I would be the one getting surprised instead ", he said.

Before Patrick could reply they heard a mobile phone going off. All eyes turned to the table where the phone that was confiscated from James had been kept.

One guard quickly handed the phone to Patrick who flipped it open to see an unknown number flashing across the screen.

"It's probably one of you buddies. You remember what you have to say, don't you? One slip and I'll kill your wife brutally in front of your eyes ",Patrick threatened.

"I remember what I have to do", he said desperately and Patrick quickly moved towards him ready to press the green button.

"Cover her mouth ", Rickard ordered the guard restraining James' wife.

"Ready? ", Patrick asked James who took a deep breath before nodding.

Patrick pressed the green button before putting the phone on loud speaker .

"Hey man James, how much time does it take to get a few cans of beer?", an unknown male voice echoed in the silent basement room.

"It's not easy to maneuver myself in this place. It's streaming with the Sullivan and Avdonin guards. I'm hiding inside the backroom of the bar currently ", James replied.

"Oh Shit ", the man swore, " Jordan needs to know this".

"No he doesn't, it's safe now, they all left sometime ago. But you need to report back something else to Jordan", he said calmly. His eyes met Patrick's who nodded at him telling him to go ahead with the plan.

"Tell Jordan that the false trail that he had left is the one that the Sullivan guards are following. I heard a few of them speaking before they left, they believe that we are on our way to Portland through the ship. They are planning a mid sea attack. Sean Sullivan has apparently called his allies in Portland who'll be ready for an attack at the port ".

"Oh, woah that's great news. We can hopefully rest easy now ", the man exclaimed happily. "Jordan,the old fucker was making us stand guard outside the warehouse as far as a mile in this goddamn cold weather. Fucking bastard. Hope he loosens up on us for some time now", he grumbled.

James pretended to agree along with him, " I'll be there as soon as I collect more information. Don't call me back again. I don't want to risk the Sullivan's tracing my call."

Patrick waited for the man to agree before cutting the call.

"You did well but your work isn't complete yet. Get him cleaned up, he's going to meet his buddies soon" . Patrick ordered and James was pulled to his feet before being dragged outside followed by his wife.

"I want our men to be divided in units of six each, see to it that every unit has atleast two senior members", he started issuing orders at once.

"Make use of the Romero guards too. Pietro can help to sort everything out" Rickard interjected.

"Of course", Patrick nodded.

"We have to proceed with great caution, not even a single man should be able to escape. Especially the one named Jordan, he is to be brought back alive. But bear in mind that our top priority is getting Amara out of there safe and sound, my niece is not to be harmed even accidently in any crossfire ", Patrick continued saying.

"Go and complete your assigned duties. There is no room for any mistakes or blunders here. We will leave in exact thirty minutes. Dismissed. " Patrick commanded.

"Yes Boss",was the collective reply before the room started to clear up

"Pietro go and handle the Romero side of guards ", Rickard commanded and Pietro also left the room.

"What about that O'Reilly woman? Where is she? I'll kill her for her part in this", Rickard said furiously.

"She's being held in her room under a heavy guard. Her fate will be decided only after father and Logan reach here". Rickard nodded satisfied to hear that she was being held under surveillance.

Patrick turned towards his wife who had turned as white as a sheet. He quickly pulled her in his arms not caring about the presence of Rickard in the room. He was glad that the guards had removed the figure of the other O'Reilly guard that he had been torturingfrom the room as soon as Claire had stepped inside.

"Breath Claire", he murmured to her.

She took in a shuddering breath before throwing her arms around his neck and breaking down completely.

"Get her back Patrick",she cried.

"I promise ",he said confidently before kissing her forehead and picking her up bridal style.

"You can make your way to the compound, I'll leave my wife at the bedroom before joining you in a few minutes",Patrick said to Rickard before making his way out and to the elevator.

He kicked open his bedroom door and walked inside and placed Claire gently on the bed. He sat next to her taking her hands in his, "Everything will be alright darling. You don't worry about anything, ok? There will be guards outside your door and in the estate as well. You and the boys are safe here. "

Claire nnodded."Come back safely", she said as he got up from the bed.

"Always ", he promised her before leaving the room.

*******

After a ride of almost two hours the rescue team finally reached the outskirts of the warehouse where Amara was being held.

It was just like the O'Reilly guard had told his father, the warehouses was hidden by a thick cover of vegetation. They had to leave their cars behind on the main path and walk down the rest of the trail which was at a distance of fifteen minutes from the main road. The trek inside would have been rough and loud if it wasn't for the fact that most of them were trained for these kinds of situations.

"Are you sure this is the place? What if he's lying to us", Rickard asked Patrick jerking his head towards James.

"Yes, this is it. My own sources reported back that many O'Reilly organization members were seen in the nearby area", Patrick answered from his crouched position behind the large trunk of a tree.

His plan had worked wonderfully. They had not encountered even a single O'Reilly guard on their way to the warehouse, which could only mean that Jordan had believed James' information to be true. The only problem now were the guards guarding the gates of the building but Patrick had brought the solution with him.

"It's time for you to play your part now. Go, you already know what needs to be done ", he said to James who nodded and stepped out from behind the trunk and began making his way to the warehouse hurriedly.

"Everyone come inside right now, I have some important information that everyone needs to know ", James ordered the guards who followed him inside.

After a few minutes the guards standing near the window left their posts too.

"It's time ", Rickard called out loudly to their guards not bothering to tone his voice down. They were free to attack now since James had gathered all the O'Reilly guards under one roof under the pretense of sharing top secret information.