Is this destiny?

Stella and Edward were not happy to hear that they are leaving in three days.

"All of you are going? In three days?", Stella asked when she got a hold of Sarah and Aiden in the hallway as they left the living room where kids exploded into a loud chatter after the news that they will go to the White Rock Lake and to one mysterious location.

The excitement in the living room was tangible and they could hear kids talking about all the activities they had on previous outings with the hope that some of those will be repeated. 

"Yes.", Sarah confirmed their departure schedule and explained: "We came here to deal with a few things, and that was accomplished. We are taking Vasily with us. Anna will make sure he gets the best care, and I already have all equipment necessary for taking care of someone who is in a coma. If he is not required to stay in the LA Medical Center, he will be at the Cliffside Villa. Don\'t worry, he will not lack anything, and we will not mistreat him."

Stella was not worried that Vasily will be mistreated. She knew that Sarah, JoAnna, and Sophia regret misunderstanding Vasily and that they are hoping to make it up to him. But Stella wished to delay their departure somehow.

How Stella sees it, her daughters arrived with their husbands and kids at the base of the Lebedev family more than a month ago, but they were always in a rush to deal with one emergency or another. Finally, they can relax and create nice memories, but instead of spending joyful time together, they are leaving.

"But we didn\'t finish reorganizing Lebedevs." Stella hoped that this will delay their departure.

Sarah didn\'t think that the reorganization of Lebedevs is the reason for her to stay behind. "We will meet tomorrow morning to find out what you, Konstantin, Dimitri, and Todor came up with. I will give you my feedback if needed, but you will mostly work with Sophia. Day after tomorrow is your last day to show me what you can handle. Anything that is left, will be taken care of either by me or by some ally, and if there are any pending issues, we can sync up online. Don\'t worry about it."

Sarah already decided that whatever Stella, Konstantin, Dimitri, and Todor can\'t manage with their current people, Sarah will absorb in the Army of Chaos, or if it\'s inconvenient, she will give it to Nero Armi, or to Mr. Wang, or to Ellie, or to the White family, which will depend on the type of the asset in question and its geographical location.

Stella didn\'t like that Sarah is giving everyone a task, yet she will be idle. "Anna will take care of Vasily, we will work with Sophia, and what will you do?"

"I will go with Aiden to visit training facilities and several warehouses that are nearby. I should familiarize myself with the organization I am leading.", Sarah said with a smile. She was curious to find out more about the Lebedevs, and she also hoped to see what can be used by the Army of Chaos. 

Sarah has no intentions of leading several different organizations, and she is ready to leave Lebedevs in the hands of Konstantin, Stella, and whoever else is interested. But she can\'t leave them on their own without supervision because she fears that they would revert to their old ways and be a threat to Sarah and her family. That is why Sarah plans to have members of the Army of Chaos within the Lebedevs (or what will be left of them) so that she makes sure they stick to whatever operations they are doing without targeting the Hill sisters.

Ideally, Sarah would absorb Lebedevs and Voronins as branches of the Army of Chaos, extinguishing any resistance by shutting down bases that oppose the idea, but she is pregnant and this is not the right time to start another war.

Currently, Lebedevs and Voronins are not a threat, and Sarah will let it be like this. For now. 

Sarah and Aiden agreed to leave Lebedevs and Voronins in this state, at least until Sarah has her baby, and to treat this period as probation where they will observe if they can coexist or not.

Stella was about to say something, but Edward patted her shoulder, telling her silently to let it go. Their daughters are set on returning to Los Angeles, where their homes are, and they should not try to keep them here or anywhere else. 

"What about Ivan?", Edward asked.

"We will take him with us.", Sarah responded after some time. She does not want to do anything with Ivan, and she would be happiest if she does not see him ever again. However, with the possibility of Vasily waking up, Sarah wants to keep the rat alive. Ivan betrayed not only her, but Vasily as well and she is confident that Vasily would want to confront Ivan when he wakes up.

They will move Ivan to Los Angeles because Ivan knows people here and there is always a chance that someone might help Ivan escape. By keeping him at the Army of Chaos, Sarah will assure that Ivan is not going anywhere.

Aiden saw that Stella and Edward are not happy, and he guessed the reason behind it. "You are welcome to visit us anytime. With Sarah\'s pregnancy progressing, I want her to take it easy and rest, and that includes reduced travels. We are planning a few relaxing vacations before school starts in September, and if you wish, you can join us."

With this explanation, Stella and Edward relaxed a bit.

"Let us know where you are going and when, and we will see if we can join.", Edward said with a smile. He would love to come, but considering the mess Sarah is leaving behind her for the Lebedevs, it seems that Stella will be busy.

"Will you talk to your parents?", Stella asked Aiden and he understood that she is implying to the talk that is related to the connection between Whites and Voronins.

"Jeff wants to talk to them, and I will be by his side. But if it\'s up to me, I would probably not bring up anything.", Aiden shared his thoughts on the topic.

Aiden created a wall between himself and his parents as soon as they found out that Voronins were within the White family, and Aiden was fine with that. He didn\'t want to confirm that his parents manipulated him (or Jeff) in order to increase their money or power, no matter what their reasons were. Sure, it all ended well, but what if things went differently? What if Jeff is not a competent leader? What if Voronins got their hands on Aiden while he was in high school? What if JoAnna and Sarah are not amazing young ladies? What if they didn\'t fall for each other? There are so many ifs that could bring the lives of both Jeff and Aiden in a different direction, and Aiden does not want to think about it.

"Sometimes is better to get things out in the open. It\'s probably not as bad as you imagine.", Edward said, pulling Aiden out of his thoughts.

Aiden shrugged. "And sometimes is better not to go through dirty laundry. I don\'t care why they allowed Voronins to get close, or why they put me in that camp, or if they had any part in setting me up to get close to Sarah twenty years ago or four years ago. What matters to me is that Sarah accepts me for who I am and that we are about to expand our already big family. Those are the only things I want to focus on."

Aiden turned to Sarah and met her eyes full of love.

"No matter if you want to talk to Oscar and Nori or not, I will support you.", Sarah said, making Aiden smile.

"I know. I don\'t want to, but I can\'t leave Jeff on his own to handle this. It would not be fair.", he responded.

Sarah nodded. "OK."

Aiden turned to Edward and Stella. "I don\'t hate my parents. But I fear that if I find out more, I might. How I see it, choosing ignorance is a better option, however, my brother is adamant to find out about their reasons and how much they influenced our lives. The only thing I can do is to stand by his side and let him know that he is not on his own."

Everyone sees Jeff as someone who is impressive and independent, but Aiden knows that Jeff found strength while believing that Oscar and Elanor support him and that they are proud of him. It was a heavy blow to Jeff when he found out what his parents did behind their backs, and Jeff fears that his whole life was a lie. Aiden will stand by Jeff and be the rock that Jeff needs because he can\'t let his big brother believe that the whole world is collapsing and that he needs to brave the storm on his own.

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