Is this destiny?

On the fourth floor of the hotel…

JoAnna and Jeff are exiting Michael's room.

JoAnna examined Michael's eyes and the burns on his arms, gave him medicine and bandages and told him to rest. Oni said that she will stay with him to make sure he keeps his eyes closed (how much possible), and she will pass him things as needed.

As soon as they closed the door behind them, JoAnna was about to comment to Jeff how Michael and Oni made progress in their relationship (she saw that they are treating each other differently), but she halted her words when she saw Stella and Edward in the hallway, standing and looking their way.

"Are you waiting for us?", JoAnna asked when she observed her parents.

Edward confirmed: "Can we talk?" He gestured toward their room.

JoAnna and Jeff exchanged glances and followed after them.

…

"We got our hands on some information from Lebedevs.", Edward started talking and turned to JoAnna. "I believe that it is related to the drugs they used to put Aiden in a coma. If you know the chemical signature, components, and their ratio, will you be able to confirm if that is the genuine thing?"

Edward and Stella discussed the contents of the USB which Ivan gave to Owen and decided that they want to disclose that information to Sophia, JoAnna and Sarah, with condition that it's true. And for some parts (like drug cocktail that was given to Aiden), there is no one better than JoAnna to help them in confirming if the information is genuine or not.

They already know that JoAnna will talk with Jeff about it, so they don't see the point in keeping him away from this discussion, so here they are...

JoAnna didn't need to think before answering Edward's question: "As you know, when we found Aiden, some of the drugs were already absorbed into his system and we were unable to figure exactly what they gave him. But depending on what you have, I might be able to tell you if it's a partial match, or to dismiss it as such."

"What will you do if it's a match?", Jeff asked while his eyes moved from Stella to Edward.

Stella answered: "At this point, we are trying to confirm if the information is accurate or not."

"Also, if the formula is correct, JoAnna can keep it in her arsenal. You never know if it can come in handy.", Edward added.

"You think that someone would give you false information on the drug that was used on Aiden eight months ago? Why?", JoAnna questioned.

Stella shrugged, indicating that she is not sure. "Lebedevs are always full of schemes. Everyone has an agenda. First, we need to find out if this is the accurate information or not. And then we need to figure out why would someone leak it to us."

"I'm asking you to can keep this from others at this time, especially from Sarah and Aiden.", Edward said.

JoAnna frowned. "Why?"

"This might be a sensitive topic for them considering that they are the ones who went through that. And the more people knows about this, the possibility that it will reach their ears is increasing.", Edward explained while cautiously picking his words. "To be honest, there is more than just the information related to those drugs and we want to make sense of it first."

"How much more information?", JoAnna probed.

Edward responded: "It covers the communication of King and his men as well as medical information while Sarah and Aiden were missing in October."

"Where did you get this… information?", Jeff asked.

"One of King's men, Ivan handed it to us.", Edward said reluctantly. 

Jeff frowned when he heard that it's from King. "Why would he do that?"

"We don't know.", Stella responded. "That is what we are trying to understand. Is he trying to help us or to sabotage us? And why would he do that? What are his motives? At this point we are full of questions, and we are hoping that you can help us get some answers. We promise that if what we have is true and relevant, we will share it with you."

"Who determines what is relevant?", Jeff asked suspiciously. He does not like the idea that this is related to Sarah and Aiden and they were supposed to keep them in the dark.

Jeff knows that if it's related to him, he would like to know no matter what it is, because even if the information is false, that means how someone is using him for their own agenda. No matter how he looks at this, it's not good.

Edward and Stella were troubled, unsure how to answer this without angering Jeff.

Stella exhaled loudly. "How about this? Whatever we find that is true, we will share with the two of you and then together we can decide who else will know."

Jeff was still not appeased. "How do we know that you shared everything with us?"

"You don't.", Edward said irritably. Why is Jeff questioning them like they are the ones who did something wrong? Youngsters don't have respect for their elders these days. He took a deep breath to adjust his mood before speaking further: "You need to trust us. We came to you, that should tell you that we are willing to cooperate. We don't want to hide this from Sarah or Aiden or anyone else, but if the information does not bring any value and can be hurtful, maybe we should consider keeping it to ourselves."

Jeff pursed his lips and looked at JoAnna who met his gaze and gave a small nod, encouraging him to give in.

Jeff exhaled. "Fine. Who knows about this?"

"At this point, the four of us.", Stella responded.

Just as Stella finished her sentence, the door of their suite opened suddenly, and Sarah rushed in.

Few minutes ago...

When Sarah didn't find Stella on the upper terrace, Sarah remembered that she can use her phone to access Eve and to locate her mother and… here she is: breathing heavily while her eyes are darting between faces of the four people in the living area.

Back to present...

Edward is looking at Sarah in disbelief. Did she just barge into their room without knocking? Well, she probably has a reason for doing so. "What brings you here?"

Sarah glanced at her phone which is still in her hand and instructed Eve to block any recording or audio streaming from that room, and texted Aiden that she is chatting with her parents and she will join him when they are done. 

When she got an 'OK' response from Aiden, Sarah kept her phone on the side and her eyes got fixed on Stella. "The USB you got from Ivan. I want it."

All four people in the room stared at Sarah and then glanced at each other. 

"So much for 'only we know about this'.", JoAnna said sarcastically. 

"How do you know about the USB?", Stella asked. Less than a second later, she grimaced and mumbled: "Owen."

"I thought you said it's only us.", JoAnna reminded Stella. "Now it's Owen as well? Are you sure you are not missing someone else?"

Stella exhaled and waved at JoAnna, indicating her to drop the topic. What matters now is that Sarah knows, and she is right here, expecting answers.

Sarah's expression showed that she is not in the mood to wait.

"The USB.", Sarah said impatiently and extended her hand, palm up, toward Stella and Edward.

---

If you are not reading this at 'W e b n o v e l .. c o m', then the content you're reading is stolen! Please support the author by reading this novel from the original source.