Is this destiny?

Later that afternoon…

Sarah and Aiden went through the files which Owen sent. It is the information related to locations and other data of the bases owned by the Voronin family (their branch families, to be precise). The data is scattered and for some, it's only a location, and for others, it's a general area with a vague description of manpower, but few locations have relatively comprehensive data.

The USB was encrypted, but they had no problems cracking it.

Sarah was curious about the contents, but Aiden had some additional thoughts.

"How did Owen know that you can crack this without damaging the data?", Aiden asked Sarah with concern obvious in his voice.

Sarah shrugged indicating that she is not sure and gave him her best guess: "Considering that I'm Milena's daughter he assumed that either I can do it, or I can get someone to do it for me. He knows that I attended Tesla University and that currently I'm a security software engineer at the White corp."

"You are not worried that he knows too much?", Aiden persisted.

Sarah pressed her lips into a line and looked at Aiden while her conversation with Owen from Interlaken repeated in her mind. "Of course, I am worried. His strength is intelligence gathering and he probably knows about us more than what we are comfortable with. However, my mom trusts him, and you can't deny that this is useful information."

Aiden exhaled in frustration. He can't argue against that. If Stella trusts Owen, that means that he passed many trials over the years, and the information is useful. And that brings Aiden to his next point…

"Why would he give you this?"

"I asked him to.", Sarah said.

Actually, Sarah asked Stella to see if she can get any information on Voronins since they are staying in the base of Lebedev's. Owen providing them this information must be because Stella requested.

Sarah and Aiden are hitting dead ends no matter how much they are trying to find additional data related to the network of the Voronin family online, and they are not keen on setting off to missions with few hints and a lot of guesses. Not yet, at least. 

"You asked him to, and he risked his neck for this?", Aiden thought that some things don't add up. "He provided you with the information related to Voronins and didn't want to know why you want it? Even if he didn't ask you, he asked Stella. I have a hard time believing that he would buy the story of how you want this so that you can investigate enemies of Lebedev family…"

Sarah realized that Aiden is going deeper into this, and he is on the right track with his assumptions. Ah, she forgot to tell him!

Sarah raised her hand to get him to stop talking, and she admitted guiltily: "Aiden, love, there is a thing I forgot to tell you."

Based on Sarah's expression, Aiden can see that this is important. "Go ahead."

"You remember at our wedding party that Owen invited me for a dance? He is aware that my parents staying there is not because they love the Lebedev family, but because they want to keep them away from us. During that dance, he told me that he will do anything he can to keep Stella and Edward safe. Our talk ended with me asking him for information related to Vasily."

"These are related to Voronin family.", Aiden pointed out the fact.

"I'm not done…" Sarah took a moment to carefully pick her words before responding: "Since my parents joined Lebedevs with our interest in mind, and Owen is there to assist them… Remember when you joined me at the Cabin for training with my mom and she found out about your skills? And then a few days later she knew about the camp you attended as a teenager?" Sarah saw Aiden nod before saying: "It was Owen who helped her dig out that information."

Aiden inhaled sharply when he realized: "He knows about me and my connection to Voronins?"

Sarah confirmed. "Yes."

"That was one year ago! Why didn't you tell me earlier?", Aiden asked angrily.

Sarah scrambled to answer before Aiden blows up completely. "I found out only at our wedding. I thought of telling you right away, but Marija made a scene, and Michael's eyes were hurt and we went to Grindelwald and the Adriatic Sea and Greece and with every passing magical moment that information was being pushed further back in my mind. I didn't mean to hide it from you. I am sorry."

Aiden's expression was unreadable, and Sarah was confident that he will scold her, but then his face broke into a smug smile and he asked: "Magical moments?"

Sarah sighed internally in relief. Luckily, she managed to pacify her devil and the calamity (aka the argument) was avoided.

She moved to sit in his lap and snaked her arms around his neck. "Yes. Ever since you asked me to work on your project at the University one and a half years ago, you are sprinkling magic in my life and I must admit that I am addicted."

Aiden hummed in approval and gave her few quick kisses before asking: "Is there something else you forgot to tell me?"

Sarah's eyes shifted nervously over his face while trying to figure out if he has anything specific on his mind or is this a random question. Didn't she pacify him only a minute ago? "About?"

"What else others know about me, or about us, that I am not aware of?"

Sarah swallowed hard. This is probably the best opportunity to tell him about her loss of pregnancy when they were captured, but she could not make herself say it.

She remembered one thing that she can say.

"During that dance, Owen pointed out the possibility that Ivan, Vasily's right-hand man, is working against Vasily. Owen was not a hundred percent sure and he had no solid proof, but I see no reason why he would lie about this. Owen implied that we could use Ivan's lack of loyalty to get close to Vasily."

Aiden bobbed his head, indicating that he does not see the value in that information. "Maybe your mom can do something with these internal disputes within Lebedevs because she is there. From here, we have no use of that."

Sarah agreed. "Maybe. But we should look into this…", Sarah gestured toward the screen which is showing the world map with dots representing bases. Eve was already cross-referencing the information of what Sarah and Aiden know with what Owen provided, and filling up some of the gaps.

Sarah looked at the map in silence for some time before sharing her thoughts. "If the information here is correct, Voronins have presence stronger than Lebedevs in South America and Africa, and they are about equal in Europe and Asia. We will start with a few low-key missions to confirm if this information is correct, and take it from there…"

Aiden and Sarah discussed strategies, and they agreed that they will do planning together for any expansion of their influence. In this way, they will (partially) combine resources of the Army of Chaos and the White foundation and enforce that those two are strong allies. Aiden will lead the White foundation to focus on defense, while Sarah is leading the Army of Chaos in retaliation and attacks for both.

They share an understanding that this should not be rushed. Their base in Italy is about one month away from being fully operational, and the Ceresc Solutions (aka their base in Romania) is set to officially start working in September. Sarah and Aiden don't want to take on too much at the same time, because the priority is to reinforce existing locations, before spreading further. 

But this is perfect. While two bases in Europe are being completed, they will focus on scouting and planning.

By dinner time, they picked a number of bases belonging to Voronins that will be scouted, and Sarah said that she will discuss this with Noah. For these missions, they will send their seasoned army members, and leave their kids to enjoy their summer.

Aiden's lip twitched at the mention of Noah, but he forced his green monster to calm down because whatever Noah is up to, it's just wishful thinking.

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