Is this destiny?

Natalia's mind was spinning. The young woman in front of her is the Grand Elder of the Lebedev family? Not possible, but... Why would Vasily lie? And next to him are three other Elders.

"What will you do with us?", Natalia asked weakly. She understood that these are Lebedevs and that her current situation is not good.

Sarah straightened her back and her eyes swept over the captives before settling back on Natalia. "You kidnapped my husband, shot my dog, and killed my people. What do you think I will do to you?"

Aiden inhaled sharply. Sarah told him about the Lebedevs and that Marija and Nick participated in the attack and that it's over, but she didn't tell him more than that. He guessed that the dog that was shot is Hero because he is not present, but who are the people that got killed? Aiden exhaled and told himself to calm down. He will ask Sarah for details later.

Natalia paled. Out of all people, they kidnapped the husband of the Grand Elder of the Lebedev family! How can they be so unfortunate? But she will not go down without a fight. "You can't kill us! The Lebedev and Voronin families always avoided direct conflicts. If you kill us, that is a declaration of war! Do you know how many people will die?"

Sarah tilted her head. "Did you accuse me of starting a war AFTER you kidnapped my husband and tried to brainwash him and hook him up with one of your bimbos? After what you did, keeping the status quo between our organizations is something I'm NOT willing to maintain. And also, you didn't offend only the Lebedev family, you dared to attack MY family!"

Sarah pulled a black mask over her face and enjoyed the horror on Natalia's face. Several other captives gasped in shock when the generals and army members mimicked Sarah's action and put masks on their faces, Aiden included.

"You really didn't know with whom you are messing…", Sarah squeezed through her teeth and clasped Natalia's neck with her left hand.

Kitty, Atlas, and Vega growled, sensing that their human-mommy is angry.

Natalia struggled to break free. "I didn't know! We got him only because he is a good fighter!"

"That does not change the fact that you dared to touch him. Do you think that a good fighter does not have any background? Or were you banking that after he forgets who he is and accepts another woman, it will not count!?"

Sarah let go of Natalia and turned to Svetlana.

Svetlana's heart was beating so fast that she thought she will pass out. "She made me do it! I didn't want to!"

'PAK!'

A heavy slap landed on Svetlana's already throbbing cheek.

"I saw you trying to get your hands on my husband by offering walks under the moonlight and massages. And you dared to come back the second time. The only thing that troubled you was that he rejected you!"

'PAK!'

"I didn't want to do it…", Svetlana sobbed. "But Natalia said that we are out of time…"

Sarah gritted her teeth and leaned slowly toward Svetlana. "What's the rush? Can't wait to get your hands on my husband?"

"There is a competition organized by the main family, and registration ends in three days."

Sarah paused at Natalia's words.

"Competition?"

Natalia nodded fervently, happy that Sarah is looking at her with curiosity which is definitely much better than bloodlust. "The Voronin family is organizing a competition because many capable people perished or left. The winners will get relevant positions. Every base has the right to send fighters. We have fighters, but no one is outstanding. We wanted to see how good Alex is, with the hope that he can represent us."

Sarah thought that this might be something they can use. She glanced at Michael.

"Take them all away. Do they have anything good?"

Michael confirmed. "There are weapons, electronics, and storage which we still need to check."

Sarah smiled. "You know what to do."

Natalia's eyes widened when she saw that after a few hand gestures from Michael, people who were standing motionlessly nearby started approaching them.

She knows that this is the Army of Chaos and she heard that they are ruthless. No one is left behind, and they take with them anything that is valuable before the base becomes a ghost-town. But she didn't know that they are related to the Lebedev family.

"You can't kill me! I know things! I can be useful!", Natalia screamed.

Sarah's hand moved like a flash and she hit the base on Natalia's neck, making her unable to talk. "I am aware that you know things and you will be useful. There is no need to shout. Take here away!"

Sophia, JoAnna, Jeff, and Felix approached Aiden and started asking questions. The kids had questions also, but they all silently agreed to focus on their tasks first.

JoAnna demanded to do a checkup on Aiden, but he rejected. "Other than the headache, I feel fine. You can do a checkup when we get out of here."

"What will you do?", Stella asked Sarah as the prisoners were being taken away.

"We will interrogate them. My men are looking at the things in this base; anything useful will be taken, and what's left will be destroyed.", Sarah explained. 

"Voronins will find out about this.", Gavril said with concern obvious in his voice.

Sarah didn't deny it. "It will take some time for them to know what happened here because they expect that a base like this will reach out to them if there is any news. We killed all electronic communication and blocked all exits; they had no way of alerting others. By the time they find out, it will be too late."

"Too late for what?", Dimitri asked suspiciously.

"This is war. No one can touch my husband and go unpunished.", Sarah said matter-of-factly. 

Gavril blinked a few times rapidly while Sarah's words sank in. "You are going against the whole Voronin family?"

"We are.", Sarah corrected him.

"You are crazy.", Dimitri said.

Sarah shrugged. "People have called me worse. You have two choices. Join me or not. If you stay on the side, I will not bother with you, but I advise you not to get in my way because blood ties don't mean much to me. I reward people for loyalty and I deliver punishments when someone acts against me. It's that simple."

Sarah walked toward Aiden and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Let me show you our new home.", Sarah said to Aiden softly. "Our bedroom has an amazing terrace that is overlooking the garden... Oh, and we should meet with Mr. Wang and Suvedini to thank them for their help in finding you before they return to their business. I want to find something suitable as presents."

Vasily bobbed his head happily. He knew that Sarah will be awesome as the Grand Elder. Things are changing!

Vasily went after Milena to ask a few more things about those helicopters. She didn't respond if those are only for Sarah or if he can get one. And he had more questions about the Army of Chaos.

"She is crazy…", Dimitri repeated to Gavril.

Gavril pressed his lips into a line, and he observed Sarah and Aiden who were walking away with five animals behind them.

"If this conversation happened a week ago, I would agree with you, but now… Let's give her a chance." Gavril saw that Dimitri does not agree, so he added: "Did you think that she can take care of Nikolai and become the Grand Elder? Did you think that she has all these people under her command? How about those helicopters? Other than soldiers, she has a cyber-army, she worked with multiple allies, and I'm confident that there is more we are not aware of."

Dimitri looked at Gavril in disbelief. "You can't be serious. Going against Voronins is suicidal."

"How can you say that after witnessing this blitz? They took over this base in a matter of minutes without any casualties. I told you earlier that there is a reason Vasily is putting so much hope in this girl, and I believe that we only scratched the surface. I know that you are a pacifist, Dimitri, but in our line of work, we can't be at peace. Eliminating the competition is something all of us dream about, yet no one has the means or the courage to go for it. I started believing that Sarah has both."

Dimitri thought about Gavril's words before responding. "I guess I can observe."

Gavril confirmed. "You heard her, as long as you don't get in her way, she will not target you. Just don't wait too long or you will miss the fun."

"And rewards." Dimitri added.

Gavril chuckled. "That also."

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