Is this destiny?

~ Eastern Europe, the base of the Lebedev family ~

June 19

Early morning, Sarah and Aiden gathered their kids, and they had a talk about the current situation and future plans.

Present in the room are Hong, Zack, Masika, Ron, Zula, Bo, Francisca, Wing, Azra, Souta, Camila, Julius, Allen, Beck, Imani, Jamari, Corey, and Merve.

Zack is acting as Sarah's proxy for the position that belonged to ex-Elder Nikolai and Masika is Zack's assistant. Imani and Jamari are by JoAnna's side, and Corey and Merve are with Sophia. Other kids act as security and help where needed with Beck being responsible for hardware and devices.

Sarah informed them that she will go with Aiden and Hong on a mission to infiltrate the Voronin family. "I want to repeat, this is something that should be kept between us. Other Elders still don't know if they can trust us and we shouldn't trust them either. It is not a secret that there are unofficial relationships between the Lebedev and Voronin families, but we don't have information on how deep they go and who all is involved. Outside people here, you can talk to Anna, Sophia, and my parents. Make sure that if you talk about something that is not for outsiders, you are not overheard. If anyone approaches you and you are not sure if it's appropriate, say that you are not authorized to disclose that information and confirm with Anna or Sophia before speaking."

Aiden nodded in agreement and added: "We are going into enemy's territory and we will be outnumbered. If Voronins find out that we are there, we will be in trouble. Make sure that this information does not leak."

"Who knows from the Lebedev family?", Francisca asked.

"Everyone knows that we are hostile toward Voronins. However, only a few know about this mission, and those are Konstantin, my parents, and Owen.", Sarah responded. "This afternoon there is a meeting of Elders and I will disclose my upcoming absence, but I will not tell them where we are going."

Sarah and Aiden answered questions, how much they could, and the kids were visibly worried when they found about the lack of details related to this mission.

"Our goal is to get in, and there is a chance that we will fail.", Sarah said at the end. "The worst case is that we get captured. The next level of failure is that we don't find anything useful. In that case, we will find a way to make our exit and return here. If we are captured or need help leaving, we will send you a signal and we expect that you follow instructions from Anna and Sophia."

"Do you think there are chances for a peaceful solution where two families will merge into one?", Imani asked.

Aiden answered: "Merging, maybe. Peacefully, no. We had previous knowledge about the Lebedev family because of Stella, and compared to that, our knowledge about Voronins is lacking. However, no matter how we act in regard to the Voronins, currently, there are people in power, and merging means that they will need to let go of it. It will not be peaceful."

Everyone dispersed and Imani, Masika, Zula, and Merve lingered behind; all four looking at Sarah expectantly.

"I will go check on Hero…", Aiden told Sarah and gave her a quick kiss before leaving the study.

"Do you have something you want to talk about?", Sarah asked when the door closed behind Aiden.

"Will it really be OK?", Masika asked Sarah.

"What makes you think that it will not?"

"Because you went on numerous missions, and you never gave us such a briefing.", Zula responded.

Sarah was glad that her girls noticed an abnormality. "This is the biggest risk we ever took, and this is the first time we are approaching the family that has their eyes on Aiden. To say that I am nervous would be an understatement."

"You don't need to go. You are pregnant and there is no need for this.", Imani urged Sarah. "We can just attack them, destroy everything they have, and eliminate the threat."

"We can't. Look around you. I thought of the Lebedev family as monsters, but now that I am here I see that I was wrong. Sure, there are greedy and malicious people, but such people exist everywhere. I am still observing and trying to distinguish friends from foes, but I believe that we can coexist with most of them. The same goes for Voronins. We need to see what the situation is, gather information… and there is a strong chance that depending on our approach, we might find allies."

Imani was confused. "You want to ally yourself with Voronins? They kidnapped Aiden, and they are watching him for years without good intentions."

Sarah didn't deny this. "As a family, I hate them. But I can't put everyone in the same bucket and just kill them all because not all of them wronged me."

"Sarah…", Merve called. "Promise us that you will be careful."

Sarah smiled. "Of course."

Merve looked at Sarah sternly. "I mean it. While Aiden was missing, your body was with us, but your mind was not. We were all scared that we lost Aiden and that we are losing you as well. Don't leave us. We need you."

Sarah's heart cracked. She was so consumed by her grief that Aiden is missing, and she neglected her kids. Sarah realized that they were concerned as well, because Aiden was missing and Sarah was slipping into madness. All the kids from the Cliffside Villa are acting as grown-ups so often, that Sarah sometimes forgets they are kids and they need to hear that everything will be OK.

Sarah spread her arms. "Come here…"

Imani, Masika, Zula, and Merve approached Sarah and they ended up in a five-girl hug.

"I promise to be careful and not to do anything reckless. And if we are in trouble, we will send an SOS signal, and we will rely on you to get us out. OK?"

Zula, Imani, Masika, and Merve nodded.

Sarah inched away continued with advice while making eye-contact with each of the four girls. "Take care of each other and I count on you to keep things here in order. When this is over, we will all go for a long vacation. Christmas this year will be spectacular, and you will need to handle most of the things because I will be seven months pregnant."

"It will be exciting. The first baby in our house!", Masika exclaimed.

Sarah hummed in agreement. "And it will be a super-lucky baby to have all of you as sisters."

"When will you find out if it's a boy or a girl?", Merve asked.

"I can do the test in two weeks, but I didn't talk to Aiden if we want to know in advance or not."

Imani looked at Sarah in disbelief. "Eeeh? You want to keep it as a surprise? How will you decorate the nursery?"

Zula nodded in agreement with Imani and added: "And you will need to buy clothes in advance. I hope it's a girl and we can buy her adorable dresses…"

The topic switched to the pregnancy and baby and Sarah was happy that the heavy mood was lifted. Her only hope was that all this mess with Voronins will be cleared up by Christmas, but she didn't want to voice those thoughts and risk spoiling the bright smiles around her.

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