Is this destiny?

~ Los Angeles, the property of the Jost family ~

Mr. and Mrs. Jost had troubled expressions as Mr. Jost stopped the car in front of their villa. Both of them were deep in their thoughts and neither of them spoke during the one hour long car ride.

Their house is not majestic or luxurious like any on the Long family's property, but Mr. and Mrs. Jost are happy with what they have. Their colonial-style house features marble floors on the main level and hardwood floors on the first floor. There are six bedrooms with a bathroom and a walk-in closet each, a generous entertainment space in the back that is adjacent to a well-maintained garden and there is a separate building for staff with a kitchen, common living area, and four bedrooms for the staff. The attached garage can accommodate five hull-sized vehicles, and it has a workshop where Mr. Jost keeps his tools and gadgets.

"Now what?", Mrs. Jost broke the silence.

Mr. Jost shook his head. "I have no idea. Let's go in and have a drink. Maybe after we calm down we figure out something. Panicking and doing random things will not help us. We need a plan."

Mrs. Jost agreed. What else can they do? "In the worst case, the business is gone. We have twenty employees with insurance, and the others are part-timers without benefits. We can sell the equipment and materials we have in storage. Our home is paid fully, and we have a good financial cushion. Things are not so bad."

Mr. Jost smiled at his wife. She is correct. "Depending on how much we earn after selling off what is left from our business, we can make some other investments. I will schedule a meeting with our financial advisor. Maybe this is a sign that we should retire and enjoy what is left."

Mrs. Jost frowned at her husband. "You can enjoy after what Gabriel put us through? I am confident that he is behind this mess. Vicky was edgy and full of herself, but she was not crazy. He did something to her, and he did something to our business as well."

"Scarlett, I don't disagree with that because we are sharing the same opinion… but without evidence, we are only slandering him. Are you ready to go against Longs? You heard Stephen… if we don't have evidence, we need to keep quiet."

"Then, let's find the evidence! Hire investigators, reporters, hire someone who can tell us what is going on!"

"Let's not panic, Scarlett. The worst we can do now is turn against each other."

Mrs. Jost took a deep breath and nodded in agreement with her husband. "You are right, Blake. I need a drink."

Mr. Jost's phone rang. He checked the caller ID before saying to his wife: "It's Frank. I'm sure it's related to the stocks I told him to sell. Go in, I will talk to him from here… Make me a drink, this should not take more than a minute…"

"Hi Frank, how are you?", Mr. Jost asked while trying to sound cheerful. Frank is his personal financial advisor, and Mr. Jost wants to conceal that his business is facing issues.

Five seconds into the conversation, Mr. Jost's expression froze. "What do you mean, the stocks are gone? … No, I don't have another account or another broker… What? Not possible…"

Mr. Jost bolted from the bench when he heard his wife screaming in the house.

"Uhm… Frank, something happened. I will call you later…", Mr. Jost said in a hurry before ending the call and rushing inside to see what happened.

He froze at the entrance.

Mrs. Jost was screaming maniacally and running from one room to another and he saw from the entrance that their house is empty. Totally empty. There are no furniture, nor accessories, the walls are bare, and based on his wife's behavior, it's the same situation with other rooms as well.

"Blake! We have been robbed! Completely!", Mrs. Jost shouted from the top of her lungs.

Her words pulled Mr. Jost out of his daze and he dashed into the study where the in-built safe is.

"Ahhh!", he screamed when he saw that the room is completely bare. Even the books from the bookshelves are gone! And the worst thing is that the safe is exposed… and opened… and empty. Their property deed and some other documents, and also fifty thousand dollars in cash were there. Gone. It's all gone.

"Blake… Blake…", Mrs. Jost sobbed. "Everything is gone. They took furniture, my grand piano, carpets, towels, cutlery, our clothes and jewelry, our wedding photos, and even the fridge is emptied… who would do such a thing…?"

Mr. Jost struggled to breathe. "My stocks are gone."

"What!?", Mrs. Jost shrieked.

"Frank called that the stock transaction failed because they are gone. He can't sell things I don't own. My investment account is empty…"

"What are we going to do, Blake?"

Mr. Jost shook his head helplessly, and then he remembered… "Where is the staff?"

They both went to the back where staff quarters are, and they found their cook, two maids, and the gardener unconscious on the floor of one of their bedrooms.

Things from the four rooms that belong to the staff were untouched, but the rest of the house was completely emptied.

"Let's call the police.", Mr. Jost said after some time. There is nothing they can do other than to hope the police will find the culprits.

While waiting for the police and ambulance to come, Mr. and Mrs. Jost checked their accounts and Mrs. Jost was on the verge of a mental breakdown when they confirmed that all their personal accounts are empty.

Mr. Jost went to the garage and saw that it's empty. His two luxury cars, and tools, and even the dirty towels are gone!

They lost everything. Where will they sleep tonight? Do they need to squeeze with the staff? How will they pay the staff? This is a nightmare…

…

~ Los Angeles, the main base of the Army of Chaos ~

Michael and Oni are enjoying sandwiches that Michael (aka the sandwich master) made for them, while watching the members of the Army of Chaos unload things from the helicopters and trucks and take them to the corresponding storage.

"Careful with the piano!", Oni warned two soldiers who were pushing the piano down the slide from the truck.

Noah confirmed that all the food Michael and Oni brought was stored properly before coming here to observe the non-perishables being unloaded. "Is there a sandwich for me?"

Michael gestured to the table on the side. "Ingredients are there. Feel free to make for yourself."

Noah observed the ingredients. There are bread slices and several different spreads and salamis and ham, and pre-cut vegetables, and there are mango and orange juice, and Noah started assembling a sandwich.

"The frozen things are in the freezer.", Noah said before asking: "Not that I'm complaining, but why did you empty their fridge? We are not lacking food."

Well, they are not lacking the piano nor the cars nor carpets nor anything else they swiped, but this is the first time the Army of Chaos had a mission that included emptying the fridge.

"Sarah said to take everything. They are lucky we left them the fridge.", Michael responded with a straight face.

Noah stifled a laugh. Well, Michael is right. If that was him, and Sarah said 'everything', he would take the fridge as well.

Noah placed his sandwich on a plate and sat next to Michael and Oni (but not too close to intrude), before informing them: "Two teams are ready for tonight to strip everything they can from Mr. Jost's business. One will hit the production facility, and the other team will empty their storage."

"They also have an office space.", Oni told Noah. "Assemble the third team. We are going to empty those as well. They should be ready for a mission at midnight and just like the other two teams, any security should be knocked out cleanly. We don't want to attract attention by hurting civilians."

"I'm on it...", Noah said and took a bite while powering up his tablet and picking members for the third team.

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