Is this destiny?

Sarah kept her hands on the handrailing and exhaled sharply when Aileen was out of sight.

Aiden stood behind Sarah and placed his hands on the handrailing, trapping Sarah between his arms. "Do you want me to take care of her?"

"No. She is not our problem."

Aiden was surprised by this. Sarah always took care of her friends, and they know that Aileen is poison in the Smith family. Aiden was not aware of the chat Sarah had with Emma. Sarah was upset that Emma has the skills and the power of the Smith family to protect herself, yet she takes a passive role and plays a victim until someone rescues her.

"Are you sure? We know that she drugged Emma with a goal to involve her in a scandal. Who knows what she will do next?"

"If she tries anything drastic, our drones will take care of her. Besides, Emma is a big girl and it's time for her to clean up her house or live with the mess.", Sarah said grumpily. She didn't want to talk about Aileen anymore.

Sarah turned toward Aiden and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Now… where were we?"

His lips lifted into a smile and hands which rested on the handrailing moved around Sarah's back, pulling her closer to him. "I think we were looking for an empty bedroom."

"Did you find one?"

Aiden gave her a quick kiss and led the way. "Second door to the right."

With Eve-lens, they don't need more than a glance to see if someone is behind the wall, and with people focusing on the party that is starting, they are confident that no one will disturb them.

…

Inside master bedroom…

Emma told Tiffany to go and check on Mike and Charlie. The party started and they are still working.

"Just remind them to wrap up work and I will come in a bit. I will be fine with Anna and Sophia…", Emma assured Tiffany before the latter left the room.

"I assume you want to talk to us.", Sophia voiced her thoughts. She saw that Emma was looking at her and JoAnna, eager to say something.

Emma told JoAnna and Sophia that she is stressed and it's getting worse in time. "I am scared and paranoid, and I can't trust anyone, staff included… I'm not asking you to tell me what to do. But I hope that you can tell me honestly what would you do if you are in my situation."

Emma's eyes darted from JoAnna to Sophia. Hill sisters guessed that Emma spoke with Sarah and that Emma didn't like Sarah's answer. Emma is probably asking with the hope to hear something else.

"Well? Will you say something?", Emma urged them.

"What do you expect us to say?", JoAnna asked. "I'm sure that I'm talking for myself and for Soph when I say that neither of us would allow ourselves to reach into your current position."

"You think that I am weak?", Emma asked dejectedly.

"No.", Sophia said quickly, before this escalates. She knows that pregnant women tend to build non-existing scenarios and it looked like Emma was about to fall into gloom. "This was about what would we do. You said that you don't want us to tell you what to do, but it's obvious that you are asking exactly that. You are in a situation where pressure is too much, and you have two choices. One is to give up, and the other one is to fight for your peace. It's that simple."

Emma gulped softly. "Give up?"

"Yes.", JoAnna responded. "Either Charlie gives up with you and the two of you leave all this behind, or he wants to stay entangled with Smiths and you get a divorce and live on your own. I assume that Smiths will not let you keep the baby."

Emma's mouth hung open. "What?"

"You heard me.", JoAnna said curtly. "Or did you think that Charlie will allow you to leave with his child? Even if he wants to leave the child with you due to sentimental reasons, other Smiths will see your baby as a threat because she can come anytime to claim the inheritance. There is no way that baby will be safe without Charlie."

"It's a she?", Sophia asked JoAnna. JoAnna knows the gender because she did the test with Emma, but Sophia didn't know.

"Yes. It's a girl.", Emma confirmed while rubbing her belly. "Please, keep it a secret."

"Sure, sure…", Sophia said. "Uhm… I know you love Charlie, and you don't want to leave him, so don't think about the option of quitting on this. You need to fight for it."

Emma let out a long exhale. "What can I do?"

"First, don't be a victim.", JoAnna said. "Second, you can do plenty. Talk to Charlie, learn about threats he is aware of and discuss how to deal with them."

"Deal with them?', Emma asked in a small voice. "You talk like it's easy."

"It's not easy.", JoAnna responded. "You want to know what I would do? How about I tell you what I did? When they came after what I hold dear, I slapped, kicked, and cut when necessary."

"Killed?", Emma asked, and her eyes widened when JoAnna didn't deny it. Emma looked at Sophia. "How far did you go?"

"Everyone goes as far as necessary. You can't measure someone's commitment based on what they did.", Sophia responded. "But you should know that we are not in high school when a few harsh words would solve the problem and a slap will cause detention. No one will enforce rules, and you need to defend what is yours until enemies are gone. You don't like your reality? Fix it."

Emma lowered her head and pressed her lips into a line. She felt useless. Her friends are protecting her and cheering her on, yet she didn't learn anything so far.

Whenever they meet, the atmosphere is cheery and they are having fun, like nothing bad is happening. Emma wondered, how is it possible that she missed what the Hill sisters went through? She was right there, yet even when she got a hint of some trouble, she would assume how that is something Hill sisters do, and it's not related to her. At most, she was a backup, someone who looked after the Medical Center when JoAnna was absent or helped with kids at the Cliffside Villa when Sarah was out. Sophia never asked Emma for any favors, so Emma assumed that Sophia always has everything under control, but now Emma is questioning if that is true or if she was too incompetent for Sophia to ask her for anything.

"Emma…", JoAnna called. "I hope you know that you are not alone. We are here whenever you need us, and we are always ready to support you. However, that is what we are: support. There is only one person who is sharing your path, and you should talk to him before making any decisions."

"Thanks…", Emma said with a meek smile. She knew that JoAnna was talking about Charlie.

"Let's go out, the guests should not wait for the main person…" Emma rubbed her belly, indicating that the main person is the baby.

…

JoAnna and Sophia went with Emma down to the main level and they met with Charlie in the hallway. He was talking to Jeff and Felix, and Felix just ended telling him the details from when Valentin was born.

"We were on our way to get you.", Charlie said when three ladies approached them.

"Yeah, yeah…", JoAnna said while waving her hand, indicating that she does not believe him. "You were standing here and if we didn't come, you would be here for who knows how long."

"The two professionals were giving me advice related to the baby…", Charlie said in his defense and his hand gently landed on Emma's belly.

"Did you lose Sarah and Aiden?", Charlie asked. The last thing he knows was that Sarah was with Emma and Aiden went to meet with Sarah.

"They will not get lost.", JoAnna responded, hoping that Charlie will drop the topic because she had a hint of what Sarah and Aiden are up to. Since they returned from Eastern Europe, Sarah and Aiden have difficulty keeping their hands off from each other and they are not even trying to be discrete about it. 

Charlie accepted JoAnna's answer and turned to Emma. "How are you doing? Are you ready for the party?"

"Can we talk?", Emma asked, catching Charlie by surprise.

"The party started, can we talk after it?"

Emma shook her head. "I'm postponing this for a long time and it's the time to face the reality."

Charlie was not sure what to think about this. Emma's determined gaze told him that it's important.

"Excuse us…", he said to Jeff, Felix, Sophia, and JoAnna and led Emma down the hallway, toward the study.

"Is he in trouble?", Felix asked Sophia in a low voice. He knew that ladies had a chat before coming down.

"I don't think so.", Sophia responded. "Our Emma is growing up. Let's go and join the party. I'm hungry."

Felix's eyes flashed. "Are you pregnant?"

Sophia rolled her eyes and then paused. "Let's hope not. I could get hungry for many reasons like... my blood sugar levels dropped."

Felix hummed and his smile told Sophia that he hopes she is pregnant. After all, so far, he managed to ignore several types of contraception. One more time won't be a big deal. Actually, it would prove how mighty he is.

"Are you hungry?", Jeff asked JoAnna suspiciously while eyeing Sophia and Felix who were walking away.

JoAnna burst into a laugh. "Are you hoping I'm pregnant?"

"Aren't you?", Jeff returned the question.

"Even if I am, it's too early to tell and there is no point in thinking about it until my period is late." She got on her toes and spoke in a whisper. "Until then, you need to keep on filling me with your seed, my Big J."

Jeff's lips lifted into a smile. He loves when she calls him 'big'. That never gets old.

---

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