~ Seattle area, the Cabin ~


    Ste enjoyed her long shower after a strenuous exercise.


    <em>''Huh… my age is showing…''</em>, she sulked while hot water took some of her soreness away. She was always the fastest, the most enduring one, these few hours of moving around and punching an exercise dummy were nothing, but that was a long time ago. Now she is sore.


    Ste did her best to push the aging thoughts away and to focus on what is in front of her: she epted to meet with King, and at this point… she is not sure what to expect.


    Her guess is that he wants to talk to her about thetest hot topic: the army of Chaos.


    There is no way that she will say it''s Sarah''s doing, but she needs to say something. The <em>''I have no idea''</em> story will not go well, because she is living on the West Coast and if King finds out that she is not fighting against this new force (if he does not know that already), that will be a giveaway enough that it''s rted to her daughters. No one else is so close to her who is capable of such a feat and at the same time will not to make Ste retaliate.


    Ste didn''t think that Sarah is capable of something like raising her own army and pushing Lebedev and Voronin families out of the California. Besides few low key spies, everyone else either escaped or is dead.


    Sarah is brilliant, but she is a loner when she fights, and her strategies never involved anyone else. Until now, Ste was not aware that Sarah had these leadership skills and that she will depend on others and trust them to perform as needed.


    Ste smiled while pride swelled inside her: Sarah is growing into a remarkable woman.


    Ste stepped in the dinning room and paused when she saw Sarah and Aiden at the table. Why are they here?


    "Good evening, mom.", Sarah greeted her. "We were in the area and thought to stop by for dinner."


    St shook her head at theme excuse. In the area? This is in the middle of the forest. And when she spoke with Edward earlier that day, he told her that Sophia and Anna are in Los Angeles while Sarah is in Fairfield with Aiden. But she will y along.


    "I''m d you stopped by. It''s always better to have dinner in apany."


    "Eh? You havepany?", Edward''s voice came from the hallway.


    Ste turned toward the door and smiled when she saw her husband. "I thought you are busy…"


    "I am. But not busy enough to leave your side.", Edward said dotingly and kissed her temple.


    "Sarah, Aiden…", he nodded in greeting and then looked at the table.


    "What''s for dinner?" Edward rubbed his belly indicating that he is hungry.


    Steughed. From a lonely dinner, it turned out that she has plenty ofpany.


    Luckily, the Weber sisters always prepare too much food, so it will be enough for everyone. Maybe. Just in case, Ste went to the kitchen to check.


    She found Heidi and Amelia busying themselves while humming some song in unison. The Weber sisters enjoy when they havepany, it''s much livelier. They showed big smiles when Ste asked if there is enough food for dinner, considering three additional people.


    "Don''t worry, Madam…", Heidi assured Ste. "Miss Sarah brought plenty of groceries and we are using them now..."


    "A sd and two more dishes will be ready in no time.", Amelia added. "You can start on appetizers, and the soup will be served in five minutes."


    Edward, Ste, Sarah and Aiden spoke about few points during dinner. One of them was merging of Orion Enterprise with White corp. Sarah was surprised that her parents are not against it.


    "We created thepany for few selfish reasons and for our children to have a financial cushion so that you don''t worry about money.", Edward exined. "Our reasons are fulfilled, so we will leave to you three as the biggest shareholders to decide what happens with thepany."


    "Our role is only to advise you.", Ste added. "We had our concerns, but after reading through the proposal, it seems that everyone will benefit out of this."


    After dinner, they moved to the family room for desserts and drinks.


    "How about you tell me why you are here?", Ste addressed the elephant in the room.


    "We know that you are going to New York to meet with King on Saturday." Sarah paused, allowing Ste to absorb her words.


    "Are you spying on us?", Edward asked.


    Sarah was surprised by her father''s words. "Us? I didn''t realize that you are an active participant in whatever is going on."


    "He is my husband. Of course, he knows what is going on.", Ste responded.


    "You didn''t answer my question.", Edward persisted.


    "No. We are spying on King and we are aware that he made several attempts to get mom to meet with him, and she was refusing him. Until now.", Sarah exined.


    Ste patted Edward''s hand, telling him to calm down.


    "You know that I''m going. But that does not exin why you are here. Are you trying to prevent me from going?", Ste guessed.


    "I want to hear that you have a sound n in ce, or I wille with you.", Sarah announced.


    Ste and Edward had matching frowns on their faces.


    "You are not going!", Edward said sternly.


    Sarah narrowed her eyes at her father defiantly. "Can you stop me?"


    "OK. OK.", Ste stood up while trying to defuse the situation before it esctes. She knows that Edward does not lose his temper easily, but if it rtes to any of his daughters he is not rational.


    Ste turned to Sarah. "What do you want in order not to go?"


    "I want to know that you have a n and that you are not going into your death.", Sarah said bluntly.


    "I don''t know what he wants.", Ste admitted. Seeing that Sarah is not buying it, she exined: "Of course, I have few guesses but I''m not confident in any of them. Without knowing what he wants, I can''t have a good n… But I know that he will not hurt me."


    Sarah didn''t believe this. "How do you know that he will not hurt you?"


    She wanted to say that if he will not hurt her, why is he hurting her daughters? Didn''t he try to kidnap Sophia and then managed to get his hands on her and Aiden? King knows that Sarah and Aiden are in love and engaged to be married, hurting Aiden IS hurting Sarah. And he made her lose their child! But she can''t say this… At least not thest part, because she does not want to hurt Aiden just to prove her point. Sarah told herself to calm down and not talk about any of that, because it is easy to slip.


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