~ Los Angeles, the Cliffside Vi ~


    Emma, Penny, Bridgette, and Victoria headed to the dining hall for lunch.


    "First time here?" Bridgette asked Victoria. She noticed that Victoria is looking around.


    "Yes."


    Victoria was happy to get out of that damned kids'' room. The toddlers were jumping and screaming, the babies were crying… and Victoria told herself at least fifty times that she will never have kids.


    Gabriel asked her toe here for safety and she didn''t want toe with Bridgette, but at the same time, she wanted to see this house because it belongs to Sarah and Aiden. Victoria does not have a special opinion of them, but Dice (aka Marija) obviously has so… Victoria was hoping to see something worth admiring.


    "Rx. Everyone is friendly here." Emma said as they took their seats at the table.


    "Very friendly." Victoria said stiffly. "Is it normal for guests to eat with staff?"


    Victoria paused when she noticed that Emma, Penny, and Bridgette are looking at her withplex expressions. "Did I say something wrong?"


    "They are not staff." Penny responded. "They are a family. Everyone is."


    Victoria didn''t understand. There are more than ten teenagers present, their different skin color is obvious. How can they be a family? "What?"


    Emma nced around and saw Derrek (the mechanic) and Matias (the cook) at one table. "Out of everyone present, I see only two who are part of the staff. The rest are kids who are adopted."


    Victoria blinked. "Why would Sarah and Aiden adopt so many kids?"


    JoAnna joined at the table after listening to Victoria''s questions. "You should ask them. But keep in mind that here everyone is equal. We eat, party, and work together. Try not to offend anyone."


    Victoria didn''t miss the hostilityced in JoAnna''s tone. She cleared her throat and stered her well-rehearsed smile. "Of course. Where are Sarah and Aiden? How can we eat without our hosts present?"


    "As you know, there is a crisis, and this is not a social event. They are working on getting things back to normal." JoAnna responded.


    "Oh…" Victoria put on an innocent expression. "I am aware that Longs have issues in thepany. I wonder, what can Sarah and Aiden do?"


    "They have many talents." JoAnna responded and put a piece of a roasted zhini in her mouth.


    Victoria understood that the talk on that topic is over.


    "It''s Vicky''s first time here." Bridgette spoke to JoAnna. "Is it OK to give her a tour of the ce?"


    Victoria looked at JoAnna expectantly.


    JoAnna was not willing to let Victoria snoop around even on good days. Something was off about that woman, and JoAnna was frustrated that she can''t figure out what. Sure, Victoria is full of herself and entitled, but JoAnna spent time with many women who can be described like that and they never made her this ufortable.


    "This is not the time, Biddy. The four of you should eat and return back to the kids'' room. It''s not safe." She saw that Bridgette was confused, and exined: "We were attacked earlier today. And we are not sure if those intruders were the only onesing this way."


    Emma, Penny, Bridgette, and Victoria had matching expressions of disbelief and fear.


    "I don''t want to scare you." JoAnna quickly added. "I want you to be aware that the situation is still not under control. Stay in the room so that we know where you are. We don''t want to risk you being caught in the crossfire if more intruderse."


    "Why are you staying outside?" Victoria asked JoAnna.


    "I can take care of myself."


    "How do we know that we are safe here?" Victoria was mildly panicking.


    "Gabriel told you toe here. If you want to leave, you can call him. Until then, we are responsible for your safety."


    Victoria frowned at JoAnna''s words. She will talk to Gabriel and ask for an exnation. She knew that Dice (aka Marija) will use the information from the Long Industries that Victoria stole, for a bigger n. What Victoria didn''t expect was that it will be this big and that she will end up in the middle of it. But then… the center of the tornado is the safest ce.


    Victoria told herself to be quiet and to observe. She knows that Dice is curious about Sarah and Aiden and how they live, and she sneakily took several photos with her phone while pretending to check her messages. She will send themter to Dice and probably get a reward.


    Victoria was lost in her thoughts, and she was not sure how much she missed before she heard JoAnna talk…


    "Emma, it would be good if you can check on Corey."


    "Is something wrong with him?"


    "He is shaken up because he was there when the intruders came." JoAnna kept the exnation to a minimum.


    "Does Charlie know?"


    "No. It all ended well, and Charlie is busy. You can tell him when this is over."


    Emma exhaled. "Anna, this is getting big. Can Angelo help? Sean and Ryan are with him."


    JoAnna rejected. "Thanks, but this seems isted to our region and they can''t do much."


    Emma understood that JoAnna is right. Nero armi is in Europe and by the time their men arrive in California, things will be over. Hopefully.


    "I am d that at least one of my brothers is useful." Emma was talking about Mike who is working as Charlie''s assistant. "I feel like a whale, sitting here, and being useless."


    "You are pregnant." JoAnna nced at Emma''s protruding belly. "Take care of yourself and your baby. I will protect you and ask for paymentter..."


    …


    Time was dragging slowly.


    "Any news from Ade and Aiden?" Hande asked for the tenth time when she peeked in the nning room.


    "Nothing yet." JoAnna responded.


    Hande bit her lower lip. Ade said that he will bete for lunch, but lunch was more than one hour ago. She knows that they agreed not to contact them, but… "Is there a way to confirm if they are fine?"


    JoAnna shook her head. "With our system down, automated GPS tracking is not working, and we can''t ess information from their lens or any other devices to confirm their vitals."


    Hande was not happy with this response. Is there really nothing they can do? "But we can track them manually, right? Even if their devices are off, we can check their location by tracking the GPS in their phones."


    Sophia exhaled. "Other than Sarah, I don''t know who else can do it. She is busy with getting the system back online, and we should not disturb her."


    "I can do it…" Oni said. "Maybe not as fast as Sarah, but I can do it…"


    About ten minutester…


    "Both Aiden''s and Ade''s phone signals areing from the port." Oni informed them.


    "That is the location they were supposed to check." JoAnna confirmed.


    "Are they moving? Why are they not contacting us?" Hande was still not pacified.


    "This tracking is not very precise. They could be moving within a certain range, and the location would still point at the same spot." Oni exined.


    JoAnna exhaled in relief. At least they are there. "It''s OK Hande. We are all concerned. Have faith in them. Considering when they left, if they reached the location without dys, they are there for about twenty minutes. Maybe they engaged an enemy or maybe they found something super-critical that needs to be fixed without dy. Aiden and Ade went with Hero and seven other members of the Army of Chaos. If anything happened, someone would alert us…"


    ---


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