~ Los Angeles ~

Sunday, July 12

12:14 PMhistorical

In a private room of an exclusive American restaurant..

Sarah and Aiden joined JoAnna, Jeff, Sophia, and Felix for lunch.

It's an intimate private room on the fourth floor of the restaurant, with a table set up for six and two extra-long chaises in the back which are perfect for two pregnant ladies to relax if needed.

The newlyweds came here straight from the airport and their teeth exposed by their smiles appear super-white because they are tanned. Everyone can see that Sarah and Aiden are energized and that they spent quite some time in the sun, probably on the beach.

"Hi everyone..", Sarah greeted cheerfully.

JoAnna and Sophia greeted back enthusiastically while Jeff and Felix were more restrained.

The four of them observed how Aiden held the chair for Sarah, and then he pulled his chair closer to hers before taking his seat with his arm resting behind Sarah. It was all done smoothly, like they did it many times before. And they did.

"You had a good honeymoon.", JoAnna voiced her thoughts.

"Yes, it was lovely.", Sarah said with a big smile when she noticed Aiden's satisfied grin.

"Mhm..", Aiden hummed in agreement. "The only bad thing is that we needed to return."

Aiden wanted to stay longer, but he knows that they need to return to reality. Both Sarah and Aiden agreed to go to that island (or any other place that provides privacy) more often, just the two of them and they hope that they can stick to that promise.

It is obvious that Sarah and Aiden were never this close. Even the way they sit next to each other, with Sarah's shoulder fitting under Aiden's arm, looks like they are two puzzle pieces that fit perfectly together.

Sarah observed that JoAnna and Jeff are in good spirits and based on the way they look at each other, she can see that they are over the crisis which Vera triggered.

As for Sophia and Felix, the two of them are close as usually. The way they look at each other shows trust and confidence with love and a tinge of lust. Sophia and Felix are definitely solid.

They spent some time on small talk and when appetizers arrived, Sarah asked: "Did we miss anything? How are our kids?"

"You missed great fireworks. Jeff and Felix organized shows from the boat for both kids at the Cliffside Villa and the Beach house.", Sophia responded. "Your kids are fine. Some of the new girls want to start training, we told them to work on their stamina and not to try anything crazy on their own until you visit them."

Sarah made a face. She expected this, but she hoped that the girls will take more time to relax and recuperate before they join other kids in pursue of being bodyguards.

JoAnna and Sophia took turns telling what happened while Sarah and Aiden were on the private island.

Leah accepted to work as Jeff's second assistant, and she will start on Monday.

A number of their kids showed interest to work at White corp. as an internship. Jeff offered them different departments to choose from and they will work as assistants to upper-level managers. The kids will get paid, like real employees. They want to work part-time, no more than five hours a day so that their other duties are not impacted (like training and missions for the Army of Chaos), and they are waiting for Sarah and Aiden to approve their plan.

"Masika returned from Italy two days ago and she is at the Beach house. Masika and Merve are getting along well.", Sophia said.

Jeff perked up when he heard that the talk is about Masika, because it reminded him of a thing: "There is a guy, named Zack. He asked me if he can join the security at the Cliffside villa. I said that he will need to check with you."

Sarah glanced at Aiden and saw that he shook his head, indicating that he does not approve. Well, she does not approve either, but she knows that Zack made that request because he wants to be close to Masika.

"I will talk to Masika..", Sarah told Aiden to which he nodded.

"One more thing..", Sophia said. "Daniel went to the Beach house twice, per his request. You might want to keep an eye on him and Xiaohui. I didn't see anything inappropriate, but they are spending quite some time together."

Sarah was taking mental notes. It's not that she does not approve of Daniel and Xiaohui dating, but she just arrived and Sarah hopes that if they start dating it is serious. Ah, there are so many things to handle!

JoAnna was with the next item: "Ron is thinking of visiting his stepmother and giving her a taste of her medicine. I advised him not to do anything without your knowledge."

Aiden glanced at Sarah and told her that he will take care of this. "I will talk to him."

Sarah smiled gratefully. He did this so that she can focus on newly arrived girls. And Masika and Zack thing. And the army of Chaos..

"The work on your house at the White Rock lake is done.", Jeff informed them.

"Security is in place as well.", Felix added, and they understood that he is talking about bringing Eve into the house.

"Nice! We can plan for a gathering there.", Sarah beamed.

Since they went there the first time (about four months ago) Sarah is dreaming about a barbecue party with all their kids and friends and water activities on the lake. It will be epic! She already discussed (several times) with Aiden about the boats and other gadgets that they should buy. He assured her that he will take care of it.

The updates expanded to their friends, and JoAnna told them about Penny and her parents.

"With a baby on the way, she needed the situation with her parents settled so we gave her a hand.", JoAnna gave a meaningful glance to Jeff before continuing: "We used the truth serum to expose their deepest desires and it turns out that mom is incurable in her greed and belief that Penny and Penny's assets belong to her because she gave her birth. Her dad is a reasonable man, willing to work, however, he is still stuck to his wife. It must be a habit mixed with guilt because he allowed her to reach that state."

"What did you do?", Sarah was curious.

JoAnna made a dramatic pause before answering with a face which showed that she is proud of the solution. "Her mom is now in the same institution as Marcus and Lukas. Her dad is working as a low-level accountant for Penny in one of her hotels. He is staying in an apartment and so far not causing trouble. Last Sunday he went to visit his wife and he visited her this morning as well. Penny has her people watching over him, just to make sure he does not get any ideas of retaliating, but so far he is acting in the line with what he told us under the influence of the truth serum."

Sarah remembered: "That was my idea! To separate them and the mental institution. Don't I get some credit?"

JoAnna stifled a laugh. "Don't worry. I told Penny that it came from you."

Sarah's expression showed that she approves. While on the topic of parents.. "Did you hear from mom and dad?"

Both JoAnna and Sophia shook their heads.

"We didn't hear from them directly since your wedding.", Sophia said. "But Owen stopped by a few days ago and if anything is wrong, he would tell us. He told me to give you this in person.." Sophia fished out a USB memory stick from her purse and gave it to Sarah with an explanation: "He was in a rush, passing by. I didn't check what is on it. He said how it's something that will interest you and Aiden."

"Thanks..", Sarah said absentmindedly while staring at the USB like she can see the data on it. She wondered if this is something about Vasily or Levedevs in general or maybe about Voronins. Sarah reminded herself to stay present and kept the USB in her pocket. She will check it later and there is no point in thinking about it now. Now she should focus on her husband and her sisters (and their husbands) and the updates and the food, and everything else will come later.

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