Is this destiny?

"It's nice to see you, Chloe…", Sarah greeted Chloe as soon as they entered the VIP room. She glanced at Noah. "I am happy that you finally found a woman to accompany you here."

Noah smiled nervously. "Chloe is special."

"She is. We heard about your engagement.", Sarah spoke while looking at Chloe who blushed. "Noah is a smart guy and I believe that he will treat you well but if he bullies you, you can come to me. Don't think that Noah is the only one who has your back. We should meet up for some girl-time so that you see the support system we have in place."

"OK.", Chloe responded timidly.

Noah was not sure what Sarah was up to, and he hoped that his Mistress will not stir the pot in the wrong direction. He just got Chloe to warm up.

"Welcome to the family...", Sarah said while giving Chloe a hug.

"Thank you, Sarah…", Chloe responded with a one-arm hug because her left hand was handcuffed to Noah's.

Chloe was glad that Sarah and Aiden didn't bring up the detail of handcuffs, but at the same time, she wondered if this is a common occurrence here. Or maybe they are just used to Noah's unusual behavior. Because Noah is anything other than usual.

After congratulating them, Aiden pulled a paper from his inner jacket's pocket and handed it to Noah. "This is our present, for your engagement."

"A store?", Noah asked while looking at the information and Chloe leaned closer to see as well.

"It's a building currently used as a music store, and it has on the second floor fully equipped recording studio.", Sarah said. "We heard that Chloe is a good musician and we thought that she can do something with that."

Chloe's eyes opened wide in surprise. How did Sarah know that Chloe likes music? And this is a huge store with a recording studio! "We can't accept this."

Noah smiled when he heard Chloe saying 'we'. Ah, it's progress!

"Of course, you can.", Aiden said. "We didn't give you full ownership. This is for 61%."

Noah was confused. Why would they give them barely more than half? "Who owns the rest?"

"Kevin Long.", Sarah responded with a mischievous smile.

Chloe needed a minute to process this information. "Eh? My Uncle Kevin?"

Sarah confirmed and explained, "We are aware that you are targeting three specific Longs. Whatever you get from Wendy Long related to her precious metals, if you don't know what to do with it, Blanc will be happy to compensate you accordingly. You should target the LL publishing company from Leonard Long because it's self-sufficient and it works at a good profit. Once you secure it, you can work with Mishi and establish a collaboration with the Ceresc Solutions…"

Sarah was talking and Chloe understood that Mishi is someone Noah knows and that the Ceresc Solution is a marketing company in Europe that Sarah and Aiden own.

"That leaves you with Kevin Long.", Sarah said while pointing at the proof of ownership that Aiden gave to Noah. "Asking for too much will raise flags and they might go on the offensive in order to protect their assets. Like this, you can ask for the remaining 39% of this property, and once Kevin agrees, you will own a big space with a recording studio. Since you are not asking for much, Kevin will cave in and be your ally in taking over the LL publishing company because he will fear that if the publishing company falls through, you will ask for more from him…"

Chloe knew that Sarah was talking about her dowry from the Long family, and she realized that Noah was working with Sarah and Aiden related to this.

Everyone was helping out. Like a real family. Chaos family. Does this mean that she was accepted by Sarah and Aiden?

Chloe scooted closer to Noah on the sofa and leaned her head on his shoulder while giving his hand a squeeze. His proximity felt good and her heart skipped a beat when he looked at her warmly and smiled while returning her hand-squeeze.

When they were done talking about the plan for Chloe's dowry, Sarah asked about her pending meetings.

"Anything important?"

Noah bobbed his head. "There are a few worth mentioning, I marked them on the list and put my comments. One person stands out. I'm not sure if you want to meet with her."

"Person? A woman?", Sarah asked as she took the tablet from Noah's hands.

Normally organizations want to meet with Nyx, and individual definitely stands out. Also, the fact that Noah didn't say a name but acted all mysterious, meant that Sarah should know her.

Her gaze hardened.

"Who is it?", Aiden asked when he noticed the change in Sarah's mood.

"Suvedini."

Aiden frowned when he realized that this is Suvedini from the Council. They didn't contact Sarah since Friday and Aiden hoped that they gave up on bothering Sarah. 

To say that Aiden was concerned was an understatement. They just finished dealing with Lebedevs and Voronins, and then this Council popped up. Why can't they leave them alone? Sarah is pregnant and all this stress can't be good.

"Do you want to meet with her?", Noah asked Sarah.

"Yes. Arrange to meet with her first. Let's get that over with…"

"I will go with you.", Aiden said.

Sarah and Aiden went to the back room for meetings, and Noah stayed in the VIP room with Chloe.

He would go as additional security, but he didn't want to leave Chloe behind. Besides, Zack, Masika, Allen, and Julius were present.

"Who is this, Suvedini?", Chloe asked Noah.

"She is part of the organization that is trying to coerce Sarah to work with them."

Chloe remembered that Noah is the head of Sarah's security. "Shouldn't you go with them?"

'Yes, I should…', Noah thought, but he kept that to himself because he didn't want Chloe to feel like he is neglecting his duties because of her.

He switched Eve-lens to show him live feed from the conference room, so he will be able to follow the meeting without leaving Chloe's side.

"Sarah has Aiden. He is more than enough to protect Sarah against one woman. And she would be foolish to come to this place and cause trouble."

Noah spoke calmly, but Chloe understood that this is serious and maybe even dangerous.

"What if she is suicidal?", Chloe asked.

"People who wield power are not suicidal, my little rabbit. Think of your Aunt Wendy. Would she do anything to harm herself?"

Chloe had to agree with Noah on this. "You are smart."

Noah smiled a little. "Your fiancé is a smart man."

…

In the conference room…

Sarah and Aiden sat at the table with Suvedini.

"Thank you for agreeing to see me.", Suvedini said.

"Did you bring details about the Council I asked for?", Sarah skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the pressing topic.

Suvedini approached Sarah and her family with hidden agenda and Sarah didn't want to fake how everything was fine.

Would it be different if Suvedini told Sarah about the Council earlier? Sarah was not sure, but she knew that Suvedini deceived her once. What is to say that she will not do it again?

"I am not here on behalf of the Council."

Sarah's eyebrow arched in scrutiny. "Why are you here?"

"Listen… I know that it will sound like an empty talk, but when I heard that you reached out to Mr. Patel because Aiden was missing, I saw that as my way to meet you in person. Jarred spoke about you in the Council and I was curious. There was nothing more to it."

"You knew Jarred from before, yet when you joined us for the party, you pretended that you don't know each other.", Sarah pointed out the fact that Suvedini deceived them in more than one way.

Suvedini didn't deny it. "That's the policy of the Council members. When outside of the Council-only events, we act like strangers, or acquaintances at best. It's for our safety."

Sarah nodded stiffly in acknowledgment of Suvedini's words. "Is there anything else you want to say? Or was that it?"

Suvedini ignored Sarah's distant attitude laced with hostility. She expected worse. "I came to warn you."

Sarah narrowed her eyes at Suvedini. "You are here to warn me? Of what? There is an organization called the Council that is spying on me in order to get their hands on my resources and if I refuse they will force me. Is there something worse?"

"You noticed that the Council is not cohesive. Everyone has their own interests.", Suvedini responded. "We were supposed to give you a list of our assets that will be at your disposal upon joining the Council, but that is delayed by several members."

Sarah understood that this is the point why Suvedini is here. "And delay is because…?"

"Rance is planning to attack your mines in Africa."

"Which ones?", Sarah snapped.

Suvedini pulled several papers from her bag and placed them on the table for Sarah and Aiden to see while explaining, "This is the information I gathered. I'm not sure which mines will be targeted, as I don't have the details, but I know that Albert is helping him. Albert will cause issues to the Army of Chaos in Europe, and that will be a diversion as their real goal is for Rance to get his hands on your mines. Rance wants to increase his wealth and influence, while Albert wants to prevent you from getting a seat at the Council..."

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