Is this destiny?

Seeing that Alexander started talking, confirmed that the truth serum is working.

JoAnna continued asking questions: "Last night you visited few places. Did you look for someone? Or something?"

"Yes.", Alex could not stop himself from talking. "I was looking for Evalina."

"Why?"

"She asked me on Thursday to delay Aiden so that she can talk to him after the event on the street. I sabotaged the tool which made two services stop working with a goal to cause Aiden to stay longer while debugging the issue. I saw Eva call me later that evening, but I didn\'t want to take her call. Next day, when I heard from Bridgette that Sarah and Aiden didn\'t show up at work I suspected that Eva might have something to do with it. But her phone is disconnected, so I went to look for her. I didn\'t find her in any of her usual spots."

"Why did Evalina want to delay Aiden and talk to him?"

"Because she is infatuated with him.", Jeff responded instead of Alex.

Everyone looked at Jeff as he explained: "Evalina Robinski worked at White corp. for about three years. When Sarah joined, Evalina was jealous and sabotaged some of Sarah\'s work. Sarah caught her and it backfired on Evalina."

Ellie shrunk in Jasper\'s embrace. This… this happened because of a jealous woman? A woman who could not accept Sarah\'s and Aiden\'s relationship caused them to disappear? What is wrong with this world? Ellie could not believe what all people are capable off… She heard Aiden and JoAnna mention various scenarios, one worse than the other. And this is one more: that woman wanted to kick Sarah out of work, and she waited for her chance to approach Aiden for more than half a year and ended up hurting them… because Aiden chose to be with Sarah? How Ellie sees this, Evalina is completely unrelated to Sarah or Aiden. What gave her the right to think that she should be with Aiden? Ellie hugged Jasper and held him tightly. In response, Jasper tightened his hold on her.

"Robinski is a low level branch family of Voronins.", Stella said while trying to understand the situation. They already know from the files Edward provided that Evalina got into White corp. with a goal to keep an eye on Aiden and that she was fired. But they didn\'t know this last part... "She fell in love with Aiden while watching him?"

"Yes.", Alex responded Stella\'s question. "Eva neglected her task. That is why after she got fired, she hid and stayed in the area, afraid of the punishment from the family. She was mostly lingering around White corp. HQ building, parking lot entry… with a hope to see Aiden. And she knew that for the company meeting streets will be blocked and he will need to walk to the assigned parking lot, and she decided to approach him…" Alex told them how he checked assigned parking for Aiden and Sarah and told Evalina about it. "But she only wanted to talk to him."

"She ran away after shooting at them.", Sophia said coldly.

Alex shook his head in disbelief. "Shoot? No. Eva does not have a gun."

"Well, she found a gun, shot Aiden and Sarah and ran away.", Sophia\'s chin was shivering from anger. They are fairly confident that both Sarah and Aiden got shot because if one was not shot, that person would call for an ambulance, or a backup or… anything.

"I don\'t know where Eva is. I looked everywhere I could think of. She is gone.", Alex said when he realized that they are interested in Evalina. He is just a middleman.

"Let\'s go upstairs and try to make sense of this.", Elanor suggested.

Alex watched everyone leave and called: "Hey, I told you everything I know. You can let me go now, right?"

Stella looked at him unable to hide her murderous intent. "Because of you my baby daughter is missing, probably hurt. Do you think that we will let you leave after you saw our faces?"

She approached him and spoke close to his ear in Russian: "You will suffer for daring to hurt a Lebedev."

"W-wh-what?", Alex stuttered. "I didn\'t know. I swear! I didn\'t know! Please! I will do anything! I didn\'t know!..."

Stella walked out and closed the door behind her. She will deal with him later. Now she needs to find her Sarah and Aiden.

…

Up in the living room, the atmosphere is grim.

"All this mess is because a deranged woman is infatuated with Aiden?", JoAnna voiced the question which was on repeat in her mind.

"She is maybe the one who pulled the trigger. But we know that she worked alone. And she escaped alone.", Sophia said resentfully.

JoAnna inhaled. "You are saying…"

Sophia glanced at Felix. "Just like our incident in the hospital. We got in for a checkup, and people who are watching us took advantage of the situation thinking that it\'s the right time to kidnap us."

Felix frowned before nodding in agreement.

"Who is watching you?", Ellie asked reluctantly.

Sophia opened and closed mouth few times, but no words came out.

JoAnna responded: "An organization from Eastern Europe."

"Do you think they will try to move them to Europe?", Ellie asked.

"Highly possible.", Stella responded.

"I can get my dad to watch airports for anything coming to Europe from US. If they are on any flight, he will know it.", Ellie offered.

Elanor nodded and showed a small smile of gratitude. "Please."

Ellie stepped out of the room to make a phone call.

Jasper looked after Ellie with a complex expression. As much as he does not want to ask about her father. He feels how that might be a necessary knowledge. But now is not the time.

"I will get my men to focus their search on relevant organizations.", Stella said and stood up. She needs to make some phone calls as well.

"Can our men help?", Oscar offered.

Stella shook her head rejecting his offer. "My men know the network and can move around without arousing suspicion. Your men should stay on their current tasks and block exits from the city."

"So now what? We just sit and wait? What are we waiting for?", JoAnna was losing her patience.

Stella patted JoAnna\'s shoulder while trying to calm her anxiousness. "We are not just waiting. But we can\'t be rash either. I believe that we all know that out of all the elders in the family, King has Sarah and Aiden. After all, he is the one watching you girls for years, and if anyone took advantage of Sarah\'s and Aiden\'s predicament, that is King. He is an impulsive and proud man. Highly unstable. If he suspects that he is losing he will cut his losses. But he will not hurt them as long as he believes that he can make use of them."

"What gives you that confidence?", Sophia stood next to JoAnna and asked Stella.

"I know that he is after Sarah. He needs her intact and in top shape. And I believe that he will use Aiden to force Sarah into submission. That is why both of them will be safe."

Elanor inhaled so loudly that everyone turned toward her. Elanor was looking at Stella. "He needs Sarah in top shape, but Aiden…"

Stella pressed her lips into a line. Everyone understood that to use Aiden against Sarah, Aiden only needs to be alive. That does not sound good, but at least it means that King sees a value in Aiden\'s life.

"I will call my men and tell them to hurry." Stella said while avoiding Elanor\'s gaze. She left the room to make phone calls. 

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