Is this destiny?

~ Los Angeles, Cliffside villa ~

Sunday

7:53 PM

Aiden observed Sarah who was getting ready for going out. She was not in the Chaos uniform, but her all black tight-fitting clothes are a giveaway that she is going out and ready to fight while blending in with the darkness.

He checked the time. "Isn\'t it early for going to a mission?"

Sarah paused. "I want to handle something before mission. I will meet you at the camp."

Aiden blocked her way out with his hand. "Since when are you leaving me behind?"

Sarah looked at him and considered for a moment if she should tell him what she is up to or not. "Beatriz Mendez. Anna got her fired on Friday, and she is a danger. I want to handle it."

"How do you know that she is a danger?", Aiden was not convinced.

"I\'m tracking her since Friday afternoon when she left White corp. HQ. She is mentally unstable, and today she purchased a gun.", Sarah explained. "I don\'t want to give her a chance to hurt Anna."

Aiden can see that he can\'t dissuade Sarah from going. Not when one of her sisters is in danger.

"I\'m coming with you."

He is not concerned about Sarah\'s safety, but he is concerned about her behavior.

As soon as Sarah sees someone as a threat, there is not even an ounce of compassion in her. He is trying to compensate for that lack of warmth somehow, however any results are limited and short lived. Aiden suggested that the two of them go somewhere, but Sarah is too preoccupied with Chaos and does not want to leave them without her personal guidance for more than a day or two.

…

About half an hour later, in Los Angeles…

Two shadows landed on a sixth-floor landing of the fire escape.

Sarah and Aiden used Eve-vision to confirm one female inside the apartment, and that she is in the kitchen. They easily unlocked window in the bedroom and slipped inside.

Eve cut the electrical power in the apartment.

"Ah, the power is off again…", Beatriz mumbled. She lives in an old building and it\'s not uncommon for a fuse to blow. But the power comes back within a minute or two.

When the power came back, Beatriz realized that she can\'t get up from the chair. She opened her mouth, but no voice came out. She looked in horror at two figures dressed in black in front of her. One male and one female, but she could not see their faces which are concealed behind masks.

"What?... Who are you? What do you want?", Beatriz fearfully asked after Sarah pressed something on her throat.

"I want to know what you want to do with that gun.", Sarah asked.

Beatriz frowned. "How do you know I have a gun?"

Sarah pressed a point on Beatriz\'s neck to seal her speech and checked the time.

"Fifty more seconds." She told Aiden how long they need to wait until truth serum kicks in.

There is no point asking questions before that.

They waited longer than a minute, just to make sure, before Sarah unsealed Beatriz\'s voice again.

"What do you want to do with the gun?", Sarah repeated her question.

"I want to kill you.", Beatriz squeezed through her teeth.

Sarah was surprised by this answer. "You bought the gun with an intention to kill me?"

"No. I bought the gun with an intention to teach Dr. Hill a lesson. But I will kill you as well. And him.", Beatriz added while pointing with her chin toward Aiden.

Sarah didn\'t care much about empty threats directed at her or Aiden. The woman can\'t move and when they leave, she will never find them. But JoAnna is different. "What lesson do you want to teach Dr. Hill?"

"That bitch climbed to her position over beds of powerful people. And she has her eyes on my man. She got us both fired, and he does not want to talk to me at all. I worked hard to get my position and that shameless woman destroyed all of it in an instant!", Beatriz\'s voice was drifting from angry growls to pitiful sobs. "I will make her kneel and beg. She will admit with whom she slept, and I will expose her and ruin her completely before I take her life away!"

Sarah gave \'I-told-you-so\' look to Aiden.

On the way here Aiden was telling Sarah that she is exaggerating, and that Beatriz is rash and fuming but she will cool off and move on.

"Where is the gun?", Sarah asked Beatriz.

"Under my pillow.", Beatriz told her.

…

Fifteen minutes later…

Sarah and Aiden are on the rooftop of a building, watching vehicles from the police and ambulance on the street below.

"You planned this beforehand.", Aiden stated his observation.

Sarah didn\'t deny it. "Yes. I knew that she has no intention of giving up, so I was prepared."

She knows that he is referring to the fact that she had the truth serum as well as the serum which makes people obedient. She ordered Beatriz to write a suicide note and to shoot herself. And also, she had gloves ready for both of them so that they don\'t leave any fingerprints in Beatriz\'s apartment.

The building\'s soundproofing is non-existent and the neighbors called the police when they heard a gunshot.

Everything ended rather quickly.

Aiden knows now that Sarah\'s assumption was correct.

"How did you know that she is escalating?"

"On Friday, when she faced accusations and getting fired… she reminded me of Evalina.", Sarah admitted.

Aiden was not sure how he feels about this. He feels responsible for allowing Evalina to cause them so much harm. If he was aware that she is a stalker, or that she is delusional, or that she is capable of pulling a gun at them... He had so many opportunities to prevent Sarah from suffering for three long months by herself, but he ignored the threat and Sarah paid the price.

He turned to Sarah and touched her chin, tilting her head toward him. He looked into her eyes. Most of her face was covered with a mask.

Aiden knows that he would do anything for Sarah and his heart aches whenever he sees her acting so cold and distant, like how she handled Beatriz. 

"Love, don\'t you feel that the darkness is taking over?", he asked reluctantly.

Sarah smiled gently and her eyes stirred with all the affection she feels for him. "I do. But I don\'t fear it because I am confident that our love will defeat the darkness."

Aiden felt something warm expanding in his chest and he pulled her into a tight embrace, hoping that she can feel that warmth as well.

"Let\'s go on a vacation. Few days is fine.", he whispered.

"Sure, we can go to Chicago next weekend."

Aiden paused while thinking why Chicago is her destination of choice. He pulled away from the hug. "Is Ellie\'s father coming?"

"Does he have a choice?", Sarah answered smugly.

Aiden exhaled in frustration. "A vacation… Did you forget what a vacation is? Chicago will NOT be a vacation… How about Colorado?"

Sarah frowned showing her displeasure with this random location. He just said the whole state! "What is there?"

"I heard that there are mountains… with meadows. Maybe we find the spot."

"You want us to go randomly to a state filled with mountains and to find the right meadow?"

Aiden\'s mood dropped, but he was not willing to give up without a fight. "I want us to go skiing. If I remember correctly, you are good at it."

Sarah paused and remembered that the two of them went skiing once and ended up skipping a class because of that. It was a long time ago.

"How about we go to Washington instead?", Sarah suggested. "Mount Rainier has some nice meadows, and skiing is superb. I would love to see your backflip again."

Aiden smiled happily. "Pick a day. This coming week…"

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