Is this destiny?

The days were passing by and even though things slowed down, and everyone wanted a vacation, most of them can\'t afford to take one.

Jeff has a lot of after-acquisition work to settle. But he is happy that he can do most of the work from home, so that he can be around to pamper his pregnant wife. Jeff is not letting JoAnna do much, and she is enjoying this sudden flood of care from her husband which is manifesting as massages, desserts, hot or cold beverages... and anything she wants, really. She is amazed how much time Jeff spends with her, considering all the acquisitions he is managing (in addition to his regular work).

Every acquisition requires a lot of planning and consideration, but as an aftermath of Marcus\' attacks, current mergers came in one big wave and a lot of logistics is necessary in order for White corp. not to suffer losses and for the other company to stay stable as well.

One example is \'Hanks industries\', the company which was owned by Bradley\'s family. They deal with metals and precious gems. Jeff is splitting that into two. Metals will merge with the existing department of White corp. and they are assessing what can be used and what is not necessary. And that includes facilities, materials, machines, and even people. Whatever is not necessary, it requires a further deliberation what will be done with it, and that decision will impact workers who are currently working there.

White corp. legal team is analyzing the existing contracts that \'Hanks industries\' brought in with this acquisition, and they all need to be re-negotiated. Those contracts are legally not valid because \'Hanks industries\' does not exist anymore, but most of them need to be preserved so that those facilities keep working.

For the precious gems, this is a new addition to White corp. and Jeff is considering to split it into a separate company which he would gift to Sarah and Aiden. The two of them already have one diamond mine, and with the acquisition of \'Hanks industries\'

came eleven gemstone mines which include one diamond mine, one jade mine, three mines with sapphires and rubies (to name a few). Other than eleven gemstone mines, there are also two facilities for processing precious gems. This is something that Sarah was looking for desperately, because they don\'t have enough diamonds from their mine to justify building their own processing facility, yet they have more than necessary to invoke questions when they take them to another facility for processing. If Jeff gives this new gemstone company to Sarah and Aiden, the products from their (first) mine can be processed in those two facilities, and no one will suspect anything.

Jeff is confident that Sarah will be happy with this gift because she likes shiny things, and her birthday is coming soon so… it will be a perfect birthday gift.

…

Sarah\'s focus is split between several areas. Other than her job at White corp., managing the army of Chaos and the education of their kids, she meets daily with Louis (the architect who designed their Beach house) in order to discuss changes to the property at the White Rock Lake which belonged to Marcus. When remodel of that mansion is completed, she plans to take all their kids there for a break. They will have a massive play area (it will include expanding the existing bowling alley), and access to the lake which provides plenty of water-activities.

Aiden is in charge to hire staff and to get the boats and cars they will have there.

Sarah and Aiden are spending the evening discussing (future) barbecue parties on the lawn, right next to the White Rock Lake.

"When kids go to sleep, we can go skinny dipping…", Aiden said with a sly smile.

Sarah blinked. "You know that we are not the only property with an access to that lake, right? Even if our kids are sleeping, there are neighbors…"

Aiden waved, indicating how that is not a problem. "We will buy them all… or we can use drones to knock them out. It\'s cheaper."

Sarah was not sure if he is joking or not. Will he really knock out the neighborhood so that the two of them can go skinny dipping? Well… maybe.

Thinking about skinny dipping, Sarah remembered where Aiden proposed to her. "I would like us to go to our island…", she said dreamily. "The bar by the pool, the birds, the glowing ocean, and we slept up in the trees… many happy memories. When can we go?"

Aiden smiled. He is glad that she didn\'t mention the arguments they had there. Based on her blissful expression, Aiden concluded that Sarah forgot the unpleasant things. How can she forget that he accused her of being ashamed of him, and he stormed out leaving her confused… and then he found her almost freezing in the cold shower? Also, that was the first time when she openly said that she knows about his past, and he will never forget that because of him she cried herself to sleep.

Aiden remembered that Sarah is not bringing up many unpleasant things, she just shuts them out, like she has mental gates which keep the bad things locked away. As much as he appreciates that her mood is not dampened by bad memories, he worries what will happen if those gates collapse and everything she keeps tucked away floods out?

"Let\'s go this coming weekend. It\'s just a weekend, we can afford two-three days break.", Aiden suggested. "Generals can take care of the army of Chaos, other kids will take care of themselves… I will get Jesse to watch if anything is needed for the people of the White foundation. We already made reservations for Ellie\'s and Jasper\'s pre-wedding party and invitations are sent… and the two of us can go skinny dipping."

Sarah\'s eyes lit up. "Sounds good… Should we take Kitty?"

"No."

Sarah paused. "On that island she can explore without fear that someone will see her."

"No."

Sarah laughed seeing his stubborn expression.

"Don\'t you dare sneak Kitty into the plane…", Aiden said in a dangerously low voice.

Sarah\'s smile dropped. "How did you know?"

It was Aiden\'s turn to laugh at Sarah\'s confusion. "I am serious. Kitty stays here. Or you will go skinny dipping with her."

Aiden saw Sarah nod in agreement, but he took a mental note to double check Kitty\'s whereabouts before they head out, and then to check the plane before the takeoff. Just in case…

…

Sophia is down to only a handful of leftover cases from Marcus\' attacks, so her attention is now focused on final stages of merger of White corp. and Orion Enterprise. Jeff told her to draft with her legal team details of the merger, and then his team will look into it. However, Sophia is aware that Jeff has his hands full, so she is not in a rush.

Sophia is happy that Pam is handling a lot of regular work with minimum instructions from Sophia, so she can focus on Lia and Felix who both need her in their lives. Finally, she can be present.

Sophia is super-grateful that Felix was there for Lia when she was swamped with legal work. Without him supporting her, she would not be so successful, and Lia would not be so well taken care of. He is amazing. Sophia remembers how during her pregnancy he was insecure, thinking that he will not be a good father, and here he is: the best father ever.

Now that things calmed down, Leah does not go to the office to help out because there is no need. She stopped by few times only because she agreed to have a lunch with Pam.

Sophia is reluctant to ask Leah about her future plans, because she knows that they include Leah traveling. Sophia hopes that Leah will stay longer, and she also mentioned to Leah that with her business degree and experience of working by Sophia\'s side for many years, Leah can definitely get a job easily at White corp. or Orion Enterprise (that will be the same thing, soon). Leah thanked Sophia and responded that she will think about it, and Sophia does not want to push it. But she hopes that Leah will decide to stay.

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