Is this destiny?

~ the Adriatic Sea, off the coast of Croatia ~

On Sarah\'s and Aiden\'s private island…

It is late in the evening, and Aiden is packing things for their next three days. They are heading for Greece! Of course, Sarah does not know about it. She knows that soon they will depart, and Aiden hopes that the darkness hides their destination.

For this occasion, Aiden secured them a villa on a hill which is located west of the Acropolis (one of Sarah\'s favorite spots in Greece), and the views of the sunrise over the Parthenon will blow her socks off. 

Aiden is giddy just by imagining Sarah\'s expression when she exclaims: "My husband is the best!"

Aiden walked happily out of the closet and found Sarah on the balcony with a laptop. 

He frowned when he saw her focused and her face lit up. She is like that only when she is… working.

"What are you doing?", Aiden asked with displeasure which he didn\'t try to conceal.

Sarah ignored his hostile tone. "What do you think about this?"

Aiden glanced at the photo shown on the screen and saw something like a building which is carved inside the ground with a keyhole-like opening, two stories deep. 

"Is that a house?", Aiden asked reluctantly, unsure what to think of this.

"Yes."

He relaxed. Well, at least she is not working. "Are we buying a house?"

"No. We will build one."

Aiden was not sure if she is joking. Since when they need to build a house? "What?"

"Look at this…", Sarah opened the map which showed a forest and a large hole. "This is an abandoned reservoir, and I\'ve got inspired by this house. We can build something like this…"

Aiden\'s confusion was obvious. "Uhm… are we buying a forest to build a house inside an abandoned reservoir?"

"Yes.", Sarah responded happily.

She was about to continue talking, but Aiden\'s question interrupted her.

"Why?"

"Oh… I guess you didn\'t check the emails. This is next to Nero armi\'s base in Milan, the one which Angelo will give to us. This is a perfect spot to build the facilities where our army will spend their time when not on duty. Look at this, Oni even suggested to build a few regular houses and connect them underground. That is a brilliant idea…"

Aiden grunted in disapproval. This is about work! "Why are you working?"

Sarah blinked few times innocently before responding: "You went to the closet and told me to stay away. There is nothing much on the TV and how long can I stare at the sea?"

"You could play a game!"

Sarah shrugged. "Don\'t be grumpy. It\'s spoiling my mood. You were busy, I was bored, and I checked my email. The work part is done already so there is no need to argue over this. I approved them to purchase the land and kick off the construction as soon as possible with funds from our army. Michael will talk to Jeff about finding a real estate agent to buy the land. When I sent those emails, I remembered this reservoir house and it\'s amazing. I want us to build something like this. Look…"

Aiden faced Sarah\'s excited expression and he exhaled in defeat. "Sure, show me."

Sarah grinned. "If you approve, I will send this as a reference to Louis so he can start designing the house. He did an amazing job with our other properties, and I\'m sure he can do his magic here as well… He is already aware of our special requirements so it will not take much time to discuss specifics with him. I\'m thinking of letting Oni oversee the design and construction. She has a great eye for details, and she was with me and Louis when we discussed the changes to the property at the Whiterock lake in Dallas..."

~ Los Angeles, Penny\'s apartment ~

Penny is in her home office, reading the latest report from Marcy who is a general manager for all five hotels which Penny owns.

Ben is at work, and she keeps herself busy with following up on the status in her hotels between naps, eating, and relaxing on the rooftop park-garden.

When Penny took over hotels (previously owned by her parents), Marcy was an assistant to Mrs. Swalwell. Mrs. Swalwell was a general manager at that time, and when Penny confirmed that she is corrupt, she fired Mrs. Swalwell and promoted Marcy.

Marcy is doing an amazing job, managing all five hotels and everything is running smoothly except for one thing: Mr. and Mrs. Morgan (aka Penny\'s parents) are coming daily and causing a ruckus that disturbs employees and guests. 

Penny does not have any desire to watch security footage of their tantrums. She already saw too many of them.

The security personnel in hotels knows about them and the police took them away more than once, but they can\'t keep them locked for long. After all, Mr. and Mrs. Morgan are only speaking loudly and occasionally shouting profanities when the staff refuses to give them the contact information of the owner. Once, her parents reached the judge who punished them with $50 each and that is how much law can help Penny.

Penny discussed possibilities of getting a restraining order or to pile up some charges to put her parents in jail for some time, but none of those are solutions that would work for a long time. 

Penny thought that her parents went crazy after losing all their assets, but the fact that they never broke anything or assaulted any of the people present, confirms Penny\'s suspicion that Mr. and Mrs. Morgan are doing this with a purpose to extort money from her.

Penny can\'t believe how outrageous and greedy her parents are. 

She ensured that all the repairs are done on the house where her parents are staying in. She pays for the house-associated bills which include a once-a-week cleaning service and a gardener to maintain the front and backyard. Based on the money they are left with in their bank accounts, Penny knows that they have enough to buy food.

Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have two options: one is to relax and enjoy their quiet life, and the second one is to find jobs and earn more money. But they found a third option, which is to disturb Penny while asking for handouts.

Penny was so frustrated that a few days ago she met with JoAnna and Sophia and voiced her grievances before asking them for some advice on how to deal with this.

"The easiest way is to kill them.", JoAnna said flatly.

Penny looked at JoAnna with shock apparent on my face. "They are my parents! Would you be able to do that to your parents?"

"No.", JoAnna admitted before adding: "But my parents didn\'t control me for more than twenty years while preparing me to sleep with a man who can provide them with the most benefits and then locking me in the basement and starving me for disobedience and…"

"OK, enough!", Penny interrupted JoAnna. "I know all that, but is there something else I could do? I don\'t want to kill them. I want them to stop bothering me."

Sophia shared her suggestions: "We can send them on a deserted island or a remote mountain with fertile land and sheep, goats, and chickens so that they are self-sufficient and they can make their own food. Or we can use them for testing medications."

JoAnna nodded in approval of Sophia\'s ideas, and she remembered: "While on the topic of medicines, I have one which can degrade your memory and brain function to a level of a five-year-old child. Or we can always put them in a medically induced coma."

Penny was speechless. "You are not helping. Sending them to be isolated is the same as killing them. They would not how to cut the wool from the sheep or how…"

"Shear…", JoAnna interrupted Penny.

"What?"

"It\'s called \'shear a sheep\' not \'cut the wool from the sheep\'.", JoAnna explained. 

"No matter how you call it, my parents don\'t know how to do it. And they would not know how to milk an animal or to plant a seed or anything that can make food. Sending them out of civilization without access to a grocery store is the same as killing them, but it would work slower. And testing medicines? Putting them in a coma? Where do you get such ideas?"

Sophia spread her arms helplessly. "Hey, you asked for options and we gave you some. You can just say \'no\', there is no need to be snappy about it."

Penny exhaled. "Sorry, my hormones are making me nervous."

"We are all pregnant.", JoAnna stated a point. 

Back to the present…

Penny remembers words which Sophia left her with: "Penny, your parents are disturbing you and they will not stop. You need to decide how to deal with them and we are available to help put your plan into action. I see that you are struggling, but I need you to think about what they would do to you. If the roles are reversed and they didn\'t lose everything, what would be your fate? If you didn\'t escape, if you are at their mercy, would they leave you alone? Would they give you a choice? Would they provide you with a house and all expenses covered while ensuring that you have enough money for food? …"

Penny rubbed her eight months pregnant belly and she told herself that she needs to decide on something. And it needs to happen before the baby is born…

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