Is this destiny?

In the master bedroom…

Sophia, JoAnna, and Sarah hugged each other and cried as they watched the video.

They shared their grief, comforted each other, and scolded themselves for treating Vasily unfairly.

Sarah wiped her tears away and scratched Kitty\'s head while listening to her sisters.

"I wish to get a chance to tell him that I\'m sorry…", JoAnna said and turned to Sarah. "I remember his expression when he figured out that you are pregnant. I assumed that he was pleased how he found something he can use against you and I treated him like he is about to harm you. I misunderstood him on so many levels. How come I didn\'t see that he was happy about your pregnancy? I am such a failure…"

Sarah exhaled a shaky breath. "In a way, it\'s a good thing you did that, Anna. That showed him something is off and that we are not only unreasonable but that there is a misunderstanding. Because you were so protective of me, he recorded this video and without it, we would still hate him while the only thing he did was take care of us."

"For three women who claim to do things for the sake of our families… we failed.", Sophia said. "Mom told us many times that Vasily would not harm us, yet we didn\'t listen. And the worst part is that Vasily will not hear our apologies."

"Even the dogs liked him, and they say that dogs are a good judge of character…", JoAnna said in a whisper.

"Unfortunately, he can\'t hear us. It\'s too late.", Sarah said. "But that does not mean that we should not do anything."

"What do you have on your mind?", Sophia asked.

Sarah looked at JoAnna and Sophia and shared her thoughts: "Vasily hated Voronins and he died in their base to protect us. I want Voronins eradicated, it is what Vasily would want. He also mentioned straightening up the Lebedev family and removing the power-hungry individuals. We should do that."

Sarah saw that JoAnna and Sophia nodded in agreement before adding: "And… I want to give him a proper burial."

"A proper burial?", Sophia asked Sarah. "How can it be proper without a body?"

"We will retrieve his body from that wretched place.", Sarah said.

JoAnna agreed with Sarah, but… "I hope this is not another undercover nonsense."

Sarah would not call it nonsense. It was a failure in the end, however, it served for them to uncover useful information and Eve now has access to the network of the Voronin family. Thanks to that, they got valuable data that was shared with their allies. However, Sarah does not want to bring that up because the price was Vasily\'s life, and there is no way she will put anyone in danger like that again.

"This time, we are going through the front door.", Sarah announced.

JoAnna and Sophia approved. With the people, technology, and allies they have available, there is no need to play games.

"We should come up with a plan as soon as possible.", Sophia advised. "Voronins are now in dismay because of the explosion and all the casualties. We can take advantage of that."

Sarah agreed with attacking Voronins without the delay. She wanted to torture Ivan, but that can wait. He is not going anywhere. However, there is one thing… "I want to talk to Ivan. Vasily was unable to figure out how Aiden ended up comatose, but with the truth serum, we can find out."

"You doubt Vasily?", JoAnna asked Sarah.

"No. I believe that whatever Vasily said was true. But I need closure. I want to know if Ivan was behind it, and if he was, I want to know why. If he wanted Aiden dead, he could have done that right there and use as a coverup something like complications after the surgery. Why did he bother with injecting him with something experimental? It does not make sense. Also, if Ivan was selling information to the Voronins, he might know if anyone else is a spy. There is no point in us planning a sneak attack if Voronins have their eyes and ears in the same room."

"OK. That will not take long.", Sophia commented. "I suggest that we meet with our parents. There are things that are lingering in the air and I believe that it\'s time not to have secrets anymore."

JoAnna agreed. "They knew that Vasily was watching over us, yet they didn\'t say anything until we found about it accidentally, and even then, they didn\'t explain. If they did…" JoAnna sighed.

"Additionally, I want to know what role Elanor and Oscar have in all this.", Sarah said.

JoAnna\'s eyes widened. "Eh? You think they are part of this?"

"I would be surprised if they are not.", Sophia responded before Sarah could. "If Vasily knew who Aiden and Jeff are, and that Whites are involved with Voronins, I believe that Elanor and Oscar should know about our connection with the Lebedevs."

JoAnna rubbed her temples. "Why does this sound like everyone knows everything, yet we are stuck in the middle of it and blind."

Sophia patted JoAnna\'s shoulder. "Don\'t give yourself a hard time over this. You won\'t find things if you don\'t know what you are looking for. We need to start moving because time is ticking away. Let\'s talk to our parents and then we need to summon a few people and start planning our counterattack. Time is of the essence."

The three of them decided to focus their energy on their tasks at hand. They have a lot of tears for Vasily, but they will keep them for later.

Sophia, JoAnna, and Sarah went to the bathroom, washed their faces, and headed to the living room with Kitty trailing behind them.

…

Ten minutes later, in the study…

Sophia, JoAnna, Sarah, Felix, Jeff, and Aiden are facing Stella, Edward, and Owen (who insisted to join in this Hill-White-Martin family-meeting).

Sarah told Stella, Edward, and Owen that Vasily left to her a USB memory stick with a message about his involvement in their lives and evidence to support his claims. Sarah didn\'t go into many details, but she made it clear that all three sisters are upset that Vasily was so involved in their lives, yet they were oblivious about it.

Stella confirmed that one of Vasily\'s tasks was to watch them and that is why he got North America as his territory. It was more convenient.

"Our whole lives we are unknowing participants of some reality show.", Sophia spoke to her parents while struggling to control her anger mixed with disappointment. "People were watching us and making decisions for us, impacting our lives, yet we thought that we are normal."

"You are normal.", Stella said and added: "With an unusual background, but normal. I did my best not to interfere and to protect you from everything."

JoAnna snorted. "Don\'t you think how that was one more decision made for us without our approval? Everyone was protecting us from something, creating bubble after bubble around us. Maybe you call it protection, I call it lies."

Stella exhaled in defeat. She didn\'t know how to answer this. Maybe if they grew up in the Lebedev family, they would understand how restrictive and controlling that environment is, and how all protection JoAnna calls lies was worth it because thanks to that they managed to date whom they wanted, and to attend schools they wanted, to have friends, and to make many other decisions for themselves.

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