Is this destiny?

Albert pointed a shaky finger at Jarred. "This is all your fault."

Jarred looked at Albert blankly for a moment and then his expression darkened. "Explain yourself."

Albert was mentally snapping. All this was too much, and he needed to blame someone. Anyone. He picked Jarred.

"If you didn\'t insist on bringing Sarah here, we would not find ourselves in this mess."

Jarred sneered. "And if you didn\'t threaten her and act against her, she would be our ally. Did you think about that?"

"He acted against Sarah?", Sinet asked with a frown.

Jarred nodded in confirmation, and Albert was too distraught to pay attention.

"I told you that she is too powerful.", Albert spoke frantically. He started talking to Jarred, but then he was getting into Sinet\'s face; Suvedini, Ksenia, and Sloan got their share of glares as well.

"I told you that she is dangerous. We were supposed to cut her wings and stop the problem before it started. Yet you…", Albert\'s next word was incoherent as his eyes rolled at the back of his head and he plopped listlessly on the ground.

"No one talks about cutting any part of my wife and gets away with it.", Aiden said icily.

Rance paled while trying to process what happened. It was obvious that Aiden did something, but Aiden was still sitting in his chair. Albert was sprawled on the floor right next to Rance. Is Albert dead? Rance got on his knees and touched Albert\'s neck. A second later, Rance exhaled in relief. Albert is alive. But that still didn\'t explain what happened.

Sarah\'s eyes sparkled as she looked at Aiden. Him protecting her non-existing wings was a big turn-on.

"I think we are done here, right?", Sarah asked Aiden, and he could sense the urgency in her voice.

The way Sarah squeezed Aiden\'s hand impatiently told him everything he needed to know. Gods! If he knew that her pregnancy would come with all these perks, he would insist on impregnating her a long time ago!

"Yes. Done.", Aiden confirmed.

He swiftly got up and helped Sarah to her feet.

She loved his hands on her waist, but she needed to get closer. Much closer.

"Thank you, everyone, for attending this meeting…", Aiden said before turning off the holograms and retrieving the pyramid-shaped object from the table. That\'s a prototype and if they lose it, Felix will give them a hard time.

Aiden also got his and Sarah\'s medallions, as shiny souvenirs. Sarah would never forgive him if he left shiny stuff behind.

Aiden moved with haste because every second counts and Sarah was wearing a dress. Easy access.

"You are leaving, just like that?", Sloan asked.

Aiden paused, displeased by this interruption. "Were you expecting something else?"

Sloan shrugged. He didn\'t know what to expect, but all this was unexpected. He needed time to process what happened. Everyone did.

For an organization as powerful as the Council to meet its end like that was… anticlimactic.

Sarah and Aiden left the room with a brief \'goodbye\' and Jared directed his focus to Suvedini.

"Did you know about this?"

"I didn\'t.", Suvedini responded honestly. "Did you?"

Jarred exhaled heavily. "No."

"Now what?", Sinet asked.

"I will enjoy my retirement properly. I suggest you do the same.", Jarred responded with a troubled smile.

Jarred was thinking of retiring, but on his own terms and he definitely didn\'t plan to disclose the existence of the Council to Donnie. Sarah and Aiden now forced the retirement on Jarred, and Donnie still didn\'t forgive Jarred that he lied about the Council.

Jarred didn\'t think that it\'s important for Donnie to know about the Council, and whenever he attended meetings, he would come up with some excuse to leave her behind. He will need to do a lot of cajoling. Ah, he will need to talk to Charlie also. He really-really didn\'t look forward to returning to Los Angeles.

"Will Sarah stick to her word and not attack us?", Sloan asked with concern obvious in her voice.

"She sticks to her words.", Suvedini responded. "As long as you don\'t act against her, she won\'t attack. I don\'t recommend acting rashly and making an enemy of her. Sarah holds grudges. If your history with her is clean, and you need an ally, she is available."

"How can you be so confident?", Ksenia asked.

Suvedini was not sure how to answer this. But everyone was looking at her because she was the one singled out as accepted into the group called New Order.

Suddenly, Suvedini realized that Sarah put her on the spot. Why did Sarah and Aiden just leave? Did they do it on purpose? Is that a way for them to get revenge for Suvedini not speaking up about the Council right away? Surely, Sarah can\'t be that petty… right? Or maybe she is.

"To find that out, you will need to approach Sarah. She is available for meetings every Tuesday evening at the Chaos nightclub in Los Angeles…"

…

When Albert woke up, he found himself on the floor of the conference room.

The Council members were gone, all except for Rance.

"Thank goodness you are awake!", Rance exclaimed.

He was happy that Albert is awake because the two of them are boiling in the same pot while Aiden and Sarah are controlling the fire.

Rance is greedy, but he is not stupid. He knew that the only one who will retaliate against Sarah and Aiden is Albert because he has no other choice.

The other five from the Council either support Sarah and Aiden, or don\'t want to get on their bad side. For Rance and Albert is too late because the hostility is out in the open.

Albert\'s eyes flashed as he remembered how he found himself in that situation. It was Aiden and Sarah!

"How long was I out?", Albert asked while pushing himself up into a seated position.

"About one hour.", Rance responded and helped Albert to get up.

"What happened after I was… incapacitated?"

"Everyone left.", Rance said with a dejected expression.

"They accepted that the Council is over? Surely, someone opposed…", Albert\'s voice trailed when he saw Rance shake his head.

"Suvedini is part of the New Order. Jarred and Sinet said they plan to enjoy their retirement. Sloan was inquiring from Suvedini how to approach Sarah. It seems that he wants in."

"What about Ksenia?", Albert asked, while secretly hoping that Ksenia will be their ally. Ksenia was always neutral and only at the last moment she showed support for Sarah.

"Ksenia was asking Suvedini about Maksim.", Rance said dryly.

Albert didn\'t understand. "Maksim?"

Rance nodded. "The young man who appeared on one of the screens. Maksim Voronin. It seems that Suvedini met him on several occasions, so Ksenia was asking about the details that wouldn\'t be covered in intelligence reports."

Albert frowned when he understood that Ksenia\'s interest is beyond business connections. "She is old enough to be his mother."

Rance shrugged. Who cares about Ksenia\'s preferences? She is a fine-looking woman, who takes care of her skin and body, and if she likes younger men, there is nothing Rance can do about it. Ksenia is attractive, but she is not Rance\'s type. Rance loves his women more... submissive.

Rance shook his head while dispelling any thoughts of Ksenia away and focusing on the current problem.

"What are we going to do?", Rance asked Albert.

Albert didn\'t want to do anything with Rance. However, the two of them had a common enemy, and they had similar issues where their money and careers were facing danger.

How Albert saw it, there was only one thing to do.

"Do you still have your medallion?", Albert asked to what Rance nodded in confirmation.

"We need to go to Berlin. Right away."

Rance\'s eyes widened in shock. "You mean…"

Albert confirmed decisively. "We are out of options. Our assets are gone, and power is dwindling. If we don\'t do this, someone else will…"

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