Chapter 474 - June Arrived

Days blended into weeks, and without notice, June arrived.

Mia and Hunter returned from their honeymoon and settled in their new routine.

Hunter would go to the Alpha Group, while Mia kept busy working with Fabricio. Mia would spend a lot of time video conferencing during weekdays with Fabricio and her subordinates from Portland, and it became normal that Mia and Hunter go to Portland on Friday afternoon and return on Sunday evening.

Other than working with Fabricio, Mia and Hunter handled Suzy. They made sure that she suffers while probing her for additional information. Suzy was always petty and stubborn and unreasonable, but she was not stupid, and she was aware that if she reveals more damaging information about her deeds, her ending will only be worse.

The moment Suzy reached Fabricio's mansion, she realized that they will not let her out. Even the men who came to bring her food looked menacing and whenever she dared to ask them something they would bare their teeth at her, like wild animals, making Suzy regret her decision to talk. Suzy knew that those men were not feral, because whenever Mia showed up they would smile meekly and bow like Mia is the queen of this place and Suzy hated it.

Mia and Hunter got ahold of Suzy's phone and email accounts, but Suzy always conducted sensitive and potentially incriminating talks in person, so other than knowing with whom she communicated, everything else was just a guess for Mia and Hunter.

After her legs were broken, Suzy was willing to expose some people as malicious. Suzy told stories about how others contacted her in order to buy information and how they planned to use it, but Mia was doubtful that Suzy is only using those random people as scapegoats to deflect some of the blame she has weighing on her. After all, Suzy was desperate and her trying to drag more people down with her was expected, but that also made any information Suzy revealed unreliable because if anyone did something really bad, they would also be able to expose more of Suzy's misdeeds.

In the end, it didn't matter. How Mia saw it, Suzy was the one who was obsessed with Hunter and stalked them and ended up trying to ruin the wedding by drugging the bride and her bridesmaids, and anything she did in-between didn't matter. Suzy was stuck, serving a sentence that included torture and will end with execution, so it couldn't get worse.

Madeline was not happy that Mia and Hunter were not available on weekends, because she would love-love-love to have them present so that she can inquire about their plans for expanding their family, and that is exactly the reason why Mia made sure that they are heading to Portland every Friday. Mia knew that with this escape strategy they were only postponing the inevitable, but she will take what she can. Mia hoped that after Sabrina had her baby, Madeline will be pacified, however, Mia realized how wrong her assumption was because Madeline wanted more grandchildren and she started talking about William needing playmates that are close in age, and how there is no one better than cousins.

While in Portland, Roberto would ask about Angela and Mia would tell him the truth: Angela and Derek are getting along well. Actually, more than well. They are living together, and they got engaged.

As for the other couples, Brianna and Quentin are enjoying their married life and working at Reynolds Media. Whenever their meetings allow, Bri and Q would take advantage of their joint offices to enjoy marital activities behind closed doors.

Olivia and Mike are doing fine, with Mike probing how Olivia feels about getting engaged. Olivia was happy to talk about long-term commitment like marriage, but at the same time, she was concerned that Mike was feeling the urgency to move onto the next step only because Mike does not want to be the last non-engaged guy in their group of five.

Jake would love to ask Grace to marry him, but the shadow of doubt descended on him if her family will reject him because they are worlds apart. When Jake got promoted to the position of a manager, he thought that he climbed a hill, but only after he started dating Grace and he met her family, Jake realized that there are many other mountains around him and that his achievement does not count for much. Of course, Grace does not care about those things, but Jake's confidence took a hit, and no one knew if he will be able to get out of that hole he dug himself. At the last girl-only gathering, the consensus was that if Grace is to be engaged to Jake, she will need to be the one to pop the question.

Ashton and Sabrina were happily-busy with their jobs and baby-William.

Ashton accepted Derek as Angela's partner, but secretively he hoped that Angela will realize how Derek is a big buffoon. It's not that Ashton does not like Derek, but Ashton loves Angela too much and thinks that Derek is not good enough for her. Actually, no one is good enough for Angela, but with Sabrina's constant coaxing, Ashton understood that he needs to suck it up or risk alienating Angela.

Liz's days were marked with her preparations for the upcoming symposium of neurosurgeons, and she would chat with Dr. Thomas several times a week. Since she got an invitation to be the speaker, she felt like that was her mission in life and it needs to be perfect.

Liz prepared a presentation and she edited it a million times while making sure that only relevant information is shown, while nothing top-secret is revealed.

For Liz, this was more than just a speech, it was a symbol that she can succeed on her own. Sure, there was a time when she thought that she will score that invitation by achieving something amazing in the operating room, but it turned out that she reached her goal by collaborating with Dr. Thomas on the research related to the virus that attacks the nervous system. The path was unexpected, but she reached her goal successfully.

Max watched Liz shine brighter as June 23rd approached, and he was happy that she was too distracted to notice that he was doing some preparations on his own. Maybe she forgot about their talk of getting engaged after her speech, but he didn't.

The symposium will be held in the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas, and it will last for three days, starting with June 23. Liz's speech is on the second day.

Max upgraded Liz's regular room to the penthouse suite with a view of the Bellagio fountains.

Due to work, Max can't accompany Liz for the three days how long the symposium lasts, but he will join her on the evening of the 23rd and leave on the morning of the 25th. In that way, they will not be separated overnight, and he will get to watch her speech live. Of course, he secured an attendance ticket for himself. This is a symposium where neurosurgeons speak about their latest work and achievements, while anyone who is interested can come and watch.

Isaac also secured tickets for the symposium, for himself and for Foxy, but he issued a disclaimer how he was not sure if he will attend. It will depend on his schedule. Isaac promised that if he can't watch Liz delivering her speech in person, he will definitely watch it online through a live stream (or a recording).

Liz didn't have high expectations of her friends and family watching her speech because it was part of her career. If not for the bet with Isaac, Liz would not treat this symposium as something special either, as she already attended many events and gave a number of speeches.

Isaac was a bit vexed that he lost this bet (mostly because Liz was reminding him of that fact repeatedly), but he knew that Liz will make it. Liz is his daughter, after all, and so far she always achieved whatever she set as her goal.

However, even if Liz didn't get invited to that symposium as a speaker, Isaac would not insist on Liz returning to New York. He saw that she managed to get her own footing, and other than a job she also had friends and a lover in Seattle, and Isaac was happy for her.

…

June 23

7:02 AM

"You got everything?", Max asked Liz while walking with her to the elevator.

He arranged for a car with a driver, to take Liz to the airport.

Liz smiled. He asked her that five times already. "I have a change of clothes, my wallet, and my laptop. Everything else is optional."

"I will see you tonight."

"I will be waiting.", Liz got on her toes and kissed him on the lips. "Thank you for all the support, Max."

Max rubbed the tip of his nose against hers. "Who will I support if not you? Let me know when you arrive."

"Of course…"

Liz gave him another quick kiss and entered the elevator.

Max waved and watched as the elevator door closed.

They knew that the driver was waiting for Liz in the lobby; Joshua called when the man arrived.

Liz might be nervous about her speech tomorrow, but Max was much more nervous because he had a speech of his own. After Liz's presentation is over, all the conditions for them to move on to the next level will be met, and that will mark the point from when he can ask her to marry him.

It's not that he doubts what her response will be, but he wants it to be memorable and perfect and… worthy of Liz saying 'yes'.

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