~ the Adriatic Sea, off the coast of Croatia ~
June 15
5:42 PM
(while Emma, JoAnna, Tiffany and Bridgette are chatting happily in the cafe in Los Angeles, it's late afternoon in Central Europe)
Sarah and Aiden are in the bed in the main villa on their private island on the Adriatic Sea (the island which Aiden gifted to Sarah for her birthday last year).
They wanted to go to the beach after lunch, what else can you do on a scorching summer afternoon?
The violent storm came suddenly, bringing a relief from the heat with thunders and heavy showers while spoiling their original plans.
Sarah and Aiden stood in front of the open window and watched waves raging under air-sucking gusts of wind.
"I guess the beach is out of the question…", Aiden told Sarah while glancing at her and licking his lower lip.
Sarah smiled. She knows that look and she can feel that the air between them is more charged than the lightning which is tearing the skies… and they spent the afternoon cuddling in the bed between long lovemaking sessions.
Back to present…
Sarah is resting her head on Aiden's shoulder and observing how his chest is moving as he breathes.
His eyes are closed, but she knows that he is awake. Based on the lingering smile on his lips, she knows that he is enjoying the moment. And she is enjoying as well. There is nothing better than the two of them breathing together.
"I think that the storm is easing up.", Sarah said.
The howling of the wind is easing up and deafening rain reduced to pitter-patter.
"Hmm…", Aiden hummed in acknowledgement of her statement. "What do you want to do?"
Sarah blinked and lifted her head to observe his expression. "You are letting me pick something?"
Aiden's smile widened. Even with his eyes closed, he can tell that she is watching him. "Yes. With this weather, we are stuck on the island so… what do you want to do?"
Sarah pushed him playfully. "I knew there is a catch. You would not let me pick an activity without limitations. But I will not let this opportunity pass. Let me think for a minute. I will come up with something…"
Sarah's words stopped when she saw alert on her Eve-lens. "Uhm… someone who is associated with an underground organization is in contact with Emma."
Sarah and Aiden instructed Eve to watch all their close friends and family members and to alert them if they are approached by anyone who is associated with any known underground organization. Now that their army of Chaos is growing, and more people are aware of their involvement in it, Sarah and Aiden don't want to risk their friends being targeted in order to get to them.
Aiden let out a low growl, unable to hide his irritation. Why did he agree for Sarah to wear the lenses? He saw the alert as well and if Sarah does not have her Eve-lenses on, he would sneakily check the alert and handle it without her knowing about it, and like this he has only one option. "Let's see what is going on."
Ten minutes later, in the study room…
"Bruno Gallo, also known as Bruno De Luca. Right hand man of Angelo De Luca who is the head of Nero armi…", Sarah said while reading the profile which Eve assembled.
Aiden frowned at the mention of that organization. "Representatives from Nero armi approached us few months ago in the Chaos night club. They wanted to form a loose alliance with the army of Chaos. We rejected them because their business principles are not clearly defined, and Angelo is unpredictable. Bruno is dangerous."
Sarah nodded in agreement. "Let's see how he approached Emma…"
The two of them watched video from the surveillance camera in the café and they saw the coffee spilling incident.
"That was not an accident. He was standing behind her and waiting for his chance. She barely touched him when he spilled the coffee on himself.", Sarah observed.
"Emma has a bodyguard with her.", Aiden said when Arthur showed up in the view. He recognized him as one of Charlie's men.
They don't have the audio, but it is obvious that Emma is apologizing. A minute later, Emma, Bruno and the bodyguard left the coffee shop.
Thanks to Eve, Sarah and Aiden effortlessly located their next destination and continued watching the video from the boutique. Eventually, they saw that Emma left with Charlie, leaving Bruno behind.
Sarah and Aiden got additional footage which showed Bruno leaving the boutique and then walking to a nearby park.
"One of the top guys in Nero armi approached Emma and now he is strolling around and enjoying the weather? This does not look right.", Sarah mused.
"It makes sense if you put it in a context that Bruno knows who Charlie is, and that he suspects how he is being watched.", Aiden shared his thoughts. "If he went after Emma right away, it would not end well."
Sarah agreed how that makes sense. She admires how Aiden can come up with these deductions, and he is usually right. He is amazing. "I'm happy that Charlie showed up. What does Bruno want with Emma? Do you think that he approached her because of us?"
Aiden shrugged indicating that he is not sure. "Considering what Nero armi is doing, there is a chance he approached her because of Charlie and his connection to Smithsonite corp. But no matter what his motive is, Emma is in danger."
"Charlie has men watching Emma. Let's send someone to watch over Bruno while we figure out his motive.", Sarah suggested.
Aiden already has someone on his mind. "Allen and Julius can go, and we can approve for Sean and Ryan to join them. Considering that Emma is their sister, and they want to be her bodyguards, the Ronin twins will be interested in this mission and it's a good chance for them to experience some real work. It should not be dangerous even if Bruno spots them."
Sarah approved. "Jesse is in charge at home now, so we should talk to him as well… Also, we need to alert Charlie and Emma."
Aiden lifted his hand, indicating to Sarah to hold that thought. "If we approach Charlie and Emma with this information, we will expose ourselves. They will have a lot of questions related to how we know about this."
Sarah pressed her lips into a line. He has a good point. Two seconds later, Sarah's face lit up. She's got an idea. "Let's use Jeff. The almighty Jeffrey White knows things, and it will not be unusual that he tracks these suspicious characters like Bruno. We used that when we found out about Ellie looking into Jasper and it worked."
Aiden gave a thumbs-up. "We should hurry. Let's not risk that Bruno makes another move and Emma and Charlie don't suspect him. To make it faster, you talk to Jeff and Anna. I will talk to Jesse, about Allen and Julius..."
Sarah moved closer and gave Aiden a smacking kiss on the lips.
Aiden looked at her questionably. "What was that for?"
"I am happy when we do things together."
He cupped her cheeks with his palms and smiled. "Mrs. White, you and I are together in everything."
Sarah's lips stretched in a smile. "Say that again."
"Mrs. White, you and I are together in everything.", he repeated.
"Only one word is missing, Mr. White."
Aiden's eyebrow arched. "Which one?"
"Forever."
Aiden nodded in approval. "Correction accepted: Mrs. White, you and I are together in everything. Forever."
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