Chapter 536 - Confronting Stella

~ Seattle, Hill family villa ~

As soon as Sarah and Aiden entered the villa, Stella's eyes fell on Sarah's engagement ring before they had a chance to say anything.

"Congratulations! My wish for you is that your love lasts forever!" Stella hugged them and both Sarah and Aiden got two juicy kisses on their cheeks from Stella.

Sarah was a bit disappointed. She practiced introducing Aiden as her fiancé, but Stella spoiled it.

The thing is that Stella knew that Aiden will propose to Sarah because he asked for Edward's blessings. That is why she looked for the engagement ring right away.

Edward found out that a newly engaged couple arrived even before they came into his sight. Stella's screams warned him, and he stepped out of his study and gave his congratulations.

Sarah was surprised that Edward seemed… happy. 'I really need to look at that recording.', Sarah reminded herself.

Again, she lost the opportunity to introduce Aiden as her fiancé.

Six of them enjoyed a bountiful dinner filled with laughter and casual chatting.

Everyone was excited, even the maids and Mr. Joe offered congratulations to the happy couple.

During dinner, Stella was telling stories about Sarah as a child with tears in her eyes.

Aiden enjoyed listening to stories about Sarah. Two of them held hands under the table.

"Mom, I only got engaged. Why are you making this like I'm going somewhere forever?", Sarah didn't like that some stories were slightly embarrassing.

Stella scolded Sarah. "Don't spoil this for me! You got engaged. Your childhood is over. I want to remember it well before you get married and give me grandkids!"

Sarah rubbed her temples. There was nothing that can stop Stella from chatting.

After dinner, Sarah and Sophia asked their mom for a talk in private about the wedding. Aiden and Felix joined. Sisters warned Aiden and Felix not to meddle no matter how heated conversation with Stella gets. Their mom will easily forgive her daughters, but Aiden and Felix might not be so lucky.

Edward heard that the talk is related to the wedding and that was enough for him to say that he is going to his study.

They all went to one room in the back which Stella uses as her home office.

"Based on your expressions, I assume this is not related to the wedding.", Stella guessed correctly after seeing four faces looking at her with serious expressions.

Sarah took the lead in talking. "You are correct. We are here because we found out something, and we feel that we are in danger, and we need answers."

Stella responded with one small nod.

Sarah pulled a folder from her backpack which was filled with printouts of photos and data they found about the man known as 'King' and 'Ray'.

She started arranging side-by-side different photos of a person known as 'King' on the desk in front of Stella.

Stella could not hide her surprise. "Where did you get these?!" Her eyes darted over photos.

"Most of these are from our properties.", Sarah responded while trying to see what is hiding behind her mom's expression.

"Some of these are older and some are only few weeks old… There is also this." Sarah pulled the photo of 5 year old JoAnna and that man in the background. "This is Hill family estate on East Coast, summer 2002."

Sarah saw that her mom's eyes widened. She can tell that Stella is surprised, but she could not tell if she is surprised because that man was there, or because they found out.

"And there is this…", she showed photo of her neighbor, King. "This one is captured about one month ago in front of apartment in Fairfield. The one you gave me for Christmas. And this man introduced himself as King. He is our neighbor across the hall."

There was a long silence before Sophia spoke. "Mom, is there something you want to tell us?"

Stella didn't respond.

Sophia was not happy that even in this situation, their mom is not talking. "Mom, we are aware that your background is not simple. We never snooped there because we respected your desire to keep it hidden from us, and we believe that you must have a good reason for doing so. But this is different. We know that you are familiar with him. Did you hire him to follow us? Or is he working for someone else? Him being around us can't be a coincidence. We need to know, is he a friend or a foe? What does he want? How many more are there watching us?"

Stella held her forehead in her palm and closed her eyes while listening to Sophia's questions. It was obvious that she was thinking about something unpleasant.

"Mom, we need to know.", Sarah reminded her.

Stella shook her head lightly. "You don't understand. It's dangerous."

"Do you think that by not telling us you are keeping us safe?", Sophia asked.

Stella was silent.

"Look at these!" Sarah stood up abruptly from the chair and slammed a printout listing properties and dates in front of Stella. "Look how many times he showed up right in front of our noses! How can you stay quiet knowing that he is right here, breathing down our necks?!!"

Sophia placed her hand on Sarah's shoulder urging her to get back down on the chair.

Sarah took a deep breath, her disappointment while looking at the mother was obvious. She sat back in the chair.

Sophia looked at Stella. "Can you tell us what his intentions are?"

"I don't know what he wants. But I know that he is dangerous." This was the first time that Stella responded honestly.

"Who is he?", Sophia asked.

Stella shook her head.

"You know who he is, right? And you are keeping us in the dark!", Sarah said through her teeth.

"You don't understand." Stella was conflicted.

"The only thing I understand is that we are being watched. All of us are probably in danger, and you are not giving us information necessary to fend for ourselves.", Sarah glared at her mother.

Stella sighed. "Sarah, even if I tell you, it will not change anything! Don't you see?" She pointed at the photos. "No matter where you go, he can find you. If he decides to attack, there is nothing you can do. He is too dangerous. Too powerful!"

"We don't know unless we try." Sarah said defiantly.

"What are you planning to do?" Stella's panic was obvious.

Sarah looked at her mother and concluded that she will not help them. She was disappointed, but at the same time her conviction not to hide and wait for their mother's help increased. "We will do the only thing we can. We will not sit idly and wait for someone else to decide our destiny. It is up to you if you will help us out or sit on the side."

"Don't do anything reckless!" Stella warned.

"We might be more capable than what you think." Sarah responded. "Oh, and you can keep these.", she gestured to the printouts on the desk.

They stood up and walked out, leaving Stella behind.

"You can stay at our place.", Sophia told Sarah and Aiden.

"Thanks. I just need to get few things…", Sarah's voice trailed off as they walked down the hallway.

Stella was left in her office, staring blankly at the photos scattered on her desk.

~ Sophia's and Felix's apartment ~

Since new house is still not fully ready, Felix and Sophia are still in their apartment.

Sophia, Felix, Sarah and Aiden are in the living room, discussing their talk with Stella.

"We can conclude that King is not working with mom.", Sophia said.

"We still don't know what his intentions are, but I can assume that he is not hostile. For now.", Sarah added.

Aiden nodded. "I agree with that. He had opportunities to attack us in Las Vegas, and in Fairfield. It seems that he was only watching."

"Maybe he is just waiting for something before acting.", Felix voiced his opinion.

They all agreed that this could be a possibility, and they should not lower their guard. Until they find out more, they will treat him as someone with hostile intentions.

Jeff and JoAnna are on their way to Japan, and agreement was made that in the morning (Seattle time) they will have a conference call.

Felix suggested to make custom accessories for each of them, so that Eve can always monitor people who are in their surroundings. Sophia praised that as a great idea and made a request for a brooch with a hexagon design.

"Why hexagon?", Felix asked.

"There is six of us, so hexagon is appropriate.", Sophia explained.

They agreed that this is a good idea. All accessories will have hexagon included in design.

Felix already had few sketches ready in his mind and was eager to draw them on his computer.

"Two of us will work on improvements in algorithm for facial recognition." Sarah was talking about Aiden and herself. "By improving the performance, we will get results faster. That is critical when you are out on the street and Eve is processing faces of people in the area."

…

Later in the evening, Sarah and Aiden are in the bed.

"You know what? We didn't talk about the wedding at all.", Sarah noticed.

"We can talk tomorrow. Let's go to sleep. It was a long day.", Aiden mumbled and pulled Sarah in his embrace.

Sarah agreed. They woke up in Reno, flew to Seattle, climbed a three story villa, tested bodyguards, confronted Stella… a lot of things happened. She found a cozy position in Aiden's embrace and slept off within seconds.