Is this destiny?

After some time of sulking about the financial deficit he suffered last weekend, Charlie understood that this might be his chance to recuperate some of the loss.

"I will be back in a minute…", Charlie said and gave Emma a quick kiss before making his way with the rest of the crowd. He saw JoAnna and Sophia and he needed to reach them.

"Hey, ladies!", Charlie called. "It seems that Jeff and Felix will spar."

JoAnna smiled and Sophia rolled her eyes.

"What's with those reactions?", Charlie asked.

"They are like kids sometimes.", JoAnna said cheerfully. She obviously didn't mind that Jeff is sparring, but Sophia's expression told a different story.

"You disapprove?", Charlie asked Sophia. "Is it because Felix is on the losing end?"

Sophia frowned. Why did Charlie assume that Felix is inferior compared to Jeff? "No. My Felix and Jeff are about evenly matched. I just believe that it's childish to get into a fistfight. There are so many other things he can do with his hands."

JoAnna giggled. "I bet you are not talking about his gadgets."

Sophia smiled slyly. Of course, she was not talking about gadgets. She was talking about his sensual massages and bed skills, alright? Felix's hands are magical.

Charlie didn't care about anything other than fighting. His goal was to get some insider information so that he can place bets and recuperate some of the losses from last weekend.

His eyes darted from JoAnna to Sophia. "So… which one of them usually wins?"

JoAnna frowned a bit, unsure why Charlie was so enthusiastic. "Didn't you hear Soph? Jeff and Felix are about evenly matched. That is why they are so eager to fight. Each of them has a chance to win."

Charlie's mood dropped a bit. How can he place a sure bet if there is no contestant with a clear advantage?

Next, Charlie went to the table Jamari was setting up. He saw that Imani was in charge of signing up pairs for spar while Jamari was taking bets, and they had a similar setup how they did last weekend at his property.

The sparring pairs were quick to sign up, and Charlie could place a bet, but he needed information.

Charlie regretted not coming more often to the Cliffside Villa. If he did, he would know how these youngsters stack against each other. And then Charlie got an idea… Corey!

"Hey, sorry to interrupt…", Charlie said when he approached Corey and Merve. "I want to ask you something."

Corey wondered what's up with Charlie. He was acting very secretive and official. "Sure. How can I help?"

"I was wondering if you can tell me about the people sparring. What do you think, who will win?" Charlie quickly said the first few couples (excluding Jeff and Felix) while reading from his phone. He took a picture of the list of pairings that Imani was writing down.

"Uhm… Well, it depends.", Corey said and glanced at Merve. "I'm not sure if any of these wins over the other regularly."

Merve nodded in agreement and took the phone from Charlie's hand to get a look. "Haru and Ron are always at each other's throats, and Ryan and Sean switch between Al and Juju. The thing is that they are evenly matched and that is why they are so excited to try winning."

Charlie frowned. "Really?"

Corey confirmed. "If there is a big gap in skills, one or both participants will lose interest. There is no point in fighting against the wall. And if you are definitely better, there is nothing for you to learn from a spar with a weak opponent. Take me for example, I would never spar against Michael or Aiden. They will wipe the floor with me within seconds, and if they don't I will know they are going easy on me…"

Charlie understood the logic, but he was not very pleased with the answer. How will he recuperate his lost money?

"OK. This last pair might have an obvious winner…", Merve said, giving Charlie a glimpse of hope. "Between Daniel and Ade, Ade wins most of the time."

"Are you sure?", Charlie had to ask. Ade is smaller in size than Daniel, so it was difficult to see Ade winning, and also he was not sure if Merve is only trying to pacify him.

"Yes, yes.", Corey confirmed. "Ade is very fast and unless he makes a mistake, Daniel can't land a hit."

Charlie was happy with this tip. It was not a foolproof thing, but he will go with what he can.

"Will you fight?", Charlie asked Corey.

Corey looked at Merve. "I'm not sure if my fiancée will approve."

Merve smiled as the heat crept up her cheeks. He called her his fiancée! "Don't make it sound like I am restricting you from doing what you want."

"But I want to be with you…", Corey whined.

"If that is the truth, you could have said to Charlie that you don't want to fight because you want to be with me."

"Don't you want to be with me?", Corey asked innocently.

"Of course, I do."

"So… if you want to be with me, then you won't approve of me going to a spar because it means that I will not be by your side.", Corey said matter-of-factly.

"What kind of a logic is that?", Merve asked in disbelief. It's not that he was wrong, but he can twist her words to fit his agenda and make it sound like she said it.

Corey chuckled and pulled Merve into his embrace. "It's the logic of me not leaving your side."

Charlie shook his head and left the two lovebirds.

Seeing that Charlie left, Merve got bolder. "How about the two of us spar? Like that, you will not leave my side, and I will get to beat some obedience into you?"

Corey smiled smugly. "Don't think I will let you win. And we should spice it up with a personal bet."

"What bet?"

Corey inched closer and spoke only for Merve to hear: "Who wins gets to be on top tonight." He moved away and looked at her completely red face teasingly. "Are you afraid to lose?"

Merve's eyes flashed in defiance. "You are on! Let's go and register!"

Corey was happy. Either way, it will be his win because he didn't care who gets to be on top.

"10k on Ade vs Daniel.", Charlie said when he reached Jamari. He needed to recuperate hundreds of thousands, but Corey and Merve were not very convinced in Ade's win so he didn't dare bet more than ten thousand dollars.

Jamari blinked. "I can't take that bet."

Charlie was taken aback. "Why? Is it too early?"

"No. The upper limit for bets is one thousand.", Jamari explained.

Charlie frowned. "Limit? How come there was no limit last weekend?"

Jamari shrugged. "The guarantor for bets has the right to set the limits. There is nothing I can do about it. One thousand is the maximum. Are you placing the bet or not?"

Charlie nodded grumpily. When Jamari signed him up for one thousand dollars, Charlie asked: "Who is the guarantor?"

"Aiden."

Charlie gritted his teeth. Aiden and Sarah cost him A LOT of money last weekend! And now they dare to set limits! And why no one told him about this limit nonsense last weekend!? It's obvious they ripped him off!

It's not about the money, they are all loaded. This is about saving face, and Charlie lost a lot of face last weekend. How embarrassing.

Charlie would challenge Aiden to a fight to steam out some of his anger, but Charlie knew that he would put himself in harm's way, so he took a few deep breaths in order to calm down.

…

Jarred noticed that Sarah was left at the table on her own with Kitty's head in her lap, and he took this opportunity to approach her.

"Little girl, can we talk?"

  "Sure." Sarah gestured to a free chair.

Jarred took a seat and looked at Sarah seriously. "How long are you going to avoid the meeting I'm trying to set up?"

"I'm not avoiding it. I am rejecting it. There is a difference."

Jarred closed his eyes and shook his head. "Fine. How long are you going to reject it?"

"You know why I'm rejecting."

"I'm confident that it's not the first time the other side wants to keep anonymity, and that you will find out about the agenda once you reach the location. You get there, hear them out and leave."

Sarah raised her hand to stop Jarred from talking further. "There is an important part you are not mentioning on purpose. On those kinds of meetings, I take with me extra security so that I can leave if I don't give a favorable answer to the anonymous party, and here you are asking me to come on my own. Don't tell me you don't see the difference."

"I will be there to ensure your safety.", Jarred said confidently.

Sarah looked at him like he said something silly. "You will ensure my safety? Will your security be there? It does not matter because I don't think you can protect me, and your security was trained by mine so…"

"Don't you trust me?"

Sarah paused while observing his expression. It was obvious that this was important to him.

"Old man, this is not about me trusting you. I don't know what is your relationship with your anonymous associates, but they should understand that I need to be cautious and that having my people protecting me is a reasonable request. If I show up on my own, what is to stop them from harming me or my baby? What is to stop them from keeping me hostage in order to get something from Aiden or my sisters and their families? I have a lot of people depending on me and I can't put myself in danger recklessly. You know very well that I wield a lot of power and I have many connections, but if I'm captured, I am just a girl in a fragile body."

Jarred pressed his lips into a line. "Fine. You can bring your people, but they can't attend the meeting itself. They will wait outside."

"What will that achieve other than to give me a false sense of security? If the other party is malicious and capable, they can torture me while a few feet away beyond the wall, my people think that I'm sipping tea and discussing the weather."

"The other party wants to maintain secrecy, that's all.", Jarred reminded Sarah.

"There are no secrets between me and Aiden. Preventing Aiden from accompanying me will only delay him finding out about what was said, and who attended the meeting.", Sarah said matter-of-factly.

"Why are you so difficult to negotiate?"

"You are calling that a secure meeting with anonymous associates, and I call it a trap. How can my safety be open to negotiations?"

Jarred exhaled in defeat. "Fine. You know what I want. Tell me how close you can meet those conditions and accept to meet with my associates?"

---

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