Is this destiny?

Aiden was not sure he heard them right the first time. But when both of them repeated foul things about Sarah, he felt the urge to smash them into atoms right there on the sofa. The background noise that faintly reached him at that point reminded Aiden that he is in Sarah's family home and that he should not go on a rampage.

He took a deep breath. "What are you two trying to achieve?"

David snickered. "Is it not obvious? We want to show a great time to birthday girl!"

"It will be our present to her." Derek added.

"Over my dead body!" Aiden growled.

"Oh, that can be arranged." Derek chuckled.

Aiden felt that he is losing his control. He abruptly stood up and faced David and Derek. In next moment, his left hand was around David's neck and right one around Derek's.

"Easy, easy..." David squeezed words out. "It's a party..."

"You want to... spoil the... party?" Derek struggled to talk.

Aiden loosened his grip but didn't let them go.

David breathed in how much he could. "How about we take this outside?"

Aiden let them go and with his chin pointed to the exit.

David and Derek glanced at each other, nodded and headed out. Aiden followed them.

…

As they stepped outside, David and Derek walked forward, leading the way, while Aiden followed. They moved further into the darkness.

"How long are you going to walk?" Aiden was impatient to bash them.

"Just a bit longer. We don't want to be overheard. Right?" Derek snickered.

A short walk over, they stopped and faced Aiden.

Aiden could not see their expressions in the dark, but he didn't care about it anyway. "It's your mistake for provoking me." He spat at them.

David and Derek chuckled.

Aiden felt rage boiling inside him and he was ready to crush them to pieces. "You will regret this..."

THUMP!

There was a dull sound and Aiden fell on the ground.

Another person was standing behind Aiden with a baseball bat in his hand. He turned on the flashlight and pointed it at Aiden.

"Another second late, and we would be in trouble." David complained.

"You two could not handle one guy? Since when are my brothers so weak?" Third person spoke.

Derek took the flashlight and pointed it at the newcomer's face. He was the exact image of Derek and David. Dodson brothers are identical triplets!

"Stop messing around, Dylan. Check, is he alive?" Derek ordered and pointed flashlight back at Aiden.

Dylan bent down and felt Aiden's neck. "Yup, still alive."

Derek laughed. "Good. Just as planned. I'm surprised that Andrea and Clara were right. Sarah likes pinball, and if there is trouble at the party, she will rush to check."

"And also, about this as*hole, that he will protect Sarah's honor. How lame... Let's take him to arranged place before he starts kicking. I don't want him to strangle me again." David still felt Aiden's grip on his throat.

Three brothers took Aiden's limp body and dragged him away into the darkness.

...

JoAnna got into her bedroom and found Jeff on the bed in a fetal position.

She sighed. 'This is worse than this morning. Just what on Earth happened?' JoAnna puffed her cheeks in frustration before getting on the bed next to Jeff.

She saw that he is not sleeping. Jeff lowered his eyes, avoiding her gaze.

"Jeff? What happened?"

He didn't respond.

JoAnna tried to think when did it all start. She noticed that his mood got worse this morning after Sophia and Felix announced their pregnancy. JoAnna rolled her eyes. "Is this again about having babies?"

Jeff slightly frowned. 'What babies?'

He didn't say anything, but JoAnna noticed the frown. 'So, it's not babies... what else happened?'

No matter how much she thought about it, nothing stood out. Felix and Sophia said they are engaged, but she is engaged to Jeff as well, so that should not trigger anything. The only thing that happened was previous night, when he spoke with her father. Jeff's mood was not good after the talk, but later it improved. 'Maybe he remembered something in the morning, and it triggered it again?'

JoAnna intently observed Jeff's face. "Is this related to my father?" She noticed that Jeff's eyes darted left-right for a moment. That proved that it is something related to Edward. "What happened with my father? Did he do something? Did he say something? Tell me!"

Jeff didn't respond which got JoAnna frustrated. "If you are not going to talk, I'm going to ask him!" She moved to get up and in next instant Jeff pulled her in his embrace. JoAnna could not leave even if she wanted. She was frustrated that she can't move. She was frustrated that he is not talking. Out of all frustration, she bit him on the arm hard.

Jeff hissed, but didn't let go of her.

"Let go!" She cried.

"Only if you promise not to go and talk with your father." He spoke quietly.

"I promise not to go and ask him what you talked about." JoAnna stated clearly.

Jeff loosened up his grip and she turned to face him.

"I will not ask my father, but I want to ask you. What is causing you to act this way?"

Jeff was not sure how to respond. He didn't want to talk about it. He always solved any problem that came his way, and this is something that he still does not have solution for. 'How can I say: I know you want everyone to approve of us being together, but I'm not good enough for your dad?' Jeff lowered his head, avoiding her inquisitive eyes.

JoAnna was losing her patience again. She sat up on the bed. "Jeffrey White! Why are you not talking to me? I'm not going to marry you if you shut me out like this!"

Jeff was startled. "What do you mean, you are not going to marry me?"

"You heard me! If I marry you, I want us to be equal, to stand together. I don't want you to take care of everything while I enjoy blissful ignorance. I know that you can take care of everything, but I don't want you to." Her voice softened. "As your wife, I want half of everything you have. Right now, I see that you are troubled. And I want half of it."

Jeff looked up at her and smiled. He pulled her back into his embrace.

JoAnna took his smile and hug as acceptance. "OK. Enough hugging!" JoAnna wiggled out of his embrace and looked into his eyes. "Speak... what happened? And I want the truth."

Jeff nodded before speaking. "I know that it's important to you that both our families accept our relationship... Last night I spoke with your father. He said that I'm forcing you to do things against your will. And I thought that how he treats me is normal for him. But today I saw him interact with Felix, and I could tell that he is much colder toward me. So tonight, I went and asked him about it... he does not think that I would put you above my interests. There. I said it all."

JoAnna listened carefully. When she was sure that Jeff finished, it was her turn to ask questions. "Why does he think you are forcing me to do things?"

"He mentioned your career. Anna, I really don't want to force you to come to White corp. I wish that you come, but if you want to work in a hospital or anywhere else, I will support you. I hope that you don't feel that I'm pressuring you just because I'm saying my preferences."

JoAnna didn't respond. She continued asking questions. "Why does he think that you are not putting me above your interests?"

Jeff shook his head. "I'm not sure about this one myself."

"How can he know what you did for me so far?"

"He knows about Isabella, and that I was pursuing you before I cleared up that mess."

JoAnna was taken aback by this information. "How does he know about that?"

"I thought you told him."

"I didn't... but that is not important." JoAnna stood up from the bed. "OK. Wait for me here. I will talk to my father."

"You promised not to talk to him!" Jeff panicked.

JoAnna smirked. "I promised not to ask him what you talked about. I will not ask him."

Jeff realized that she outsmarted him with a play of words. He can't say that she is breaking a promise. "What are you going to do?"

"You removed so many obstacles for us so far. It's my turn to do something as well. I will not let him treat you unfairly and get away with that." JoAnna kissed him. "I will be back soon."

JoAnna left the room leaving Jeff on the bed full of worries about what is coming.

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