Is this destiny?

While Simeon and Maksim spoke in whispers, Elder Sergey looked away from them with difficulty when he confirmed that they don't care about his predicament. All other Elders avoided Sergey's gaze, telling him silently that he is on his own.

Elder Sergey felt that all his ships sank. He was trapped. If he declines the challenge, he will lose by default and Aiden will win his position of an Elder. And if he accepts to fight, he will get a beating and he will lose his position as an Elder.

In any case, Elder Sergey can forget about being an Elder, and he will be only Sergey. A loser. A Voronin who fell from his position.

He cringed while imagining all the mocking gazes that will be directed at him, and he wondered how many people will come to hit him while he is down. After all, he offended many people over the years.

His options now are to choose to surrender which will cost him his reputation, or to put up a fight and earn a few broken bones.

Elder Sergey stood frozen while weighing his options. After a few long seconds, he decided to fight. Broken bones will heal, but reputation is a different thing. He will not allow others to mock him for being weak.

Sergey told himself that Simeon will bring him back into the position of an Elder. Simeon will not allow Sergey to fall because Sergey knows too much. That is shy, he will cherish his reputation. Voronins can accept as an Elder someone who lost in a fight, but not someone who gave up without trying. With those thoughts, Elder Sergey forced his legs to move.

The senior who had a role of an announcer saw that Elder Sergey is coming to fight and he started talking into a microphone: "Elder Sergey Voronin will defend his position as an Elder of the Voronin family against challenger…" He paused and looked at Aiden.

"Aiden White", Aiden said to the announcer to what the man repeated in the microphone: "Challenger Aiden White!"

At these words, Elder Sergey paused. He was about to step in the cage and he glanced at Aiden and then at Sarah questionably.

Aiden grinned and clarified what Elder Sergey and a few more were thinking: "Yeah, that is my wife." Aiden turned toward Sarah and blew her a kiss, earning a big smile from her.

Elder Sergey saw this as his escape route. "That is preposterous! How can we have as an Elder someone who is married to the Grand Elder of the Lebedev family?"

"Is there a rule that limits Elders based on their marital status? Or relatives?", Aiden asked, knowing that Elder Sergey is only trying to wiggle out of this fight.

Aiden laughed internally while thinking how the plan was to expose Elders for corrupt cowards they are, and this Elder Sergey is acting just as they planned.

Elder Sergey looked at Simeon for help, prompting the Grand Master to answer Aiden. "There is no such rule, but we never had a case that we would share such connections with enemies. The hatred between Voronins and Lebedevs runs deep. No one will obey your commands, no matter if you are an Elder or not."

"But the point is that I can become an Elder. How I get people to obey me, will be my challenge to face as an Elder.", Aiden responded smugly, leaving Simeon with a frown.

Maksim decided to speak up: "The hatred between us and Lebedevs goes back generations, and we forgot why we are enemies. Maybe this is a chance to mend our relationship. Imagine what we could do as allies."

Elder Yakov from the Voronin family bolted to his feet and glared at Maksim. "You want to associate yourself with Lebedevs?" Elder Yakov is known as one of the strongest haters of the Lebedev family.

Maksim was not shaken up by Elder Yakov's question. He responded impassively: "I'm not talking about submitting to them or accepting deals that are disadvantageous to our family. We collaborate with many other organizations, and those deals are allowing our transactions to run smoothly while increasing profits. If we lower our pride a notch we should be able to see that we can all benefit if we decrease the number of our enemies while maybe getting an ally in return."

Elder Yakov opened his mouth to retort, but Simeon lifted his hand and gave a reminder: "Elder Yakov, everyone is watching. If you have to discuss something that is not related to this challenge, keep it to our meeting which will happen behind closed doors."

Maksim's lips lifted into a smile when he saw that Elder Yakov went back to his seat.

Elder Yakov understood that they should not show their dirty laundry in front of everyone. And talking about hating Lebedevs and refusing to work with them when Lebedevs are right there watching, was not the smartest thing either. But are they really going to allow someone from the Lebedev family to get into their highest ranks? Elder Yakow saw Simeon's displeasure with the current situation and he understood that they will take care of Aiden silently when the cameras are off. It would not be the first time. These thoughts got Elder Yakow to calm down.

Elder Sergey didn't like that everyone's attention was back on him. Does he really need to fight? "How can we allow a Lebedev…"

"It's not WE!", Aiden interrupted Elder Sergey. "It's you. You hear them, there are no rules to limit who can be an Elder based on family relations. It's all in the skills which I have. If you want to stop me from taking your position, you need to defeat me."

Elder Sergey gritted his teeth and stepped into the fighting cage and the door closed behind him, marking the point from where only one will step out as a victor.

Elder Sergey was angry and dejected, and the feeling of helplessness numbed his limbs.

He was never so humiliated, and everyone is watching!

Elder Sergey wanted to scream and to pummel Aiden into dust, and to choke those Elders who turned their back on him. He wanted to show everyone what power and strength are. But standing in the cage and facing Aiden was not easy.

Aiden smiled but it didn't reach his eyes which were filled with madness. He was aware that Sarah is watching him and it fueled his beast which roared for blood.

With every passing second, Elder Sergey felt his anger sizzle away together with his fighting spirit as he broke into a cold sweat. He forgot about the audience, and that Simeon and everyone else is right there watching, and that his position as an Elder is at stake. The only thing on his mind was pain which is inevitably coming his way… his heart thumped in his ears wildly... and his legs gave in.

Elder Sergey plopped on his knees and lowered his head.

"Please, don't hurt me. You can take whatever you want.", he pleaded for everyone to hear in an otherwise silent space.

Aiden was stupefied, and so was everyone else.

Sarah's voice rang in Aiden's ear. "Don't allow him to surrender. Voronins will follow family or strength. They already see you as a Lebedev spy, if you take his position without a fight we will lose our only leverage."

They discussed potential outcomes, and both Sarah and Aiden know that Aiden has no intention of taking over as an Elder in the Voronin family. This is a show designed to shake up the people from the Voronin family who are watching the live feed, to demonstrate how corrupt and weak their current leadership is so that they will be more accepting of Hong as the next Grand Master.

If Elder Sergey wiggles out of this without a fight, even if Aiden becomes an Elder, the meaning behind it will be lost because people will see him as someone who got his position through the technicality.

Aiden gave a small nod. He understood Sarah's message, but how can he prevent a guy from surrendering when he is already on his knees? Should Aiden just kick him before the guy says that he forfeits? No, that's a bad idea because it will only make Aiden look like a bully. Ah, this is a problem!

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