Know Your Enemy

Chapter One

"Hello?" Adriana called, her voice echoing in the cavernous entrance hall. There was no answer. She hadn't really been expecting one.

Adriana dropped her sports duffle on the ground, kicking off her cleats and putting them on top of the bag, where they'd be ready and waiting for her the next morning. Still in her shin guards, t-shirt, and mesh shorts, and high socks, with sweatpants and a ski jacket over it all, she made her familiar way to the kitchen. She had already gone through a whole bottle of Gatorade, and she desperately needed another.

A lot had changed since eight months ago, when Claudia had readopted her after her parents' death. She had a new home, a new school, new friends, and a new life.

To Adriana's surprise, she and Claudia had moved back into Claudia's childhood home. The place was humongous. Her first weeks here, Adriana had gotten lost at least once a day, just from her room to the kitchen. She was navigating better now. She knew where every single bedroom, sitting room, and bathroom were in the entire house.

At first, Adriana hadn't understood why Claudia had wanted to move back into this place. There were no good memories for her here. But the reason had made itself clear very soon.

After Sonny's disappearing act, his second-in-command, Jason Morgan, had taken over the business for him. Claudia had proposed a peaceful split, making the Zacchara and Corinthos organizations separate once more. Jason had agreed, and now Claudia was the sole leader of the Zacchara organization. The best home base for her was this house.

Adriana didn't understand why Claudia had to continue her father's business, why Jason couldn't just control both organizations and the mother and daughter could start a new life somewhere else, away from Port Charles, away from the mob, away from the horrible memories. But Claudia had refused. With her father in jail and Johnny unwilling to run the organization, Claudia believed that it was up to her to continue the Zacchara legacy. Adriana didn't like that Claudia was party of a lifestyle that had killed her parents, but there wasn't anything she could do about it.

While Claudia was busy being the head of organized crime, Adriana had other things to worry about. She had started at Madison Prep, repeating her junior year because of last spring's events. It wasn't completely strange for her to be in a regular school system; before her father had started traveling for his job, she had attended public school back in London. It was only after freshman year that she had started traveling to world with her parents, being home-schooled along the way.

Even though it was kind of nice to be back at a normal school, it had been a disconcerting first couple of months. Rumors spread fast in Port Charles, and by the end of the first day, everyone knew that she was the love (and she used that word lightly) child of Claudia Zacchara and Trevor Lansing, and that Sonny Corinthos, famed mobster and town bad boy, had murdered her parents in cold blood. She had been treated like a swine flu patient for the first few weeks, mostly because people didn't know what to expect. Claudia was the daughter of the crazy Anthony Zacchara, and Trevor was known to be vindictive and ruthless. Add that to the trauma of losing your parents at such a young age, and she might as well have been wearing a sign that read "Ticking Time Bomb" around her neck.

But things started changing once she got more involved in school. She had tried out for her school's soccer team (she had just gotten used to saying "soccer" when the fall season ended), and, to her surprise, made varsity. Adriana absolutely loved soccer; she had played it ever since she was young, and it was one thing she had missed when she was on the road with her family. It was great to once again be part of something that was the same no matter what country she was in.

Soccer was where she had made most of her friends. Once people saw that she was a normal, functioning human being who just had an unfortunate past, they ignored the "Ticking Time Bomb" sign and started getting to know her. Adriana had enjoyed playing soccer for her school team so much that she had also tried out for the indoor winter team. Not only did she make it, but she also became captain.

Besides soccer, Adriana was keeping her mind busy in other ways. Being raised with the doctrine that you should always work for what you wanted, Adriana had gotten a job at Kelly's as a waitress. She remembered when she had told Claudia this; Claudia had laughed herself silly until she realized that Adriana wasn't kidding. Claudia had said that a Zacchara had never worked a minimum-wage job, mostly because it wasn't necessary. But Adriana didn't want everything handed to her on a silver platter. She liked working for what she deserved.

So, in between her homework (which was a lot, considering she took all AP and honors courses), soccer, and work, Adriana had her therapy sessions with Lainey Winters. Adriana liked Lainey; she was understanding, non-judgmental, and supportive. Besides Claudia, Lainey had been the only person that had helped Adriana get back on her feet after her parents' death. Even though it had been more than half a year, Adriana was still going, just not as much. She would try to go once or twice a week, depending on how the rest of her schedule worked out. But she felt that she wouldn't need Lainey for much longer. She was finally starting to heal.

Adriana trudged through the hallways of the house to the kitchen, where another Gatorade, cold and refreshing, was waiting for her. She was absolutely exhausted. After practice, she had had to go straight to General Hospital, because it was the only time that Lainey was free that week. She had looked like a freak, running through the hospital in her cleats and shin guards, sweat matting her hair. She had been there for an hour, but her day wasn't over yet. She still had a ton of homework to do.

Her route to the kitchen took her past the study, and she stopped, staring at the closed door. Claudia was in there now, and it was the reason that she hadn't answered when Adriana had called.

When Adriana had first come to this house, Claudia had given her the grand tour, showing her each and every room. Even though, through most of it, Adriana was just trying to remember where everything was, she was also listening to the stories Claudia told about each room. None of them were happy. There was the room where she and her brother would hide when their father went into one of his rages. There was the bottom of the staircase where Johnny's mother had been shot. And, of course, there was the study, where (and Claudia didn't have to explain this one) Adriana's life had begun.

The study door was closed ninety-nine percent of the time that Adriana passed it. Adriana knew she wasn't allowed in when it was closed, unless it was a life-or-death emergency. Sometimes the door would be open, and Claudia would be pouring over documents of something or other. At these times, Adriana would go in, and the two of them would talk, like they had known each other for years. The awkward part of their relationship was way over, and Adriana was finally able to allow herself to connect with her mother.

Sometimes, however, the door would be open, and nobody would be inside. When this happened, Adriana would go in by herself, and just think. It was a beautiful room, where there was a gorgeous view of the gardens from the balcony. But Adriana didn't care about flowers. She'd think of this room as it was about eighteen years ago, when Claudia had concocted her half-baked scheme, and Adriana had come into the world. Adriana could sit there for hours, trying to picture the day in her mind. Was it a sunny day or a rainy day? What had happened in the world that day? Did Claudia have this planned out for awhile, or did she just wake up that morning and decide to do it? Did Trevor Lansing have any idea what he was in for? Did Claudia? What was running through Anthony's mind when he walked in on his daughter and lawyer? Sometimes, Adriana felt that her life was just one big question mark.

Adriana shook these thoughts from her mind as she made her way into the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of light blue Gatorade, chugging it until half of it was gone. She removed the bottle from her lips, wiping her mouth with her hand, gasping as she finally let herself breathe. She leaned against the closed refrigerator door. She still had to take a shower, and then she had homework. Well, nothing would get finished if she just stood around. She put the cap back on the Gatorade and made her way upstairs.

*

Claudia was absolutely exhausted. All people ever did was complain, complain, complain. So many of her associates and come through the house that day, worrying over rumors that had been spread throughout the organization. They worried for their safety, for their family's safety, for their fiscal security—they worried about everything, and Claudia was sick of it. If you couldn't take the heat, get out of the mob.

She checked her watch. Six-thirty. She hadn't left the study all day. She was too busy dealing with the truths and lies about a new player in town. Manny Catolli had made his presence evident when he had blown up a Zacchara shipment and a Morgan shipment in the same night. Before Claudia could actually deal with the problem, she had to calm down every single frickin' member of her organization before they did something rash without her consent.

Claudia stretched and stood up. She was done. She would not answer another phone or take another visitor for the rest of the night, unless it was an emergency, which she sincerely hoped it wasn't. She grabbed an envelope from the pile of mail on her desk and left the study, turning off the light as she went.

She walked through the winding hallways of her home until she reached the entrance hall, where she smiled. Adriana's soccer bag and cleats were piled haphazardly next to the door like they always were. Sometimes, when people refused to accept that she wasn't on duty twenty-four seven and came at all hours of the night, they'd come in the door and stare at the bag with disgust, as if Claudia had the time to make sure everything was always neat and perfect. Claudia didn't care. She had never been a neat freak, and Adriana lived here. She could throw her bag wherever she wanted.

Claudia made her way up the stairs to the second floor, the envelope held tightly in her hand. She really shouldn't have opened it before Adriana came home, but she couldn't resist. Patience was not one of her strengths, and Adriana wouldn't really care anyway.

She finally arrived at Adriana's room, where the door was slightly ajar. Claudia pushed it open silently, and tried not to laugh at what she saw. She should be used to it by now, but it was just so amusing. Adriana was lying on her stomach on her bed, her long, brown hair tied up in a wet ponytail, with two textbooks open around her, typing on her laptop. She had her earphones in, and a muted soccer game was playing on the television. Every once in awhile she'd glance up from her work to catch a glimpse of the game, and then would immediately go back to typing. Her school uniform was hanging on her closet doorknob, ready for the next day, and the t-shirt, shorts, socks, and sweats that she had worn to soccer practice lay in a heap on the floor, her shin guards topping the pile.

Claudia decided to make her presence known. "Hey," she said, and Adriana jumped. She looked towards her door, saw Claudia, and smiled, turning off the television and taking out her earphones.

"What's up?" she said, wincing as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. They had done conditioning at practice that day, and her muscles ached all over.

"You okay?" asked Claudia, coming in and sitting on the bed.

"Yeah," said Adriana. "We did conditioning today, but I'll get over it."

"You do too much sometimes," said Claudia. She really did worry about her daughter putting herself under so much pressure.

Adriana shrugged. "I know. But I like doing a lot. I like keeping myself busy."

"And it all pays off," said Claudia, brandishing the envelope. Adriana looked at it, seeing her school's logo in the upper left-hand corner. She knew exactly what it was. Her left hand went immediately to her necklace, which she always fingered when she was nervous. It had been her first ever birthday present from Claudia, and she cherished it deeply. Claudia had used her various connections to get the police to hand over Adriana's parents personal items from the night they had been murdered. One of them had been her mother's engagement ring. Claudia had kept the ring hidden away for months, buying a silver chain to make it a necklace, until July, when Adriana had her seventeenth birthday. Besides soccer practice, showering, and sleeping, Adriana did not take the necklace off.

"My report card came?" she asked, taking it from Claudia with the hand that wasn't holding the necklace. She looked at the top, and saw that a letter opener had already torn through it.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself," said Claudia, seeing Adriana's puzzled face.

"No, it's okay," said Adriana. She held the envelope in her hand, apprehensive about seeing her grades.

Claudia took note of her nervousness. "Are you gonna open it?"

"You do it," said Adriana, shoving it back into Claudia's hands. It had been a long time since she'd opened a report card, and she didn't know what to expect. What if her grades were terrible? She did her homework and did okay on tests, but her participation wasn't all it might be, and her teachers deducted grades for things like that. Would Claudia hate her if she wasn't a model student?

"Okay," said Claudia, taking the paper out of the envelope for the second time that day. She scanned over the grades (even though she already knew what they were), and turned the paper around so Adriana could see. "Congratulations."

Adriana gaped at what she saw. English: A. History: A. Spanish: A. Physics: A. Calculus: A-. Gym: A+.

"I have a straight-A daughter," said Claudia, feeling more proud than she had ever felt before.

"Not really," said Adriana. "I got an A minus in calc."

"Oh, boo-hoo, an A minus in calc," Claudia mocked playfully. Adriana laughed. "I never even made it to calculus." She smiled warmly. "I am so proud of you."

"Thanks," said Adriana. She was so happy. She had made Claudia proud. All this time, she had been so afraid that she would disappoint Claudia, that Claudia would regret claiming her as her own. But she hadn't. She was captain of the winter soccer team. She had a job. She was a straight-A student. Everything in her life was going right, even at the point where she thought everything would be going wrong. She was in control of her life, which would probably make Lainey happy as well.

"So, to celebrate this victory," said Claudia, "I was thinking we'll have your favorite dinner tonight?"

Adriana beamed. Ever since she had come to America, she had found a love for take-out Chinese and Dr. Pepper. "Really?"

"Yes, really," said Claudia, standing up. "I'm gonna go call it in. The usual?"

The usual was wanton soup, sweet-and-sour pork, and white rice. "Of course."

"Alright, I'll go call and pick it up. Be back in twenty, 'kay?"

"Okay," said Adriana, still smiling as Claudia walked out the door.

Wow, thought Adriana, still staring at her report card. She couldn't believe that she had gotten all A's. She took the report card and placed it on her bedside table, where she put all the things that were special to her. There was her MVP trophy from the fall soccer season. A picture of her and Claudia at a Yankee's game, each of them with a blue-and-white baseball cap. And, front and center, was a picture of Adriana and her parents in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, a month before they had died.

Adriana tried not to cry as she looked at this picture. Why should she? She looked at it every night before she went to sleep. But something inside of her triggered a sadness that she hadn't been expecting. She wished her parents were here, to congratulate her for her good grades. But, Adriana thought to herself, she knew that they were looking down on her from wherever they were, watching over her all the time. They were the reason that her report card didn't have a single B on it. It was all their doing.

Given her circumstances, Adriana had everything that she could possibly want.

At least, that was what she thought, until she got involved with Kyle.