Penthouse Grill
It took a good twenty minutes but finally they were all seated. Kristen held an ice pack to her face and though she'd tried to have her rival tossed out of the establishment, Anna sat next to Tony with her own pack of blue ice wrapped across her knuckles. Kristen sat across from the pair. And Gene and Calliope had taken seats on either side of her as if to provide a buffer, which, like practically everything else about this situation, made Tony want to laugh and swear simultaneously.
He'd only been home a day, not even twenty-four hours yet and already all hell had broken lose. Picking up the scotch he'd switched to, he took a long swallow. "Okay, so you insisted on staying," he said, gesturing with his drink in her direction. "And you can sit there as long as you like and the answer will still be no."
"You owe me."
"Even if that were true, I suspect John's preference would be to shoot you rather than…well, whatever you have in mind."
Kristen shrugged. "A slight problem I expect you'll fix."
Next to him, Gene coughed as he set a glass of water down, presumably having tried to drink and laugh at the same time. "Let me get this straight. Due to your assumptions about Tony's identity, you're demanding he marry you because his cousin was inconsiderate enough to destroy the love affair you were carrying on behind his back."
Looking down her nose at Gene, Kristen dismissed him and turned back to glare at Tony. "You lied to me about everything, even your feelings," she hissed, pointing a finger at Anna, who smiled sweetly in return.
"Knowing Andre," she said with a shrug, "he probably did."
"Stop talking about him like that," Kristen demanded.
"Like what?"
"As if you knew him."
"We did," said Calliope in a tight voice, no doubt remembering he'd almost got her killed, "Not as well as you and Anna did, of cou…" Stopping abruptly, she squeaked when Anna stomped her foot under the table.
The irony of the situation was lost on Kristen however. "He's making fools of you," she insisted, looking first at Calliope and then Gene. "Both of them are."
Gene and Calliope exchanged glances momentarily and then looked over at Tony. "It appears the jig is up," said Gene, only the twinkle in his eye betraying his amusement.
"Yes," nodded Tony, his own expression geared to match Gene's serious one. "Apparently, I'm about to be exposed by a woman who faked her own death…" inadvertently, a chuckle slipped out, "all so she could steal baby Elvis from his mother."
"I wasn't like that at all," said Kristen, "and how the hell would you know? You weren't around."
"According to you, I've been busy lurking, remember?"
"Besides, Susan's baby was supposed to be mine..."
"Well, your baby's all grown up now," giggled Anna, "and I must say, he's dishy."
Tony managed to look annoyed as he drank more scotch. His wife's business arrangement with his little brother was still a sore spot between them. "That's hardly the point, darling."
"Other than our friend here thinking you're cousin Andre, I've quite lost track of that," said Gene.
Exasperation gleamed in Kristen's eyes. "There is NO Cousin Andre," she snapped where upon the rest of the table erupted, their laughter filling the restaurant and drawing stares from other tables.
"Kristen love," came Calliope's voice, sputtering in an effort to get the words out. "I understand, really I do," she chuckled, patting the other woman on the arm. "If the guy you married wasn't Tony, let's face it, this would all be for nothing."
"And the rest of us would miss the comedic opportunity of the decade," added Gene. "You parading into the Salem PD to convince Roman, Bo and Abe that you're not guilty of anything because papa is doting on the son he stole, and Tony is cheating on you."
By now, Tony was laughing so hard, he was wiping tears from his eyes, but Kristen didn't appear insulted or worried, which made Tony jokingly ask the question circling in the back of his mind since she'd made her announcement. "Just to satisfy my curiosity, what made you think I'd go along with this?"
Kristen's eyes lit up triumphantly. "Because if you don't, you'll go on trial for murder."
He looked at her and then at Anna and his friends. "My newest relative has even more screws loose than the rest of the family."
"I have proof."
"Of what?" laughed Gene. "John isn't dead…"
"Who said anything about John?" Kristen interrupted, irritated now as though all of them ought to know what she was talking about. "I meant your sister," she said, focused on Tony again, "the one you thought was going to disinherit you."
"Well, Alexandra is still alive and kicking, and wants nothing to do with Stefano's fortune."
"And Renee?"
That name affected everyone else at the table from Calliope's confusion, and the hatred twisting Anna's face to sadness and empathy in Gene's as he glanced towards his friend. Tony felt as though he was surrounded by a wall of absolute silence but that had to be his imagination. The restaurant was more than half full. Still his ears were ringing, or more accurately, pounding, and his fury at anyone dredging up his past this way, not to mention twisting it to fit some sick agenda reached a boiling point in an instant. What idiot was feeding her this crap? Unfortunately, the answer that immediately popped into his head didn't improve his disposition any.
Andre.
Was he doing it first hand? Or through someone else, or had Stefano finally gone off the deep end and lost all sense of reality…
"I know you and your lover set up the entire farce," came Kristen's voice cutting short his speculations. "You hired someone to play the part of your cousin, even made it look as though it was all Father's fault."
He could feel Anna tense beside him at the accusation and he quickly laid a hand on her leg beneath the table and squeezed it gently, willing her to keep quiet which surprisingly, she did. She wasn't happy about it though and he could tell from the way she stabbed at the olive in her martini glass that an explosion was imminent as soon as Kristen left.
"When and where?" he asked, having his own difficulties at his keeping his temper in check.
Kristen's eyes popped wide and he wondered vaguely if she'd catch on to what he was doing but the expression replacing her shock seemed to imply victory rather than suspicion.
"Two fifteen this afternoon in the Governor's Suite at the Ritz-Carlton."
Tony searched her face intently. Whatever game she was playing, the woman behaved as though she held all the cards and if he balked, she meant to use her contacts to nail him, which had him wondering as he made her wait just how much DiMera she had in her.
Perhaps discovering the answer would be amusing.
And he nodded his head. "I'll be there."
