Part Seven
"Luke now is not the time to take out your hatred on him." Alexis said firmly standing between Sonny and Luke.
"The man broke Carly's heart. She thought he was dead for over a month and then it turns out he was out on the lake having a vacation with the daddy killer in white." Luke said from his seat, looking up at the lawyer. "He didn't even let her know that he was okay. He crushed her."
"Luke…" Sonny began.
"Alexis has a point." Jax said, hating the idea that Alexis still defended that mobster. "Now is not the time for either of you to take out your feelings on each other. Carly is missing and if she was caught using the phone then whoever has her may think it best that she is moved. We have to get to her before she is moved. Frankly, I don't care if you two want to rip each other apart…just do it after Carly is home, okay."
Alexis' look said everything. She was proud of her husband's words. And she was proud that he wasn't going to say anything about her friendship with Sonny…at least not today.
Jax's little speech seemed to make sense to Luke. "Alright, the first thing we have to do is get to Stefan to see what other pieces of land the Cassadines own."
"Stefan's in on this?" Sonny asked confused.
"Don't ask." Bobbie told him. "Good idea."
"When we find it, I can fly a one engine plane and land it on it." Jax volunteered.
"I prefer to do this my way." Luke said.
"Let the man fly the damn plane. He can do it." Sonny said. "We need to get Carly as soon as possible."
"All I am saying is we don't want to fly in blind. I want to know what kind of thing we are up against." Luke cried.
Bobbie looked at Alexis. "Men with egos…let's just go talk to your brother."
****
Leticia grinned as Michael toddled over to Johnny. The three had been meeting in the garden since she had found out that he was here. It had been days since Carly did not return home and the idea that she was not coming home was starting to seep into the nanny's brain. She tried to shake it off, but the Quartermaines unspoken glee at the thought was wearing her down.
Johnny pulled the redhead into his lap and looked over at Leticia. He leaned forward and placed his free hand on her shoulder. "She's coming home." He said not wanting to mention Carly's name and excite Michael. "Sonny will find her."
Leticia nodded. She had called Luke that morning to find out that Sonny, Jax and Alexis has also joined in the search and that all of them where at Stefan's trying to figure out which island she was on. She was also told that Carly had made contact. Leticia was afraid. What if who ever found Carly on the phone had killed her?
She shook her head of the thought and turned her attention back to the little boy. He had spent another restless night in the mansion. He had sleep most of it but woke up every so often calling for his mother. Leticia had done her best to comfort him.
She was glad that Johnny was here. Not only did he have a good effect on Michael but also on her. She found herself smiling when Johnny proceeded to tell Michael a story about a princess in a tower.
"Michael, daddy's home." AJ called in the distance.
Leticia took the boy from Johnny and silently said goodbye. She made her way to the patio where AJ stood. "He likes your grandmother's rose garden."
"Yeah, Reginald said that you were out there again today." AJ was a little suspicious.
"He likes it there." Leticia repeated. "He needs to be where he is happy AJ, and it is not in this house."
AJ glared at her before taking his son.
Leticia glanced back at the direction Johnny was. What she didn't know was that Johnny was lying on the ground, blood leaking from his head…
****
The room was in silence. Luke and Bobbie sat side-by-side pouring over maps. Stefan sat at his desk, staring straight ahead, trying to remember anything that would help. Jax was on the phone calling contacts, while his wife lay asleep on his shoulder after staying up all night. Sonny was pacing. He really didn't know what else to do.
Luke crossed off another island. Bobbie gave him a puzzled look. "That's the main island in Greece. Caroline said she wasn't there." Stefan had provided them with a map of the Cassadine territory all over the world. The siblings had spent all night trying to eliminate what they could, and now where down to ten islands in the Mediterranean.
"We can't just storm these islands until we find her." Luke pointed out.
Sonny stopped pacing. "Why not?" He asked, his temper slipping.
"If we hit a place where Caroline is not, the servants on that island will alert the others of a possible attack. We would lose our element of surprise." Stefan spoke up for the first time in hours. He had tried to think like his mother…but was coming up blank. He still was unsure why Helena would want Carly.
Sonny sat down on the couch next to a sleeping Alexis who opened her eyes in shock.
"Dammit Sonny watch what you're doing." She muttered before looking at Jax. "Anything?"
Jax shook his head. "I did call the airport. They can have my plane ready to go at a moment's notice."
Luke opened another map that zoomed in on the region the ten islands were located in. "Why do you Cassadines always have to go overboard? I mean, what can a person really do with all this land in the Mediterranean?"
"Hide out." Sonny muttered.
"At one time, it was quite useful. Father bought the islands for his liaisons with other women. Helena never did find out about half of the islands until Father's death. She was totally in the dark." Stefan looked at Alexis. "She only really figured out where he kept one of his mistresses."
Alexis leaned closer to Jax. She did remember being on island besides the one in Greece. That was before Helena had cut her mother's…"Is my mother's island one of the ten?" Alexis asked.
Stefan looked over at the map. "Yes."
"I suggest we look there first." Alexis said. "Because I have this feeling that she is there. Don't ask me why, just go with my hunch."
"I'll trust Alexis' hunch." Sonny said, knowing that they had gotten him out of trouble before.
"So will I." Jax said.
"Well, Natasha, you better be right. You've got a one and ten chance of being right." Luke muttered.
The more Alexis thought about it, the more it made sense to her. "Just trust me."
****
It was late afternoon, and Nikolas stared at the photo of his father. He wanted to burn it. He couldn't count the times that Helena had said with pride that he was like his father. He did not want to be like his father. His father was a murderer, a kidnapper and a rapist… He would never be like him. Just acting like him cost him people he loved.
"Nikolas."
He turned. "Gia? What are you doing here?"
"Lucky said you wanted to tell me something." She said. "I don't know why I came, but I did. We really haven't talked much over the last few months. But Lucky said it was important." She sat down on a chair. "So let's hear it."
Nikolas shook his head a little. Leave it to Lucky to set him up like this. He didn't think he was ready to tell Gia everything. He really didn't want to see her face when she heard what he had done.
"I'm waiting." Gia's voice broke through his thoughts.
"I wanted to tell you that you were right that day." Nikolas began. He knew once he started everything was going to come out. "The day of the auction when you called my bluff. When you said that I was only pretending to want to be a Cassadine to save Lucky, you were right."
"I know." Gia's voice was quiet.
Nikolas' head shot up. "How?"
"You can't lie to me." Gia laughed a little. "That's the thing about love…I know you so well, I can tell when you are lying."
"Why did you wait so long?" Nikolas asked.
"I wanted you to tell me, Nikolas." Gia said. "I wanted you to feel what I felt. You pushed me out of your life and tried to make me think that you never loved me at all. When Lucky went back to being normal, I decided to return the favor. I decided to push you out of my life. You Cassadines are full of pride…but I never imagined it would take you this long to explain yourself."
"I just thought you believed what I had said, that I never loved you." Nikolas said moving closer to her. "I thought you would never forgive me."
"I haven't forgiven you yet." Gia said. "Why couldn't you trust me to tell me?"
"I had to push you away. Helena said it was a test. I had to break it off with you in order to get closer to her and find the Ice Princess. I wanted to tell you but I was worried that you try to do something to help if things got thick. I couldn't see you hurt, Gia." Nikolas said. "I would have died if anything happened to you because of my family. I am so sorry for everything, Gia. I need you in my life. When I was with you I felt alive and happy. Without you I am nothing…"
Gia laughed a little. "I love it when you grovel." She said coming off the chair to stand before him. She reached up and touched his face. "You're never going to put me in the dark again."
"Never ever." Nikolas leaned in and kissed her lips for the first time in months. He could still feel it…the love that they had for each other was still strong.
Gia pulled back and leaned against his chest. She reached down to take his hand. "What's that?"
Nikolas realized that he was still holding the photo of Stavros. "Just a photo of my father." He looked at the fire. "I am going to burn it."
Gia grabbed it before he placed into the flames. "Let me see it first…I want to see how much you really look like him." She glanced down at the photo and turned pale. "Lucien…"
Nikolas froze. Wasn't that the name of the man she had been dating? "What?"
"Nikolas, this man is Lucien Cain."
"No, this man is my father." Nikolas watched as she continued to stare at the photo.
"Nikolas, this man has been calling me for months. He used to visit me everyday. He said he knew of the Cassadines but did not know them personally." Gia sat down. "Nikolas, your father is alive."
****
Leticia didn't like the feeling she was having. She climbed out of her bed in the servant's wing and slipped on her robe. She walked down the carpeted hallway and then into the foyer of the Quartermaine mansion. The closer she got to her destination, the sicker she felt. She climbed the stairs and walked towards Michael's room. Opening the door she frowned. Standing next to the bed was a member of the kitchen staff. "Peter, what are you doing here?" Leticia demanded.
"I was just looking at the child." Peter sounded nervous.
"In the middle of the night?" Leticia was suspicious.
"Look, I don't want to hurt you." Peter said. "But Michael is coming with me. Just step aside."
"I won't." Leticia said. "JOHNNY!"
She didn't have much time to react. Picking up a lamp she lunged at the larger man. They locked eyes as a sharp pain shot up her side.
"I'm sorry." Peter said dropping the knife and watching the woman slide the floor. "I really didn't want to have to hurt you." He reached down and picked up the frightened child who had awoke at the sound of Leticia's cry for help. Peter stepped over Leticia. "But my employer paid me a lot of money…"
