This Chapter was written by Melissa

Chapter Ten

He could feel her trembling in his arms as he held her. He wrapped his jacket around her even though he knew that the weather had nothing to do with her trembling. She was frightened that Todd Manning was still alive and so was he. He had never hated anyone as much as he hated that man. He wanted to kill him, but they didn't even know if it was him. Bo would find out and if Franco really was Todd Manning, well, he just might be a dead man. "I'm never going to let that bastard anywhere near my girls ever again," Bo seethed.

"I don't want to waste anymore time thinking about that monster. Marty shouldn't have gone with him, but as much as I love her, I can't save her if she doesn't want to be saved. Let's go back to the party, I want to enjoy the night with my husband," Nora said as she grabbed Bo's hand and headed back inside.

"Franco's not the man that he used to be. He was sick, had a tumor, but he's changed while you were away," Liz stated.

"That's not what I asked. I asked you if you were happy with him," Lucky stated.

Franco loves me, he puts me and my boys first. I shouldn't have bid on you," Liz stated.

"Then why did you?" Lucky asked her as he gave her the look that told her that he wasn't going to drop this line of questioning until she was honest with herself and with him.

"I'm happy with him Lucky, or at least I want to be. He loves me and puts me first which is more than I can say for you, for Jason, for any other guy in my life. I bid on you because as much as I hate it Lucky, you're the love of my life. I still love you, there, I said it, but it doesn't matter, because you've never loved me the way that I love you."

"You're so wrong," Lucky stated as he grabbed her and kissed her passionately.

"If you're Todd Manning like I believe you are then you raped me back when we were in college together," Marty stated.

"Rape," Franco gasped. He felt as if all the oxygen in the room had been sucked out of that room with that one awful word. He hated that word, always had, especially after the hell that he had inflicted on Sam and Michael when he had been sick. He hadn't really raped Sam, but he lied about it. For years, he let her believe that she had been raped just to get under Jason's skin. He never meant for Michael to get hurt, but he couldn't deny that his actions had led to him being raped in prison. Logically, he knew that he was sick, that he had a brain tumor when he had done all those awful things, but maybe it was more than that. If he was this Todd Manning, then he had raped this beautiful woman standing in front of him. Perhaps he really was just a monster, tumor or no tumor, he had done unforgivable things. Things that he knew he could never make amends for.

"You shouldn't be here with me, if I am this freak, even if I'm not him, you should be far away from me," Franco finally said after what seemed like hours of uncomfortable silence. "I'm not a good person either way. I'm a killer Marty, a sick illusionist, and now possibly your rapist," he spat out with disgust.

"Yes, you're all of those things, but you're more than that to me. I just found you after years of believing that I killed you and I'm not giving up on you. I have to believe that you are more than the monster that raped me for her sake."

"For who's sake?" he asked.

"For our daughter's sake," Marty whispered as she reached out and grabbed his hands