Chapter 9

The twelve thousand dollar vase broke into the pieces after hitting the wall the rich man had thrown it at. His hands immediately went to the back of his head as he started pulling at the back of his hair. "It's been months! Why hasn't anyone said anything? Why aren't the police looking into this and finding whatever bastard decided to…" Nikolas couldn't even say it mid rant. "Has anyone seen her?"

"You just had a baby," his brother excused himself, but his voice new the words were worthless. There was no excuse. He just hadn't wanted to come to Windmiere to see is currently estranged brother, and he was also trying to pick of the pieces of his father's current drunken state. He found it hard to distance himself from alcohol himself. "I'm sorry."

"You could have at least called. Have you talked to her? How is she doing?"

"No. She doesn't want to see us or anyone. She lets Dante visit her now."

"Why haven't the cops done anything?"

"They can't. Not without her coming forward they can't even investigate it."

"They? You're a cop! Why don't you do something!"

"I've tried!" Lucky yelled back. "I have no leads, no evidence, and my sister who happens to be the victim won't talk to me!" After a few deep breaths and a long stair at his older brother he took a seat on the couch. In a calmer voice he said, "I don't even know where it happened or where to start."

"So what do we do? We can't sit back and pretend like nothing happened!"

"I would do anything. Anything! To take away all the pain and all the hell she's going through. If I could have stopped him….could have stopped any of it I would. But it happened Nikolas. It's something we're all going to have to live with because for the rest of Lulu's life she's going to have to live with it. It will never be an all too distant memory for her. It will be right there in the back of her mind all the time and nothing is ever going to stop that."

"I just want to find the son of a bitch and kill him. He shouldn't be allowed to walk around like he hadn't just….raped our sister."

Unbeknownst to the two brothers an old haggardly woman lurked in the shadows. It was usually a hobby to listen to these men speak down to each other at every turn the way true Cassadines and Spencers should. Her once aroused interested slowly turned her features into complete dread as the she heard the conversation unfold. The wheels moving in her mind were restless until the door to the entrance slammed shut and she was able to regain focus of her surroundings. "Grandmother!"

"Oh, hello Nikolas," she tried to put some cheer in her voice.

"What are you doing here, Grandmother? Came to gloat over something?"

"We don't gloat, Nikolas. Cassadines' take pride in things common people don't have the sense to make pleasure in." she said with her usual stature, but then heard her words boom back at her like an echo.

"Are you alright? You look unsettled."

"It's probably whatever that senseless new cook made for breakfast. Fire him and fire someone who can cook food worth eating." She corrected her posture where she stood before taking off towards the front door. Nikolas watched her go while suspicion leaked into this mind.

"This is too much!" She shook her head while she stood in the doorway. "You can't just interrupt your life and move into the house of a man who hate just to be closer to me."

"Yes, I can. No matter how I feel about Sonny, he's actually good with you, and I'd move anywhere to be near to you," he said lugging in his last box. The room was had less light than he was used to, and all the furniture was more old fashioned than anything he had ever owned. Big, bulky, and made out of darkly stained wood.

"What about Michael? Won't he go to prison if he's not living with you?"

"Michael will be fine. He'll have the loft to himself, and as long as he's there at curfew every night there won't be a problem. He'll call me when he gets in everyday, and I'll be checking up with him every morning. He's actually really excited that we won't be literally bumping in to each other all the time. He'll get a little bit of privacy."

"You're still…"

"Stop it." He set down the clothes he was pulling out of the box, and sat down at the edge of the bed. His eyes found hers and he wouldn't let go of that contact. The most contact Lulu could handle at the moment. "I'm not interrupting my life. I'm still going to work every day so you'll eventually get a break from me. I belong where you are, and if you belong here then…"

"I am glad you're here."

"Good, because you're stuck with me," he told her with a smile. The coverers of her mouth pulled up and small creases came to her eyes. It felt foreign to her face, but she was genuinely happy. Dante's grin expanded as he watched her smile.

"I'm going to go get some juice," she blurted out suddenly. "Want one?"

"Sure," Dante responded before watching her leave. Immediately his father appeared in the door.

"How are you settling in?" He asked stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Good! Good. I definitely think this was the right decision. Lulu seems happy about it." He went back to folding his clothes and stuffing them in drawers to his oversized new dresser.

"Yeah. That's the first time I've seen her smile since… You being in here really seems to be working. I'm really glad you're here too."

"Sonny… I'm thankful for you taking care of Lulu, and the way you are with her at the moment. She told me about how you've helped her in the past. I understand why she came to you, and I'm thankful for you letting me move in to be closer to her. Just, don't get the wrong idea. I'm here for Lulu and not for some belated reunion between father and son. It doesn't change things between us at all. I just want what's best for Lulu."

"I understand that Lulu is the most important thing in your life right now, and I'm not going to get in the way of that. However, no matter what I am your father, you are my son, and nothing is ever going to change that." He didn't wait for a response before leaving the room hoping to let his words soak in.

Nikolas took a deep breath before walking to the bar he had never actually felt welcome at. "I don't have time for Cassadines!" the proprietor screeched out at him. Luke had never been a slobbering , he had always been a , but normally a good scotch to the patriarch was like milk to the average human. "Get out scum!"

"Luke, I'm here about Lulu." The Cassadine exerted her patience.

"You'll have to talk to me, mate. Luke's a little off…himself." Luke's newest yet middle child wondered into the room. "You had something to say about our sister?"

"Yeah, I'm just going to wait for Lucky. I called him on my way. I wanted to talk to him and Luke, but it doesn't look like that will happen."

"You didn't think to call me?"

"Well... frankly, no. You've been Lulu's family for like…five minutes. It didn't occur to me to involve you."

"I may not have grown up knowing her, but she's still my sister."

"What's this about?" Lucky interrupted his brothers impending quarrel as he entered the Haunted Star.

"Helena was being suspicious today."

"Isn't that old hag always suspicious?"

"How anyone could have doubted that you were Luke's son…"

"Get to the point. What was Helena being suspicious about?"

"She found her trying to eavesdrop on our conversation earlier. She seemed completely disturbed by what happened to Lulu. She went out for like an hour and hasn't left her room since. Alfred told me that she had asked him if he had heard anything about Lulu. It sounded like she was worried."

"That's definitely suss. She doesn't seem like the type to have sympathy or compassion," Ethan stated thickly in his Australian accent.

"That's because she's not. Do you think she could have had something to do with it? Like she plotted for Lulu to get raped or one of her anti-Spencer plots got out of hand?"

"I don't know, but it's worth looking into. It's taking everything I have not to grab my grandmother by the hair and throw her out."

"No. Don't throw her out. We have more access to her there, and if you try to throw her out she'll just disappear on her broomstick. I think you just gave me my first lead.

Sneak Peak:
Lulu lets a friend visit.

Authors Note:
Thank you so much for reading and please keep commenting.