Chapter Eleven



With shaking fingers, Sami pressed the key into the lock on her car door. After unlocking the door, she yanked it open and climbed inside. She didn't know what she was doing, she just had to get away from them. She had always tried to be in control of her own life but the killers were taking that control away. Everything was spinning out of control and she was scared. She didn't know how to handle the vagueness of her future. She couldn't even take a guess at what was going to happen next.

Her fingers moved clumsily along the key-ring, trying to find the right key. Finally finding it, she tried to push it into the ignition. Instead, she dropped the key-ring onto the ground.

"Dammit!" she cried, near tears. While she was fumbling around the floor for the keys, she heard the car door on her side click open. She froze, wishing she had remembered to lock her door. Slowly, she turned around to face whoever had opened the door.

She sighed with relief when she saw who it was, "God, Lucas! You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry." Lucas was instantly contrite and he motioned for her to scoot over. She shuffled over to the passenger seat, allowing him to get into the driver's seat. He noticed the keys clenched tightly in her hand. He pried her fingers open and extracted the key-ring, but not before noticing the indents the keys had made on her palm. Lucas took one look on her face and saw how close she was coming to losing her composure.

Flinging the keys onto the dashboard, Lucas searched for the right words to say. He wanted to comfort her but he didn't know what she needed to hear at that moment. Since nothing came to mind, he wordlessly extended his arms. Sami responded to the gesture immediately, scooting into his arms. She broke down, tears spilling over her cheeks. He let his arms encircle her waist, hating himself for not knowing what to say. He wanted her to stop crying. He hated seeing her cry almost more than he hated anything else.

He sat with her for a few minutes, letting her cry, the back of her head nestled against his chest. When she had finally regained enough of her composure, she pressed the side of her face into his chest, looking up at him.

"What's going to happen to me, Lucas?" she asked, "Am I going to die?" her face was soaked with tears and he brushed them away gently with the pads of his thumbs. He wanted to promise that no one was going to hurt her, not while he was around. It was one promise he would do everything in his power to keep.

"I'm always going to be here for you." he told her, "I'm hardly ever going to let you out of my sight. I'll always make sure that you're safe when I'm not with you. You are not going to die."

She sighed, pressing her cheek against his, "I don't want to die. I have too much to live for. Like Will and my mom and my brother and......." And you, was what she had wanted to say. Just sitting there alone with him, having him hold her like this made everything feel more peaceful. He promised her that he wouldn't let her die and she believed him. For the first time in years, she completely trusted him. He had helped her so much already. He wouldn't let Will's mother die. He loved Will too much to do that.

Lucas seemed to sense she was through talking about the killer and changed the subject, "Are you ready to go back inside now?" he asked tentatively.

Sami shook her head, her blonde hair swishing back and forth in front of him, "Can we just stay out here for a little longer? I don't want to face my aunt and uncle right now. I don't want to think about everything in my life that's going wrong."

Lucas was glad to have an excuse to keep holding her, "We can stay out here for as long as you want." he responded, feeling her relax even more against his body. He dreamed about this all the time- having Sami alone, all to himself. His urge to kiss her was stronger than ever but he wouldn't. Sami had made it clear that there were not one, but two killers on the loose. So until both killers were caught, he would hold off on making any moves to win her heart.



Cassie sat on the couch next to Brady, their conversation interrupted by the loud, angry voices of Victor and Nicole. She leaned against the couch, listening to the angry exchange between Brady's grandparents.

"I mean it, Nicole! You will stay away from Phillip or I will make you pay." Victor yelled angrily from the other room.

"You can't tell me what to do!" Nicole shot back, "We aren't doing anything wrong. We're just friends."

Victor let out a loud, disbelieving snort, "You expect me to buy that? Just the other day you were talking about how you were going to throw yourself at Bo, Shawn and Phillip to get back at me."

"I am a grown woman. And regardless of what you think, you do not own me, Victor Kiriakas!" Nicole said in a haughty voice, "I will not let you push me around anymore."

"Do you really have a choice in the matter?" Victor demanded, his voice filled with an air of extreme confidence, "I have so much dirt on you it isn't even funny. I am ten times as powerful as you are!"

"You're all talk!" Nicole retorted, "You've threatened me over and over. You never live up to your threats. I don't know why you even bother."

"No one has ever provoked me as much as you have, Nicole." Victor reminded her, "You are an adulteress, you have done everything possible to ruin me. You have thrown yourself at my children and grandchildren. Not to mention you killed my grandson's soul mate. There will be justice, I promise you."

"You're only using words." Nicole shouted, "You don't scare me one bit. And for the last time, I did not kill Chloe! Just wait until I find out who really killed her. Then you'll be sorry."

Nicole heels clicked on the floor, closing the conversation between herself and Victor by walking away without giving him a chance to respond. Cassie turned to Brady, shaking her head in amazement.

A few moments later, Victor entered the room Brady and Cassie were sitting in. Victor smiled warmly at his grandson but when he noticed Cassie sitting next to him, his smile faded and he gave a brief nod in her direction. Without a word, he turned and left the room. Cassie felt her heart sink. She knew that Victor didn't care for her or approve of her friendship with Brady.

She wondered if he didn't like her because she still considered herself a Dimera. Or maybe it was because of what a lot of people in town thought of her. She knew it was very likely that he considered her a slut, there were few people that didn't think of her in that way. Hell, she had spent a night in jail for prostitution. She hadn't been guilty of it but still. Cassie knew she couldn't be upset that people thought she was a slut. The only reason they thought that was because she pretty much begged them to.

She wanted to change that though. There was a good chance that Brady was right. If she didn't try so hard, maybe she could find a guy that liked her for who she was. Maybe if she totally stopped overdoing it, she could get the one guy she wanted. She and Brady had became really close over the last few weeks and only a few days ago he had even kissed her. It had been a short, soft kiss, nothing major. He hadn't mentioned the kiss at all after that day.

"You've seemed to be handling Chloe's death a lot better these days." Cassie remarked, "I bet it's still hard for you though."

Brady ran a hand through his short hair and nodded, "I'm so angry. I'm angry at whoever did this to her but I'm even more angry at myself."

Cassie looked at him in surprise, "Why?"

"I never told anyone this but I stopped loving Chloe a while ago." Cassie's mouth dropped open in shock, "I faked it for a while because I thought it would keep Nicole from hitting on me. Then, I kept faking it when my grandad started talking about bringing Chloe back to Salem because I didn't want to hurt his feelings by rejecting his offer. When Chloe got back, I tried convincing myself that I still loved her but I didn't. And now she's gone and I never managed to get up the courage to tell her the truth."

"That's awful. I don't think you should be so hard on yourself though." Cassie knew it was selfish but his words made her feel somewhat elated. If Chloe had died with Brady not loving her then it was more likely that Brady would move on sooner. She realized what she really was thinking was that Brady would have more of a chance of falling for her. She inwardly scolded herself for thinking like that. Even if Brady hadn't wanted Chloe then, that didn't mean that she would have any more of a chance of him wanting her now. She just wanted to believe that she did.