Chapter Twenty-One



Nicole had re-adjusted her dress and was now sitting up on the bed with Phillip, who was also fully dressed.

"That was amazing." Phillip said simply, throwing Nicole an appreciative glance. Nicole had been with a lot of men and had gotten that remark from them a lot but this time it felt different. Like it actually meant something. When other men said it to her, their hidden meaning was usually something along the lines of, 'Yeah, you're good so I guess we can take this to a two-night stand instead of just a one-night stand'. She couldn't help believing that Phillip was different than them. He treated her better than most of the men in her life did, like he wanted more from her than just sex.

"Thanks." she smiled at the comment. Phillip's face suddenly turned serious.

"We can't keep doing this with you being married to my dad." Phillip told her, "And I don't understand why you're still married to him when you don't love him and would be happy to have him out of your life."

"Because I can't until he offers me more money." Nicole replied, "I can't leave Victor without getting a good amount of money out of him."

"Why not?" Phillip asked in confusion, "Why does it matter so much?"

"It's about power." Nicole tried to explain, "If I just leave him without a fight for the money I deserve after living a life of suffering with him, then he has won. I can't let him win. If he wins, it will prove that he had power over me the whole time. Me getting the money I need out of him will prove that I was the one with the power."

"I don't know why this whole needs to be about power and not about you being happy with someone who really cares about you." Phillip responded.

"Everything is about power in the end. You wind up realizing that one day and it hurts like hell." Nicole answered. Power had caused her to lose all the men she ever cared about at all. Eric. Austin. Brady. She had brought a lot of it on herself, she knew that. She had been the one who had married Lucas for his money instead of continuing to be happy with Eric. Because money was power. She had also lied and cheated until she drove Austin and Brady away too.

But it felt different with Phillip. She still kept secrets from him but she had never actually flat out lied to him about anything. She hadn't been that honest with anyone, not even Brady.

"It doesn't have to be. What about other things that could be more important? What about love?" he asked her. Nicole raised an eyebrow. It was weird how she was the cynical and impassive one in the relationship while Phillip was more sensitive and caring than she was. Usually, it was the other way around.

"What are you saying, Phillip?" Nicole asked. Phillip realized that he had pretty much admitted to being in love with her. Embarrassed, he averted his eyes to the floor. Because it was true, he had fallen in love with Nicole. He had fallen in love with the woman his own father was married to. And he had thought falling in love with Belle had been bad. He seemed to have the worst luck with who he ended up falling love with.

"I don't know." he lied, "All I know is that you to do something about your marriage to my dad or we can't be together."

"Victor would be pretty angry at you if he knew how we felt about each other, wouldn't he?" Nicole asked sympathetically, "I know he's already furious at me for spending so much time with you."

"He'll get over it." Phillip said lightly, trying not to let his uneasiness show.

Nicole nodded in agreement, "He's noticed something going on but I don't think he really understands how serious it's gotten yet. He's been so busy with work, I hardly ever see him anymore. Thank God." she added under her breath.

Phillip quickly changed the subject after that, still feeling very distressed about his current relationship with Nicole. His father would be horrified when he found out how serious he and Nicole had gotten. He might lose his father's trust and approval forever. He looked over at Nicole, her blonde hair spilling over her shoulders, still slightly dishevelled from their previous exertions. Was she really worth it? He didn't know yet but he had a feeling he would figure out the answer to that question very soon.



Cassie and Nicole stopped at the Java Café after spending several hours shopping. It had been three days since Sami had moved in with Phillip and Cassie. Cassie and Sami had decided to call a truce and try to get along, at least for as long as Sami was going to be staying at Cassie and Phillip's house. Sami had also decided to make the most of the time she would be living with Cassie and the two of them had went shopping together. The weirdest part was, Sami was actually starting to enjoy Cassie's company.

They set down their bags and ordered coffee. They were so engaged in conversation, it took them a while to notice that Celeste had came and sat down at their table.

"Hey, Celeste." Cassie finally greeted her, giving Celeste a strange look. Celeste seemed to be looking right through them, a dark, haunted look on her face.

She finally looked at Sami and Cassie, her eyes wide with terror, "You must be very careful. I feel the evil. I had a vision. Oh and it was such a horrid vision!"

Sami and Cassie exchanged glances. Celeste's visions were famous in Salem, since they were rarely ever wrong, "What kind of vision?" Cassie asked.

"I saw you." Celeste looked from Sami to Cassie, "Both of you. You were covered in blood. You were dead."

The light mood Sami and Cassie had managed to create completely dissipated at Celeste's words. Sami felt almost dizzy with fear. She looked frantically around the café and around the streets but there was no where to run. At that moment, she wished Lucas were there. She knew what he would have done. He would have wrapped his arms around her shoulders and told her that he would never let that vision come true. But he wasn't there.

Cassie was shaking visibly, "Let's go home, Sami." she managed to squeak out. They picked up their bags, said good-bye to Celeste and hurried back to Sami's car. Sami tried to concentrate on the roads but her mind was spinning. Celeste had a vision and in it she had seen both Sami and Cassie dead. Celeste's premonitions were almost never wrong. Sami tried as hard as she could to remember what had happened that night and who the killers were. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember a single thing.