A/N: Thanks so much for the comments, Caranath, Paulina Ann, Cheryl, Max2013, Erin and Guest! Always appreciated. And of course, thanks to those reading. And now, Iola's big adventure begins! If you're like me, and you want to see what Iola's apartment looks like, PM me.

Chapter 25

Iola left with her parents for the city early the next morning. First on the agenda was a meeting with her attorney, where she'd signed her one year contract with Daybreak.

She was still reeling from the fact that her salary was six figures. She had no idea what she was going to do with that much money. And she had never been more grateful that her dad was an investment banker.

After dropping her father off at his office, Iola and her mother headed over to her new studio apartment. It was near the network television complex on the Upper West Side. A neighborhood Iola would never be able to afford, even with her shiny, new, salary. Thank goodness it was part of her contract.

The doorman greeted them both with a smile, and welcomed Iola to the building. He introduced himself as Tony, and told Iola that she could ask him for anything she might need.

The building was old and beautiful, with a charm about it that Iola loved. She and her mother took the elevator to the sixth floor, and Iola, her hands shaking with excitement, inserted the key into the lock.

When the door opened, they hurried through the offset entry way, then stopped, and stared.

"Oh, honey, it's so cute!" her mother exclaimed.

And it was. The unit was fully furnished, with quirky pieces in shades of black and white, and dashes of rose and gray for accents. It was small…only about five hundred square feet…but to Iola, it was perfect.

"I love it," Iola breathed.

She hurried inside, past the bathroom and tiny kitchen, toward the living area. There she found a love seat and a zebra-print arm chair. Across from those was a refurbished antique dresser, painted white, with a flat screen TV resting on top.

"Those drawers will be nice for storage," her mother pointed out.

Positioned at a right angle to one wall, was a white secretary with a laptop on it and a card that read 'Welcome to Daybreak'. On the opposite wall was a large open unit bookcase. It only had a few knickknacks and books in place, but Iola knew she would fill it up quickly.

The bookcase served as a divider for the bedroom area, and Iola peeked around it. She discovered a full-sized bed, and across from that a black antique dressing table with a large mirror.

The wall next to the bed was taken up with a picture window, through which Iola had a view of Central Park. She paused there and stared out at the trees, unable to believe how much her life had changed in the past week.

Her mother stood next to her, put her arm around her shoulders, and gave Iola a reassuring squeeze.

Iola tried to keep her voice steady. She was sick of crying. "Oh, Mom, isn't this incredible? I can hardly believe this is happening to me."

"Nobody deserves it more than you, sweetie." Her mother couldn't keep the wobble out of her voice either. "You've had four years of bad stuff. Now it's time for the good."

And Iola was more than ready for it.

OOOoooOOO

Joe wandered into Hardy Investigations at nine that morning. He knew Iola had left for the city, and he physically felt her absence. It reminded him too much of the time right after the car bombing, when he didn't know how he was going to make it from one minute to the next. He didn't want to go back to that dark place.

So now, he was determined to try and keep the promise he'd made to Iola the day before. He was going to focus on his relationship with Vanessa, and keep Iola in the 'friend zone.' It would be difficult, but he wanted to do it. He'd had a wonderful time with Vanessa on their date last night. It reminded him that what they had together was too good to let slip away. So he was going to do his best to make sure it didn't.

Frank stepped out of his office as Joe passed by, and called out to him. "Hey, we've gotten an update on the crown prince."

Joe halted and turned around. "What's going on?"

"Apparently, the prince has appendicitis," Frank said. "Worse than that, actually. He has a huge abscess on it. They've put him on strong antibiotics, inserted a drainage tube, and they'll perform surgery in about a week."

"So, he's indisposed for a while?"

"Yep. Which makes him easy to keep track of." Frank gestured for Joe to follow him into his office. "Here's the email. The feds have agents posing as orderlies, maintenance workers, and other hospital staff. They're hoping to figure out if he's plotting anything. He can't scramble the electronic transmissions on his phone and computer like he can in the embassy, so they'll be able to tap into any calls he makes, and hack into his laptop."

"Well, that's serendipity." Joe grinned. "And some payback for the prince. Because that abscess thing must hurt like a son of a bitch."

"No doubt," Frank agreed, gathering up some papers on his desk, and inserting them into a file folder. "And since the prince is out of our hands for the moment, we can focus on something else."

"Like what?" Joe asked.

Frank extended the file toward him. "The latest marital infidelity case. It's your turn this time. Mrs. West is waiting in your office."

Joe sighed. He hated infidelity cases. They paid well, and they weren't tough. But they were boring as hell.

Frank seemed to read his mind and grinned. "It'll give you plenty of time to ponder your own relationship status while you're following Mr. West around."

"Shut up," Joe said, snatching the file from Frank and heading for the office door. This was already on its way to being a fabulous day.

Not.

OOOoooOOO

Vanessa was humming as she entered the lobby of her office building. She spotted Gabe getting a coffee at the cart in the corner and strolled over to him. "Good morning," she called in a sing-song voice.

Gabe arched an eyebrow. "Well, you're ridiculously cheerful for this hour of the day. What's up?"

Vanessa leaned against the cart and caught the barista's eye. "I'll have my usual, please."

She turned back to Gabe. "Iola has accepted a job and moved to New York City."

Gabe nodded. "The Daybreak position, right?"

Vanessa was surprised. "How did you know?"

"She told me on our date." He handed the barista money, then grabbed a stir stick and napkin. "She also swore me to secrecy. She said she would burst if she couldn't share the news with someone. Since I didn't know anyone in town, I was a safe bet. Plus, I'm extraordinarily good at keeping secrets."

Vanessa smiled. "Well, needless to say, it's put me in a very good mood. I almost feel like things are back to normal in my life."

"Almost?"

Vanessa shrugged. "Iola's still alive. But I'm hoping she'll make a life for herself in New York, and forget about everyone here in Bayport."

"You mean you hope she forgets about Joe."

Vanessa took her coffee from the barista and headed over to the bank of elevators with Gabe. "Yes, and I hope Joe can get some distance and put all of this in perspective. I think with Iola gone, he'll be able to concentrate on our relationship, and realize what we have together."

Gabe nodded. "I hope you're right. Because I think he'd be a fool to give up a woman who's so obviously in love with him. That's a rare thing. Joe should appreciate what he has."

"Maybe I'll have you call him and tell him that."

Gabe chuckled. "I don't think I'm on his 'favorite people' list. Doubt he'd listen."

"Maybe not," Vanessa agreed. "But I have a good feeling about all of this. I think Joe and I are going to be just fine."

Gabe raised his paper coffee cup in salute. "Then I wish you all the best."

Vanessa gently touched her cup to his in response to the toast and smiled.

She felt like everything from here on out was going to be smooth sailing.

Iola Morton was no longer a threat to her and Joe's relationship.