Kiriakis Mansion
Philip paced back and forth in the tiny room, his attention alternating between his sister-in-law's conversation with Sydney and the door. Saying that he dreaded Bo showing up at any second with Stephanie in tow would have been an understatement but waiting around with his brother's sanctimonious, bitchy wife and putting up with her snide amusement wasn't improving his disposition either. How the hell had he ended up the bad guy in all this? If Hope was right about the identity of the man who'd died today, a collective sigh of relief was in order. Not to mention, it was Andre and Stefano who were the culprits here…they'd robbed him, not the other way around and yet here he was about to lose the woman he loved because despite all their history, the Bradys still believed that playing by the rules would stop EJ's family.
"If you and Bo take that child and give her to Sami, just how long do you imagine it'll be until she ends up with the DiMeras again? Sydney is the old man's granddaughter. He's not going to sit back and play nice while Sami is busy doing her mommy imitation."
"That would be real funny if hijacking children belonging to other people wasn't your specialty," said Hope, with a pointed look from where she sat on the floor.
Philip scowled at that particular jab. The minute Hope learned that it was her son who was Clair's biological father, she'd given Philip short shrift as though his feelings didn't matter in the slightest and he'd not forgotten or forgiven her lack of sympathy. So far, he'd not divulged what Victor told him just before Caroline arrived. His father had made it clear, it was to be kept private. But Philip knew as soon as Bo walked through that door, that one or both of them were going to take Sydney back to Sami and then it was only a matter of time before Stefano made her disappear… not to mention if he kept his mouth shut, Stephanie would follow her family's lead and label him a kidnapper.
That being the case, he didn't see they had that much to lose and taking a deep breath, walked over stand directly in front of Hope.
"Victor didn't bring the child here to blackmail Stefano."
"Oh, please."
"I'm serious Hope. And yes, he wanted to force Stefano to behave but once my father explained who she was…"
"Sami and EJ's daughter, not yours. Or Victor's."
"According to my father, she's also a Kiriakis."
Philip had been prepared for Hope to laugh in his face and sighed inwardly when she didn't. Still, she didn't react immediately. Her expression was carefully neutral as she thought about Victor and the way he operated. He was a cold, calculating son of a bitch and he didn't take risks like this, not unless he had a fall back plan or a reason so foolproof, the District Attorney would find his hands tied.
"What else did he say?" she asked finally.
"I think the rest should come from him."
She shook her head. "You're suggesting he brought Sydney here for her protection and that's not going to fly with Bo unless you tell us how she's related to Victor."
"And I'm just supposed to spill my guts with no reassurance whatsoever?"
"It's either that or Sydney is returned to her parents," said Hope flatly, though without the sharp edge to her tone she'd had only a moment before. "Unless you provide me with a concrete reason why doing so would put Sydney in danger."
Philip regarded her with a sly look to cover his surprise. Curiosity from his uppity sister-in-law was unexpected but he'd never been one to waste an opportunity. "Victor has proof she is his great-granddaughter."
"Granddaughter." Hope turned to stare at the baby's dark engaging eyes, her thoughts spinning. "But it couldn't be Sami and Sydney's father is El…vis…"
The sound of her voice was less than a whisper now and her eyes had widened considerably.
The same old DiMera game and again they'd fallen for it.
EJ had waltzed into town and turned their lives upside down, and none of them had even questioned the news that he was Elvis DiMera. It was the obvious conclusion and apparently the one Stefano had been counting on. How many times had they been through this, all the way back to Megan's ridiculous little charade so many years ago, and yet it seemed they hadn't learned from their screw-ups. Of course, their first warning sign should have been when Steve backed up EJ's story.
Except John and Marlena had been equally convinced after their trip to Italy.
"If EJ is Victor's grandson, then, he must have an idea of who the guys' parents are." And Hope could feel herself holding her breath as she waited for Philip's answer.
"Only his mother."
Without even realizing it, Hope's relief was evident. "Isabella."
Philip nodded but almost at once Hope look at him quizzically.
"That's curious," she said slowly, "because from what I remember, she never seemed the type to go in for the ah…DiMera mystique, shall we say."
"You knew her better than me certainly but according to Victor, she was very young and the baby was given up for adoption."
"Given up or sold?"
"Excuse me?"
"Well, Ernesto Toscano wasn't sentimental and if some DiMera got his daughter pregnant as a teenager, even his illegitimate daughter, he'd have been on Stefano's doorstep in record time, demanding he do something about it."
"As in take responsibility."
"No, as in take the baby and make it disappear. At least from Isabella's life."
"And why would Stefano bother?"
Hope shook her head at Philip, amused again. "You don't honestly think that DiMera is after you simply because of Andre, do you? Are you going to stand there and tell me that Victor never warned you to stay away from that family?"
"Yes, yes, he and Stefano don't get along. They're business rivals. I get it."
Hope raised and eyebrow, wondering if she should even bother explaining to the arrogant little puppy about his father's past and what she and Bo suspected about Victor's ties to Stefano thirty years ago.
"They used to be partners."
She could tell Philip was dying to lash out and call her a liar but for some reason he held back. Maybe he was beginning to realize just how explosive this situation was liable to get if any of this story were true.
"Not only that, but Shane Donovan has good reason to believe that Victor betrayed Stefano to someone in the ISA."
"Recently?"
"No, this was years ago, before he returned to Salem."
"So you're saying Stefano lied about EJ's paternity all this time to get back at Victor."
Hope's gaze traveled back to Sydney who in turn seemed to following the conversation with an intelligent interest of her own. The little girl's charm was quite addictive. She was just as adorable as Ciara but unlike Hope's small daughter, Sydney practically oozed self-confidence so that Hope had no trouble believing the child belonged to either Samantha or EJ. And she could see something of Isabella in her as well, a sweetness in her disposition.
But what of the child's grandfather? She couldn't see any of the DiMera men she'd been associated with simply handing over their son to Stefano and giving him free reign. Possibly the man in question was dead. Knowing the DiMeras as she did though, Hope found this scenario far less likely than the one that popped into her mind suddenly, remembering that Stefano had shipped his eldest into exile and had not been happy in the least, despite his performance at the hospital earlier, about having Tony back.
Her phone interrupted her train of thought. She jumped up as she glanced at the name on the screen, opening the door to let Bo inside. Behind him in the hall stood Stephanie.
Hurt and accusation swam in the younger woman's eyes and after a brief glance towards the playpen, she raised them to meet Philip's.
His expression was partially obscured because the room was so dim but she recognized his body language…how he fumed at being caught in the middle of all this. Had he been aware of Victor's plans?
Hope was busy whispering something in her husband's ear and she pulled on his arm to drag him inside. "I think you should talk to Stephanie," she said to Philip once she'd explained to Bo there was something she needed to speak to him about privately. But Bo looked a bit leery of letting Philip out of his sight and the younger man didn't look thrilled either, and damn Stephanie, for just standing there like some teenager stricken dumb, ready to melt into a puddle on the floor. Hope shook her head in disgust. Had she been this pathetic around men at Stephanie's age?
There was no way this girl was going to last, married to a Kiriakis.
"Philip?" prompted Hope once again, waving him in the direction of his girlfriend and he was barely out the door before the girl started in on him. "How could you…"
Thankfully, the door was soundproof and cut off the rest of the argument.
"You want to tell me what's going on," said Bo, turning from the door to look first at his wife, and then the baby in the playpen and finally back again at Hope. "I thought the idea was for her to see Victor's handiwork so we wouldn't have to talk her into leaving."
"Yeah, it was but believe it or not, it's possible Victor had a legitimate reason for bringing the baby here," began Hope and taking a deep breath, proceeded to tell him the rest of the story.
Downstairs, Caroline sipped her tea and listened to Victor ramble on, ranting about Stefano's behavior and his threats.
"I wouldn't put it past the man to have set the whole charade up."
Caroline frowned. "Are you suggesting he purposely tried to murder his own son and then framed Philip for it?"
"He had no love for Tony. The whole town was well aware of how they felt about each other," he reminded her. "It's not as though they made a secret of it."
She couldn't argue with that. "Say you're right…he still wasn't able to get Philip arrested."
"That wasn't his aim."
"But that doesn't make any sense, Victor."
He set his cup down rather forcefully on the table and stood up. She could tell he was on edge and felt there was more to whatever was bothering him than his concerns over Philip. She watched him make his way restlessly around the room. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Victor this upset or rattled and if he was truly worried that Stefano meant to come after him or his family, that included Bo as well.
"Is there something else going on here that you haven't shared with me?"
The question seemed to give him pause, and as if making a sudden decision, he swung about to face her. "It could be Stefano's idea of a warning," he explained.
For some reason she couldn't quite explain, Victor's words produced a chill in the room. She was well aware the two men steered clear of one another and though he'd never confided in her, Caroline harbored her share of misgivings when it came to the years Victor spent in Europe. Just his connection to John was evidence enough that Victor was also tied to Stefano.
"I thought we were done with all these," she pursed her lips in frustration, "threats and games he plays as though this town and everyone in it were nothing more than his personal menagerie."
"Oh come Caroline, Stefano could no more live without revenge than opera or Strega or…" he caught himself before he finished what he'd planned to say.
"Or someone to manipulate?" she suggested.
Victor sighed. "I'm afraid that I may be the cause of whatever retribution he's cooked up this time around. Considering the number of years that have passed, I was hoping my part in what happened between him and his cousin had remained under wraps…buried with the deaths of both of my former partners, but it appears not."
"Partners?"
From behind gritted teeth, Victor admitted, "I took the losing side in a family feud."
Caroline had a feeling she wasn't going to like the rest of the story but she couldn't keep herself from asking anyway. "Between Stefano and who? Not Tony."
"No, not Tony, though he was, I believe, a contributing factor to the decisions Enrico made." He stopped, curious if the name would garner him a reaction and when Caroline waited quietly for him to continue, he explained, "Enrico was Stefano's cousin, the son of Santo's youngest sister and for years he and Stefano were friends and thick as thieves in business. And then both of them fell in love with the same woman."
And the reason the name had sounded familiar to her clicked into place. "Daphne's mysterious lover."
Caroline glanced into the fire for a moment as she lifted her teacup and tried to conjure up an image of the woman. They'd met once or twice but all she could see was the photo printed in the newspaper, quite yellowed by age now and tucked away in a scrapbook Caroline put together that awful year when she and Shawn believed Roman dead on the island. It was strange. Now that she thought about it, she and Daphne had more in common that Caroline would have been comfortable admitting years ago, though she did remember the nights she'd laid in bed, thanking God that even if the truth came out, her son would never have to face the rejection that Daphne's son had been forced to live through.
Shawn had loved Bo as his own, right to the end.
Without realizing it, tears began sliding down her cheeks and she shut her eyes as memories of her son and the man he considered his father flashed through her mind.
"Caroline?" Victor's tone had softened. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."
Using the handkerchief he offered her to wipe her eyes, she smiled faintly and choked out, "I'm fine." Patting his hand, she nodded for him to continue his story. "When did you meet Enrico?"
Down one more floor in the basement, Nicole glared straight back at Brady and when he made no move to climb off the bed, she leaned in the doorway, her hand on her hip.
"Does this mean you'd rather rot in here and let your grandfather run your life?"
Her sarcasm didn't improve his mood any. "He had your number alright."
"Don't be too quick to give him a free pass, Brady. You don't know…"
But Brady's snort of laughter cut her off. "And no doubt, this is where you're going tell me this was all Victor's idea."
"No."
She barely got the word out. It was only a whisper and yet it seemed to echo in the room. For several long, agonizing seconds, they stared at each other.
"Brady, please."
"Why Nicole? I want to hear it and neither of us are going anywhere until I do."
Remorse flooded over her but this wasn't the time for a confession or an argument if they were going to get out of here. "Damn it, I'm not doing this again. You want to read me the riot act for what I did? Fine. But not here and not now," she snapped, and before she had time to reconsider, she was next to the bed, grabbing his arm to pull him off.
And that was when she saw it.
The two of them, caught not only meeting each other secretly but nearly at the point of tearing each other's clothes off in public and all in vivid and glossy black and white.
She couldn't remember ever being as happy as she'd been that day in Vienna. He'd called her. He wanted her, not Chloe. And the second he'd kissed her…oh god…she'd have done anything he'd asked of her and as she looked back, she had to admit even knowing what lay ahead wouldn't have stopped her for a second. Brady had a way of making her feel special, and beautiful and worth having around…the opposite of every other man in her life with exception of Eric. She'd ruined that relationship and staring down at the picture now, she wanted to sob knowing she'd shot any chance she had with Brady too.
"I know Granddad has something to do with you ending up in that house, but he didn't switch the babies, did he?"
Her eyes still on the picture, she shook her head miserably.
Brady reached for her hand and held onto it. "Tell me why."
She knew he was trying to show her compassion but she felt trapped and yanked her hand away from him. "You don't understand…"
"Nicole," came his soft tone, though she could hear a hint of him chiding her, "I was there."
"NO. You couldn't understand," she hollered back at him with a wild look on her face. "Nobody could understand what it felt like losing her…losing the only person that was ever a part of me…who would have loved me unconditionally and needed me. JUST ME."
"I needed you."
"Its not the same thing," she said, not realizing how it was going to hurt him and when she was confronted with it, she wanted to curl up and die.
"Brady…I don't know how to explain. When I found out I was pregnant, I was torn. I didn't want to believe it and then part of me felt guilty because I wanted the baby to be yours but I was so…" she shook her head, "astonished…and fucking happy. You believe that? Me…on top of the world." Her laughter came full of self-loathing. "I kept telling myself I didn't deserve to feel this way and it was going to turn out very badly but I…" She stood in front of him unable to go on, tears streaming down her cheeks and ashamed, she couldn't bear to face him and took a step back.
"That baby was the only thing you had left, wasn't it?"
Shocked, Nicole's wide eyes met his. It took her a long minute but finally she nodded once.
"And when you lost her, you really didn't know how to handle it."
Again Nicole looked away but Brady was determined to reach her this time. They had to get this out in the open between them. Maybe if he'd paid more attention after the miscarriage, he would have seen she was in worse straights than she'd let on. He would have seen how empty she felt and desperate…would have seen the inevitable…that Sami had what Nicole felt she'd been deprived of and the idea of it was simply too much under the circumstances. After what he'd done to Chloe, he couldn't quite bring himself to condemn Nicole, not to the extent his family would demand but still he couldn't contain the jealousy that was clawing at him either. For all her excuses, she'd not stolen Sami's baby to ease her own pain…she'd done it for EJ and that was something Brady didn't know if he could forgive.
DiMera Mansion: Laboratory
"I don't need to test Commissioner Brady."
Baker's statement took Tony by surprise.
"But you said you had no idea who EJ's parents were."
"Yes, that is true but I thought you would have understood what I was saying to you."
Tony's temper was nearing the boiling point and it must have been obvious because when he reached into his pocket, the one where he'd stashed the gun, Baker's face paled.
"I swear, I'm not stringing you along, Count DiMera. It's simple really. The reason I tested EJ instead of Sydney was that it made finding a match that much easier. A man's DNA is traceable to all of his male ancestors. They all have the same Y chromosome and that's why I've been going one by one through all…"
"The DiMeras."
Their eyes locked for a moment as Tony's whisper echoed in his ears and he felt his heart speed up, realizing what the doctor had been hinting at but he didn't get the chance to ask how it was possible. At that moment one of the monitors powered on. Tony could see EJ just outside the door to the stable.
He and Steve Johnson were arguing and the disagreement appeared to be on the verge of becoming violent.
A/N: Enrico was the name of Tony's biological father and one of the few things that was ever revealed about the man. I don't remember Daphne ever saying in the 80s that the guy was the family gardener as was mentioned year before last when Tony and Stefano spoke after Andre's death. What Stefano did tell Tony back in 1984 was that the man was Stefano's best friend and that's the angle I'm using in this story.