Chapter 25: Into the Light
Sonny's Penthouse"Explain this to me," Lila hissed at Sonny shoving a paper into his hands.
"What is it?"
She grabbed it back from him. "An article from The Port Charles Herald dated November 25th 2006." Sonny felt his stomach drop. He knew what this article was about.
"Another Casualty of Mob Violence," she read the headline hell-bent on keeping the tremor out of her voice. "Saturday night, in front of blues club Luke's, Samantha McCall Morgan was fatally shot in a gunfight believed to be linked to Michael "Sonny" Corinthos, and the victim's own husband Jason Morgan."
Sonny stared down at his shoes. He knew that one day Lila would discover the truth. "How did you find it?" He asked gesturing towards the article.
She slowly sat across from him, and met his eyes. "Lydia asked me to help her with the final stages of planning the Nurse's Ball. I wanted a little history on it, so I researched it at the Paper. There was an article about it in the same edition," She paused and tried to get a grip on her emotions. "My father told me that Sam died of stomach cancer."
Lila watched him stand up and pour them both glasses of Bourbon from the bar. She downed the whiskey in one gulp, the burn of it sobering her senses. He looked past her and out the picture window behind her.
"We didn't want to deceive you, but I guess we wound up doing that anyway. The article's true, Sam was shot and killed in the parking lot of Luke's. Funny how it always ends there." He broke off remembering another time; another wife. "We didn't want you to grow up knowing that your mother died in such a violent way, so we decided to tell you she had cancer."
She stared agape at him. "Let me get this straight, rather than tell me the truth about the shooting, you told me that my mother died of cancer?" She stared incredulously at him for a moment before speaking again. "The shooting was too violent, so you let me imagine cancer eating away my mother's life? That's sick Sonny, even for you!" She stood up and began to pace angrily back and forth. "I've spent my whole life believing that my mother died of something beyond anyone's control, and now I found out that my mother's death was completely unnecessary!"
"You're pinning this all on me, but Jason wasn't exactly an innocent bystander in all this!"
Lil whirled on him furious. "How dare you! How dare you! My father was an amazing man, and for you to besmirch his name… God you really are disgusting!" She moved to leave, but Sonny grabbed her arm and made her face him.
"You've got this pretty picture painted of Jason, where he's the knight in shining armor, but your vision of him is distorted Lila. Jason was an enforcer; a hitman. He killed people for a living. He wasn't this untouchable saint that you seem to think he was. He broke the law."
"On your orders!" she spat back at him.
He met her eyes that were so much like his own and told her the truth. "Jason could have stopped at anytime. He could have gotten out of the mob, but he stayed on. It took Sam being murdered for him to gain a perspective on his life."
She stared on, tears collecting in her eyes, and falling in rivulets down her cheeks. Just when he didn't think she would say anything, she proved him wrong. Her voice was barely above a whisper, but strong. "We're through. Whatever relationship we were on the verge of having, will never be. I don't want your help on anything, and I don't want you to ever acknowledge my existence again. From here on out we are strangers." She pulled her arm from his grasp, and walked out the door.
Luke's
She couldn't even make it past the parking lot. Visions assaulted her as she looked at the blacktop. Visions of someone firing on her mother, of her bleeding out alone; her skin against the cold ground. She was so lost in her thoughts she didn't notice Luke amble up to her.
"What's goin on darlin'?"
His voice startled her into awareness. "Luke—you scared me."
He gave a bark of laughter, "You looked like a space cadet. What's on your mind?"
"Have you ever had your whole world turned upside down?" Lila didn't wait for an answer, just kept right on speaking. "My whole life, my whole identity was based around my dead mother. I always imagined that Sam knew her time was coming, and that she made peace with that. I liked to think that she had plans and expectations of me, so I always lived my life the way I thought she'd want me to." Her voice broke and the tears came. It took several seconds to calm herself enough to speak again.
"My entire life, before I'd make a decision, I'd analyze it. I'd wonder what she would want me to do, and would she be proud of me? Now it doesn't matter. Sam didn't have time to think about me, or the life I was going to lead. She didn't know that she was going to die. She didn't know that I was going to grow up without her—she didn't know." She stopped talking and stared aimlessly at the ground.
"You're forgetting one very important thing here Lila. Your mother loved you. She only ever wanted you to be happy. I saw that with my own two eyes, you were the love of her life. As a father, I know that kind of love, and let me tell you, it takes a helluva lot to stop it. Your mother would be proud of you. Of the strong independent woman who doesn't take anything from anyone. You got balls kid; I'd say you inherited them from your mother." He rocked back on his heels and began to puff on a cigar. "Every day that you live your life without any boundaries, your mother is proud of you. She was like that too, so full of fire. I knew the first time that I laid eyes on you that you were your mother's daughter." Luke didn't notice how Lila's face blanched at the last statement.
"Now darlin, are you gonna let Port Chuckles put your fire out, or are you gonna let it burn?" Luke stared at her expectantly.
"You're a smart man Luke."
He shrugged his shoulders, "Mind tellin Skye that? Maybe she'd let me win a fight every now and again." He wrapped an arm around her waist, "Come on inside, the cure for insecurity is a basket of cheese fries."
"You let my daughter get kidnapped?"
Liam stared down at his shoes. This woman was crazy. She hadn't stopped yelling at him since he'd arrived at the safehouse nearly ten minutes ago. She was mostly ranting about the incompetence of the WSB, and how her daughter would be safest with her. And to think, he'd given up his very lucrative lifestyle of mooching off his parents for this. He looked down at his watch. 11 and ½ minutes—time to interrupt.
"Ms. Barrett, I can understand your concerns for Lila. She's a very good friend of mine, but I can assure you that Michael is taking very good care of Lila."
"Like he was taking good care of her when she was kidnapped?"
Liam resisted the urge to roll his eyes. She was so damn dramatic! "In all probability, if Michael had been with Lila at the time of her kidnapping, he most likely would have been killed."
"And that's supposed to make me feel better!"
He pinched the bridge of his nose. Dear God! Talking to this woman was virtually pointless. He was about to tell her so when he was interrupted.
"Mom—are you okay?" Liam turned his head to see an angel glide into the room. She was gorgeous; about 5'4 with long curly dark brown hair, and caramel colored eyes framed by thick lashes. And she had a beauty mark, just like Lila—Uh oh.
"Liam this is my daughter Taylor." Liam's insides froze as her name was spoken. This was the twin that Lila had yet to meet. "Nice to meet you," Liam mumbled averting his eyes from the beauty.
"Likewise," Taylor said giving him a wary glance. Her gaze went back to her mother, "Are you alright?"
Brenda forced a smile for her daughter's benefit. "Sure sweetie, Liam just brought a little bit of bad news that's all."
Taylor raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You sure?"
Brenda pulled her daughter into a hug. "Don't worry so much, it'll give you wrinkles."
"Okay," Taylor said pulling away. "I'll go see what Jason's doing."
"Don't bother him if he's reading. You know how much he hates that."
Taylor grinned; a mischievous gleam in her eye. "I would never!" She turned to Liam, "It was nice to meet you." She turned and swept out of the room, Liam watching after her.
"Eyes off the daughter." Brenda said obviously in a better mood. "She has a boyfriend."
Liam shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not exactly the type of gut you bring home to your parents."
"Honey, those are the only kind Barrett women ever fall for."
Yea! Another chapter under my belt! Sorry it's taken forever, I've been busy. But I wanna take a minute to point out some stuff that my not be completely obvious.
Our first big secret was revealed! Sam was gunned down…but by who?
Liam had a puppy-love thing going on Lila, which is why he was so protective of her when it came to Michael. Maybe Taylor will help him get over it (hint,hint)
Michael is torn. He loves Lila, but keeps her at an arm's length cuz he's afraid to hurt her. Sound like anyone else we know?
The only people that know Lila's situation with the whole twin stolen at birth thing is: Sonny, Jason, Brenda, Michael, Liam, Lulu, and Lila.
Stay tuned for more big secrets, a peak inside Adella's head, the nurse's ball, and the 3 p's. REVIEW!