Author's Note: I worked very hard on this chapter and I was planning getting this out sooner but my beta reader was only able to get it back to me today at the earliest. I'm working on chapter eight and I'm won't be making any promises as to when it will be out I'd like to put it out next week but I have two exams at the beginning an end of next week so I have no idea when I'll be able to get it out. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter so with out further ado …
Chapter Seven
Rex reentered the library after assuring that Mimi would alright questioning the now conscious Lissette about how she was contacted in the first place without him present. He was amazed at how fast his wife had bounced back after learning that it was their son instead of Philip and Chloe's had been taken. She was all business now and aimed at getting enough information to track the kidnapper's whereabouts. As he walked into the library he saw Chloe staring angrily at Philip across the room. While, Philip's apparent daughter and her man friend sat side by side on the couch.
"So how about it Philip why don't you tell me how in the hell you have a child— a daughter no less— and never saw fit to tell me? After all we've been through how could you not tell me about this … her?"
"Chloe, I never intentionally meant to keep her from you. I just—it's just that I honestly never expected to see her. I didn't even know she knew who I was." Philip answered honestly knowing that Chloe had every right to be angry with him. Still though, he needed her to understand that his keeping Angel a secret wasn't exactly as cut and dry as it seemed.
"He's telling you the truth, Mrs. Kiri—," Angel supplied trying to aid her father.
"Chloe," she stalled her with a hand. "You can call me Chloe."
"Chloe, "Angel amended as she stood up. "My mother, she disappeared when she was six months pregnant with me. This is the first time I've ever met," she glanced toward Philip tenderly. "My father."
Chloe took time to study the girl … scratch that young woman standing before Philip. This woman was her stepdaughter, Lily and Nicky's older half-sister and no matter had happened in the past this young woman was apart of her family, now and forever. "Why did she leave?"
"I don't know for sure but she mentioned something about my grandfather coming to see her —,"
Philip interrupted her in with surprise evident in his voice, "My father saw her?" He honestly thought Victor had never known about Angel's mother. And if the old man had he definitely hadn't mentioned it to him. "Do you know when he saw her?"
"Just before she left apparently. She never said what happened or what they talked about, at least not to me. "
"Where is your mother now, if you don't mind me asking?" Chloe said curious to know where this mysterious other woman was who had a relationship with Philip.
"My mother is dead. She died in a car accident when I was three."
"I'm sorry." Chloe said sincerely. "Who raised you after your mother died?"
"My Aunt Elena and her husband … actually they are the ones who introduced me to Patrick." Angel glanced over at Patrick, who still sat on the sofa, with warmth in her eyes.
Philip noted the change in her demeanor when she said Patrick's name as well as the look in her eyes; she was in love with this man. Obviously, they were in some sort of relationship, now the only question was what kind of relationship. "So Patrick who are you exactly to my daughter?" He asked asserting his role as the protective father as easily with Angel as he did with Lily.
"Philip," Chloe admonished though she was not surprised that he had asked the question. This of course was the same man who only the day before admitted to have his daughter's potential suitor checked out. However, given all that had happened in the past couple of hours it was the wrong time.
"It's okay Chloe." Angel said as she waved her hand in surrender.
It was then that Philip saw it, a thin silver band on her left hand. That ring of course could mean many things but the only obvious conclusion would be to assume it meant that Angel and Patrick were married. With a swift glance at Patrick's left hand he saw and identical ring on his finger, it was confirmed. "You're married." He ground out.
"Yes, Patrick and I have been married for almost three years. "
"But, you're only twenty-one. That's hardly old enough to be married, let alone mature enough."
"Hold it before this erupts into a battle of Kiriakis tempers, I'd like to remind you that my son is still missing." Rex interrupted ready to bring attention to the more important issue of finding his child.
"Rex is right. Our focus needs to be on finding Alex we can deal with all this family stuff later." She glanced at Rex. "Is Mimi finished questioning Lissette?"
"Not yet, I'll go check and see." Rex left the room.
"And while he's doing that I'm going to see if Nicky is up yet and check on Lily."
Angel walked over to Chloe stopping her before she could leave the room, with a hand on her shoulder. "Chloe please let me go. I'd like the chance to really introduce myself to her."
"I don't know, Lily will be very," she paused, "curious about you, she's got a naturally inquisitive nature."
"She's nosy." Philip said with a droll expression but then continued. "But, you and Patrick should and check on Lily so Chloe and I can talk." Given the current situation this was probably the only time he was going to get a chance to tell Chloe his side of the story.
"Tell her that we'll be down here if she needs anything."
"Alright, then Patrick and I will just be going." Angel said as she took Patrick's hand and pulled him along behind her out of the library.
And then it was just Philip and Chloe, completely alone in the room. "You wanted to talk, so talk. But, bear in mind Philip Kiriakis I am beyond upset with you right now and probably will remain so for quite a while. I really can't understand how you could keep something like this from me. And dare I remind you that when I kept Lily from you because of Victor you gave me a lot of grief Philip."
"I know I did but you have to understand Chloe, I didn't intentionally keep this from you. Like I said before I honestly didn't think she knew who I was and if she did I didn't think she'd want anything to do with me."
"What do you mean if she knew about you? Obviously, she knew who you were or she wouldn't be here."
"I never slept with her mother; she was artificially inseminated with my sperm. If you want all the gory details I'll give them to you but, I think we have more important things to be concerned about." He really didn't want to get into this right now when it was obvious nothing he could say would calm her down.
Taking in a deep breath, Chloe bit her lip. "You're right; of course we have more important things to be worry about. And don't give me gory details just tell me how it is that you came to think she wouldn't ever look for you Philip. That she wouldn't be curious to know what her father is like, no matter the circumstances of how she was conceived."
"I-I gave up my rights to her, legally I have no paternal rights to her, I signed them away."
"What!" Chloe exclaimed with the thought that she didn't think there was anyway Philip could keep surprising her.
"You have to understand at the time I thought I what was doing the best for her. And if I had to do all over again, maybe I wouldn't have given up my rights, I don't know. I made my decision because I had to do what was right for her."
"Philip, I'm trying really hard to understand what you did and your keeping this from me but you're not making it easy." She closed her eyes at the tension-filled headache she felt coming on and recalled a time seven years ago when Philip had learned that Lily was his daughter, her eyes snapped open. "When you found out that Lily was yours you practically threatened to take her from me in order to keep your child. But, now I come to find out not only did you have another child all long but you gave her up. Philip, I need you to explain this to me because I don't get it."
"Do you want the abridged or the no holds barred version?" Philip asked as he walked around his desk and pulled open a drawer.
"The abridged version." Chloe answered watching as he pulled out a thin metallic case and entered in a combination. After he opened the case he slid its contents toward her on the other side of desk.
"About six months after she left, I got this box in the mail." Chloe began going through box starting with a copy of birth announcement that stated: It's a girl along with a several 3x4 photographs of a newborn baby with fuzzy light brown hair and blue eyes. "And every six months after that for three years I would get a package with pictures but no return address or contact information," he explained as Chloe continued to flip though several photos clearly denoting Angel's growth from a newborn to a toddler.
"She was beautiful Philip." Chloe said as she thumbed though the photos. After placing them back into the silver case she pierced her husband with a questioning gaze.
Philip lifted one of photos off the pile; it was of a three-year old Angel playing with a toy car. He smiled sadly as he gazed at his daughter. "Another six months had passed and there was no package … Tara, Angel's mother was killed in a car accident two months after Angel's third birthday. By the time I found out and then consequently found Angel she was almost four."
"What happened after her mother died?"
"Apparently, her mother had an older sister and she took Angel in. When I found out that Tara had died I asked Lucas if he knew anyone that could help me find her. He gave me the number for a private security firm. It took them less then three months to find her. I figured that I could just show up and take Angel because no one wants to be bothered with a child that isn't their own right … I was wrong."
"Oh Philip," Chloe sighed wanted to reach out and take him in her arms to comfort just as she would Nicky or Lily but for some reason her legs wouldn't move. Something inside her made her wait to hear the rest.
He tossed the photograph back into the thin case as he sat down in his chair behind the desk, clasping his hands together. "I had the guy take picture of Angel for a couple of days before I finally went to see her for myself. Even in the pictures I could tell that she was happy. But, I just knew that there was no way she could really be all that happy without having either her mother or father in her life so I went down to her home. I watched her for a week maybe more; I saw her interacting with her aunt and uncle. How happy they made her, how happy she was with them and I knew, I knew I couldn't take her away from that. I mean what kind of father would I be if I took her from the two people she had who clearly loved her."
He gazed at Chloe as if expecting her to answer him before he continued on with his tale. "I just couldn't make myself take her away from all that, so I hired an attorney there in Louisiana to see about giving up my paternal rights to her so that her aunt and uncle could adopt her if they wanted. I made sure to leave enough information with the attorney so that if she ever wanted to find me for anything she could. I also had an amendment placed on my will so that she would inherit a portion of my wealth so she would be taken care if I died. A day or so after everything was finalized her uncle came to see me. Apparently, I hadn't been as covert as I initially thought when I watched Angel anyway, he asked me what I intended to do about her, if I planned to take her away. "
"So then you gave him the papers that legally made you no longer her father." Chloe finished.
"Yes, that's the whole sorted story. I know this wasn't easy for you to hear but I'm glad you gave me a chance to say my piece. I-I just honestly believed she would never come to look for me."
"And if she hadn't come today do you … would have told me about her?"
"Honestly, I don't know." He answered.
Chloe nodded knowing that while it wasn't the answer she'd been hoping for, it was an honest one. "For what it's worth Philip, I don't believe that Angel would ever give up a chance to know her father because you allowed her a chance to stay and be happy with the only family she'd ever known."
"Thank you for that," Philip rose from his seat to take her in his arms. "And thank you for understanding."
She held him off with her hands, "Don't thank me just yet Philip. While I understand why you gave up your daughter, that in no way makes up from you not telling me about her. Not by a long shot."
"I know that. I wasn't expecting it to be water under the bridge. I'm just thanking you for hearing me out."
Lowering her hands, she stared at him. "After this is all over and Alex is home. You and I are going have a serious talk."
"I expected no less." Philip sighing as he stepped back from Chloe with an acknowledgement of her standoff position. "I—," he started again but was interrupted as Mimi reentered the room with Rex behind her.
"Alright, I've talked to Lissette and we have to get focused on who stole my son and make them pay." Mimi declared in a calm, cool voice that gave away her meaning business tone. And with that Philip and Chloe put their family drama on the sidelines and redirected their attention to Mimi as she informed them of what she'd learned from Lissette.
* * * * *
Lily watched as her little brother slept peacefully on the middle of her bed. Every since he'd arrive home some hours ago he'd slept as though he had no care in the world. Although, she was happy that her brother had been returned to her without a scratch on him, she couldn't keep her mind from reeling over the fact that she had an older half-sister downstairs. She'd always wanted to know what it would be like to have an older sister especially as she watched her cousins interact with one another whenever they got together. Well, now she'd finally get the chance to find out what that would be like. That is as soon as her mother allowed her to go downstairs.
Sighing, her thoughts then turned to her aunt Mimi and missing cousin Alex. It was shame that her brother had been rescued only to have Alex taken by mistake. She wondered what would happen when the kidnapper figures out that they had taken the wrong child. Would they hurt Alex or would they try to take Nicky again?
[KNOCK-KNOCK] A sound came
from her door.
"Come in." Lily answered figuring that it was her mother coming to check on her and Nicky. But, to her surprise it was her half-sister and that guy. "Oh, hi … I thought you were my mom."
"Hi," Angel said walking into her younger sister's room with Patrick behind her. "Your mother wanted me to check on you, see if you were alright."
"Oh, well, I'm fine and Nicky," she glanced down at the sleeping child on the bed. "He's still sleeping so I guess that means he's fine too."
"Good."
"Yeah, good." Lily said as she eyed her sister and then sat down next to her brother on the bed. "So …"
"My name is Angel, Angelica actually, and this is Patrick," she raised her left hand with the wedding ring. "My husband."
Lily's toffee colored eyes went wide in surprise as she looked from Angel to Patrick. "You're married?"
"Yes, Patrick and I have been married for almost three years."
"Wow, and you're only twenty-one," Lily paused gazing inquiringly at Patrick. "How old are you?"
"I'm twenty-three." Patrick answered cocking his head to one side as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "And you?"
"Oh, I'm fourteen but I'll be fifteen in a couple of months. Well technically next year but that's just semantics. Anyway so how did you meet?" Lily asked with a feigned enthusiasm.
"My father married her aunt when I was fifteen but we've known each other since we were little." Patrick answered as he pulled out a chair and sat down in front of her desk.
"Yeah, Patrick was an annoying pest when we were younger; he used to tease me mercilessly. And when I started dating, he scared away all of my potential boyfriends." Angel added as she moved to stand behind her husband bracing her hands on his shoulders.
"That's because before me the only guys you were interested in were losers. I was the best boyfriend you ever had, you should be lucky to have me."
Leaning down, Angel pressed a quick kiss to his lips. "Yes, you're right you are the best." Rising back up she winked at Lily smiling, "So Lily do you have a boyfriend?"
"I wish. Daddy won't let me date until I'm fifteen we made a deal when I was younger." Lily answered shrugging.
"That's good idea. I'll have to remember that for Eva." Patrick said under his breath only to have his wife dig her nails into his shoulder blades in response. His slight grimace did not go unnoticed by Lily as he would have hoped.
"So … who's Eva?"
Angel looked down at her husband biting her lip hesitantly before she answered. "Eva … she's no one—,"
"Someone we know at home." Patrick said simultaneously with his wife and was rewarded with a slap to the head.
"So which is it?" Lily asked arching her brow inquisitively but neither her sister nor brother-in-law answered. She took on a formidable stance crossing her arms over her chest in a no nonsense business matter that if either Angel or Patrick had known Philip could tell she was channeling her father's cold business manner. "Okay so the two of you are obviously hiding something, what is it?"
"What have we got to hide?"
"I don't know. But everyone has secrets I'm not stupid or naïve enough to believe your whole spiel about everything just being a coincidence. That you just happen to appear at the same playground Nicky was at and happen to stop him from being kidnapped is a little hard to believe. And if Mom and Dad weren't too busy dealing Alex's kidnapping and your arrival I'm sure they'd notice there is something fishy going on. I want to know what it is you're hiding and what does it have to do with this Eva person?" Lily demanded fiercely.
Patrick rose from his seat and pulled Angel to the side. "I think we're going to have to tell her."
Angel adamantly shook her head. "We can't or else she'll go tell my father and then what leverage will we have."
"I should tell you that in this family, secrets have a habit of coming out, in particular secrets about children." Lily interrupted from across the room, Angel's eyes widen in surprise before she looked beyond Patrick's shoulders at Lily.
"What makes you that I-we have a child?" Angel asked.
Lily shrugged. "Like I said secrets in this family have a way of coming out and nine times out of ten the secrets relates back a secret child. For example, my Grandma Nancy's secret was my mom, I was my mother's secret because Daddy didn't know about me until I was seven and you are apparently Daddy's. I could go on and give you examples from Dad's family but I don't have all day to go through those connections. Also, the fact that you're married and have been for three years, and not to be too stereotypical but that usually equals teen pregnancy. And let's not forget the most obvious give away of all, Patrick said her name, if that wasn't a dead giveaway I don't know what is." Lily finished with an arched brow of expectation as she awaited Angel's explanation.
"Well, bravo for your deductive reasoning skills Lily," Angel said and clapped once. "And for the record, I did not get pregnant until after Patrick and I got married, six months to be exact." She added as she beckoned Lily over with a wave of her hands as she pulled a gold locket from underneath her ribbed black shirt, the gold chain completely unnoticeable from beneath the shirt. Lily bounded over cautiously as she watched Angel open the locket and then turn it towards her. "This is Genevieve Annabel Cabrea or Eva for short." In the oval shaped locket on one side was a picture of Patrick wearing a white t-shirt with a baby settled against his chest. The baby dressed in a yellow sleeper had curly tendrils of dark blonde hair framing her face with a small button nose, rosebud lips and beautiful large grey eyes.
"She's beautiful," Lily said in awe of the child she learned was her niece. "Where is she?" Lily handed the locket back to Angel who closed it and tucked it back beneath her shirt.
"About two weeks ago, Angel and I put Eva to bed like we normally did and then went to sleep ourselves. The next morning we woke up late at around ten o'clock or so. Eva is a very consistent baby she wakes up every morning at about a quarter to six and that day she didn't." Patrick started as he soothing rubbed Angel's shoulders.
"When I didn't hear a sound on the baby monitor I went to her room to check on her. But, when I got there Eva wasn't anywhere in sight, she was gone. The only thing left was a note in her crib, which said if you want to see your daughter ever again, go to your father. At first we just assumed that it was talking about Patrick's father because he's in or was in a dangerous line of business." Angel added. "But, after I called Charlie, that's Patrick's, little brother, he told me that his father hadn't had any contact with anyone from his old business in a couple of years so that only left my father." Angel explained.
"So we were watching you guys, doing some surveillance—,"
"Oh so you're the ones who've been taking pictures of us and plastered them all over the archives?" Lily asked confused.
Patrick frowned. "What archives? We haven't been taking pictures of anyone, we just watched you the last couple of days that's all. We were finally coming to talk to your father when we saw the nanny leave; we thought she was one of you so we followed her to the playground."
"What about Alex, why didn't you get him if you followed them?"
"We must have been too late because by the time we got there the nanny was already out of it and Nicky was on the playground, we never even saw Alex, that's why we didn't get him. Once Patrick saw that the nanny was out we knew that they trying to take Nicky so we grabbed him instead." Angel explained to which, Lily nodded slowly as if lost in thought.
"That make sense I guess. But, why not tell Daddy about your daughter, if he knew she was missing too he could help."
Angel shook her head, "we can't not yet. Not until we know for sure what's going on and why my daughter was taken."
"Lily," Nicky slurred with his sleep filled voice as he groggily moved to sit up.
Lily turned when she heard her baby brother speak; she walked over to the child and helped him into a sitting position. "Nicky are you okay?"
Finally, in a sitting position Nicky looked up at his sister as he rubbed his eyes. "Can I have some water?"
"Sure, Nicky," Lily rose to get Nicky a glass of water but was beat to it by Angel who filled a glass and handed it to the boy. After Nicky finished drinking the water from the glass he passed it to Lily who placed it on the small table by her bed.
"Nicky do you remember me?" Angel asked kneeling beside the bed. The child who was a miniature version of her father shook his head. "We met earlier today in the park. I'm Angel and that's my husband, Patrick," she pointed to him standing behind him. " I'm your older sister."
Nicky was confused, he remember coming up to her in the park but he didn't remember her being his older sister. So he looked at Lily for confirmation because Lily always knew everything. "'tis true?"
"Yeah Nicky, it's true. Angel is our older sister." Lily answered as she brushed his fine blonde hair off his forehead.
"I wanna see Mommy." Nicky declared as he looked suspiciously from Lily to his new sister and her husband.
"Sure, Nicky I'll take you down to see her." Lily rose from the bed and lifted her brother into her arms then she turned to leave the room. Before she got out the doorway she turned back to her sister and brother-in-law. "I won't say anything to Daddy about well you know who but I think you should tell him.
"We will just not yet." Angel amended as she moved pass Patrick. Lily nodded and then continued on her way. As Angel started to follow her, Patrick grasp her arm pulling her back to him.
"Are you sure we should have told her about Eva? More to the point how are we going to get her back if the kidnappers took Alex by mistake?"
"Well, you told your brother about her so I told my sister. In any case, I think we can trust Lily. Something tells me that she wouldn't tell my father about Eva unless something happened. Besides, we took a chance when we rescued Nicky before the kidnappers got a chance to take him. But, I don't even think they know the difference yet. The question is what happens when the goons who took Alex find out they took the wrong child. Also, the note we got said that my father had the answers and based on what Lily just told us there is a lot more going on here than just kidnapping. We need to find out what the real deal is we want to figure out why they took Eva and when that time comes I'll tell my Dad about her. But, until then …"
"Until then, we play it straight." Patrick finished for her understanding exactly what his wife was trying to do. "Well let's get back down there to see what's going on." Releasing his hold on Angel's arm he walked alongside her as they headed in the direct path that Lily had already taken.
* * * * *
Back in the library …
Philip, Chloe, Rex, and Mimi were going over the day's events with a fine tooth comb as they relied them to Lucas over the phone. Philip had called his brother immediately to find out what if anything had happened in Salem and to inform him that Alex had been taken.
"So what you're saying is that the kidnappers got your nanny to take the boys to the playground where they could be picked up but they took the wrong child?"
"Apparently Lucas, Lissette said that she never told them about Alex so they had no way of knowing that there would be two little boys instead of one." Mimi answered. "But, she's still out of it so I don't how much of that we can take for face value.
"After they took Alex your daughter arrived and got Nicky and the nanny?" Lucas asked.
"Yeah, she and her husband got him and brought them here." Philip said.
"Man, this is going to sound horrible but it sounds like an inside job to me. Whoever took Alex thought they were taking Nicky which is a direct strike against you Philip. And the message you got tells me you've got one hell an enemy out there. Look, Shawn and I are still going through the archives down here but do you want me to come up there and help you look for Alex?"
"No, I need you and Shawn to keep checking the archives. The way I figure it whoever took Alex has some kind of vendetta they've been working on this plan for a while to implement these attacks now. That means something else is going to happen and it going to happen soon so I need to know what was on those missing files, that's got to be the key. Meanwhile, we're going to work on a viable suspect list and check them off one by one." Staring at Mimi, he vowed, "We will get Alex back."
"Okay then man, you guys keep me updated hourly." Lucas replied and then hung up.
"So who's at the top of the list Philip?" Rex asked.
"Brady Black."
"No, Philip you're wrong Brady didn't do this." Mimi denied shaking her head.
"Mommy," Nicky called as he was released from Lily's arms and ran to his mother. Chloe bend down and picked him up.
"Oh baby, are you okay?" Chloe asked as she kissed his child's forehead before stroking his soft blonde hair.
"Yeah, Mommy, I'm fine." Nicky said lying her head down on his mother's shoulder.
"Lily and I are going to take Nicky for a snack." Chloe said as she carried her son and turned her daughter out of the room not wanting them to be apart of the current conversation that was going on. And surprisingly Lily left without a word.
Angel and Patrick arrived on the scene in the library to find Mimi and Philip in the midst of a heated argument.
"Philip you just can't let it go can you?"
"I could but then Mimi I'd be lying. He's as guilty as he always has been."
"But, you don't know that Philip. He would not and could not attempt to take a child, let alone your son–,"
"And you don't know that, Meems." Philip interrupted.
"You're right, I don't. But, I know Brady and while he may be many things stupid isn't one of them. He would know the difference between my son and yours. For crying out loud, do you honestly think he wouldn't know the difference between a blonde little boy and a brunette." Mimi added vehemently as she angrily slammed her hand down on the desk.
"What's going on here?" Angel asked stepping into the room with Patrick at her side.
"It seems my esteemed cousin-in-law here believes that his nephew is responsible for Nicky's attempted kidnapping and Alex being taken by mistake." Rex explained wryly as he moved to comfort Mimi.
"And your nephew would be …?" Angel asked trying to get an idea of who would have been responsible for her daughter.
"Brady Black, he's my half-sister's son, Chloe's ex-fiancé, as well as the once golden boy of Salem up until seven years ago."
"So what happened?" Patrick asked of his father-in-law as both he and Angel to the side.
"Seven years ago after my father died I discovered that he was responsible for somebody laundering money from Titan and I had him ousted from my company and Phoenix Enterprises."
"And what this is some sort of revenge against you kicking him out of the company? Why wait seven years and why involve us?" Patrick asked unintentionally out loud. Angel froze hoping no one had caught his slip up.
"Brady's not the kind of guy do anything without a plan, he's smart and manipulative that's why it took five years before his plan was caught. He's a planner and he could have been setting this up for months, years even." Philip continued on having missed Patrick's slip of tongue.
"I don't care what you say Philip, I know Brady did not do this and I know it better than anyone." Mimi declared shrugging off Rex's calming touch to turn away from him.
"How, Mimi? Give me one good reason to how you know Brady wouldn't take Nicky? One good reason." Philip demanded on him.
Seconds went by before Mimi turned back to face Philip her green eyes brimming with defiance. "Brady would never take a child because he already has a son."
"What?" Philip said straightening into his tall form, eyes wide with his brows arched questioningly.
Mimi held her head up high. "Brady and I have a son, Alex is our son. If Brady ever wanted to see Alex all he'd have to do is ask and he knows that. He wouldn't bother going through the trouble of trying to kidnap your son because he already has one. And he would damn well know the difference between your son and his."
TBC ….
Please tell me what you think.