From Light

Chapter 1

Secrets and lies destroy lives. One lie leads to another and another until the story is too far out of control for anyone to know what the truth is anymore. And for one person to live in truth, lives will be ruined and Port Charles will suffer the consequences. The new generation of the Cassadine family wants their families kept safe from the secrets of the past and they will do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals.

Alexis walked out of Kristina's room and answered the front door to Jax. He smiled at her and walked inside. She was glad he was able to come. She needed to find Ric and try to talk to him before he left Port Charles. She wanted to just talk everything over with him and she hoped they could come to some sort of arrangement.

"Thank you, Jax," she said.

"All you need to do is ask," Jax answered, shrugging out of his suit jacket and laying it across the back of a chair. She closed the door behind him. "Do you think he'll listen?"

No, Alexis answered in her mind, but to Jax she was more optimistic. "I hope so."

They were in the kitchen now. "You look like you need a break," he told her. "Have you thought about slowing down for a few days?"

"I can't afford to."

"I don't think you can afford not to, Alexis. You look exhausted."

"Looks are worse than the truth," she answered, but she knew he was right. The problems with Sonny and Ric were making it hard for her to do anything else. She knew Sonny would get a court order for Kristina and try to take her away again and if Ric was gone, Alexis could prove to be providing Kristina with an unfit home. Like Sonny could provide any type of fit home. She sighed.

"Has Corinthos been by yet?"

"He was here earlier and made a few threats. He wasn't here long, though, and Kristina was already asleep."

Jax shook his head. "He needs to leave you and Kristina alone."

"He won't. She's his daughter. He's possessive."

"And a criminal," Jax muttered. Alexis smiled. She turned to get her keys and purse when she heard the door open. Hoping it was Ric, she and Jax left the kitchen. It wasn't Ric, instead it was a young woman with light brown hair and piercing, serious blue eyes and in her arms was a small girl who had to be her daughter. She walked into the apartment and closed the door. Alexis couldn't break out of her shock over seeing the young woman, but Jax didn't miss anything.

"Who are you?"

The woman glanced at him, but didn't say a word. She laid her sleeping daughter on the couch and pulled a cell phone out of her shoulder bag. Jax grabbed her arm.

"You just walked in here with no explanation. You will explain, now. Who are you?"

She didn't say a word, but looked at Alexis who felt like her heart was being ripped out. "Jax, please, leave her be. I know who she is."

The woman nodded curtly and pulled free from Jax before dialing a number into her phone. Alexis watched her, unsure of what was going on. She didn't feel she had the right to ask.

"I need to speak to Mac Scorpio," the woman said into the phone. "Tell him it's Kylie." There was a pause and Kylie looked back at Alexis. Alexis had always been good at reading people, but she had never been able to read Kylie. She didn't think anyone could. "Mac," Kylie continued, "we need to meet. Be that as it may, there is a situation. I'll be there in one hour." She took the cell phone away from her ear and hung up.

"Alexis, who is this?" Jax asked.

Kylie looked at him and Alexis could see the small, cold smile cross her lips. "I'm Kylie Cassadine," she answered. "I think Alexis can tell you the rest."

Alexis licked her lips. "Why are you here?"

"Running from Stavros and Faison."

"They're dead."

"Likely story," Kylie answered. "But untrue. I saw them in Greece and spent two days outmaneuvering Faison's assassins. I got back to Boston to get Andi and received word from Frisco that Robin is gone and her apartment was ransacked. A message was found, addressed to me. It was a single word; Endgame."

Alexis took a deep breath. Kylie wouldn't lie to her. Stavros alive, though? It wasn't possible. Luke killed him. But Luke had supposedly killed him before. Helena would do anything to keep her precious son alive. "You're sure it was Stavros?"

"Positive. I haven't a clue why they're together because Faison was nearly killed the last time he did business with a Cassadine." Kylie leaned against the wall. "Frisco is investigating in Paris and then he's going to London to tell Anna. I drew the task of telling Mac."

"He'll think you're responsible."

"Of course. It will only make him hate me more than he already does, if that is possible."

"What is going on?" Jax demanded. He stepped between them and looked at both of them in turn. Alexis looked to Kylie who shrugged.

"Jax, you might want to sit down," Alexis said. Jax looked at her.

Kylie stepped between them. "I have to go meet Mac. Can Andi stay here for the night? I don't know how long this will take."

"Do you want me to wait up for you?"

Kylie grinned. "I don't need you to open the door." She picked her shoulder bag up from the floor and left. Alexis faced Jax.

"I'll go put Andi in Kristina's room and then we'll talk."

Mac Scorpio paced the length of his living room. He hadn't heard from or seen Kylie since he'd met her at Robin's apartment in Paris. He hadn't liked her then and nothing had changed in the two years since. Robin had kept him up to date on what she was doing, but he really didn't care. Kylie was the only sore subject between him and Robin. He felt he knew enough about her to make the judgment. She was a freelance agent with the World Security Bureau, half-Cassadine, raised by the Cassadines, and at war with most of the Cassadine family. She had put Robin in danger countless times because of some feud or another.

But there was something else. He could tell himself he hated her every minute of the day, but one solitary fact that he couldn't even prove made everything seem surreal. If it was true, he had no right to hate Kylie for anything. He certainly couldn't hate her any more if it was false.

He saw headlights through the curtain. A few minutes later, Kylie knocked on the door. He opened it and let her in. Neither bothered with courtesies. Kylie sat down in a chair and put her bag on the floor. Mac sat across from her.

"Why are you here?" he asked. Then he sighed. "You look like hell."

"You try spending two days running from two of the world's best assassins."

"Why were they after you?"

She shrugged. "I saw something their boss didn't want anyone to see. He saw me."

"So what does that have to do with Port Charles?"

"Nothing, I hope. We're trying to keep everything in Europe, but I have a feeling it will come here, but that's not the reason we needed to talk. After I killed the two assassins, I left Athens for Boston to get Andi. During the flight I received a call from Frisco. He'd placed a security detail on Robin three months ago for reasons he wouldn't tell me. The detail didn't check in and he went to investigate and found them dead. He checked Robin's apartment. Someone had broken in and there was a struggle. We found her gun on the floor, she'd gotten off three shots at whoever it was." Kylie took a breath. "We don't know where she is, Mac. Someone took her, but they knew enough because all her Protocol was gone too."

"So this is about you, again, isn't it?"

Kylie sighed and put her head in her hands. It wasn't about her this time, at least not all of it. Faison had been Robert's enemy. She had only been fighting him for seven years. She knew Mac would never understand that.

"Is there anything else?"

"Stavros Cassadine is alive," she answered. "He was one of the people I saw in Athens. Faison was the other. They were together. I don't know what for or how long they've been working together, but it's a safe guess that Faison is behind Robin's kidnapping."

Mac paled. "Why, though?"

Kylie didn't say anything. Mac didn't know that about her history yet and she didn't want any special feelings or words from him because of it.

"Kymberly?"

Both Kylie and Mac looked up. Felicia was walking down the stairs and she was smiling. Kylie stood up and met Felicia halfway across the room. The older woman enveloped her in a hug for several seconds and then held her at arms length to look at her.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again," Felicia said. "What are you doing here?" Felicia looked at Mac. "Does he know?"

Kylie pulled away and glanced at him. "Yes, but he doesn't believe it. He tries to hide it, but he's not that good."

"You're just too hard on people, Kylie. Why are you here, though? I would've thought you'd been here months ago to help Nikolas."

"I tried, but I was swamped in Africa."

"What about Andi?"

"She's been staying with Sean and Tiffany. I left her with Alexis before I came here."

"How do you two know each other?" Mac asked, looking between the two of them.

Felicia looked at Kylie. "Robert named me Kylie's godmother, Mac. After she left the Cassadines, she contacted me and we've kept in touch." Felicia turned to Kylie. "Does Luke know you're here?"

"Not yet. He was going to be my next visit."

"So that means," Mac began, "that you really are Robert's daughter?"

"Yes," Kylie and Felicia answered at the same time. Then they laughed.

"What's so important to come here?" Felicia asked, guiding Kylie to the sofa. Mac hadn't moved. He sat in the same chair, processing the information. Kylie briefly told Felicia what was going on. Felicia listened and didn't ask any questions until after her goddaughter's narrative.

"You need to get Andi protected, fast. If what Sean thinks about the WSB is true, we can't trust them."

"I know. I've been thinking about all this since the flight from Greece. Sean will be here tomorrow. Frisco in a day or two. I think Andi will be safe enough with Alexis. Sonny Corinthos has six guards in and around her building for Kristina."

"What are you talking about?" Mac asked.

Kylie looked at him and sighed. She was spared from answering when her cell phone rang. She grabbed her bag and dug through it before she found her phone and answered. "Yeah."

"Kylie," the caller answered. She swallowed. Why was he calling her? She stood up, excused herself and went outside.

"What do you want?"

"What is going on? I heard reports that something had happened in Paris."

"If you want to know, than maybe you should quit hiding like a bloody coward and come help us." She ended the call and stayed outside for a few seconds to calm herself down. Once she was sure she could face Mac and Felicia again, she walked back into the house. They were talking and stopped when she entered.

"What was that about?" Mac asked. His tone was different, no longer cold.

"A family matter," Kylie answered. She picked her bag up from the floor and stuffed her phone inside. She made a mental list of the people she still needed to talk to; Luke, Nikolas, Helena. She knew Helena would know something about Stavros' activities. It would just be a matter of forcing Helena to tell the truth. Kylie knew how to do that with trickery.

"What are you going to do now?" Mac asked.

"Get some sleep," Kylie answered. "There's not much else that can be done until I talk to Helena. She knows Stavros better than anyone else."

"You can't expect her to tell you anything," Felicia said.

"She will. I know and understand her."

"Are you awake enough to make it to Alexis' apartment?"

"I'll be fine," Kylie answered. She strung her bag over her shoulder. "I'll be by tomorrow. Hopefully we'll have something to work on by then otherwise we'll have to wait."

Mac stood up and walked her to the door. He tried to touch her arm, but she pulled away. He stood outside the door as she walked to her car. Kylie was halfway to the street when a dark colored car sped away from the corner and someone started shooting. Kylie and Mac both dropped to the ground. Mac pulled out his gun to return fire but the car was already gone. He ran out to where Kylie had fallen.

Emily knocked on the door to Nikolas' hotel suite. She hoped he was there and that he would talk to her. She needed him to understand how he had helped her. The door opened and a man she'd never seen before pulled her inside. Nikolas was on the other side of the room, talking on the phone. He glanced at her and a few seconds later he hung up the phone.

"Everything is moving according to schedule," Nikolas told the man. "I'll get Andi in the morning before word gets out."

The man put a briefcase on the desk. "The papers are in here." He glanced at Emily. "Don't be like your family," he told Nikolas, "tell her everything now. I remember Alexis well enough to know she'll fight you on this."

"If Kylie wants her involved, Kylie will tell her what is going on. Until my cousin says otherwise, Alexis will know nothing of what is going on."

"I'd say you're playing with fire, Prince," the man said. "There's 2 million dollars in Kylie's Parisian account. Take out one hundred a day and stay out of sight."

"I know, Jones. Ky and I have gone over this for three days. While her plan is not flawless, if everyone keeps to the ruse, Andi will be safe."

"Just make sure Andi remains your primary concern. Kylie will kill you if anything happens to her daughter."

"I know her just as well as you do. Keep up your part of the plan."

The man grinned. "Oh, yes. Dealing with Mac is always a joy. Later, Prince," he said with a nod. He turned to Emily, "Princess." He left the room and Emily turned to Nikolas.

"What is going on?" she asked him. "Who was that?"

Nikolas sighed. "You shouldn't be here, Emily."

"I wanted to talk to you."

"I suppose now is a good time. Are you okay, Emily?"

"I'm fine, Nikolas. That's why I've been trying to find you. The therapy session the other day, it helped me. Elizabeth said it upset you. I didn't want that to happen."

"I know, Emily," he said, crossing the room to her. "I don't know if I should even ask this of you…but I need your help."