Chapter 20

'Oh. Where's Carly?'

'She stepped out for a while.' Marcus replied coolly, putting his phone back into his pocket. Carly had called to tell him about the suspect Roman had in custody, who, to her frustration was not the shooter.

Daniel made no reply as he moved over to Nicholas to check his vitals. Marcus watched him, wondering if he came to check on his patient or was looking for a way to corner Carly.

Daniel finally turned to him, taking off the stethoscope. This was the first time he would have a one on one with Carly's friend and he already felt awkward, if not intimidated by him. It took a lot to intimidate Daniel.

He could see why Carly liked him very much. Marcus Hunter was the walking epitome of the words 'trustworthy' and 'strength', the type any woman would be drawn to, as a friend or a lover. And from what Julie Williams told him, Hunter had been an excellent Head Surgeon during his time at Salem University Hospital, with a warm, humorous manner that endeared him to his patients. Before Carly ran into Bo, some people had assumed they would become a couple. Daniel found himself wondering if they were now.

'Marcus…' he began. 'You've probably formed a nasty opinion of me along with everyone else.'

'You think?'

Daniel sighed, but went on. 'We're all human and humans make mistakes.'

'You do realise you're talking to the wrong person about all this.'

'Well, I disagree.' Daniel said forcibly. 'You're Carly's closest friend. You can talk to her about anything. Like getting her to forgive our daughter.'

'Don't you mean your daughter, Jonas?'

'Melanie's our daughter, Marcus, like it or not.'

'Who disowned her mother.'

'Look…'

'I told Maggie this years ago and I'll say it again, I won't play advocate for Melanie. Neither of you did nothing when that girl broke Carly's heart, or what was left of it after Bo had his turn. '

'Carly caught a bad break from all sides, I won't argue with that. But it's not like Melanie wasn't a victim too. Pimped out by that piece of trash she thought was her father... at the time I met her she was just getting her life together. And imagine how I felt when Carly told me she was my daughter, all those years I could've protected her from scum like Trent... Carly kept her from me all that time and had the nerve to tell Bo about her before she ever told me.'

Marcus shook his head in disgust. 'Here we go again.'

'You're pretty much on Carly's side, aren't you?' Daniel angrily went on. 'Like she doesn't have some share of blame for that at least.'

'Carly took the blame at the time because she put herself in your shoes. Melanie's past with her so called father added to the guilt she already felt. But did you or Melanie put yourself in Carly's own shoes for one minute? Watching her baby taken away from her, powerless to stop it. Not having a clue where her little girl was for years. Tortured almost every day by Lawrence because she wouldn't name you. As for your daughter, if she really cared about what Carly went through all those years, she wouldn't have made it all about her. So don't stand there justifying that ungrateful little bitch's actions, or yours.'

'Don't you talk about my daughter like that.' Daniel snarled.

'That's right, your daughter. You're pretty much both the same- lacking empathy, throwing the woman who loved you both under the bus when she really needed you. A sweet match made in heaven.'

Lacking empathy. The words deeply stung Daniel. What that really what Carly thought of him and Melanie or just Marcus' opinion? What Carly really determined to stay angry?

The sound of footsteps made him to go the door and open it, in time to see Melanie swiftly walking away. She had heard enough of the conversation.

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'I have faith in the police but I can't help feeling there's more to what Detective Hernandez and le commissaire told us. What do you think?'

'I honestly don't know what to think or believe right now, Emma.' Carly said wearily, rubbing the back of her neck.

'Are you alright?' Emma asked anxiously.

'Yes, I'm fine. But I don't understand any of this. No gun residue, which rules out this Eddie Hill. Then who shot Nicky? Besides, Rafe knows better than to hide anything from me.'

Emma sighed, thrusting her hands deeper in the pockets of her winter coat. 'In any case, we are still on square one.'

'We sure are.' Carly muttered bleakly. Five years of relative peace... and then this.

The two women walked on in silence. Carly suddenly turned to Emma. 'Did Nicky ever mention having enemies to you? Ruthless business competitors?'

Emma shook her head. 'Not at all. He did buy out a few companies before he left Paris, but the owners came to him, not the other way round.'

'I see.'

'If you ask me, belle mere, I still think that Eddie Hill has an accomplice he is protecting. I don't care what that polygraph machine of theirs says. '

'Then Rafe and Roman will probably get the truth out of him somehow, if you're right.'

At that moment, Carly ran into the last person she wanted to lay eyes on. She and Hope Brady regarded each other in silence, Carly the first one to break eye contact. 'Come on, Emma.'

Puzzled by the hostile vibes she was sensing, Emma hastily followed her.

'Carly, wait a second.' Hope's voice can from behind them.

She was ignored.

'Carly, wait!' Hope said, following her. 'Stop, will you?'

Carly stopped, turning to face her.

'I'm sorry about your son.'

Carly turned to go.

'I'm not done.'

'I am.' Carly resumed walking. Emma hurried to keep up with her, more puzzled.

Hope planted herself firmly in Carly's path, determined to have her say.

'Get the hell out of my way, Hope Brady,' Carly said through gritted teeth.

'You and I are going to clear the air once and for all. You owe me that at least.'

'I owe you nothing.'

Hope had long decided to try to be diplomatic towards Carly if she ever ran into her, plead Bo's case and defend herself at the same time. But five years worth of bottled up anger and resentment rose to the surface. 'you've got a lot of nerve, saying that to me. Your first night back here after many years and you involved my husband with your problems before luring him into your bed. Now, you're keeping his children away from him out of spite, to punish him as well as me because you know damn well it would affect our marriage.'

'Well, you're certainly an authority when it comes to spite and keeping children away from their father aren't you?'

Hope swallowed, realising too late she shouldn't have said what she did. 'We're not talking about that.'

'No, no... you started this, we'll end it. Honestly, it shocks me that after all this time; you still believe the world revolves around you, painting yourself a victim. No rational person would do what you did to Bo that night, taking his daughter away after accusing him of endangering her life, a little girl he would bend backwards for. You're not a victim but a spoilt entitled brat in a grown woman's body.'

Forgetting herself, Hope shoved Carly violently, and got shoved in return, by an outraged Emma. 'How dare you touch her!'

'you stay out of this, before I arrest you for assaulting a police officer. And you, Carly, you had no right to come back here. Bo moved on with his life, after you chose Alamain over him. He's my husband...'

'And you felt you had the right to treat him like a broken discarded toy, until you chose otherwise. Your type of love's more about dangling it and taking it away, watching him squirm until you feel he's worthy to be your toy all over again. Something you're far too egotistical to be thankful he prefers, instead you decide to corner and attack me. By the way, if you ever put your hands on me again, I will end your career. '

Emma slipped her arms round Carly, dragging her away from a seething Hope. 'Come, let's go, Carly. She's not worth further notice.'

Hope watched the two women walk away, impotent anger cruising through her. She'd gotten the worse out of the encounter and made to feel small, all over again. And once word got out, the blame would fall on her in a heartbeat. When would this nightmare ever end?

'I don't want to talk about it, not now.' Carly shook Emma's hand off her arm.

'Of course, Carly.' Emma replied, completely bewildered by the encounter.

'Thanks.'

The French girl had a lot of questions, the most pressing one being, what did that woman mean about 'his children' and Carly keeping them from 'him'. Who was the man in question?

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Melanie refused to let Daniel comfort her, preferring to deal with Marcus' harsh assessment on her own. If she was going to prove she wasn't a spoilt, ungrateful brat- she couldn't keep allowing people to intervene for her, not even Colin who'd offered to talk to Carly. And while she still wanted Emma to be a buffer, she knew she would also have to come clean with her, which she wasn't looking forward to.

'Hey, you.' Melanie looked up, smiling faintly as Colin walked up to the nurse's station, placing a kiss on her lips.

'Hey, honey.'

'How's it going with your Mum? My offer still stands, you know.'

'And I love you for making it but it's really something I need to handle this myself.' Melanie bit her lip, again thinking over Marcus' words about her. She was a bitch, too angry and bitter about the past to see Carly's side of the story. When Carly told she killed Lawrence Alamain, she had been more upset a man was dead because of her. I didn't listen; I didn't want to listen to her. And I hurt her… over and over again.

But Marcus Hunter was wrong about the lack of empathy part. And Carly was going to see that as well.

'If you're sure,' Colin said, running his fingers through her hair.

'I am, really.'

'You want to meet up for dinner at the Brady Pub later or I get a pizza on the way home?'

'A pizza sounds great; I'm really not up to going out tonight.'

'Whatever you want, babe. '

As he spoke, Emma walked up to them and Colin's eyes widened in appreciation, shaking her hand when Melanie introduced them.

'Where were you?'

'Carly and I just came back from the police station and…'

'Oh, they finally got the shooter?' Melanie asked anxiously.

'Non. The man they have in custody is a homeless man who confessed to stealing Nicholas' Rolex but swears he didn't shoot him. He claims he did see who did it but was too far away.'

'And still robbed Nicholas? That's just messed up.' Colin said, disgusted.

'Exactly. Anyway, he will stay in custody for now.'

'What did Mum say?'

'She's as frustrated as I am. But we can't do anything but stay hopeful the real culprit will be found.'

Colin looked down at his beeper which suddenly emitted its summons. 'I'll see you ladies later. Nice to meet you, Emma.'

'Likewise.' Emma turned to Melanie. 'Tell me, who is Hope Brady?'

'Why, what happened?

Emma told her about the altercation; Melanie listened in horror and anger. 'Damn that bitch!'

'Who is she? And what did she mean Carly was keeping children away from their father? What children and why would Carly keep them from their father?'

'It's really a long story, but listen… Hope Brady's a spiteful cow who doesn't know what she's talking about.'

'What's the whole story then?'

Melanie sighed. 'On top of everything else, Mum has to deal with Hope again. I can't believe this is happening.'

'And another thing, when we got back here, Carly went right up to ICU, she didn't say a word when I told her I wanted to tell you what went on at the police station. And while we had coffee together, she didn't mention you at all.'

Melanie couldn't say anything.

'Melanie,' Emma said, her voice now icy. 'Do you mind explaining what on earth is going on?'

Resignedly, Melanie took her by the arm and led her to a seat. Head lowered, she explained the present situation to her, the French girl listening in silence.

'I can understand how hard it must have been for you finding out the truth about yourself.' Emma said at last. 'But then for you to say such a hateful thing to your mother and in front of a third party...'

'I was very angry at the time. You have no idea how terrible I've felt since then.'

'No, I do not, because clearly you didn't see the error of what you did- your abandonment-until she was attacked. Merde, I can't believe I'm hearing this all over again after Nicholas came to his senses.'

'Emma, please.' Melanie said forcibly as Emma was about to get up. 'I'm not proud of what I did, I swear. Don't turn on me too, please.' Emma's scornful expression made her wince but she went on. 'Anger makes you do a lot of stuff, it blinds you and makes you do terrible things. Nicky at least has a chance with Mum when he wakes up, but I'm still paying for the way I treated her. Mum wouldn't even speak to me when I ran into her. But I'm going to fix things, I want her to forgive me. Just… just don't think too badly of me, okay?'

Emma stared at her, still stunned by what she'd heard, the green eyes so like Carly's looking at her beseechingly. 'Let's leave that aside for now, Melanie. Now, tell me Carly's relationship with this Hope Brady.'