Chapter 56
It had been a gruelling four days. Alex had been through so much trying to break through the walls Peter had planted in her mind. The thing they had uncovered by the second afternoon that had shocked them all. Peter had convinced Alex that she needed to give him full access to the money in the account. While also letting her believe it wasn't safe for either of them to touch that money.
If she was right the money that had been in that account for so long would most likely be all but gone. She was certain that Peter had made her give him access. Alex had told them that it was about a year after the first experiment that Anna was taken and the memories about Peter had been planted. That time Alex just invited Anna over. She stayed with Alex for a week-long visit, but in the evening Cabot was planting memories. Peter planted a suggestion that Anna had been sick most of the visit so she never questioned why she had spent so much time in her room. Andre confirmed that, yes, Dr. Cabot had notes about a second experiment on patents one and two. Anna had been shocked to hear that.
It also came out that Peter had been behind Alex leaving Demitri. Andre had found that planted suggestion earlier today, Alex had never wanted to leave him. She had even broken down crying while still under. Andre knew she needed to find out why it was so painful for her to talk about Demitri. They found out Peter had manipulated her into believing that Demitri would be better off without her in his life. That he was in danger simply by being with her. Alex had left him because the threat from Faison was too great. That was what had been planted in her mind. Alex only left Demitri to protect him, at least that was what she had believed, thanks to Peter.
Andre brought her around after she'd had that revelation. Alex looked around for Anna, there were still tears in her eyes when she saw her. Anna had already been moving to stand beside her sister. As Alex sat up Anna sat down beside her, she held Alex as she cried freely. "I love him so much, Anna. I only wanted to be with him, he's my everything and I pushed him away. I left him, I walked away from the man I love. Peter did that. He took Dimitri away from me."
Anna held her even as she started talking. "There's no way to explain that kind of pain."
Robert touched Alex's shoulder, "Not unless you've had to make that choice."
Alex sat back, looking at both Anna and Robert. They understood the choice she thought she had made, another Faison had done that to them. "Hendrick is definitely his father's son. I may be his mother but I don't think I know him at all."
"He's been hiding a lot from you and what you did know he manipulated."
Suddenly Alex put her hand to her mouth, her other hand on Anna's, "Oh god Anna! I told him he would be better off with Erica." A look of horror on her face.
Anna was shocked to hear that. "You didn't?" Anna knew who she meant and knew Alex would never have told Demitri that if she was in her right mind.
"I think I did," Alex said with a worried nod. "I need to get my man back." Then Alex sighed, as she realized that was not going to happen. "With me in here," she paused as a tear ran down her cheek. "I guess he is better off without me."
Anna looked over at Robert, he nodded then turned to Alex and said, "I have been reporting about some of the things you have told us. I am only doing that because there is an ongoing investigation into Peter August."
"Call him Henrick Faison, that's who he is," Alex said with bitterness in her voice.
Robert nodded before continuing, "Faison junior is being investigated so I have passed on information you have brought to light. We are going to find out exactly what he's been up to. The more we know about what he was doing to you the better idea we have about what should be looked into a little closer. We want to make sure he pays for his crimes, all of them. When Andre is done with everything he needs to do, to help you. I would like to sit down and talk with you about what you now know." He touched her shoulder, "I like to make sure the right people are sitting in places like this."
Alex let out a deep breath, could there be a chance that she might get out of this place, that she might not spend the rest of her life here? "I want to make sure he pays for everything he's done. If he did this to me what would he do to someone he doesn't claim to care about?" Alex paused as she thought about her own words. "Will you be able to find out what all he's done?" She hated thinking that her son had done the same kind of things his father had. What was he capable of? "Do you think he's hurt other people?"
"We don't know yet," Anna told her, then looked up at Robert before adding, "We believe there have been other people he has used like he used you. What else has he done? It's too early to say." Anna squeezed her hand. "We will get you the answers you need now."
"Thank you, Anna. Thank you for helping me when you really didn't have to."
"You're my sister."
"But I was raised by a monster as well, Charlotte and Faison are cut from the same cloth."
"You could have followed in her footsteps but you pick a life that you wanted. You wanted to be free of her but that wasn't what Henrick wanted," Robert said. "I think there are other motivating factors in Henrick's case and once we know what those were Anna will pass that on to you."
"Thank you, Robert. If we're done for the day can I go back to my cell? I'm feeling a little tired."
"Yeah, that's enough for today," Andre said. "I think we've found everything. I wanted to save Dimitri for last because I knew this was going to be the hardest one to breakthrough. You did incredible through all of this. If you feel there is still more you want to talk to me about then I'm here for you."
Alex nodded, "Alright." Slowly she got up then hugged Anna tightly, she even got a hug from Robert. Then she knocked on the door and waited for the door to open and the guard to lead her away.
Once she was out of the room Andre turned to Robert and Anna, who was now standing beside him. "That would have been rough on anyone but Alex did amazing. I really do believe I found all of what Peter had done to her."
"She'll remember these things now, correct?" Anna asked.
"Yes, and I believe in the next few days she will continue to remember more of what he wanted her to repress."
"Alright, let's get out of here. We can talk more at the hotel if we need to," Robert said, putting his hand on Anna's back.
…
Sitting at his desk at work, phone in hand, Finn couldn't believe what Anna was telling him. Robert wanted to warn the people Peter associated with that he could be dangerous and can't be trusted. Anna had insisted on calling Finn herself. "No Finn, I'm serious. Peter was behind that. He has been manipulating Alex into doing what he needed of her for years."
"Why would she do that? Why help him?"
"He knows you can't make someone do something they feel is morally wrong, no matter how strong the suggestion is but a mother protecting their child, they'll do almost anything. That was how he was able to bend her to his will."
"How long has this been going on?" Finn had his hand to his head. He still couldn't believe what she was telling him.
"I think around ten years," Anna told him, still not fully able to believe that herself.
"So how can you be sure there was only the one suggestion planted in my head?" Finn asked, suddenly feeling a little worried.
"Alex says it was just the one about Peter being my son but she did say she never wanted him to put anything about Robin not being mine in your head. So since she believes he may have, I guess you're right, we can't be sure what all he put in your head."
"That wasn't really what I wanted to hear, Anna."
"No, probably not but I'm not going to keep things from you about this. Henrick Faison is a very dangerous man, just like his father."
That was the first time Finn had heard Anna call Peter, Henrick. That seems strange but he felt it had the effect she had wanted, he might want people to believe he's just a businessman that only wants his rag to do well but that was not true at all. Peter August, well Hendrick Faison is a very dangerous man. Finally, he said, "Thank you for calling and telling me this. When are you going to be back in Port Charles? I would like to talk to you about this a little more."
Anna knew this was a lot for him to hear. "We still have some work to finish here but not more than a week. I will call you when we get back. I'm sure you'll have more questions by then as well."
"Yeah," he paused thinking about what all she had told him. "I think I will too."
"Bye Finn." With that, she ended the call and looked over at Robert. "Did you talk to your brother?"
"Yeah, and he is going to talk to the people that need to know now."
"Good, I don't think he's dangerous. I mean he is but at the moment he thinks he has everyone fooled. As long as it stays that way we should be okay."
"As long as he keeps believing that then we have time to investigate him thoroughly."
"How did I get so lucky? I have a man in my life that doesn't mind doing all this extra work to help my sister."
Robert put his arms around her, "Well let's see. I am working with my favourite partner, I am being paid to be on an extended vacation with the woman I am madly in love with. There is a very interesting mystery unravelling for us and when this is all over I get to go home with you. I will finish moving in. We will go see our family. It's a win-win for both of us."
Anna leaned back in his arms smiling up at him, "I am looking forward to having you around all the time."
"I already am."
Anna smiled at him, "Yes, but soon it will be official."
"Did you just ask me to marry you?" Robert asked with a grin.
"Honey, you would know if I proposed to you. I would make sure you remember it forever." She ran her fingers through his hair. "Like I remember you being excited and nervous and stumbling over your words some. Down on your knees, in just a towel. Even though it was a dump of a motel I remember every detail of that night," she told him with a big smile.
"I knew I wanted to marry you and I didn't want to wait to ask you. I had to do it that night."
"I remember how we celebrated that night." Anna looked over at the bed. "I think we should reenact that night." Grinning, she took his hand then kissing passionately as they fell onto the bed.
…
It was two days later when Alex once again met Robert and Anna in the interrogation room. "I liked the other room better," she said as she took a seat.
"Yeah, sorry about this but like we discussed the other day, I want this conversation recorded. That's why we're back in here," Robert explained.
"You could have requested more comfortable chairs," she said with a grin. Now that she knew what Peter had been doing to her and that clutter was no longer in her mind Alex felt like herself again. Probably for the first time in years.
"Let's hope that before long we can visit on the other side of all these locked doors," Anna said, as she took a seat beside her sister. Today Anna was there as a sister, there for support. Robert was the agent here to ask questions.
Now they needed to get to work. Over the next four hours, Robert asked Alex about what she could now remember about what Peter had been doing to her. The WSB had already started to look into this and it was still early in the investigation but it seems Hendrick Faison has been a very busy, very bad, man.
Alex didn't really have a lot of information about what all Peter had been doing. Andre had told them that several of the suggestions he had found were to keep Alex from asking questions about what exactly Peter was doing. The one thing that had become clear was that Peter had wanted people to believe Anna was his mother. He was fine with hating her. If somehow the person whose account he had cleaned out ever found out it would be Anna that faced their rath, not Alex. Robert didn't fully believe that. After all this time, would anyone still be looking? He got the feeling Peter just wanted Anna to be the one that would be in danger regardless of what the reason was. Hell, maybe it was just to mess with her life.
Alex exhaled and sat back in her chair when Robert was finally out of questions. Even though she had now known some of these things for almost a week, hearing it as she told Robert she could believe the things she had done to help Peter. The things she had done to protect him. "What happens now?"
"Now we wait for the evidence to start coming in. It's out there and the WSB will find it," Robert assured her.
"Yeah, but I was actually talking about myself. What happens now, to me?"
Anna turned to her, "We aren't the ones that make those kinds of decisions, but we have been informed your case is under review."
"So now I just have to sit here and wait. Am I going to spend the rest of my life in here because of him?" There was a bitterness in her voice. She looked up at Anna, "I may have given birth to him but I really don't think I know him. I don't think I ever did. I shouldn't feel this way about my child but I want that man punished to the fullest extent of the law. If I'm going to waste away in here because of his crime then he better be paying for them as well!"
"Oh, he will pay for what he's done," Robert said. Anna and Alex both looked over at him and saw the determination on his face. Robert got up and walked over to the door. It opened and Frisco Jones stuck his head into the room. "You made it."
"Yeah, I want a quick word." He looked past Robert, "Hey Anna, how's it going?"
"Good," she said with a smile then she turned to Alex as Robert left the room. "The fact the director of the WSB sat in on this interview is a very good sign. Faison has messed with him and his family as well. His daughter is also one of the people Henrich befriended in Port Charles. No one is taking any of this lightly."
"Peter isn't his father."
"No he isn't, he is the man that set in motion the events that lead to his father's death. He plotted to draw his father out of hiding just to set him up to be killed. He would have been fine if in all of that it had come out I was his mother and was also targeted. You know that's true, it's in your head."
"I know." Alex put her head in her hands and Anna put her hand on her back. "I hate that I am stuck in here. I hate that I lost the man I love. I hate what he did to you. All of this is in my head and there is nothing I can do about it." Alex got up and started pacing. "I want to be able to fix it, or at least try."
A few minutes later the door opened again, Robert and Frisco walked in. "Alex, I'd like to introduce an old family friend, Frisco Jones. Frisco, this is Anna's twin sister Alexandra Devane."
He reached out and shook her hand. "Hi, it's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you as well." The look on her face told them all that she was confused about what was going on.
"I want to start by telling you that your case is under review and from what has come to light here over the last week I feel confident in telling you that after a review board has had time to look at this that you will at least have a shortened sentence but you may also be exonerated."
"Exonerated?"
"Yes, I am not saying that is going to happen but there is a chance. Thank you for all your help with this matter."
Alex looked over at Anna then they hugged each other. "When will a review board meet?"
"I don't know that off the top of my head," Frisco told her. "I should be going though, I flow in to handle this personally and I want to hit the ground running."
Alex looked at Robert, "Does that mean you have to get to work now as well?"
"No, now that I have presented this to WSB I am no longer a part of the investigation. As I am too close to the situation."
"In other words since he's your brother-in-law it would be a conflict of interest," Anna said with a smile.
"Now we're married? See I knew you must have proposed the other day but when was the wedding?"
Anna and Alex both started laughing. "I would like to wait to see if my sister can be there this time."
"Alright," Robert said with a little grin. He looked over at her, yeah, they're just kidding around but he already knew that he would be marrying her again.
"We should go, I want to get back to Port Charles. Now that we know what he's capable of, I want to be close by to keep an eye on Peter."
"We don't know how long it will take for them to build a case against him so we don't want to tip him off either," Robert added.
"Alright, I will wait here and see what happens whenever the review board meets." Alex gave them both another hug then smiled at Frisco. The other door opened and she was led back to her cell.
Anna took Robert's hand then they followed Frisco through the door. "I will keep you posted on what's going on with the investigation but I agree. You two should be back in Port Charles. That man has positioned himself in my daughter and grandson's lives. I don't want anything happening to the people we love because of another Faison."
"So our assignment is to go home?" Robert asked with a smirk.
"Yeah. Go home, move in with this amazing woman. Go about your lives and keep an eye on what Peter August is up to."
"Alright, we can do that," Anna said, then they all left. Anna was glad to be heading home and she wanted to see Robin and her family so she was going to invite them for a visit. She wanted her family close for a little while. This was far from done and she knew that so it will be nice having a little time with them.