Lani Price sat in the darkened room swirling two fingers of expensive bourbon in a glass gazing up at the picture of Stefano DiMera. Both-the bourbon and reflecting on the painting-were habits that she picked up in the months she spent working for the DiMeras.

How many months had it been? Lani wondered and braced herself as the liquid burned going down her throat and into her belly. Lani immediately tried to stop herself from thinking about the past. David and David Abraham...and Eli all flashed through her mind anyway. She took another sip and stood, wandering to the window. She'd do another sweep of the grounds, then her team would set all of the alarms, check the camera's and call it a night.

Lani continued to gaze out of the window as ominous clouds took over the once blue sky. Her whole entire life was completely different than it was just a year ago. A year ago, she was in love with Eli Grant and working for the Salem PD. That is until she met baby David and her whole world just spiraled out of control. Now she just felt empty. Going back to Eli and the force was out of the question, so when Kristen approached her about a job, she could not think of one reason to turn it down.

Compared to serving and protecting all of Salem, protecting the DiMera mansion was a piece of cake. And so what if Kristen asked her to do a few questionable things. Lani had been a cop for years and learned a trick or two about how to break the law and not get caught.

"Come on, admit it, it feels good to be bad doesn't it?" Kristen inquired one day a few weeks ago after Lani obtained Victor Kiriaki's medical records from the hospital and delivered them to Kristen. Kristen planned on doctoring the information to say that Victor had early onset of Alzheimers. Then she was going to secretly leak the information to the rest of the Titan board. Victor would be voted out as chairman and forced to retire within a week.

Lani casually shrugged one shoulder. "Good...bad..It's all subjective isn't it?"

"You could say that," Kristen rose fluidly from the chair she usually occupied and walked to the bar pouring two drinks. "This file and what I plan to do with it are good for me, but they're going to wreak havoc over there at Titan. And the beauty of it is that our hands-yours and mine-wil remain completely clean. How will anyone on the Titan board explain how they obtained this information without potentially incriminating themselves?" She bought Lani's drink over to her as she stood in the living room. "Victor will be out on his old carcass giving DiMera Enterprises the first true advantage over Titan in years, thanks to you."

The feud between Titan and Dimera Enterprises did not interest Lani in the least. Kristen asked her to obtain the file from the hospital, and she knew she could easily get her hands on it and return it without anyone being the wiser. Of course Lani knew about HIPPA laws, but hadn't Valerie broken the law going through her medical records when she was pregnant with David Abraham? Just as she told Kristen: Good..bad...it's all subjective.

After making one last tour of the house and grounds, Lani gave overnight instructions to her skeleton night crew and thought about about going to bed early. Only she wasn't tired. She was actually hungry. When the cook served dinner earlier in the evening she was out interviewing a private security firm for a special event Kristen was planning. They'd need to at least double the team for the event. Since she missed dinnertime at the mansion, Lani thought about going to Doug's Place and the pub. She vetoed both as she did not want to take the chance of running into Eli and Gabi. Lani decided to just make a sandwich in the huge state of the art DiMera kitchen.

Lani had two sandwiches on a plate in one hand and fruit in the other when she was about to ascend the mansion staircase. Lightning lit up the sky and the lights flickered. Loud rolling thunder followed. Aside from the maid and the cook, she was in the house alone. Kristen was away on business. Not one to be easily spooked, but cautious, Lani went to make sure the tunnels were secure and that no one could get in or out.

Once in her suite Lani stripped naked and put on a white terry cloth robe before running a hot bath. She thought of Eli then and how he always teased her about her taking so long in the tub, meanwhile he was in and out of the shower in twenty minutes. Lani forced thoughts of Eli out of her mind for the second time that afternoon and probably the hundredth time that week. He was probably far happier with Gabi. After the loss of David and David Abraham, Lani just did not feel that she had any love left to give.

When the tips of her fingers began to resemble prunes, Lani emerged from the rose scented water and took her time drying off and applying a good but lighted scented moisturizer all over her skin. When she was moisturized from head to toe, she wrapped herself in a towel and went back into her bedroom to put on a nightgown.

The storm continued to rage as she stepped into the bedroom. A deluge of water ran down the windows and Lani was glad she decided not to venture out. Still wrapped in a towel, she walked over to the bureau and opened the top drawer. A small sound coming from the living room part of the suit caught her attention.

Someone was there.