There were moments of silence after the proposal while the three of them let the words sink in. Victoria's thoughts were racing in her mind while she tried to make sense of the unexpected turn of events. If she was honest, she had imagined that the Initiative would just get rid of them so that they couldn't interfere with their plans anymore, but instead they offered them that deal. When she looked over to Nolan, she saw how he seemed to stare in the empty space probably also processing the information and weighing the opportunities.
"What's in it for me, if I agree to help you?" Edith Lee was the first one to raise her voice challenging the grey-haired woman.
"Ah, I see. You're quite the opportunist." The older woman straightened her beck and adjusted her grey blazer. "Of course we would be willing to pay you twice as much as Conrad Grayson is paying you. And if you prove yourself useful, it's likely that we'll find a more permanent position for you in our organization."
"If that's the case… count me in." Edith answered without hesitation in a confident tone.
"Me too." Nolan had raised his head and joined Edith's answer. What he wanted was to free David and to see justice prevail and this woman offered a way to achieve that, so the only right thing to do was to agree to her terms.
"Perfect!" The woman balled her fists in triumph. "I knew you'd make the right decision." After a slight movement of her hand the two guards let Edith and Nolan drop to the ground so that they could sit down in a more comfortable position. At some point Nolan had felt like he was about to faint because of the pain in his knees. So when he could finally sit on his behind again, he breathed in relief relaxing his strained muscles.
"Nolan, what are you doing?" Victoria was shocked that Nolan simply gave in to the threat. "Just for a second think about whom you're making this deal with."
"Exploring the moral high ground now, Victoria, aren't you?" The woman rolled her eyes at Victoria's comment.
"Nolan, please, they're terrorists. They brought down that plane and killed hundreds of people. They are the reason why we and David are in this situation in the first place." Victoria tried reaching Nolan's conscience although she knew that they were trapped in a dilemma. She noticed how physically hurt he was and really felt for him, but she needed him to understand that a cooperation with the Initiative was not a solution to their problems.
"What is wrong with you, Victoria?" Nolan suddenly became angry lacking understanding for Victoria's line of thought. "Didn't you hear what she said? David is going to be a free man again. The world will learn the truth. It's what we've been working for this whole time."
"I know, Nolan. And I want nothing more than to save David. But not like this. Not on their conditions." Victoria shook her head and faced Nolan trying to make him get her point. "You have no idea what these people could get you into. Just think of what they have already done. They cannot be trusted. You wouldn't want to be in debt to a terrorist organization, would you?"
A slight flicker of doubt passed Nolan's features, but before he could open his mouth, the grey-haired woman had rushed over to Victoria and violently grabbed her face with one hand forcing her to look her straight into the eyes.
"You little hypocrite." She held her face only inches from hers and put pressure on Victoria's jaws. "Your whole life you've been doing whatever it took to get exactly what you wanted. Why the sudden ethical concerns? They didn't seem to bother you when stealing husbands, faking pregnancies or abandoning an innocent child."
Victoria's felt the woman's fingers pressing onto her flesh hurting the area around her jaws so that she couldn't even open her mouth to respond. She wasn't even suprised that she seemed to know those intimate details of her past.
"Speaking of which." The woman cruelly smiled at Victoria and suddenly moved her hand to make her face turn to the right. "Helen." She ordered in a demanding tone and a young woman with light brown hair, which was up in a ponytail, entered. But it was not only her. She was followed by two guards again. One of them held a baseball bat in his hands and the other pushed a stumbling Patrick Osbourne in handcuffs into the middle of the room. He was arching his body in pain and it seemed like he had been beaten in the stomach. His long hair was now almost completely lose and he kept his head lowered probably awaiting more torture.
"Patrick." Victoria mumbled through the grip of the leader's hand. She couldn't quite decide if she was relieved that he was still alive or if she was scared to death of what might follow in that moment.
"Your precious firstborn son." The woman let go of Victoria's face, but left a scratch with her thumb's nail on her cheek. The younger woman who had entered previously now stood beside Patrick and his guards with a gun in her hand. Surprised by the sudden revelation of Patrick's identity, Nolan and Edith looked over to Victoria for confirmation of the information. The look of concern in Victoria's eyes was enough proof for them to be sure that Patrick really was her unknown son.
"Look your mother in the face when she's talking to you." Aggressively the Initiative's leader pushed her knee into Patrick's stomach causing him to wince in pain.
"Leave him alone!" Victoria cried out when she witnessed how her son was beaten up. In a futile attempt she tried to wriggle her hands free again out of desperation at her inability to help her son. Slowly Patrick raised his head and grimly met his mother's shocked gaze.
"That's better." Dismissively the Initiative's leader patted the young man's head.
"He's got nothing to do with all of this, so let him go." Victoria almost went mad in her tied up position feeling extremely helpless.
"Sorry, Victoria. You brought him in, so thanks to you he now is indeed part of all of this." Haughtily she looked down on the brunette. "We thought that maybe he might help you to make the right decision concerning the deal."
"Don't you dare…" Before Victoria could finish her sentence, the younger woman Helen stepped to the side and brutally smashed her gun against Patrick's skull with a trained move. For a moment, his eyes went numb, but he remained conscious.
"You see, Helen, could do worse things with that gun in her hand." The grey-haired woman teased when she noticed the brunette's torn face. Now blood was dripping out of Patrick's mouth and he spat it to the ground, but the empty expression remained on his face. "Don't make a mess, you bastard!" The woman screamed in a shrill tone and slapped Patrick once more. In that moment Victoria realized that maybe she really was a psychopath or something.
"Stop hurting him!" Victoria shouted back at her and when she turned around and faced her. Her crazy eyes definitely looked like she had lost it.
"Not before you change your mind about our deal." The leader now slowly approached Victoria. "You either agree to cooperate with us or he's gone." With a swift move Helen placed the barrel of the gun to Patrick's temple who had already closed his eyes in defeat.
"No." It was the only thing Victoria could utter at the sight right in front of her. Helen only waited for her boss's approval to pull the trigger.
"And of course, Victoria, he's just your bastard child. Someone to dispose of as soon as a better opportunity comes along. I know you don't really care about him. I mean you haven't done that for the last 20 years. So it wouldn't even matter to you whether he's dead or not." From the inside of her blazer she pulled a pile of photos. "But I do know someone you might actually care about."
It was impossible for Victoria to protest against the grey-haired woman's despicable words and tell her that she couldn't be more wrong when she recognized Daniel in the photo that was held up in front of her face.
"That's your boy, right? Your privileged spawn, the apple of your eye." The older woman smirked when she noticed how Victoria's eyes began to widen in panic. "He seems to have so much fun on that trip with his grandparents. Maybe we have to pay him a visit again like we already did at your home, do you remember?"
Quickly Victoria scanned the photo. It showed Daniel strolling through the children's department at a shopping mall. The other photos the woman revealed showed the boy in different situations with his grandparents in New York City: how they cheered at Daniel while he was ice-skating, how they bought him a hot dog and even how they entered the lobby of the hotel. A cold shiver ran down Victoria's spine when she thought of her son's constant observation.
"You see, we like to keep an eye on him. We're always there watching him. And if his mother decides to make a stupid decision, we could easily make little Danny pay for it." With a creepy smile on her lips the woman caressed Daniel's cheek in one of the photos.
"No, you can't." Victoria could finally answer after she had swallowed the lump in her throat. "He's just a child. Please, don't hurt him. I… I…" When tears began to well in her eyes, Victoria started stammering. She couldn't handle the emotional pressure put upon her in that moment.
"So I was right. A death threat on your baby boy makes you crack while it leaves you unaffected when it comes to your bastard son."
"That's not true!" Victoria defended herself against the vile accusations.
"Poor, Patty." The leader turned to Patrick and gave him a look full of pity. The young man didn't find the strength to look up and just stood there with an opened mouth to let the blood flow out of it. "I guess no one has ever really loved you. Not even your dear old mom."
Victoria felt her heart ache due to the accusations that were thrown at her, but still had to struggle with the knowledge that Daniel was being followed and could easily become the next victim of the Initiative. So the words stuck in her mouth.
"Well, your mother has made a decision. Goodbye then." The grey-haired woman tilted her head to the side forming her lips into a devilish grin. At the same time Helen raised her gun again and pointed it at Patrick with a determined expression on her face. Accepting the fate that would await, Patrick closed his eyes. He had lived with that tortured soul for long enough, maybe it was time to end his suffering. After all, he obviously really wasn't worth anything.
"No!" Victoria screamed out loud the tears streaming down her face while her voice turned into a row of uncontrolled sobs. "No! Put that gun down!"
Helen and her boss turned their heads to look at Victoria who seemed like she was about to break down caused by the stress she was being put through. It was exactly what the Initiative had been counting on.
"And why exactly should Helen do that?" The leader spoke in a serious tone raising one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows. "Give me one good reason, Victoria."
"I'll agree to help you." Victoria said with a numb voice. "I'll cooperate with your plan to frame Conrad."
"That's something I like to hear!" The other woman rubbed her hands in delight.
"If you leave my children alone. Daniel and Patrick will stay out of this from now on. You won't follow them nor will you hurt them in any way." Pulling herself together the brunette stared at the older woman who nodded her head.
"Helen, put the gun down." With a disappointed look on her face the young woman followed the orders. "I think we can arrange that, Victoria. You just have to promise to do whatever we tell you to do."
"I promise." Victoria sighed already regretting her decision. However she knew that it had been the only way to save her children. She had witnessed firsthand how the Initiative had killed Frank in cold blood, so she was well aware that their threats were definitely not empty.
"That took longer than expected, but I got what I wanted. The three of you are now all on the same page, am I right?"
Edith and Nolan could simply nod being disturbed by what had just happened. They too, knew that Patrick had only been seconds away from being killed since they were reminded of the Initiative's cruelty by Frank Stevens' dead body lying right next to them.
"Good! I'm so happy to have convinced you that a cooperation with us is the best thing to do." She positioned herself in front of Victoria, Nolan and Edith again looking down on them with an intimidating stare. "So now I can finally tell you about how to proceed. Aren't you excited?"
With a disgusted grunt Nolan said: "Just get it over with now."
He understood what Victoria had been trying to tell him with that comment about a deal with a terrorist organization and how they could use him also after the trial was over, but he still thought that it was the easiest way to achieve their goal of freeing David. Nevertheless, that pervious scene would now be imprinted on his mind forever. How they had first hurt Patrick physically and also emotionally, to make him feel like he deserved to die, like nobody even cared about him. And how they had blackmailed Victoria with their threats and the stalker pictures of Daniel. Nolan would never be able to forget that look full of desperation and fear in Victoria's eyes and the look of utter defeat and worthlessness on Patrick's face. He was extremely shaken by what he had to witness and wrapped his arms around his knees like he always did when he needed to think and process something.
"Don't be rude, Nolan." The Initiative's leader admonished the 21-year-old. "But since we're already speaking of you, let me begin with your part in the plan. Together with Edith you will forge the documents just like Conrad Grayson has requested. We cannot afford to lose Connie's trust in his employees, so Edith you'll continue to play nice with him and Nolan will secretly help you. However, when it comes to the trial Connie will confidently present the documents he believes prove his innocence, but it'll turn out that those documents are the original ones, which show that David Clarke had nothing to do with the investment in Americon Initiative. Connie will look like the biggest fool and the investigation will then see him as the main suspect.
And that's when you come in, Victoria. First of all, it really helps that you already destroyed that laptop we wanted to use to plant false evidence incriminating David. Now that won't be in issue because we can gather up all the evidence that is needed to blame Conrad and nothing will get in our way. Of course, you also have to stay loyal to your husband, but in court you'll then make a scene – and we know you can do that judging from previous experience. You'll testify that your husband forced you to lie and threatened your son to keep you by his side. You'll reveal that Lydia Davis and Bill Harmon have been bribed to give false testimonies – Edith and Nolan, I trust you to find or fake written proof of those financial transactions - and you'll tell the truth about your relationship to David Clarke and that the baby you're carrying is his and bla bla bla. I think you know how to play the victim.
After that everyone will be confused and the trial will take a turn and in the end Connie will be incarcerated and David can reunite with his daughter and fiancée – the world will soon learn. And the whole world will focus its hatred on Connie and blame him for the downing of flight 197 for years to come and Americon Initiative will only be a name for the face of terror and won't be further investigated. To make sure that no one will ever forget about the cruel man that Conrad Grayson is, we'll let that Leo Treadwell person write a book about the whole story. And of course our two lovebirds will give exclusive interviews about the fight for justice and for their love and how they can finally be the picture perfect family. The case will be sealed and also the Initiative can move on and concentrate on far more important matters. Doesn't that sound like a great happy ending?" Expectantly the Initiative's leader beamed with joy.
"I don't care as long as I get my money and a job." Edith remarked soberly. She seemed strangely unaffected by the whole situation and only saw her own egoistic advantages.
"Oh you will and so will Nolan." The grey-haired woman assured. "I know you're not the protagonists of the story, but you'll be equally important pulling the strings in the back. I'm sure we'll need your tech skills at more points than one in our plan."
"As soon as David is free, I want nothing to do with you. So you can keep that job position open." Nolan underlined his standing in the whole issue. He looked over to Victoria who seemed like all of her strength had faded from her body after the ordeal she had to endure. Also Patrick still had that look of defeat on his face although his life had been spared. He didn't attempt to stand up straight again but instead he left his body hanging in the grip of the guard standing behind him.
"We'll see about that once we'll have successfully carried out the plan." The leader responded in an almost threatening tone. "But since we've now all come to an agreement it's unfortunately time to say goodbye. You know the instructions and I trust you to follow them. You can by no means inform David Clarke or his lawyer or anybody else about our cooperation. And Patrick, I think you know what'll happen to you if you mention any of this. Is that understood?"
The four of them simply nodded hoping that they would never have to see that woman again. "If we need to talk, I'll reach out to you. If you don't hear anything, just stick to the plan. It was a pleasure meeting all of you." As quickly as they had been taken out of their everyday lives, they were now being brought out of that room again. After the leader had spoken the last words, the guards immediately pulled blindfolds out of their uniforms and put them around Victoria's, Edith's, Nolan's and Patrick's heads.
With an abrupt move one guard cut the ropes that tied Victoria to the chair and pulled her up from her sitting position. She gasped at the sudden movement and heard how the others were obviously already being escorted out of the room.
"Where are you taking us?" She dared to ask while the guard shoved her forward. She didn't receive an answer from him and was forced to follow his fast walking speed.
After having to descend several staircases which challenged Victoria's sense of balance, she was pushed in what felt like the back of a van.
"Tell your husband that Frank Stevens kicked you out of your car today and took off with the driver and your money. Just make up some story how he quit his job as your agent and disappeared. And Ms Lee and Mr Ross: We'll drop you off at the office so that you can get to work immediately. You can't lose any time." A male voice addressed them before the door to the vehicle was being shut.
"Nolan?" Victoria whispered lying on her back while she experienced a lack of orientation due to the blindfold on her eyes. She heard several people breathing, but couldn't detect to whom it belonged.
"I'm here." The 21-year-old's voice came from right next to Victoria so that she reached out a hand and found his squeezing it tightly.
"We're all here." Edith added with her usual annoyed voice. "Right, Patrick?"
"Shut up." The young man responded angrily to her teasing him.
The next moment the car's engine was started and it began to move. In the meantime Nolan had assisted Victoria to pull herself into a sitting position and lean back against the body of the car.
She was very much out of breath because of the stressful situation. With her hands still tied to her back she couldn't caress her baby belly like she used to whenever she needed to calm herself and her daughter.
"I'm so sorry Patrick." The brunette found the strength to speak up again. She regretted even more than before that she had accompanied Frank to meet with him. Now her son was also involved with the Initiative and had been physically and emotionally hurt. "I never wanted any of this to happen. I don't know how I'll ever be able to make up for that. Just tell me whatever you want, I'll make it happen." She wasn't sure where exactly Patrick was sitting but tried her best to address him in the right direction. For a few moments he didn't respond and the car was only filled with the sound of their heavy breathing.
"I don't want anything from you." Patrick's harsh tone let that feeling of pain inflame in Victoria's heart once more. "The only thing I want from you is to leave me alone."
"Patrick, please. I never wanted you to get hurt. You can't imagine how guilty I feel for what has happened to you." Victoria didn't care if two other people were now listening to a very private discussion between her and her son. She just needed to make things right with Patrick.
"I don't care how you feel, I don't care what you want. The fact is that it happened. It happened 20 years ago and everything that came in between was not a real life for me, it was only surviving, trying to stay a life in a world that turned against me at every possibility. And whether you like it or not you are responsible for that, you are responsible for the misery that is called my life. That abduction or torture or whatever it was is just the tip of the iceberg. It served to show me that no matter how hard I searched for my actual mother and how much it took me to finally find you – my whole life to be exact- I don't deserve happiness, I don't even deserve the truth. So I don't fucking care whether you feel guilty or not because it doesn't change anything. I would have rather died in there than having to live with the memories of the pain those people have caused me and the knowledge that my own mother –whom I have always believed would be the one person in this world who at least cared about me to some degree - doesn't give a damn about me." Patrick said those words with such bitterness that a 20-year-old shouldn't have had experienced yet. But Victoria understood how he felt – despite his hatred against her, she felt a deep connection to him because of his pain. She knew exactly how it could make you feel and do things if there wasn't anyone who could show you a different, a more positive side of life.
"Patrick, don't say that. I do care about and to see you being threatened to death in there was the worst moment of my life!" Victoria's heart was aching and her motherly concern was clearly reflected in her voice.
"The short amount of time knowing you has already given me enough reasons not to believe you." The young man responded drily. "To be honest, I'm actually happy that I never got to know you until now. I just wish it would have stayed that way."
His words cut deep in Victoria's heart. She knew she deserved some of his hatred, but to hear her own son say he was glad he never knew his mother was the worst thing she had ever heard. It hurt her in a way that she knew only her children could. No matter if they were positive or negative; the feelings triggered by them would always reach a spot in her soul no one else could reach. They could make her do everything to protect them, no matter at what cost, or they could simply break her, leaving her as a broken-hearted and sorrowful woman. Patrick had just achieved the latter.
"Patrick, I…" With tears beginning to stream down her face, Victoria stammered in a last attempt to explain things to her son.
In the same moment, the car suddenly stopped and only some seconds later someone opened the door.
"Osbourne, get out. You're going home." A male voice ordered and a different person then dragged Patrick out of the car.
"No, Patrick!" Victoria screamed after him. She knew that maybe this was her last chance to speak to her son and clear the air since he had made it abundantly clear that he didn't want anything to do with her.
"Goodbye, mother." The young man said his last words very grimly before he was transported into another car that would take him into the city.
"Grayson, come on." Also Victoria was then being grabbed by the arms and pulled out of the van. With a quick move Nolan tried to hold her back by the hand, but the other man was stronger.
"Ross, we'll take you and Ms Lee directly to the office, so stop meddling with our orders." The intimidating voice left Nolan frozen to his spot.
"We'll talk as soon as we're home, Victoria, okay?" He desperately shouted after her.
"Yes, Nolan." The brunette answered while the other man left her to stand on her own two feet again. Without the ability to see and the physical exertion Victoria almost lost her balance and fell over, but luckily the guard steadied her.
"There's a cab waiting for you. Get in and wait until the driver tells you to take off the blindfold. Remember the story we told you to sell your husband. Everything will be fine if you do that."
After that Victoria heard how a car approached and the squeaking breaks told her that it came to a halt right next to her. She was led to sit on the backseat and the ropes around her wrists were finally loosened. Although she had no idea where that car was really taking her, Victoria felt a sudden rush of relief. The burning pain on her hands came to an end and when she stretched her strained arms the first thing she did was to lay them protectively on her belly. She swore to herself that she would forever be proud of her daughter for what she had to endure with her mother even though she wasn't even born yet.
While the feeling of leaning back in a comfortable seat allowed her to relax a little, the previous incident left her really disturbed. Frank Stevens had been killed right in front of her eyes and they were now in a cooperation with the Initiative – a terrorist organization. Yes, they would hopefully free David and Conrad would rightfully be brought behind bars, but given the circumstances Victoria had a hard time being genuinely happy about that future perspective. She still had to find a way to live with the fact that she made a deal with the Initiative that she was sure would affect her and her family's life in the future sooner or later. She also had to find a way to stop constantly thinking about Patrick and what he had said. Or she would have to find the strength to find him and try to reconcile with him although she had little hope that that was still a realistic option. Overall the whole situation seemed extremely surreal to her. She had lost the feeling of how much time had actually passed since the abduction and still hoped that she would find herself lying in her bed waking up from this horrible nightmare.
Strangely enough the car she found herself sitting in after she had been allowed to take off the blindfold really was a cab and the driver also dropped her off in the driveway of Grayson Manor. When she looked up to the festively illuminated estate in the dark, she even doubted for a short moment that she lived there. The past hours or had it been a day or even two – Victoria still wasn't sure about that – had taken her down memory lane reminding her of who she had been and where she had come from. Her 24.000 square feet home then felt like unknown territory to her- but only until the maid Maria stormed towards her right after she had made it through the doorstep.
"Mrs Grayson!" The woman rushed over to her looking sick with concern. "Thank God you're home! We were so worried about you."
"Thank you, Maria." Victoria forced herself to smile a little to calm Maria down. Her deepest wish in that moment was to simply lie down, to get some rest and refill her energy. Therefore she wanted to ascend the stairs to her bedroom but could hardly lift her exhausted legs anymore.
"Are you alright, Mrs Grayson?" The maid eyed her employer from head to toes growing even more concerned when she noticed the wound on her cheek and the blood on her clothes.
"Please, I just need some sleep." Victoria insisted and held onto the railing of the stairs.
"Of course, I'll help you and get you some water and something to eat."
Although she really thought that Victoria needed more than just her bed, Maria obeyed her wish and helped her to get to the first floor.
"Thank you." Victoria said out of breath and stumbled over to the door of her bedroom.
"Are you sure you're okay?" The Hispanic woman rushed over to Victoria again holding her by the shoulders before she almost broke down. "I think I'll call your doctor."
"Please do." Victoria then admitted when she entered the master bedroom and felt a light cramp in her abdomen while the maid hurried to the nearest telephone. It was nothing she told herself and instead she longingly looked over to her comfortable bed when she was surprised to see that Amanda was lying in it. She was cuddled up beneath her blanket and slept with a soft smile on her lips. Spread out around her Victoria noticed the photos she usually kept hidden in her jewelry box. The girl must have seen where she kept them and out of curiosity she had wanted to look at them. Victoria was not mad for she understood Amanda's desire and rather found it heartwarming to see the child sleeping peacefully in her bed. The next moment the door to the bedroom flew open again.
"Victoria!" Conrad stormed in and raised his voice angrily. "Where the hell have you been?! You knew the dinner with the Senator and his wife was tonight. You made me look like a goddamn fool with your unannounced absence!" Only then Conrad took the time to properly look at his wife. She was still dressed in her black winter coat which had odd sprinkles of what looked like blood on it. She also had a pretty bad scratch in her face and her hair was a wild mess. "What happened to you, Victoria?" He then asked in a softer tone stepping forward to face his wife who was now wrinkling her forehead in pain.
Victoria felt another stronger cramp in her abdomen and reached to her belly in a panic. It couldn't be, it was way too early, but still she couldn't deny that it felt like she was having contractions.
"No, no, no." She whispered to herself with fear when the pain became stronger and she had no doubt that she was going into labor. It was the last clear thought she had before everything went black.
First of all, I'm sorry that I'm not able to publish regularly, but I still do my best and write the fanfic whenever I have time.
I was really nervous when I wrote this chapter, because I think action is not my strong suit, but I hope you're satisfied with it. SORRY for the cliffhanger, baby Charlotte and Victoria might be in serious trouble now.
Please let me know what you think and leave a review or DM me. :) It makes me extremely happy to see all of your comments coming in with every new chapter.