-1Chapter Five

"Nice to see you too, Jack." Michael said sarcastically. He really was not in the mood to be dealing with this right now.

"You two have got some nerve coming here after everything your mother has done."

"Allegedly done." Michael corrected him, but with little conviction. Michael knew Gloria was guilty of course, but defending her was a habit he just couldn't manage to break.

"Oh, please." Jack said as he pushed passed them both and made his way into the living room. "Mr. Blakely, a known drug dealer, confessed to selling your mother a batch of the same chemicals found in the contaminated cream. That, coupled with the eye witness testimony from the Jabot security guard who saw her near the lab that day, should be more than enough to drill the final nail in Gloria's coffin." Jack declared confidently.

"I am so sick of you treating my mother like something you scraped off the bottom of your shoe!" Kevin exclaimed.

"I just call it like I see it." Jack said, entirely too pleased with himself. "If you boys don't like it, you know where the door is." And with that he turned his back on the brothers dismissively.

"You know what, Jack?" Kevin said as he angrily approached his step-brother from behind. "You're nothing but a..." Just then a deafening roar of thunder cut Kevin's insult short as all three men looked up at the lights as they began to flicker on and off.

"The power's going." Jack surmised.

"Way to go, Sherlock." Kevin said in response and was about to continue on with his earlier tirade when out of the corner of his eye he saw Michael walking out the door.

"Hey Mikey, wait up!" Kevin called out as he chased after him. Rain was pouring down in heavy, merciless sheets. Kevin and Michael were both instantly soaked through their clothing the moment they stepped outside.

"Where are you going?" Kevin questioned as he followed Michael to his car.

"My wife and child are out there somewhere," Michael said urgently. "I have to find them."

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"When Michael and I first started getting closer, I could tell he was hurting." Lauren continued as she ran a hand over her stomach in a comforting gesture. Gloria could see she was shivering and hoped she wouldn't end up catching a cold. "I had to work so hard just to get him to open up with me, to trust me enough to let me love him. And I wanted so badly to help him repair his relationship with you, to let him experience the joy that love from a parent can bring." Lauren looked up at Gloria then, a look of disgust in her eyes. "But you don't know what love is."

"Lauren," Gloria whispered, the pouring rain helped to mask the tears now streaming down her face. "You don't mean that."

"Oh, yes I do." Lauren assured her. "I didn't want to believe it. I had hoped that deep down you really loved your sons and that you didn't mean to constantly put your own needs ahead of theirs but that is exactly what you do, Gloria. You don't care who gets hurt as long as it benefits you." Lauren spat out, bitterly.

"That's not true," Gloria defended. "Everything I do, everything I have ever done has been for my boys..."

"Stop it! For once in your miserable life just stop lying!" Lauren shouted at her. "You let your sons, your babies get abused for years, Gloria. What kind of mother does that, huh?" Gloria shook her head in denial, she didn't want to hear this. "And now, years later you were given the chance to make amends, to start over and repair the damage you did. But you couldn't even do that, could you? You had to swoop in and ruin their lives all over again." Lauren accused.

"No." Gloria sobbed. "I love them..."

"You use them. You manipulate them and abuse them far worse than Tom Fisher ever did. But love?" Lauren glared at her in disgust. "No, Gloria. You don't love anyone except yourself." Gloria couldn't listen to this anymore.

"Stop it, Lauren. Just stop it!" Gloria shouted. "I know I've made mistakes, I know I'm not perfect, but I do the best I can."

"Well then, your best obviously isn't good enough." Lauren sniffled, wiping away angry tears. She reached into her coat pocket, pulled out a thickly packed envelope and held it out for Gloria to take.

"What is this?" Gloria asked in confusion.

"Two million dollars," Lauren declared. Gloria stared at her in shock. "You're going to take this money, you're going to buy a one way ticket to a country with no extradition laws and you are never going to contact Michael or Kevin ever again."

"Lauren," Gloria gasped in disbelief. "You can't be serious."

"I have never been more serious about anything in my life," Lauren assured her as she looked down at her swollen belly and stroked it affectionately. "Unlike you, I am willing to do whatever it takes to keep my family safe." BR
"I would never hurt the baby!" Gloria insisted.

"Maybe not intentionally, no. But the fact that you had Michael risk his career and his freedom proves that you obviously don't give a dn about your grandchild if you were willing to risk sending her father to prison." Lauren spat out in contempt.

"I never would have let that happen." Gloria whispered defensively.

"You can lie to me all you want, Gloria, but don't lie to yourself. You would have done whatever it took to keep yourself out of jail, including throwing your own sons to the wolves." Gloria buried her face in her hands, not wanting to hear anymore of what she knew deep down was true. "So just consider this a free pass," Lauren continued. "You get to avoid jail time, Kevin and Michael never have to deal with you again and my baby will never have to know what a selfish, manipulative btch her grandmother was." The words stung, but Gloria knew she deserved it.

"I don't want to leave," Gloria said after a few moments of tense silence had passed. "But I will. If for no other reason than to prove to you that I'm not as self centered as you think I am." Gloria said in defeat.

"Good," Lauren said as she held the envelope out to Gloria once again. "You're making the right decision." Gloria reluctantly took the money .

"I hope you're right, Lauren." Gloria sighed in resignation. Lauren nodded and without another word, walked passed Gloria and headed back towards the car.

"Wait!" Gloria called out to her. Lauren stopped and turned back to look at her mother-in-law one last time. The storm still raged on around them, continuing to soak them both to the bone. Gloria's teeth chattered as she offered Lauren one final plea.

"Never leave him. Never hurt him the way that I have. He loves you so much, I don't think he could take it." Lauren nodded in agreement, trying not to let Gloria's words affect her, but failing miserably.

"You take care of yourself, okay?" Lauren was furious with herself for saying it, but she just couldn't bring herself to hate Gloria completely.

"Don't you worry about me, I'll survive." Gloria smiled sadly. "I always do." The two women faced off for a few more breathless moments. Lauren looked as though she desperately wanted to say something more, but the words escaped her. Gloria offered her a bittersweet smile before she turned around and walked away. Lauren stood there in the freezing rain, watching the older woman disappear into the night. She placed a comforting hand on her belly and smiled down at the child nestled safely inside.

"Let's go home."