Chapter 9
Lucas held back tears as he drove away from Maison Blanche in search of a watering hole where he could drown his sorrows.
"How could she do this?" he said to himself, pounding the top of the steering wheel with his hands. "After everything we've been through! She just threw it all away for that limey bastard."
Lucas shook his head in disgust.
"Well, that's it, Sami. You chose E.J. so Will and I are going to make a good life for ourselves without you. Never again will I give you the chance to hurt me like this. It's finally, truly over."
Just then Lucas's cell phone rang.
"Oh, just what I need..." he said as he looked down at the phone's caller ID and let it ring several times before finally giving in to the caller's pestering.
"Listen, Mom. I don't really feel like talking right now," he said after picking up the phone. "If you're calling to nag me about Sami then just save your breath because it's over between us. We're over."
"Lucas, what are you talking about?" Kate asked.
"In the middle of the night Sami ran off. She left me. For E.J. I told you how we ran into him the other day snooping around, right? Well I woke up in the middle of the night and found a note downstairs,' Lucas said, his voice quivering. "She said she knew the baby was his all along when shel married me and that the reason she never told me about being with E.J. before the marriage was because she wanted ME to leave HER so she could save face being with him. I only wish I would have left her. Man, I should have hit her in the face with that cake at our wedding. Now if you don't mind I think I see a bar up here and I'm feeling a little thirsty right now."
"Oh, that's awful, Lucas. I'm sorry I can't be there in person to help you get through it," Kate said. "But you know as well as I do that drinking is not the answer. It won't change what happened or end your pain, it will only cover it up temporarily."
"It won't ease my pain? Well like talking to YOU is gonna help. C'mon, mom. Cut the crap. I know you're just dying to say I told you so. I know you couldn't be happier that this happened," Lucas said. "That I'm heartbroken and have failed at marriage once again."
"Lucas, I am truly sorry for the pain she caused and any resentment you feel towards me because I was right, but despite how I feel about Sami, I have to tell you your news couldn't come at a worse time for me, for us," Kate replied.
"What do you mean, mom? How does this news affect you?" Lucas asked angrily. "If you're bummed because that British bum isn't around for you to have your disgusting fling with anymore, well just get over it!"
"No, son, it's not that," Kate said, her voice somewhat bitter due to the unhappy morsel of truth in Lucas's stinging accusation. "The reason I called you was to ask you to get back from that honeymoon of yours as soon as possible so we can pacify the shareholders at Mythic. Someone tipped off the shareholders to the profit skimming in those financial reports you discovered and we need to do some damage control fast or both our lives are over. I've tried calling E.J.'s cell phone about a hundred times to tell him to get his butt back here but his phone is turned off."
"Are you serious, mom?" Lucas asked. "But the only ones who knew about this was us and Billie... and E.J. Damn that, E.J. But why would he want this to get out? You know, no wonder he skipped down when he did. I can't believe Sami fell for his bull. Of course, why should I be surprised?"
"You know, Lucas, if we can prove that he ran off with Sami, then we can pin all this on E.J. and salvage the company," Kate said. "Do you still have the note?"
"Yeah I have the note," Lucas said looking at the crumpled piece of paper in the passenger seat. He sniffed as his upper lip firmed.
"Listen, Mom, I'm gonna head to the airport right now so I can get the first flight back to Salem. I can't wait to help the SEC take this bastard down."
Chapter 10
"We're almost home free, my dear," E.J. said as he bent down to kiss Sami's forehead. She smiled at him as he reached to press the button that would allow their freedom through the fireplace passageway back to the living room of Maison Blanche.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," said a man with a familiar and menacing accent.
E.J. was filled with regret that he had let himself get distracted by Samantha and allowed the man to sneak up on him while his weapon was at his side.
"Rolf," E.J. said as he turned to face the mad doctor who was holding a gun and a flashlight on the two of them. E.J.'s speech sped up as he tried to formulate a lie to explain his disobedience.
"Thank God, you're here. Samantha just started having these awful pregnancy pains and I didn't know what to do. We were trying to get her out of here to a doctor. Do you think you can treat her?"
Sami's eyes got big as she listened to his lie, then comprehending E.J.'s intentions she doubled over in pain and started moaning.
"Well, I'm sorry," Rolf said, unfooled by Sami's display and E.J.'s words. 'I cannot treat her. I will have to take her to another physician. But until then I'd appreciate it if you set your gun down on the floor."
E.J. complied and he and Sami both put their hands up.
"Now kick the gun to me," Rolf commanded.
E.J. did.
"Now turn and walk back to your room slowly. No sudden moves."
E.J. mouthed "I'm sorry" to Sami but she just frowned as they walked back toward the room.
Rolf immediately noticed the door open, the whiskey stench, broken glass and Bart splayed face down on the floor.
"I see Bart didn't share your concern for Sami's health," Rolf said surveying the damage then turning back to face them. "But don't worry, E.J., I'll see to it that Sami gets the medical attention she needs. She'll even have the chance to see a friendly face."
Sami contemplated the "friendly face" remark with horror. She had few friends in Salem and predicted she would have even less when Lucas brought word back to town that she had run off with E.J. Wells.
Rolf bent down to Bart, who awoke in a daze, and started to shake off his confusion. Bart stood up and glared at E.J. and Sami.
"What are you going to do to me, Rolf?" Sami asked. "I know you need this baby to save Stefano. You can't kill it or me."
"No, I cannot. That's why I'm going to leave you here with Bart," Rolf said, returning Bart's gun to him. "E.J., I want you to come with me."
"Where are you taking him? What are you going to do to E.J.?" Sami shrieked in fear.
"That's no concern of yours," Rolf said. "Come, E.J."
Sami sobbed.
"Sweetheart, don't cry. I can't stand to see you cry. You're not a cryer. You're a fighter," E.J. called to her as Rolf started to push him forward with a gun stuck in his back and E.J. looked over his shoulder. "If I never have the chance to tell you again, sweetheart, I just need you to know now, 'I love you, Samantha Gene Brady, and I always will.'"
"We'll see about that," Rolf whispered in E.J.'s ear before letting lose a loud guffaw.
Sami watched as E.J. was shuttered out of the room. Bart warned her not to try anything else before locking her in the room alone, but Sami couldn't imagine how she might escape, especially now with E.J. gone. Potentially killed. It was as if her spirit was killed.
Sami laid down in the bed and sobbed at the thought of being alone without E.J., as much as she had tried to convince others and him and herself that she hated him. When he was there with her, she may have been angry with him, his jokes may have annoyed her, but they made her forget she was a prisoner of Stefano Dimera and his maniacal whims. Tears streamed down her face as she stared into the darkness and felt the room closing in on her.
But her cries were interrupted by her curiosity a few minutes later as she started noticing a strange humming sound in the distance and a man's voice talking.
She got off the bed and walked over to the door to see if she could hear it better.
"That's strange," Sami said, before gasping in terror as she realized what she was hearing. That buzzing was electricity... and that wasn't a man talking, it was a man screaming.
"Rolf is torturing E.J.!" she whispered.
KNOCK KNOCK
Sami nearly fainted with fear when she heard the thumping at the door while her ear was still pressed against it. Sami backed away into the corner and crawled into the bed awaiting the newest calamity and hiding her face behind her hands.
Sami widened the space between her fingers to watch as the door creaked open to reveal a doctor wearing blue surgeon's scrubs and a mask over their face.
Chapter 11
Sami launched into a hysterical high pitch scream, but the doctor continued lurching toward her until the mystery physician was leaning over her bed.
"Shut up, Sami!" the woman's voice said as the doctor removed her mask. "It's bad enough I have to care for you, the least you can do is not make me go deaf in the process."
"Lexie... I... I thought you were DEAD," Sami said.
"Some days, Sami, I wish I was," Lexie said bitterly as she listened to Sami's stomach with her stethoscope. "Now what is it you needed checked out? Rolf thought you were faking but made me come by just in case."
"Oh, well, you see, I uh, started getting these pregnancy pains you see... but they went away so I think I'm OK now." Sami said quickly.
"Mmm hmmm," Lexie said, clearly not buying it, as she lifted up Sami's sleeve so she could monitor her blood pressure. "That sounds like a patented Sami Brady lie if I've ever heard one. Oh and I have. Lots of them."
"Lexie, well you see, E.J. and I were..."
"Ah yes, you and E.J.," Lexie interrupted. "Remember how I tried to warn him about you? How I told him to drive away from you as fast as he could? But he just couldn't get enough of you even after you married Lucas. It's a shame he didn't listen... I mean, listen to him now."
Lexie paused to allow Sami to hear more of the torturing sounds coming from another room in the Dimera's house of horrors. Sami gasped. Lexie's face betrayed no emotion.
"I do feel bad for my brother, though, even after the way he cost me my job and my husband and my son, all so he could get me back here to care for my father," Lexie said defiantly. "I mean none of this would have happened if the miserable fool hadn't fallen in love with you. Thank goodness Stefano has finally seen the light about him."
"What do you mean?" Sami asked.
"Well, Stefano decided that now that Tony's out of jail he is having him take care of family business," Lexie said. "E.J.'s just made too many mistakes, although after Rolf is done with him, I suspect E.J. will never again fail to put the family first."
Sami pondered what sort of mind control or torment they must be putting E.J. through as Lexie packed up her medicine bag.
"Well, Sami, your vital signs are normal and the baby's heartbeat is fine so I am getting the hell out of here," Lexie said walking toward the door and knocking twice to let Bart know she was there.
As the door opened and Lexie walked outside, she taunted "Sleep tight!"
But Sami definitely wasn't going to be doing much sleeping that night. There was so much she didn't understand and what she did know frightened her too much to close her eyes.
Her mind raced as she heard some shuffling outside her door and then it opened once again. It was EJ!
Sami's heart leapt with joy that he was being returned to the room, but it sank when she saw the disheveled condition he was in as his chin faced the ground, his eyes barely opened, his shirt was ripped open exposing chiseled abs glistening with sweat while Bart and Rolf steadied his shoulders as he slunk across the room to collapse in the bed.
Sami's sadness turned to rage when she saw the burn marks on his neck, presumably from the electrodes that had been attached there by Rolf or one of his goons. She ran at Rolf and pounded his chest with her fists but Bart quickly pulled her away and restrained her.
"Are you interested in spending the night tied to this chair?" Rolf asked pointing to the wooden chair in the corner.
Sami nodded in the negative.
"Then are you going to cooperate? Can you learn something from your friend over there?" Rolf asked pointing to E.J. writhing on the bed.
Sami grimaced but nodded in the affirmative.
"Good. Then I suggest you get some rest," Rolf said.
"Yeah, Blondie. No more tricks." Bart added as he once more pointed a gun at Sami and the two of them exited the room.
The door slammed and Sami ran over to E.J. to try to talk to him but he was unresponsive making unintelligible groaning noises as she knelt down to comfort him, helping him to remove his shoes and helping him pull the bed covers on top of him.
"What are we going to do?" she sobbed as she caressed his face and held his 5 o'clock shadow in the palm of her hand.
Sami felt his forehead with the back of her hand and watched with concern as the sweat dripped from his temples.
"Oh, E.J., you're burning up!"
Sami quickly retrieved a dingy white cloth from a cabinet above the room's wash basin and wet it in cool water from the faucet. She squeezed the cloth a few times and found the splash of the water soothing after what had been such a dreadful night.
Once the dripping had ceased to her satisfaction, Sami walked over to E.J. and placed the cloth on his forehead and then tried to stifle a yawn with her left hand.
She looked around the room to try to figure out where she might sleep. The room only had the twin bed and there was no way she was moving E.J.
"What the hell?" she finally muttered to herself. " It's not like E.J. will mind."
Sami kicked off her shoes and slid off her jeans, folding them and placing them on the dresser. Next she slowly unbuttoned her shirt while staring at E.J. as he continued to groan and she wondered what exactly the Dimeras had done to him and why.
She folded the shirt and set it on top of her jeans before tiptoeing across the room and lifting the covers.
At first she tried turning away from E.J. with her back to him, nearly falling off the bed a few times, but finally gave up knowing that she would never be comfortable that way.
She turned toward him and lifted up his arm so she could use it as a pillow as she rested her arm across his chest.
Somehow her troubles and fears quickly faded away there and her mind stopped racing so she was finally able to drift away to unconsciousness.
E.J. was dreaming too, much less pleasant dreams, but if she had stayed awake and listened closely to all the jibberish and grunts he spoke in his sleep, eventually she would have been able to make out the one word he was still able to say, "Samantha."
Chapter 12
"Lucas, the shareholders are getting restless," Kate said as she hovered over Lucas's shoulder.
The two of them had spent the entire morning searching for documentation that proved E.J. Wells had been skimming profits from Mythic Communications, but Kate's search through his file cabinets had turned up nothing and Lucas's snooping through E.J.'s computer files had been fruitless as well.
Kate worried what they would tell the board of directors who had already been waiting for five minutes in Mythic's conference room to hear word from Kate and Lucas about the state of the company and the status of E.J. Wells.
Lucas paused a moment to think and rubbed his eyes, which were red and puffy from the sleepless night he'd had the day before.
Lucas had raced as quickly as he could back home catching the last flight from New Orleans to Salem when he learned that Sami had run off with E.J., but he had failed at leaving behind any of his bitterness or regret that he masked with self-righteous anger.
"I can't believe Sami ran off with that bastard who's framed us for embezzling," Lucas groaned as he stood up from behind the computer desk and threw his hands in the air. "It's over, Mom. He's got us. And there isn't anything we can do about it."
Just then E.J.'s office door opened, which was startling because Kate had locked it behind the two of them when they went to work. Lucas's mouth hung agape and Kate held her breath when she saw the tan, middle-aged well-dressed man enter.
"Why Kate and Lucas Roberts? It's been a long time no see, hasn't it?" smiled Tony Dimera.
"Tony," Lucas blurted. "What are you doing here?"
Tony chuckled.
"Now by here do you mean in this office, or in Salem or outside of a jail cell?" Tony asked sarcastically. "Well I am here in this office because I am going to save this company, I am back in Salem to reclaim my life and I'm outside of the jail cell because... well our judicial system works. It may take a few years and a few million dollars in attorney fees, but oh does our judicial system work."
Lucas's brow furrowed while Kate laughed nervously at Tony's joke.
"Well, Tony, we welcome any ideas about how to save the company," Kate said walking closer toward him as if drawn by a magnet. "I assume you are here to tell us the whereabouts of your brother?"
"Well, no, I'm afraid not," Tony said. "My brother as I assume you already know, Lucas, has foolishly decided to run away with another man's wife and totally shirked his responsibilities to this company. I am here to make things right. And when I'm done with that I plan to assume the position of Mythic CEO."
"But how?" Kate asked.
"With this," Tony said producing a stack of papers from inside his suit pocket. "I have proof that my brother, E.J. Wells, deflated earnings reports last year so he could pocket $10 million for himself."
"You're going to turn in your own brother?" Lucas asked, betraying some jealousy in his voice from the knowledge that he would not be the one to get bring down E.J. and would have to get revenge some other way.
"Yes, Lucas I am," Tony explained. "E.J. is family and I do value my family. But not at the expense of this company's investors. Now if you two would join me in the conference room for our presentation..."
"Yes, Tony. This way," Kate said, locking her arm in his and escorting him to the waiting board of directors.
"Oh and Lucas?" Tony said smiling and turning his head back toward Lucas who trailed behind them. "I really think I'm going to like working together again."