Chapter 26
Eyes softly fluttering open, Sam winced at the slight ache in her head. She closed her eyes, finding some relief in not having to strain them in order to see through the fog. She took a deep breath and tried to remember what happened that caused this sudden state of anguish that seemed to radiate through her mind. The last thing she recalled was…. Aidan fixing her lunch. She exhaled harshly realizing that the asshole did indeed drug her. That was why she had refused to eat the soup that he prepared for her in the first place, she was suspicious of him, with every right to be. Her eyes opened up and focused on the water bottle that was sitting on the night stand next to her bed…. He drugged the water as well. Why?
Gingerly sitting up to not further cause the ache in her head to expand, she sat at the edge of the bed with her feet planted firmly to the floor. Testing the strength in her legs and in her entire body, she forced herself to stand. She didn't know what drug he had used, therefore she didn't know what the side effects were. When she felt nothing else but the slight headache, she concluded that it was just a sleeping pill. Silently walking to the door, she pressed her ear up against it to hear any sounds coming from the rest of the cottage. She wondered where he was. Was he sleeping? Was he waiting out there for her?
When she didn't hear anything, she opened the door quietly only to see the cottage was empty. Where was he? Heading towards the front door, she found her boots up against the closet door. After putting them on, she opened the door and froze at the sight on the ground. Bits of pieces of the phone that she had used earlier littered the porch, broken, destroyed. Aidan was crazy. She looked up and noticed that there was no car in the long driveway. Did he leave? Closing the door, she stepped back and wrapped her arms around herself. Even though she was wearing a long sleeve black shirt and jeans, she was still cold. Heading towards the couch, she sank down in the cushions and tried to wrap her mind about what was going on.
She thought back to the events that led her here. Meeting Aidan, working with him to take down Lisa, trusting him, befriending him, their close call with the Balkan's men, when she ran to him after Jason was drugged…. Jason. A sob tore from her throat at the reminder that the man she loved was gone. How was she going to be able to move on? She needed more of an explanation, someone to tell her what the hell really happened and how he died.
Sonny. She wiped at her nose and eyes furiously. Recalling the conversation that she had with Aidan about her contacting Sonny, or more be precise NOT to contact Sonny…. Wait a minute. Her eyes narrowed dangerously to the floor when she remembered Sonny saying that he thought she was dead. But how could that be? Wasn't Aidan working with Sonny? And what about Jason? Did Jason think that she was dead before he ran off and confronted the Balkan? No. Aidan said that Jason went to save her and…. was shot. She took a deep breath and went further back in her memory. Things were not adding up. She went back to the night at the hospital, right after Jason and Brenda were drugged. Right before all things became fuzzy and out of focus. She remembered leaving him to go to the penthouse. Her eyes misted, at least she got to tell him that she loved him, the last conversation that she had with him.
Jumping to her feet, she paced the living room to stop that line of thinking, she had to concentrate on the events afterwards. She remembered going to the penthouse now, remembered talking to Spinelli. Scrunching her face and thinking hard, she remembered…. pulling up the surveillance videos on the laptops to see how they broke in the penthouse…. Remembering….. a dark figure climbing up the side of the building….. And then it came back like pouring water, the memory washing over her.
Hearing a knock on the door, Sam sighed and stood up to answer it, leaving the laptop to play on its own. "Aidan."
Aidan had been in his car, parked across the building, waiting for her to get here. He thought that she would've gone home but she had never shown up, and now she was back here, back to the place that she had once shared with Morgan. Aidan used every ounce of control he had to keep his anger buried down deep. "May I come in?"
Sam was hesitant at first, she didn't have the time to deal with this especially since they were trying to find the enemy, but she felt guilty for using him earlier. "Sure." She held the door open, waited for him to pass then closed it behind her. She gave a quick look towards the kitchen, Spinelli was still in there. She waited for him to turn around. "Look Aidan, I'm really sorry about earlier…"
"There's no need to apologize…"
"Yes there is, I never should've come to you." She could see the sadness in his eyes and it just made her feel worse. "I'm sorry."
"Samantha, you just found out that Morgan cheated on you, of course you'd be upset."
"But he didn't." She didn't want to tell him the whole story so she made it short. "Turns out that he was drugged…." She could see the skepticism in his face. "I know, believe me I know it sounds crazy but in my world it's anything but." She shrugged, offering up some humor.
"Is he alright?" He choked out, not really caring about the other man, but he felt he had to fake sympathy. "And Brenda?"
She was about to answer but stopped for a second. "How did you know it was Brenda?"
"I… I just assumed." He could see her wheels turning, she was thinking about his answer, so he quickly changed the subject. "I tried calling you."
She wasn't sure but something was off, something was bothering her, it just didn't feel right. Her eyes kept on going back down to the laptop sitting on the table then up at him again as she thought about his answers. "That's another thing Aidan…" She looked up at him. "I thought you said that you lost your phone when we were stuck in the tunnel." She looked down at the screen again, she felt bad for accusing him of dishonesty. "I guess you probably just found it or…" Her voice suddenly trailed off at the image on the screen. There, right in front of her eyes, she found out who the person that broke into the penthouse was. She couldn't hide the wide eyed look or the way she breathed out. "Oh my God…."
Aidan knew it, from the first second that her voice trailed off. Reaching behind him, he pulled out the vial of chloroform and a white rag. He took advantage of her distraction as he began dousing the rag with a generous amount of the drug. When she finally looked up at him with incredibly wide and hurt eyes, she started to scream "SPINEL….." But he was faster, as he pounced on her and covered her mouth and nose with the rag, pulling her body to him. "I'm sorry Samantha, please forgive me…." He held her tight as she struggled against him, no doubt holding her breath. Her legs flailed around him, knocking over the laptop that was on the table. He could here movement in the kitchen and knew he had to get out of there. Without a moment to lose, he picked Sam up in his arms and walked out the door.
OH GOD, it was Aidan! Sinking back down on the cushions of the couch, Sam stared off into space in total disbelief. Aidan was the one that drugged Jason and Brenda. He drugged her, kidnapped her, made everyone believe that she was dead from what Sonny said. Was he the one to kill Jason too?
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"Max, what the hell was that?" Sonny asked as he saw a black SUV tear out of the parks drive and flew passed them. "Was that Robin with him?"
Mashing her face up against the window, Alexis strained to see what Sonny was talking about. "Where? Was that Aidan? Did you see Sam?"
"Follow him!" Sonny ordered as he picked up the phone and called Jason's cell. "Jason, what happened?"
"He took Robin as hostage and shot at our tires. Milo and Cody changed the flat and we're driving out now. You have to follow them Sonny. Sam… she wasn't with him. I don't know where she is."
Sonny could hear the desperation and anguish in his friend's voice and it broke his heart. Jason was always the calm one, but when it came to the petite brunette, he turned emotional. "Follow him but stay hidden." He told Max then turned back to his phone call. "We've got site on him, but….." He stopped when he looked up to see something strange.
"Boss, he's pulling into the gas station. Want me to pull in?" Max reported.
"Go around back." Sonny answered him. He could hear Jason asking him what was going on. Talking into the phone, Sonny tried to reiterate the scene as best as he could. Max was trying to hide by going around the back, staying just behind the building so not to be scene. "Aidan pulled into a gas station…. He pushed Robin out the door… and…."
"He took off! Follow him Max!" Alexis yelled out as she saw the black SUV pull off, leaving Robin behind. "And what the hell is Robin doing here?"
"Jason, Aidan pulled out but he dropped Robin off." To Max he ordered. "Go pick her up."
As Max stopped next to Robin, Sonny balanced the phone to his ear as he opened the door. "Robin! Get in." After recovering from her being startled, she jumped in the car and held on as Max took off, but they didn't get very far, Aidan was already gone. He heard Jason speaking through the phone. "What was that? Nikolas is where?" Seeing Alexis practically jump out of her skin to get her hands on the phone, he told Jason to lead on. "Max, follow him." Sighing with relief at finishing one conversation, he turned to the two women in the car just as Alexis asked about Nik. "Nikolas is hiding in the back of Aidan's car. He's texting Jason with directions on where they're going. They're hoping Aidan is going to lead them straight to Sam."
"Oh thank God!" Alexis fell back in her seat with relief. She was so close to having her daughter back.
Sonny was feeling for his friend. All hope was not lost, they still have a chance to find and rescue Sam. Looking over at Robin, he tried to keep his voice even so that they could get to the bottom line. He knew about Aidan contacting Robin, and the betrayal hurt coming from his long time friend. "Now, you want to tell me how you got mixed up in all this."
"Oh Sonny, he's lost it. Aidan has totally lost it and Jason is going to kill him." She sobbed out then went on to explain her side of the story and everything she knew. She still wished that she could save her cousin but it wasn't looking good.
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Nikolas kept as low as he could in the back of the SUV. He could hear Aidan swearing and pounding his fists on the steering wheel, muttering about betrayal, about killing Jason, about loving Samantha. They turned up ahead and he immediately went to texting Lucky. He hoped beyond hope that they would get Sam safely away from this delusional maniac. For the first time in his life he took comfort in the 9mm that was tucked safely away in the back of his waistband. All those years he lectured Jason on the violence in his life, Nikolas owed him an apology, he was feeling like such a hypocrite. Jason only did what was necessary to save his friends and family. Now Nikolas found himself doing the same. If that bastard hurt his cousin, Nikolas would kill him.
