The acrid smell forced her eyes open, and Alexis found herself laying on the settee, Alfred and Victor hovering over her. The pit in her stomach overwhelmed her momentary confusion. As she struggled to make sense of the last few minutes of her conversation with Victor, her uncle offered her a glass of water. She took a sip as he dismissed Alfred from the room.

-"Now, Alexandra. Where were we?" Alexis reflexively put the glass back to her lips and drank deeply, hoping to delay any official confirmation of her fears. But Victor's patience was wearing thin, and he prodded, "Alexandra?"

Alexis felt tears well in her eyes and start to run down her cheeks. "We were in Indonesia. You said…" She stopped mid-sentence as a sharp sob cut through her. "You said Julian was betrayed by a contact."

-"He was. I'm afraid, Alexandra, that your reliance on the gentleman was intolerable and threatened our future plans. My choices were limited. I'm sorry." He raised his voice over the sound of his niece's moans. "Are you alright, dear? Do you need more water?"

She had moved to outright hysterics, doubled-over where she sat. Alexis began gasping for breath as Victor attempted to calm her. "Alexandra," he soothed. "Alexandra, you need to calm down. You need to focus on what's important right now: Samantha and Spencer. You need to see that I'm serious."

Alexis tried to respond but she couldn't breathe. Her entire chest felt like it was cleaved open, yet she was suffocating. She wanted to claw Victor's face; she wanted to curl into a ball and die. This was her fault: Sam, Julian, Ric, Nikolas…*her* family did this. If she just removed herself from the equation…

Her thoughts were interrupted by the tinny taste of her inhaler that Victor forcefully shoved in her mouth. She instinctively took a breath as her uncle released the medicine, and her lungs felt clearer, but the weight on her chest remained.

-"Well. That was instructive," Victor murmured to himself. "I suppose that you and Mr. Jerome were not just friends then, Alexandra?"

Alexis slowly shook her head, as she stared across the room to the desk where Stefan once sat. She closed her eyes and envisioned him there, taunting her into playing a game of chess. Alexis would acquiesce because it made Stefan happy; but she never liked the game itself and hadn't played since he died. She didn't want to play it now. The requisite energy to engage was gone, and she turned to her uncle utterly defeated. "What do you want? What do you need me to sign?"

-"I want us to be clear on our terms, Alexandra. You run Cassadine Industries in your name but on my behalf. You take the mantle of the family and all that entails. And as a reward, I'll see that charges against Samantha are dropped…"

-"…which charges?" Alexis cut in dully.

-"The murder charges. And the trespassing charges at Crichton Clark."

-"Any charges. If any of my daughters go to jail or die, the deal is off." Her voice was devoid of emotion.

-"Of course. And as for Spencer…"

-"He is raised by Dante and Lulu. He gets to keep the trust."

Victor looked at his niece. His face seemed troubled by her demeanor, but she didn't care. "Alexandra, I would have hoped you'd be more excited about the prospect of our deal. You get what you want, and I get what I want."

-"You think this is what I want?" She choked. "I want Nikolas alive. I want my daughters and Spencer to be free to live their lives without being punished because of who their parents are." She paused as a tear escaped. "I want Julian back."

-"Ugh." Victor looked at her in disgust. "You want a mobster back, Alexandra? A brute who lacks your intellect. A man with a penchant for violence who is clumsy in its execution. I'm doing you a favor."

-"I don't want your favors."

Victor looked at her. "This has been disappointing, yet illuminating." His voice turned contemplative, "Once we seal our particular pact, Alexandra, I have no real leverage to hold over you. Samantha is freed, Spencer is freed…what guarantees do I have that you'll stay in line?"

Alexis answered quietly, "Considering how frequently you've threatened my children with death—and how you went to great lengths to show me you were serious—I think you've got me well in hand."

-"But deaths are messy, Alexandra. And final. Once that lever is pulled it goes away forever."

She choked back a sob and stated meekly, "I don't know what you want from me."

He stood and spoke sharply. "I want you to act like the head of the family. I want you to act like Mikkos's daughter. I want you to remember there are huge stakes involved Alexandra and respond accordingly."

Alexis swallowed and stood, somewhat unsteady on her feet. Her voice started small but built into a steady crescendo. "And I want *you* to remember that the fear you rely on to control me has side effects you may not like so much. Like loving others. Fearing for their safety. And mourning their passing." Her eyes were blazing, and she caught herself when she saw that Victor was smiling at her.

-"Well done, Alexandra."

-"Excuse me?"

Victor beamed at his niece. "You had me worried that you wouldn't have the strength or energy to move forward. For this to work, Alexandra, we need your fire. You'll be challenged…by the press, by other branches of the family, by the Spencers, by the executives you'll be replacing…yes, Alexandra. I think you'll do just fine."

She sank to the couch. "This fire you seem to love so much is easily extinguished, Uncle. You would do well to remember that."

-"Well, I don't think I appreciate your tone, Alexandra, but I will chalk that up to the stress of the last 24 hours." He stood to pour himself a glass of wine. "May I interest you in another glass?"

-"No thank you," she whispered.

-"You are missing out, Alexandra." He raised his glass to her. "To successfully agreeing to the terms of our first deal and negotiating our second."

-"What do you mean, 'second'?"

Victor spoke impatiently. "Were you not listening? We have yet to negotiate your continued compliance with our original terms." He glanced at his panicked niece. "Now, now, Alexandra. There is no need to worry. Simply comply with the terms of our agreement, and nothing untoward shall come to pass."

-"So you get my compliance. I'm the head of the family. I do everything you want…in exchange for what? What are you planning to hold over my head? My family's head?"

He smiled. "Well, Alexandra. I don't think this is going to be nearly as painful as you do. First, I have a gift for you."

-"A gift? You're too generous, Uncle."

Ignoring the bitterness in her voice, he noted, "I am, aren't I?" He looked at her smugly. "I do think you'll like this, Alexandra."

She arched an eyebrow dubiously. "Continue, please."

-"First, I will need to correct a gross assumption you made earlier. I must apologize, Alexandra, for any distress it caused you. I needed to see how valuable all the pieces on the board are. And I was unsure of the value of Mr. Jerome. Now I realize his true worth."

Her knuckles white, Alexis gripped the side of the settee to hold her position steady. "What assumption?"

-"That Mr. Jerome is dead."

Alexis felt like she was punched in the gut. "He's not dead? Julian's alive?"

-"Of course. I told you once you pull that lever, it's gone forever."

-"Oh my God," Alexis put her face in her hands and cried again, only this time they were tears of relief.

-"That doesn't sound like gratitude, Alexandra."

Victor had wasted a golden opportunity, for Alexis was so happy she would have agreed to anything, yet all he asked for was a thank you. "Thank you, Uncle. Thank you."

He smiled at her benevolently, "You're welcome, my dear. Of course, since he's alive, he is now a lever I can use."

Alexis was so relieved at Julian's resurrection that she forgot it could be weaponized. "How? How is he a lever?"

-"You see, Alexandra, Mr. Jerome has been living a precarious existence. He's been lying to you about the identity of his boss, and he's been lying to his boss about his willingness to comply with his wishes. It makes for a very ineffective soldier in the types of wars in which he engages."

In revealing to Alexis that he was unaware that she knew the true identity of Julian's boss, Victor revealed conversations in the penthouse somehow hadn't been monitored. She quickly inventoried all the information she and Julian shared and where they shared it. "What do you mean he's been lying to me?"

-"I think I'll let him tell you. I'm curious as to the story he reveals, anyway."

-"OK. He's lying. I grew up a Cassadine, I'm used to it. What do you have on him?"

Victor smiled at her, "Patience, dear. Sometimes the telling of the story is what makes the end worthwhile."

Rebuked, Alexis apologized, "I'm sorry, Uncle. Please continue."

-"It seems that Mr. Jerome has teamed up with one of our family's enemies, Alexandra." His eyes narrowed as he murmured, "though I will say *not* one of yours." Victor shook off the flash of betrayal he felt and continued. "It turns out that Mr. Jerome's boss had grown tired of his disengagement from his work, and had decided to terminate him. It so happens that a new investment deal provided his boss with the perfect opportunity. Part of our business arrangement included that Mr. Jerome wouldn't leave our meeting in Jakarta alive."

-"So you saved him?"

He smiled. "That's such a delightfully childish way to put it. I suppose I did. As I mentioned earlier, he has no value to me if he's dead."

-"Of course," Alexis nodded deferentially.

-"And this is again where the gods have smiled upon me, Alexandra. Here I was, provided with an opportunity to gain leverage for our future endeavors and remove an enemy who could thwart my chances of success."

Alexis was confused. "But I thought you said Julian wasn't an enemy."

-"He's not. But his boss is. Or was. My leverage, Alexandra, is that there was a massacre in Jakarta that yielded one survivor. That survivor was your Mr. Jerome. One of the victims was shot in the head with a .22 that belonged to your Samantha. Video will corroborate that he was murdered by the sole survivor, Julian Jerome. He's not so much the survivor as he is the chief suspect."

-"And of course you have the gun and the video?" Alexis asked knowingly.

-"Yes."

-"But once he leaves Jakarta, who will care? Who would tie him to it?"

-"Ahhh," Victor nodded. "An excellent question. You see, Alexandra, Mr. Jerome's boss has many ties to Port Charles." He looked at her coldly. "I promised you I would punish you Alexandra. And I have. The gods gave me the opportunity to show you my strength, eliminate an enemy, and hold you to my will in one fell swoop."

Her voice was soft, "How…how have you punished me, Uncle? For whose murder have you framed Julian and implicated Sam?"

-"Luke Spencer's," he said excitedly, his voice filled with self-congratulations.

Alexis's surprised face seemed to delight her uncle. But underneath her look of shock was a feeling of victory. The crazy bastard killed John Richter—he didn't know Luke Spencer was being held in a psychiatric facility against his will. Victor had taken away her second biggest problem and left her with a weapon of her own: a vindictive Luke Spencer. Now she had the freedom to focus all her attention on her uncle's destruction, and she worked hard to dim that little ray of hope's glow from her eyes.

-"Luke Spencer is dead," she said numbly.

-"Indeed," Victor responded finality, bored of the topic. "Come dear, it's gotten late. It's time for us to dine together and seal our agreement."

She worked hard to seem humbled in his presence. "Of course."

-"And I know I gave you a choice, but I woke up today with no taste for tenderloin. I felt more like duck. I do hope you'll forgive me."

Alexis manically paced her room at Wyndemere, trying to use whatever energy she had left to recap her situation. Her current status was slightly above "completely fucked." She and Victor had negotiated throughout the meal. New suspects would appear in the Clays' murders tomorrow with evidence that would guarantee Sam's freedom by the end of the week. Spencer would live primarily with Dante and Lulu, although he would be required to spend two weeks of his summers on Cassadine Island with her. Fortunately, she was able to convincingly talk Victor out of full-time residence at Cassadine Island; she negotiated three months a year there while she would spend the rest of her time at Wyndemere. The notion that Alexis would completely abandon her children was a lie too large to be believable, and Victor saw the wisdom in changing this demand. Plus on some level it made him feel the magnanimous overlord, granting mercy to his newest peon.

God she despised him.

She was able to eke out some other concessions. Obviously Julian was still alive—thank God—but Victor demanded their relationship end. Alexis was able to convince Victor that Julian would never believe she left him unless he lied to her again. Victor gave her one week to end it in a way so Julian would truly believe they were over. It would be hard but she could do it—the Ric lie was enough to push him away if she played it right. Her heart pounded at the thought of living without him, but Victor had made it easier. She knew what it felt like to know Julian was dead. Lying to him to save him would be a walk in the park compared to that pain.

Her immediate problem was Luke Spencer. She needed him safe—she loved her friend. But she needed him hidden to use against Victor later. How to do it?

And then her girls and Danny: she needed Victor away from them, especially Molly. She didn't know how she was going to do this yet. Alexis needed to drive a wedge between her and her daughters: their curiosity, stubbornness and independence were traits she cherished and nurtured, but now they could bring all of them down.

Her mind spinning she collapsed onto her bed. She was exhausted. The last 48 hours capped weeks of emotional chaos and her body was giving out. She needed to rest because in one week, she was going to have her press conference where she renounced Alexis Davis and assumed Natasha Cassadine. And that was going to take all the strength she had.

Tonight she would sleep and tomorrow she would start to dismantle the world of her sadistic uncle. He wanted her to be Mikkos's daughter: he would bitterly regret that wish.