Author's Note: Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. I'm sorry for the delay. I had to do other grown-up things, and that impeded my writing time.

Next month does not look good, either. My mom is having surgery on April 1, and I'm going back home to take care of her for a couple of weeks. Then when I get back my coworker is going to be on vacation, which means my hours are going to be not fun. So I apologize in advance, especially because we are starting to get to some of the key parts of the story.

Chapter 24: Plausible Deniability is Good

"Did you know he was going to be here?" Betty asked her stepmom now that they were alone in her office. She had just announced that Daniel and Wilhelmina will be taking her place as editor in chief of MODE magazine.

Okay, her stepmother led her back to her office to get her glasses because Marisol was unable to come down to MODE to give them to Betty personally. Apparently, there was a situation that only the senior administrative assistant could handle.

Although, she couldn't see because she just got her glasses back, Betty was sure Wilhelmina was frowning the entire time her stepmother spoke about the year Daniel spent studying under the French master of fashion as a managing editor at MODE Paris and acting director of European operations for Meade Publishing. Betty knew that Faye consider Claudette to be the real visionary at MODE Paris. Betty could hear the scoffing and backhanded comments from Wilhelmina as Faye continued to praise Daniel, but ignored her.

Betty was certain her stepmother was doing this on purpose because there was no love lost between the two women, and that was before Faye found out about Wilhelmina threatening her now husband with deportation. Nothing that Faye was saying was untrue, just slightly manipulated. Daniel mentioned that Bradford had taken advantage of Daniel's location to keep a closer eye on European operations.

Because of Daniel, the London EIC could not hire her incompetent lover as her creative director. The new managing editor at MODE UK had sent him chocolates as a thank you present. As a favor to Lucy, Claudette made sure that her godson would always be well taken care of and it was her mission to teach Daniel everything she knew about the magazine business.

Regardless, it was obvious Wilhelmina was unhappy that she would have to share her magazine. The sound of Wilhelmina's hills stomping on the titles as she yelled for Carlo and Nico to follow her out as soon as the presentation was over also made it quite clear. Of course, Marc got video, which means that she will get to see the whole thing tonight, now that she can see. Justin probably already sent her the YouTube link.

Wilhelmina also wanted to see Betty in her office, to most likely, threaten her again for not being able to keep Daniel out of New York. However, Faye whisked her away to get her glasses instead, but not before reminding Wilhelmina of their earlier conversation. Betty doubts that Wilhelmina will threaten her again now that her stepmother knows.

"Of course I knew that Daniel was going to be taking over. I'm the CEO of this company now. I know about all business decisions. Bradford and Claire have been grooming him for this position for years. Did you think his time at MODE Paris was just something to do between appointments with the oncologist?" Faye said sarcastically.

"I know that." She told her stepmom.

Betty knew that in the last year that was true, but she found Claire more at fault for that then Bradford. Even Faye took a more active interest in developing Daniel into somebody who could run a magazine. Before that, not so much.

Before Alex died, Daniel said that everyone, including Bradford just let him coast by. He wasn't expected to be anything other than "a fuck–up", so he didn't try. His father had Alex to live up to the family legacy, which explains why Alex faked her death, and decided to become Alexis. Because of that nobody bothered to develop Daniel's natural skills, except for maybe, Jamie. But with Alex gone and a child to take care of, Daniel had to develop the skills he needed to run the family business quickly.

"Daniel told me about his tutelage under Claudette. I was also there at the will reading, and I know it was Bradford's last wish for Daniel to come back to New York to take over MODE US. It's just that Daniel has not returned any of my calls and…" She stopped there, not sure how to explain what she was thinking to her stepmom.

"The day after he found out that Wilhelmina was blackmailing you into breaking up with him, I found him sulking at Vivian Windom-West's Hampton compound. He was furious at you." Faye explained.

Why did she keep this from her? Deep down she knew why, the first man she ever loved hated her and it was all her fault.

"I'm aware of the fact that he hates me." She told Faye bitterly. Daniel didn't even look at her this morning. Even without glasses, she could tell he was too busy whispering to his assistant, who according to Marc, looked like Amanda's long-lost fashionably challenged twin. He was also too busy with Alex. The toddler was currently with his 'Uncle Daniel' because Betty did not have the heart to take her - no, their son away from him.

"Oh, he still loves you. He probably always will." Faye told her with a sad smile. "Real love is one of those things that doesn't go away very easily, even when the other party is an ass. But you betrayed his trust and he needed a little time in the Hamptons to lick his wounds. Now he's ready to deal with you and the monster."

"Wilhelmina was…" She started to say in her defense, but Faye cut her off.

"She blackmailed you. I get that. He gets that. It's what she does. We're not mad at you for making the decision that you made because it kept everyone safe. We are upset that you made that decision on your own." It wasn't even the first time she heard this argument from her stepmom. At least, the woman wasn't screaming at her this time.

"She told me not to say anything." Betty said weakly. This is the first time she told anybody this.

"Of course, she did." Faye grabbed a strawberry from the bowl of fruit that she keeps in her office. "None of us, including Daniel, would be upset with you if we didn't care. We care about you."

"Okay," she answered simply not sure how to respond.

"Just give Daniel a little space to deal with things and he'll come back to you eventually. Even if he doesn't realize it yet you two are going to be connected for the rest of your lives. Although, it may be in your best interest that he knows sooner rather than later." It wasn't the first time her stepmother gave her a gentle push to tell Daniel the truth, nor would it be the last until she had this conversation with Daniel.

"That's going to be difficult to do since technically he is now my boss." Betty sighed before things started to click into place. "You knew about this before you've reassigned me to MODE?"

"You know I don't do anything without a reason, darling." Faye smirked at her. "It's going to be a lot harder for you to lie to him when you have to see him every day." And there was another not-so-subtle hint for her to tell Daniel about Alex.

"He's already not speaking to me because I didn't tell him about why we needed to end things. He's going to hate me forever for not telling him about Alex." Betty said nervously, and Faye just shook her head.

"He's not mad about the lying, he's mad about…" Faye started to say, but she stopped herself.

"You know I'm not even going to tell you. This is between you and Daniel and you have to work this out yourselves. The first step is for you to talk to each other. You are not a little girl anymore. Betty, sometimes you have to work things out for yourself."

"Didn't you just yell at me for trying to do everything myself?" Betty asked incredulously.

"Your relationship problems with Daniel are very different than Wilhelmina blackmailing you." Faye explained.

"Wilhelmina blackmailing me is the reason why I have relationship issues with Daniel. If she never switched the DNA test, then we wouldn't be…" Betty started to say in her defense, but the Meade CEO cut her off again.

"You two would still be trying to navigate a long distance relationship and all the problems that come along with it. Lucy wanted to die in the country of her birth, and DJ's grandparents were going to make the custody procedure as horrible as possible. Even if you are still together, Daniel was stuck in France for the duration." Betty knew Faye was right.

Even if Wilhelmina did not intervene, they would've been separated by an ocean anyway. Maybe now that Alex was a year old, and she was almost ready to graduate she would move overseas to be with Daniel, but it wasn't feasible during the pregnancy.

"Sometimes I think Lucy died sooner because the custody fight took all her energy." Betty confessed to Faye in a whisper.

"I'm sure you're right." Faye said an agreement before something just dawned on Betty.

"How can they be okay with DJ being here now? Are they going to try to take DJ away now that Daniel's moving to the states for work?" Betty asked not sure if her stepmom would have an answer to her questions.

"When they were extorting Bradford to keep DJ under wraps when he first learned of his grandson's existence. I may have made a recording or two. Last week when I had to make that emergency trip to Paris before the wedding, I may have stopped over and reminded the grandparents what could happen if such a recording were made public. Now they're perfectly okay with their only grandson receiving an American education." Faye smirked the entire time she spoke.

"You blackmailed them?" Betty asked, not surprised. She was well aware of her stepmother's questionable morality. She did have a 20 year-long affair with her son's grandfather.

"That such an ugly word." She took a drink of water. "I just reminded them not to mess with my family because unpleasant things happen to those who mess with my family."

"I'm just your stepdaughter." Betty said, shocked not expecting that reaction from a woman in front of her.

"You're more than that. You and Alex are my family just as much as Amanda and your father are. I protect my own." She said fiercely.

"You're planning something against Wilhelmina, aren't you? That's why Daniel is here." Betty asked as the pieces started to fall into place.

"It's best that you have plausible deniability." Faye told her before reminding her that she had a lunch meeting with the lawyers and Betty was supposed to be accompanying Marc on a business lunch with some photographer they were trying to get for the December issue. She quickly left, so she would have time to take Alex to daycare and was silently hoping that Daniel already handed Alex off to Marc or his assistant.

Betty left her office only about five minutes before Nico arrived. She was shocked that her goddaughter was still able to make their lunch meeting to discuss her trust fund without Wilhelmina following behind her. She was sure Wilhelmina would want to exert as much control over Nico as she could. The one good thing Bradford did was name her trustee of Nico's trust fund. Maybe he wasn't completely blinded by the way Wilhelmina made him come. She would never know because he wasn't alive for her to ask him.

"I see you were able to come without Dragon mommy." Faye remarked dryly as Marisol showed her into an office that had once been Bradford's. She had the room renovated from top to bottom, but she still cannot forget the many time she was with him in this office. Faye can remove every trace of him from this place, but not from her mind. It was as if he was haunting her. It hurt her to think of why this was now her office, more than it should, considering she now had another man's ring on her finger.

Faye tried to push the thought of her dead former lover out of her mind as she focused on the girl in front of her. She was wearing another matching mother-daughter outfit that was not a teenager's style. Her smile was obviously fake because it did not reach her eyes. It seemed obvious to Faye that spending so much time with Wilhelmina was detrimental to a teenager.

"She thinks I'm taking a math placement test. She hates getting involved in any of my school stuff, or anything else for that matter, so she let me come alone." She smirked and yet it did not reach her eyes. They were as dark and cold as her voice.

"Was she aware that you were already taking calculus classes in France?" Faye asked already knowing enough about Nico to instantly know that was a lie.

"Wilhelmina knows very little about my life, academic or otherwise." Nico spat bitterly. "It's how I can tell that her current interest in me is anything but genuine. If she cared about my well-being, she would have accompanied me to the school or at least give me something more than a dismissive wave. She's too focused on taking Daniel down to care. I left Wilhelmina and the lovestruck Carlo to their planning. He is so following her around like a lost puppy."

Everyone was aware of Carlos unnatural affection for Wilhelmina. It worried Faye because a man that obsess with a woman would do anything for her. He was dangerous.

"Well, that just works to our advantage. After we meet with the lawyers, Marisol will bring us take out from your favorite restaurant." She said trying to cheer the girl up, but it wasn't as easy as when she was a little girl. Back then it only took a custom-made Barbie outfit to make her smile.

"That would be good. The only things Wilhelmina has in her refrigerator are expired yogurt and celery sticks." The scary thing was she knew Nico wasn't joking. Faye was once like that before her bulimia induced heart attack

"You do not have to do this." She said worriedly. Daniel warned her that this would be too much pressure for the 16-year-old, but she didn't want to listen.

"Just say the word and I will have the lawyers draw up your emancipation papers. I'm sure for the right price your sperm donor would have no trouble signing." It was a sad state of affairs when Wilhelmina was Nico's more involved parent. When the man left Wilhelmina for a younger model, he left Nico behind, as well. Faye can count on one hand the number of times the teenager has seen her father since then.

"We stick to the plan." Nico told her firmly. "It's working. When Wilhelmina was ranting about her plan falling apart because Daniel didn't stay away from New York, despite the break up with Betty, I told her that Claudette and I where the real force behind Daniel's good work at MODE Paris. I expect her to be calling the French creative director any minute now." Nico told her with a smirk. At least this one seemed genuine.

Claudette was one of Daniel's closest friends, and when he told her about the threats that Wilhelmina made against DJ she was willing to do anything she could, including bad mouthing Daniel to her former American counterpart. Claudette would convince Wilhelmina to underestimate Daniel's abilities which would lead Wilhelmina straight into their trap.

"Ms. Somers-Suarez, Mr. Carraway and his associates are here to see you and Ms. Slater." Marisol interrupted over the intercom before she could voice her concerns that maybe this was too much for the 16-year-old. There was just something in Nico smile that reminded her too much of Wilhelmina, and that worried her just a little.

Five days earlier

Daniel was finally back in New York after his week of hiding out in the Hamptons. The time away gave him a chance to adjust to everything going on. He wasn't ready to talk to his mother, his sister, his friends, or Betty yet. However, he was ready to do his part in bringing Wilhelmina Slater down to her knees. Part one was coming back to New York permanently, so that she wouldn't have sole control of MODE.

This went easier than he thought it would. There was a beautiful for bedroom loft in Faye's building for sale that was the perfect house for DJ and him. It helped that it was only two floors away from his youngest son's grandparents. It would make visitation very easy, even if things were still strained between him and Betty.

DJ was excited about living in America and being close to his Uncle Tyler, Uncle Matt and Grandmother Clare, even if Daniel was not. (Don't even ask him how Matt ended up with an "uncle" title, but it probably has something to do with the fact that Tyler's brother speaks fluent French). He wasn't ready to meet "Aunt Alexis" yet, and Daniel wasn't going to force the issue ever.

DJ also enjoyed spending time with his baby brother. Because Betty was no longer on speaking terms with her babysitter due to Alexis's lie, Betty's father offered to take care of Alex this week since he took it off for the wedding. In reality, Daniel was the one taking care of Alex, as the man did last-minute wedding things. He loved the time he got to spend with his two boys, even if they were not to leave the apartment right now.

For the sake of the plan, no one can know that he's back in New York or that he knows the truth about Alex. Because the paparazzi were stalking him to find out all the juicy details regarding his father's death, it was best for him to stay inside.

They needed him taking over Mode to be a surprise so Wilhelmina would not have time to make sure that did not happen. Faye just came back from Paris after she made sure that Wilhelmina couldn't use DJ's grandparents as a means to get him to go back. A messy custody fight would keep him from taking his post at MODE US.

He was worried about DJs grandparents making it impossible for him to leave France, but Faye convince the couple to back off. He doesn't know how Faye did that, and he's not going to ask. He was already well aware it was in his best interest to have plausible deniability. He's already well aware Faye Somers soon-to-be Suarez could be unscrupulous if she needed to be.

In addition, spoiling Wilhelmina's fun by taking his position as her co-EIC, they were planning on digging up as much dirt on Wilhelmina as possible in hopes of proving that she was the one who killed Bradford and Jordan's unborn child. Currently, Faye had her accounting team going through all the accounts with a fine tooth comb and Christina was doing an inventory of the closet to find other things like that Jackie O dress, used to pay for the man who tried to kill Jordan. In addition, Daniel's assistant was going to be an undercover NYPD detective. He wasn't sure what to make of the fact that she was Faye's formally estranged niece.

Detective Ruth Sanchez looked so much like her cousin that it was unnerving but according to her and Faye, and she was very good at her job. Again, Daniel is not surprise that Faye had enough friends in the NYPD to get this operation set up. He was fine with an undercover detective working as his assistant. Considering somebody was killing off members of his family it might be a good idea to have someone sitting in front of his office with defense skills.

However, there was one part of the plan that Daniel was not happy with. Nico was planning to get close to her mother in an effort to expose her treachery and give her false information to help the cause.

"I don't want you to do this. Being around her is never good for you. Also, this is a woman who most likely had her fiancé killed after he broke up with her so she could get her hands on MODE. What's to say that she won't do the same to you?" Daniel asked worriedly.

"I already have a target on my head. I might as well do some good. I have to do this. Wilhelmina doesn't trust people easily. It's not like she's going to spill all her secrets to Officer Ruth over there." Nico said pointing to detective Sanchez.

"I'm well aware of that. However, unlike you, I'm a trained officer that has done undercover work before. You are a 16-year-old girl; you don't know how to handle yourself in these situations. I agree with Daniel. It is just too dangerous. I don't think we should throw her into the lion's den. At present, we already suspect Wilhelmina of murder and attempted murder."

"I'm already in the lion's den. I was born there. I have money and power that she wants. It's probably safer if I pretend to be on her side. " Nico said sharply.

"If it wasn't for Carlo boasting to Marisol, we wouldn't have anything. I am our best shot at finding anything on her. I'm not going to be safe from her until she is locked up in jail or sharing a padded cell with Aunt Rhonda. So it's in my best interest to make sure she gets there sooner rather than later."

Everyone in the room knew she was right. Nico would be brought into this regardless, the best they could hope for was to control the damage.

"If it becomes too much we are pulling you out and we will think of something else." Daniel said in acquiescence.

"I want to take Wilhelmina down, but not at the cost of you."

"Well, at least somebody thinks I'm important." Nico said sadly. Those words just gave him another reason to hate Wilhelmina.

The Present

After her meeting with Faye, she went downstairs to get Alex from Daniel so she could take him to daycare. Instead, she watched the two playing around in his office until Marc dragged her away. She couldn't bring herself to cut his time with Alex short and she knew Daniel would take better care of Alex than probably anyone else.

Okay and maybe she wasn't ready to speak to Daniel in person. She didn't dare risk him telling her that he hated her. He just seemed so happy with Alex, that it made her feel 1000 times worse.

Instead, she just sent him a text message telling him to let Marisol know when she needed to take Alex to daycare so he can get on with his work since Betty would be out of the building for the next few hours. Fifteen minutes later, he messaged her back for the first time since his father's funeral.

Daniel M: That's okay. I can take him down before Wilhelmina gets here. I don't want the Dragon editor to make him cry.

Betty S: Okay. I can also add you to the list of people who can pick Alex up. If that's okay?

Daniel M: I would like that.

To Be Continued