AUTHORS NOTE: Firstly thank you all for your continued support, I'm fairly sure this is like wading through custard for you all as I continue to write it and I am beyond grateful to you all for sticking with it.

There was a review from the guest 'edmare81' who asked a question which I am unable to answer privately as they are a guest. They asked if this story was complete, no it's not – but it is getting there though, and as I think I said in a previous authors note I am on the final leg of the story now. I can't believe this has taken so long to write. From its origins back in 2015 when I first got the idea to when I did something radical and posted the first ten chapters in 2019 in the hope that my loyal readers would give me something to help me get over the block I had with it, rather than wait until the story was complete. Also, I always tend to write an epilogue at the end so I am thinking this story will be no different.

CHAPTER 97

(EVA)

I am feeling an odd sense of deja vous. Here we are once again discussing how to destroy Kate fucking Kavanagh. There are differences this time though, the main one being we are joining the discussion from New York via Skype as Gideon is still dealing with the fallout from his incendiary interview. But as I peer into the laptop screen in front of me, I see Ana, Christian, Elliot and Carrick all with grim expressions on their faces. This time Sadie is also present looking absolutely terrified and also Megumi and Lucy who look defiant and angry. Then there is Eamon who just has a look of complete uncomfortable shame on his face.

Considering what we have just heard, it's hardly surprising. Lucy is a complete legend, like before when she was desperately trying to get her mother away she gathered evidence. She knew that the only way to stop her sister was to make sure that all her unhinged rants were caught and recorded so she did it and my god that woman is unhinged, but then again so it seems is Kate, and the latest development is that she has also called Lucy - in her words to get her side but it was obvious from what she said to her that she wasn't interested in a balanced interview.

I glance at Gideon who is sitting silently at my side. He hasn't said a word, but he above anyone is familiar with narcissistic family with his dealings with Elizabeth. At least that situation is now closed. No trials as she took her lawyers advice and is going to settle out of court, but Gideon is also having to speak with the victims' lawyers, to give them all the information that he has on his mother to help their claims.

"Lucy, can you play that very first conversation again, the one when Kate called you?" I ask as I give Eamon an apologetic glance.

She nods and fumbles for her phone once more and a moment later Kate's voice is clearly heard.

"Hello" Lucy's voice says first of all.

"Lucy? Lucy Greaves?" Kate says briskly.

"Who's asking?" Lucy replies not confirming who she is. It is right there I hear another voice it is faint and barely there especially over the skype link but I hear it.

"There, right there" I say interrupting.

Lucy pauses the recording and plays it again.

"I hear it!" Ana replies, "Someone else is there with Kate, and I am guessing that someone is Jen".

I nod, "Is there any way that recording can be enhanced? Because if it can we can prove they are working together and it will be easier to take them both out".

"TAYLOR" Christian shouts and almost immediately I see Jason Taylor appear in view.

"Can you enhance this recording that Lucy has, we need to clearly hear the other voice and what they are saying?" he demands and with that Taylor sits down and taking Lucy's phone plays the recording once more.

He listens carefully and then nods, "It should be straightforward enough" he replies simply and then he pulls his own phone from his pocket and his fingers dart over the screen and a moment later he looks at his own phone.

"Leave it with me" he says and with that he hands Lucy her phone back and leaves the room.

"So, in my opinion I think we should take out Jen first. But the options we have to achieve that all involve outing Sadie as El's mom and so before we go any further, we need to make sure that you are onboard with that Sadie?" I say.

I watch and see resolve fill Sadie's face.

"I… I am" she stammers.

"Are you totally sure?" Elliot asks kindly and Sadie doesn't hesitate and she nods.

"Yes, enough is enough. I want to end this; I understand that making myself known to the media will cause waves but I don't want to live like this anymore. I was prepared to do it before when you had to do that other interview and nothing has changed because I still feel like they have a hold over me, but that does raise one question… David. If we do this, will this put the spotlight on him as the terms of my divorce stated I was never to reveal what he did to me, if we expose Jen then there is the chance that she will expose him to remove blame from her?"

Christian shakes his head, "If we focus on her and the dirty cop angle, and the fact she is constantly harassing you and Lucy and has been ever since you arrived in Seattle, we never need to mention David, other than to explain you amicably separated and you started a new life here in Seattle after reconnecting with El".

"But…" Sadie argues.

Carrick quickly interrupts her, "Sadie, if I may. The terms of the divorce which you accepted were clear, you were not to divulge the reasons behind your divorce for the settlement you received. Therefore, if all you say is that you separated from your husband, amicably divorced and left the state you are not divulging why you left him and more importantly you are telling the truth, as the divorce was amicable… mainly due to the fact that Gideon had put the fear of god into David but that is beside the point. If Jennifer decides to make his years of abuse of you public that is not your decision and so therefore you are not accountable for that and David has no grounds to break his side of the agreement to never contact you again".

"He won't see it like that though" Sadie says sadly.

Elliot shrugs, "So, if he makes the first move and does try to contact you and intimidate you then we out him as well as he broke the agreement" he says simply. Carrick smiles and I see Ana and Christian nodding in agreement.

"I think this is a win win situation mom" Lucy says after a moment.

We watch Sadie thinking over everything and she suddenly sits up straight and a steely resolve fills her face.

"You are right, I'm sick of being their victim. All my life they have tried to dominate me and abuse me. The way Jen behaved… she was as bad as David. I begged her to help me so many times when she saw what he did to me, she just watched and documented what he did to hold over him… she never tried to help me".

Elliot reaches over the table for Sadie's hand, "Don't forget that we have that evidence, Jen handed it over to Gideon when she was trying to shift the blame when you left and it shows her in a really bad light. If David approaches you then we make that public and we show exactly what both Jen and David were like".

I nod, Gideon and I had watched the videos Jen had taken where she had actually recorded her father beating her mother savagely and Sadie was pleading with her to do something to stop him and she had actually heard her refuse, it had sickened us all. Arash had been so affected by it, that he had gone above and beyond to help Sadie.

"I won't let you all down this time" Sadie says her voice shaking slightly as she says it and immediately there is a chorus of no and shaking of heads.

"Sadie you did not let anyone down. You did what was right for you at that time. Yes, you could've exposed your husband and your daughter back then but you chose not to, that was your decision and we all accepted that" Gideon says firmly.

Sadie shakes her head, "Yes but if I'd had the courage to stand up to them then none of this would be happening now. Because I capitulated, they got off scott free and also the investigation into Jen at the police department was essentially forgotten because she resigned".

"Sadie" I say leaning closer to the screen. "At that point in time you were still a victim, and as Gideon just said you did what was right for you at that time. You did not capitulate; you did not let us down and you certainly were not weak. You had just done a massive thing, you had taken the courage to escape an abusive relationship; in doing so you also took a massive leap of faith that El was going to help you. You went to meet El that day knowing that if it had gone wrong your life would be unbearable and a damn sight worse. You escaped and you provided the evidence for us to help you. You got back all the money he had kept from you when you worked for him, which there was no way he could've got out of after we got him to put it in writing that he would do that. That money along with the massive divorce settlement, enabled you to buy and furnish the home you now live in. You wanted to be free of David and that is exactly what you got. Could you have fought his demands for your silence? Yes, as the amount of evidence we had on him would've ruined him and he knew it that is why he demanded your silence in return for the divorce settlement and never seeing him again and at that point in time that was the best option for you as you wanted to cut all ties with him. We all accepted that, and we do not think any less of you as a result. However, things have changed now. Now you are a survivor, you are in a better place to stand up to Jen and her ongoing abuse and you are ready to fight her. You are naturally and sensibly wary that if you do this it could result in bringing David back into your life but with everything we have on him, if we do this right and you do not violate the terms of the divorce and he then makes that first move we can destroy him as well as Jen… and as well as Kate".

Sadie looks at me and she slowly nods. "I'm ready" she says, then she glances at Carrick "I don't want any negativity to fall on you or Grace, you have both been wonderful" she says.

Carrick smiles reassuringly, "Don't worry about us, this does not affect us in the least".

Ana glances at me as Sadie says this and El also gives me a look in response to Carrick's reply. Considering how Grace is feeling at the moment, and although she is working hard to overcome the issues she is having concerning El's relationship with his birth family, when the media spotlight inevitably highlights Sadie as El's birth mom it could reignite all Grace's insecurities.

"I think we should take this one step at a time, our first and most important step is to put a stop to Kate and Jen. From the recordings we have heard we know that Jen approached Kate so our first step should be to discredit every word that comes out of her mouth. That will be easy to do with the mountain of evidence we have on her as a dirty cop and the fact she resigned that position before she was pushed. So, step one we have to decide whether to leak what we have to the media now or wait until Kate's story breaks" I say.

Lucy lifts her head, "We have so much dirt on her I think we should leak some now, get it out there plus she won't be expecting us to do that, as she still believes mom is scared of her. It will also lull her into a false sense of security as I don't think it will cause too much interest now because Jen is pretty much unknown and it will be just another dirty cop story, but as soon as the story breaks what Kate is doing, the media will put two and two together as to who Jen is and when they start to dig into her and come across what we have exposed and join the dots it will make them dig more and then we put the rest out there for them to find and let them crucify her".

We all think about that and we all nod. "That seems a good idea to me" Ana says.

"Then if Jen fights back and outs dad, which I think she will do because that is how Jen works, she will try and move the attention to someone else and shift the blame. At that point the media will know of the link with you and so that is when we just respond with the line that you and dad amicably separated and you started a new life in Seattle. That gives us the moral high ground if dad then loses it because we haven't said anything incriminating to invalidate the terms of the divorce. Finally, if that does push dad over the edge and off on one and in the process, he breaks the terms of the divorce then we don't hold back and we release the final load of evidence which shows what complete monsters both he and Jen were and make it clear that was the reason you left Detroit and started a new life in Seattle. That will destroy dad and his career as a doctor and when people see how Jen just watched dad batter mom that will destroy her as well" Lucy adds coldly.

Everyone is staring at Lucy in surprise at her icy calculated and well-structured response. She has clearly thought this through and to be brutally honest, I can't fault it and I say as much.

"Well, I can't add anything to that, that sounds perfect" I say simply.

Lucy flushes with pride at my words and mutters a quiet word of thanks, which surprises me a little.

"Don't be embarrassed sis, you have nailed it. Once again you have done everything right, you've also done the majority of the grunt work to make sure that your sister and dad don't hurt you or your mom again by providing the vast majority of the evidence which we have ready to throw at Jen… and I am so proud of you and everything you have done and I am honoured to call myself your brother" Elliot says earnestly as he reaches for and squeezes Lucy's hand tightly.

"What about Kate?" Eamon says suddenly.

We all look at him and Elliot straightens his back at Eamon's words.

"She is going down as well, Eamon. We already have the moral high ground where Kate is concerned so how she approaches the interview should show that what she is doing smacks of revenge – what she has said already proves that. I personally think that it depends on the media response as to how we deal with Kate. If a big thing is made of the fact she is my ex-wife then we feed that with what we have to enforce the bitter ex-wife line. This recording for starters is incendiary as what she said to Lucy was bang out of order and a complete lie. We have the narrative on our divorce, so if Kate then retaliates, we bury her with everything else we have and we have a lot! As well as this, which is more than a bit disturbing in its content, we have the video which allowed me to divorce her so easily, and we also have the security footage of her kicking off and hurling abuse at Meg at Grey House when you guys were in New York, if nothing else it will paint her as unstable". He pauses as he looks at Christian and Ana.

He hesitates a moment and looks at Eamon, "Are you ok with us doing that Eamon? Despite everything she is still your daughter?" Elliot adds.

Eamon swallows hard and nods, "Kate is no longer my daughter" he says sadly.

oooOOOooo

'Kate is no longer my daughter'.

Eamon Kavanagh's final sad words go through my mind as I have been replaying those awful recordings on a loop. Something is bugging me and I can't put my finger on what it is and once again my mind replays the events of today's Skype call with Seattle…

"Hi Eva!"

I look into the screen of my laptop and grin. As I lift my hand and give everyone a little wave as I greet them. It's a shame we can't be there in person, and as I think this my husband appears and silently sits beside me. As he does so he is noticed by the Seattle contingent and they all greet him warmly.

"Did you sort it?" I ask him and he simply nods once.

"She's settling out of court, she has taken her lawyers advice. It will ruin her as she doesn't have that sort of money anymore unless she has something squirreled away that I didn't know about".

"So, it's over?" I ask and Gideon nods once more before leaning down and kissing me on the temple.

"It's over" he replies.

I let out a long breath of relief, that is what I needed to hear, now we can concentrate on this clusterfuck! I return my attention to the laptop to see everyone looking at us anxiously.

"Everything ok Gideon?" Christian asks carefully.

Gideon smiles brightly, "Couldn't be better… it's over" he says simply and the returning smiles from everyone along with the exclamations say it all.

"So, the reason we are here today is my bitch of an ex-wife and Sadie's daughter Jen who… " Elliot pauses clearly not wanting to bad mouth Jen but Lucy quickly steps in and finishes the sentence left hanging.

"…is also a fucking bitch of epic proportions" she says.

I smile at that and glance at Ana who is also looking amused.

"I think the first thing to do is play the latest recording when Kate called me… I warn you it's not pretty and to be honest it also bothered me a bit because she isn't rational" Lucy says as she pulls out her phone.

She pauses and looks up at me, "Will you be able to hear this?" she asks and I shrug.

"We will soon find out" I say as I tap on my laptop and turn up the volume significantly. I see Christian fiddling with the laptop his end and I realise he is doing the same thing.

"I've turned up the volume on my phone as far as it will go" Lucy says, "So shall we try?" she asks and I nod.

"Just go for it" I say.

The next moment I hear a clear familiar voice but I also hear something else in the background of the recording. I'm not sure what it is so I don't say anything. Lucy looks at me questioningly.

"Perfect" I say as I hold up my hand in the universal sign for perfection. "Just start it again, as I missed that bit" I add.

Lucy nods and restarts the recording. Gideon leans closer to listen and silence falls on everyone as the recording starts to play.

"Lucy, Lucy Greaves?" the unmistakable voice of Kate Kavanagh says.

"Who's asking?" Lucy replies evasively and I grin at that.

"You don't know me but my name is Katherine Kavanagh and I am currently working on an expose of the Grey family in Seattle and I believe that you can help me, would you be willing to talk with me today?"

We hear a loud rude snort at that.

"I know exactly who you are" Lucy says coldly but doesn't say anymore.

"And I believe I know exactly who you are as well, your mother is Elliot Grey's biological mother and so that makes you his half-sister" Kate replies with a significant amount of bite to her tone.

There is a brief silence and when Lucy speaks again she goes straight for the jugular.

"You are looking to try and get revenge on El for the fact he divorced you. A situation that happened before I met him so have no real opinion about. You only want to talk to me because my narcissistic bitch of a sister has contacted you and you want to corroborate whatever she has told you. But here is the thing what do I or my sister have to do with your vendetta against Elliot Grey?"

There is a long pause and once again I hear something in the background.

"I just want to get a balanced viewpoint, I'm a respected responsible journalist" Kate says smoothly.

I let out a loud rude snort at that and so does everyone else who is listening.

"That's not what I've heard" Lucy says, now clearly goading her and it works as what Kate says next is shocking and leaves everyone reeling.

"Listen to me you fucking bitch, you have no idea what happened between me and Elliot and I will destroy him and every last one of those fucking Grey's. I gave you the chance, I tried to be nice but you clearly have been brainwashed by them so you are also now fair game and will go down with them. You and your pathetic mother, I've heard all about Sadie Greaves pretending to be a helpless victim but she is a liar and a fraud. I know all about her and her web of lies and how she manipulated everyone just because she wanted to reconnect with the son she disposed of years earlier and get away from her husband who had doted on her for years".

There is an audible gasp around the room and I look up to see Sadie shaking her head and tears welling up in her eyes. Lucy wraps her arm around her mother and both Ana and Megumi reach across the table for Sadie's hands. Elliot and Christian are both trying to contain their growing rage and both Carrick and Eamon Kavanagh are sitting agog with their mouths hanging open. What the hell has Jen been telling her? Whatever it is, it isn't the fucking truth!

"You need to tread carefully here as you have no idea what you will unleash if you continue with this line" Lucy says with an admirable calmness.

We hear Kate laugh, "Scared are you? Scared your comfortable new life in Seattle will vanish if the truth gets out?" she taunts nastily.

"Why are you harassing me and threatening me? I don't even know you but you are not endearing yourself to me to tell you anything" Lucy asks calmly. We all stare at her in complete awe. She isn't biting at Kate's cruel taunts and she is simply giving Kate enough rope to hang herself with as whatever Kate says will just incriminate her even more.

"You are with them, I tried to be nice but you have clearly been brainwashed by the Grey's - probably all that wealth they throw about, it's enough to dazzle anyone who is not used to it and they have set you and your bitch of a mother up nicely haven't they? I feel sorry for you in a way because now you are tied to them and owe them, they do it to everyone. That fucking control freak who married my best friend and turned her against me is proof of that. So therefore, you will go down with them" Kate rants.

I stare in shock at the screen, she sounds unhinged. I glance at Elliot and cough to attract everyone's attention and Lucy pauses the recording.

"Is she suffering some kind of breakdown? She sounds unhinged?" I say. "Plus, the hypocrisy is stunning considering how she refused to leave El because of his money".

"Turn it off" Eamon says his voice cracking with emotion as Lucy resumes the recording.

Lucy looks apologetically at him, "I'm sorry" she mutters but Eamon shakes his head.

"You have nothing to apologise for my dear, I should be the one apologising to you" he says his voice strengthening as he pulls himself together again.

Lucy looks around and takes a deep breath, "So, that's the latest one… and the only one from Kate, do you want to hear a selection of what my darling sister has sent now…? They are all pretty much along the same lines, the last one she sent she was gloating that she had got in touch with Kate and was going to destroy us all, so…?" she fades off looking around the table.

"Yes, give us the jist of what we are up against" Elliot says. His voice is cold and clipped and his hands are continually fisting and opening in front of him. Meg notices how distressed he is and wraps her arm around him and whispers in his ear. He relaxes slightly and responding to her he reaches for her hand and grips it pulling it to his mouth and kisses her knuckles. He is reminding me a bit of how Christian reacts when he is holding in his anger and with that realisation I know that my brother is angrier than I have ever seen.

"Ok then" Lucy says as she selects another recording…

"Angel"

Gideon's voice cuts through the memory and I look up into his face.

"Hey" I say.

"Are you still going over what was said today?" he asks as he sits down beside me and I nod.

"I am, something is bugging me and I can't put my finger on what it is, Jen is just so… warped" I say.

Gideon nods, "I know, something just doesn't sit well with me with any of that… unless" his eyes widen and he looks at me.

"Jen is trying to goad her father into travelling to Seattle, Lucy has destroyed her life so she is trying to manufacture a situation where her father comes to Seattle – she won't travel here herself for some reason but she is trying to get her father to react and do her dirty work for her, she has pretty much told Lucy her plan because she is so arrogant she believes it can't fail" he says.

"How?" I ask frowning as I try and work out how he managed to get that from the unhinged rants Jen has subjected Lucy with.

"The recordings Lucy made of Jen… she has lost everything through her behaviour, she has lost her job and family - that came out in a couple of them, so Jen doesn't want Lucy and Sadie to have what she doesn't. She wants to destroy what they have built in Seattle" he says and my mind quickly replays the selection of recordings she had made of her sister. Lucy was right she always said pretty much the same thing, one of them where she had announced she had made Jen's husband aware of what she had done starts to replay in my head…

"Hello Lucy" Jen says coldly.

"Hello bitch, what do you want now?" Lucy replies with an admirable air of indifference.

"Well, I can't call mom and speak to her something I am sure you are responsible for so the only way I can contact my family is through you" she replies.

Lucy snorts rudely at that, "If you really wanted to contact us then there wouldn't be any problem Jen, but you don't you just want to blame and intimidate and be a complete bitch. I won't have mom have to put up with that" Lucy replies.

"Your time will come and mom's – I will get my revenge on you for what you did you are going down and so is mom" she says.

"Yeah right, whatever" Lucy says.

"You are, you just don't realise it yet - Just imagine if dad turned up in Seattle, that would ruin the nice little life you have built" she says.

Lucy snorts, "We both know that won't happen because of the terms of the divorce, are you sick in the head Jen has losing your job warped your fucking brain?"

"I DID NOT LOSE MY JOB - I RESIGNED!" Jen shrieks.

"Ooh touchy! Cut the fucking crap! You resigned before you were pushed because of all the evidence we got which proved you are a dirty cop who did not play by the rules".

"You will regret that, you will regret everything you have done and everything mom has done!" Jen hisses.

"Yeah ok sis, whatever you say, you know, you really need to realise you are not in control anymore… that's why you keep calling isn't it, to feed your need for the illusion of control" Lucy replies. "So let me take pity on you, alright Jen, you are totally correct you are right, you are always right you are the most right person in the world - That's what you want to hear isn't it, make you think you are still in control… I have no idea how Neil puts up with you" Lucy says and there is something in her tone which says she knows something which Jen isn't going to like.

"You leave my husband out of this" Jen says.

"He called me you know" Lucy says calmly and almost smugly.

There is a silence and then when Jen responds she sounds shocked.

"What?" she asks, clearly shaken by this revelation.

"Yeah, he called and asked what was going on so I told him, and I also gave him Arash Madani's phone number and Carrick Grey's phone number and told him to speak to them if he wanted more information. I then called Carrick Grey and Arash Madani myself and gave permission for them to furnish him with all the information I had gathered on you and what you have been doing for years".

"You bitch! You will regret this I will make you pay!" Jen seethes.

"Seems like according to you I'm going to regret a lot of things but you know what - I'm good! Regret isn't what I feel when it comes to you, it's more like satisfaction that I broke the control you exerted over mom" Lucy replies, "If that's all, I'm a bit busy so are we done?" she adds…

I come out of the memory and look up at Gideon, "You're right" I say and I reach for my phone to call Elliot and make him aware of our hunch.