There's a somber sensation that flows through Dante the moment he enters the penthouse.
A group of cops, all wearing black gloves, examine the broken trinkets and lift the overturned furniture. They take an assortment of photographs, noting each glass shard and scuff mark that decorated the floor. Dante enters in further, looking from the face-down picture frames to the scattered toys, ending up at the pool of blood by the television stand.
"What the hell happened here?" the officer asks himself, crouching down.
"Detective Falconeri," one of the officers approaches him, a camera resting against her torso. He stands at attention when he sees her.
"Whatcha got so far?" he asks.
"We're still going through everything upstairs, and we've sent some blood samples to the lab," she points at the pool, "and we managed to get security footage from the hallway. The complex gave us a day's worth of it."
"What did you see?"
"Besides the occupant, Dex Heller, we saw two people enter and exit the penthouse. The first was a black male; it appeared to be TJ Ashford."
"Well, he and Dex are friends, so that checks out."
"The second was a white female with blonde hair. She looked like your stepsister, Josslyn Jacks. We noticed that when both of them left, they looked rather unhappy, with Ms. Jacks seemingly slamming the door on her way out."
"I doubt TJ would hurt Dex, and Joss…I don't know why she'd be here, but she's a bit too small compared to him. What time did they stop by?"
"Dr. Ashford came and went in the morning, Ms. Jacks in the late afternoon. The 911 call noted noises just after midnight. We checked the footage around that time, and nothing could be seen or recovered."
"So the footage was scrubbed…or tampered with," Dante sighs, hands in his pockets, "Any evidence that this could've been a burglary gone wrong?"
"Not that we could see. Mr. Heller's wallet, cellphone, and car keys are in a drawer in one of the master bedroom nightstands, and there's an empty diaper bag on the credenza, so the chance of him running away with his daughter is pretty slim," she points to a black bag behind them.
"Dante?"
The man turns to see Sonny standing behind the yellow tape in the doorway. The kingpin's face is grim.
"Dad, hey," he says, walking up.
"N-Nina's giving her statement down the hall," he says as his son walks up, "She told me there was some kind of b-break-in or ambush, and that D-Dex and Ciara are m-missing?"
"It looks like it, yeah," Dante looks around, "With what we're seeing so far, I have a feeling they didn't run away just because," the officer turns back to his father, "You had guards posted outside, right? Where are they?"
"Frank's looking over them at my place. Whoever…did this managed to attack them from behind and caught them off-guard."
"I see," Dante nods slowly, "Well, uh, hopefully they're able to tell us something later."
"I'll let you know. Ciara's family, and Dex, he's one of my people. I want to do everything in my power to help find them."
"Detective," the officer from before runs up to Dante and Sonny, "We have the results from the blood samples, and we have reason to believe it's Mr. Heller."
Sonny and Dante's eyebrows shoot up at the same time, waiting for the officer to continue.
"The blood type is O-positive. The lab received a copy of Mr. Heller's medical records and noted that his type is also O-positive. We also checked his daughter's records, and her type is O-negative."
"I see," Dante says, letting out a sigh. A second officer rushes down the stairs, a red toolbox in his hand.
"I looked through the upstairs hallway closet and noticed this was open," he says, lifting the lid, "The hammer is missing."
"Damn it!" Sonny yells, slamming his hand against the outside door frame.
"Looks like we have a weapon," Dante examines the inside of the toolbox, "Keep searching. Maybe the hammer's somewhere in the apartment."
Both officers walk away as Dante turns to his father. Sonny rubs the side of his chin, hiding his mouth with his fingers.
"Now what?" the kingpin asks.
"All we can do right now is search the place and see if we can uncover anything else," Dante replies, pulling out his phone. He immediately swipes right when a phone call request appears on his screen, "Chase, hey."
"I need to tell you something," Harrison Chase's voice is laced with concern.
"So do I. I need you to put out some alerts to the community. Dex Heller and his daughter, Ciara, are missing, and we have reason to believe Dex is critically injured."
"You're going to have to have someone else do that. Laura Collins just called: Spencer and Ace Cassadine are missing."
"What?!" Dante shouts, catching Sonny's attention.
"Spencer wasn't in his room and Ace wasn't in his crib. Spencer's wallet and cellphone were left behind and there's a full diaper bag in the living room, so I don't think Spencer just ran off with his brother."
"Spencer's not that kind of guy. Was Ace's mother there?"
"Yeah, Esme's here. Laura found her knocked out by the crib, hit over the head with something. She regained consciousness a couple of minutes ago and she's talking with officers now."
"Is there any footage of who might've broken into the place?"
"We're working on that. I'll let you know if there's an update."
"Thanks. I'll go ahead and call the station for those alerts," Dante says, hanging up the phone.
"What is it?" Sonny asks.
"Well, if you can believe it, Nina's call is the first of the night."
"What do you mean?"
"Spencer and his brother are gone too."
Sonny shakes his head, hitting the door frame again. Dante sighs, turning away and dialing the station's number. Sonny leaves him be, walking closer to the front door of his penthouse. He pulls out his cellphone, scrolling to Kristina's contact. He stares at the number for a beat, taking a deep breath before pressing down. It rings once.
"Dad?" she yawns, "What's up?"
"Where are you right now?"
"I'm at Mom's house. Why?"
"There's s-something I need to tell you. It's about Dex and Ciara."
Kristina flinches at the statement, sitting up straight in the guest bed. She gulps at what her father could say, and she knew from the dark tone that it would be anything but good news.
"W-What should I k-know?" she stammers.
"There w-was a break-in at the penthouse, and D-Dex and Ciara…they're gone."
Her blood runs cold, panic washing over her instantly. Her heart drops to her stomach as she slowly processes her father's words.
"What happened?"
"The PCPD are…looking into the details."
"Aren't there guards? Why didn't they stop this from happening?"
"W-Whoever broke in got to them."
"Do you know if Dex and Ciara are okay?"
"As far as I know, Ciara's fine."
"And Dex?"
Silence.
"Dad," Kristina's voice cracks, "what happened to Dex?"
"...He's hurt."
"How hurt?"
"I don't know."
"Is Dante there? Was he called to investigate? Can I talk to him?"
"Take a breath, Kristina, hold on-"
"No, Dad, let me talk to him. My daughter and her father are missing, okay? They're my family; I deserve to know what's going on."
The guest room door opening up suddenly causes Kristina to jump. Alexis stands in the doorway, anger present in her face.
"Who are you on the phone with?" the elder woman's voice is bitter.
"Dad. Why?"
"Tell him you'll call him back."
"We'll talk later, Dad," Kristina briefly turns away from her mother, "If you find out anything else, tell me."
"Okay. I love you, sweetheart."
"Love you too," she hangs up the phone and gets to her feet, following her mother into the living room. Sam and Molly sit on the couch, turning her way when they hear footsteps. Sam's eyes are wide while Molly scowls.
"What's wrong?" Kristina asks, taking a seat next to her elder sister.
"Nothing's wrong, my dear."
Her heart skips a beat when she notices the open laptop on the coffee table, Victor's wicked smile on the screen. Her face turns pale as she begins to piece together an idea of how her family disappeared.
"I'm so glad I get to see all of you," Victor looks from his right to his left, nodding in the order he sees each woman: Molly, Sam, Kristina, and Alexis.
"Why are you contacting us?" Alexis asks, her tone exasperated.
"I know Nikolas is…missing, and Valentin is here with me, which leaves you four as the last ones not in the loop."
"What are you up to, Victor?" Sam crosses her arms.
"I've spoken at length about family unity and the Cassadines all coming together for a better tomorrow, but it seems my message has fallen on deaf ears, so-to-speak. So I've decided to take a different approach."
"What are you talking about?"
"If I can't have everyone in our family take a step forward, I'll have the ones young enough to make a difference do it instead."
Alexis and Sam's eyebrows shoot up immediately, with the latter pulling out her phone, "Oh God, I have to call Olivia-"
"Don't bother. Try as I might, the Quartermaine mansion is practically impenetrable. Your children are safe and sound, Sam."
"...But mine isn't."
The words leave Kristina's mouth slowly, outrage appearing in her face at the same speed. Sam and Alexis grab a shoulder each in support while Molly looks away.
"I promise you, Kristina," Victor replies, "Ciara is in good hands. So are Spencer and Ace, for that matter."
"You bastard," Alexis hisses, squeezing her daughter's shoulder harder, "You have no business with any of them!"
"I can assure you, Alexis, I won't let anything happen to them."
"Let them go, Victor," Sam says, her voice firm, "Spencer's starting to live his life and Ace and Ciara are just babies. They need their parents."
"I'd like to think you all agree that little Ace is better off without his…pest of a mother," Victor sighs aggressively, "and as for Ciara, well, I already have that covered."
"You broke into the penthouse," Kristina says absent-mindedly. All eyes end up on her as she continues, her voice picking up in speed, "You and your men ambushed my family, and…and not only did you take my daughter, you took her father too!"
"Very perceptive, my dear!" Victor smirks, "I'll give Dexter some credit: he's quite the scrappy fighter under pressure. He did some damage on my men, but thankfully," Kristina's heart skips a beat when she sees him lift a hammer, blood coating the silver head, "I know how to tame a barking dog."
"Oh my God-" Molly mutters to herself, covering her mouth as Alexis cuddles her middle daughter against her, feeling her shake with anger.
"You have some nerve going after your grand-niece's father," Sam hisses.
"I have my reasons."
"And those are?"
"A better tomorrow, of course."
"And what exactly does that look like?" Alexis raises a skeptical eyebrow.
"Why, I'm glad you asked! You know as well as I do that there are a lot of…undesirable things in the world. Wars, climate change, overpopulation: it's all brought about by undesirable people. What I'd like to do is correct that."
"...How?"
"We need this Earth to last as long as we do, and what better way to do that than to cleanse the toxins that pollute it?"
"A good message, but I know you well enough to know that it's not just about recycling and reducing fossil fuels."
"That's a little too…simplistic for my tastes, yes. What I have in mind exists on a more worldwide scale, where it's not just the fossil fuels and trash in the oceans that would be cleaned up. It would be far bigger than that."
"It would be people, wouldn't it?"
"Precisely."
"What does that have to do with the people you're holding hostage?" Sam questions as Alexis cringes, rolling her eyes.
"What better way to usher in a brand new world than letting brand new eyes lead the way? Spencer is old enough to take matters into his own hands, and Ace and Ciara will take the mantle when they're much older."
"And Dex?"
"He'll be lucky enough to usher this new era in…literally."
"What are you going to do to him?" Kristina snaps.
"I'll be making him useful, or more useful at least. I am thankful he managed to bring another Cassadine into the world, but beyond that, he isn't worth much. I even thought about leaving him at the penthouse when I dropped by to pick up Ciara-"
"To kidnap Ciara."
"Be that as it may, when I saw him lying on the ground, a good few blows to his skull, I recalled something quite important."
"Which was what?" Sam cuts in.
"I wasn't the only one who wouldn't shed a tear if poor Dexter disappeared for good."
"Who else wanted that?"
"Why not ask your baby sister?"
All eyes suddenly shift to Molly, who does her best to recoil into the couch, avoiding Kristina's fiery glare.
"She could not stop talking about how angry she was at him, to say the least," Victor sighs, "but that's all going to be taken care of now, dear Molly. Soon enough, that man will be nothing more than a shell, a shell that brings about a grand change."
"You're not going to get away with this," Alexis growls.
"We'll see about that. In fact, we'll see if any of you make it. I wish I could say goodbye to you all in person, but alas. I'm setting sail on this voyage, and I'll be seeing it through to the other side. Wish your loved ones with me well, and cherish the memories you have with them. It'll likely be the last time you'll all ever see each other again."
