Chapter 34 – The Painful Truth

Esme was taken to GH to treat her broken nose, assess her for other injuries, as well as make sure the baby was okay. Once she was cleared, she went back to Wyndemere with Nelle, holding an ice pack to her nose. She walked in to find Leora and Ian playing with Ace. When Esme walked in, Leora hugged her again.

Leora: Are you okay?

Esme: Physically yes, though I need to keep ice on my nose for a while, and they cautioned against taking any pain relievers while pregnant. So I basically have to live with the pain.

Leora: How long did they said it would take to heal?

Esme: About six weeks.

Leora: Oh my god!

Esme: I know.

Ian: I'm not sure if you heard, but they identified the woman who drugged Spencer and Trina.

*He shows her the news article on his phone. Meanwhile, Nelle stands just outside the door to the hallway, listening to them*

Ian: She apparently was hired by an organization called Pikeman to follow Spencer to Paris.

*Esme remembers her conversation with Spencer, when he mentioned seeing Jack Brennan at Bobbie's restaurant*

Esme: Oh my god! I remember Spence telling me about them! He said that his great uncle Valentin knew the director of Pikeman, and Sonny Corinthos had some sort of deal with them, but it fell through, so now Sonny's organization is at war with Pikeman. Sonny is also Spence's uncle, but through his mother, so that's how he knows. Spence said the director of Pikeman is cozying up to Carly, but feels strongly that it's all an act. He showed me a picture of the two of them together at Bobbie's. He didn't think that the guy would have recognized him, but I guess he did and wanted to "eliminate" him.

Ian: I suppose it's possible.

Leora: But that doesn't make any sense. If they wanted to go after Spencer, why would they drug Trina too?

Ian: Collateral damage happens all the time. I know this from the time I was working for Selina Wu.

Esme: *Sigh* I suppose so.

*She takes a closer look at the photo of Betty Rutherford, with her shoulder-length hair which was much darker than Esme's*

Esme: She looks nothing like me!

*She scrolls down further*

Esme: Oh I see, she was wearing a wig. Do you think she was disguising herself as me?

Leora: I highly doubt it. I think it's a very tragic coincidence.

Esme: This whole thing is my fault!

*Nelle walks into the room*

Nelle: No it isn't. Don't even say that!

*They all look at her as she sits down on the sofa*

Nelle: Mob wars unfortunately are a regular occurrence in Port Charles, and have been for decades.

Esme: They sure are.

Leora: This is one of the reasons why I didn't go out very much when I was living here before. Aside from running errands, I mainly stayed at home. Having said that, I've always wanted to see Wyndemere. I know I already said it earlier, but it's so beautiful!

Esme: I know, right? There's a lot of history here too.

Leora: I've known about it for a long time, but never saw it until today. Hey, wait a minute, didn't you say this was where you and Spencer lived when you were together?

Esme: We did, and it was also where Nikolas locked me in the tower. However, I had forgotten about it after I lost my memory, but even though I have my memory back, somehow the bad memories I have aren't so bad that I didn't want to come back here.

Nelle: And I gave the place a thorough renovation after I bought it. After Nikolas and his wife Ava divorced, Ava got the house, and made a bunch of unnecessary "improvements" to appeal to potential buyers which were quite ugly. Wouldn't you agree, Esme?

Esme: Oh yes!

Nelle: So I had them remove all of those and bring back a lot of the original details. I also was partially inspired by Wildwind.

Leora: Well it looks great!

Nelle: I know you're trying to research what happened with your family, but if you and Ian want to stay here with Esme for a few days you can.

Leora: I'd love to. As long as Esme is okay with it. And Ian of course.

Esme: Of course it is! After I've rested a bit I can show you guys around.

Ian: It's fine with me.

Nelle: Sounds like a plan!

Joss was charged with assault and spent the night in jail, before being bailed out by Carly. Ultimately, their lawyer, Diane Miller, managed to arrange a plea bargain for Joss to attend anger management classes as well as pay restitution. She was also ordered to not have any contact with Esme. Joss accepted the deal, though she and Carly both thought it was unfair given everything that Esme had done prior to losing her memory.

*Carly and Joss enter the Greystone Manor through the kitchen door. Joss sits down on one of the stools near the island and looks at the large moss bowl.*

Joss: It's SO unfair that I have to pay Esme money and am ordered to not to "annoy, threaten, or contact" her when she's the one who recorded me and my boyfriend having sex and distributing the video to literally everyone at PCU! What she did to me and Cam was so violating. And of course she drugged Trina. WHY AM I BEING PROSECUTED WHILE SHE GETS AWAY SCOT FREE?!

*She bangs her fist on the counter*

Carly: I know! I can't look at Esme without feeling the urge to punch her myself for what she did to you! In fact, when I was your age, I probably would have done so! And I'm not buying her not being able to remember what she did to you. From what I hear, the drugs she overdosed on in Pine Valley jogged her memories.

Joss: I'm not surprised. They're called "Pensieve Pills" for a reason.

Carly: And yet, people still believe she's a changed woman. I'm not buying it.

Joss: Me neither. If anything, I think she showed a little bit of "Old Esme" when she threatened to put both me and Trina in the hospital, I mean yeah, I admit, I punched her, but she seemed ready to attack Trina, and the reason why she stopped was Jan telling her not to do it because she was pregnant!

Carly: I can't believe she's having another baby when she's an unfit mother.

Joss: Yeah, and with Spencer! I'm just glad she wasn't the one who drugged him. I'm not sure what I would do if she was.

*Joss is quiet for several seconds*

Joss: I'm going to Dex's.

Carly: Okay.

*Joss hugs her mother, then walks out the door*

LATER THAT DAY

It had been another stressful day for Dex Heller. He had been working as Sonny's right hand man for the last couple of years, and while he always knew that it was a highly dangerous job and he was risking his life every day, and there were even times when Sonny had threatened him, he had felt like Sonny was becoming increasingly irrational and unpredictable over the past few weeks. It became apparent the other day, after he had arrived at Sonny's office to inform him that Betty Rutherford had been identified as the person who had drugged Spencer, only to walk in on Sonny about to shoot Esme, that something was wrong. Had he arrived only one second later, not only would Esme have been dead, but also her unborn child. Since then, he had been extra careful not to do anything that would make Sonny even remotely suspicious of him.

*Dex has just arrived at his apartment and is changing out of his work clothes when he hears a knock on the door. He opens it to see a distressed looking Joss*

Dex: Hey Joss. Everything alright?

Joss: No.

*She comes in and he closes the door. She takes her jacket off and puts it on the table next to her purse*

Dex: What happened?

Joss: What happened is that there is a woman out there, who is the daughter of not one, but two serial killers, who recorded me and my ex-boyfriend having sex, distributed the video to everyone, framed one of my best friends for it, and has a young child and another baby on the way when she's an unfit mother, who I'm being forced to pay restitution for punching her, while also being ordered to stay away from her!

Dex: Well, I'm not saying she isn't guilty of any of those things, but you did punch her hard enough to break her nose.

Joss: Yeah, but she gave this flex about fighting off two big guys who were trying to attack her when she was sixteen, and could easily put me and Trina in the hospital!

*Sigh*

Joss: I know I shouldn't have punched her, but why do I have to pay her restitution for an injury that will heal, when meanwhile she hasn't faced any sort of consequence for violating me and Cam and nearly getting my best friend convicted of a crime that she's completely innocent of! And only after all that did I find out that Esme wasn't the one who drugged Spencer and Trina! At least she isn't responsible for Spencer's death. If she had killed him...I would be willing to go to jail if it meant preventing her from hurting any of my friends ever again!

*She sighs and sits down on the sofa. Dex sits next to her and puts his arm around her*

Joss: I feel bad for Ace, and this new baby Esme's pregnant with. They deserve better! I hope by some miracle Spencer survived the fall into the Seine. They never found his body. Maybe he has amnesia like Esme supposedly had. That's how she's getting away with all the horrible things she did. She claims she can't remember what she was thinking when she did it, but that she would never do anything like that now. I don't believe it, and neither does me my mom. *Sigh* Sorry, I'm rambling.

Dex: No, it's fine.

Joss: How was your day?

Dex: Stressful, as usual. Every day Sonny seems increasingly unhinged. To be honest, I've never seen him like this.

Joss: Well, what can I say? That's Sonny for you. I'm glad my mom finally came to her senses and divorced him. Not that my life isn't any easier. His enemies could still use me as leverage.

Dex: I know, but Sonny's judgement usually is very good, up until a couple of weeks ago.

Joss: You know he's bipolar, right?

Dex: Yes. Why?

Joss: I hope he's still taking his medication.

Dex: It has occurred to me that maybe he isn't. I wouldn't dare bring it up to him though.

Joss: You know, my brother Morgan was also bipolar and was put on meds, but then someone...Ava Jerome...switched them with placebos.

Dex: Do you think somebody is messing with his medication?

Joss: I wouldn't rule it out. I just hope nothing catastrophic happens as a result. He could easily kill someone thinking he's doing the right thing by eliminating someone who is threatening his family, when in fact they're innocent.

*Dex removes his arm from around Joss and looks at her*

Dex: I have something I need to tell you, and you're not going to like it.

*Joss looks at him, worried*

Joss: What is it?

Dex: The day before Spencer's memorial, Sonny kidnapped Esme. He had Frank pose as a rideshare driver, and brought her to Pozzulo's, and was trying to get her to admit to killing Spencer. I arrived just in the nick of time to stop him from shooting her.

Joss: *Sigh* Well, since it turns out she didn't kill him, I guess you did the right thing.

Dex: I want Esme to pay for everything she's done, but at the end of the day, Betty Rutherford was the one responsible for Spencer's death. And I have no idea what she intended to do by drugging him and Trina, but she seemingly admitted to being responsible for what happened to him.

Joss: Wait a minute, she admitted to it?

Dex: From the evidence they found, yes.

Joss: What do you mean, the evidence?

Dex: *Sigh* Betty was found dead in her hotel room in France. The bottle of wine that Spencer had purchased was found next to her. It was empty, and the coroner's report said that her cause of death was alcohol poisoning. There was also a note saying that she was sorry for everything.

Joss: Why am I only hearing about this now?

Dex: Because it's still being investigated by the French authorities to rule out any foul play, but Brick told me that-

Joss: Brick told you?!

Dex: Sonny's surveillance guy.

Joss: I know who Brick is. When did he tell you this?

Dex: The same day that Sonny kidnapped Esme. That's why I knew it wasn't her.

Joss: Why didn't you tell me any of this before?!

Dex: Because Sonny ordered me to stay quiet about it before the investigation was concluded, and I was afraid of what he might do to me if I were to have told you.

Joss: So you've known all this time that Betty was the one who killed Spencer and you didn't tell me?!

Dex: I'm sorry Joss!

Joss: Sorry?! Dex, had you told me this, I wouldn't have attacked Esme!

Dex: Joss, I-

Joss: I went to jail, Dex! I went to jail for attacking someone who I THOUGHT had killed one of my best friends but had the nerve to show up at his memorial, when she didn't do it, and you knew it wasn't her but you didn't tell me!

Dex: I had to stay quiet about it Joss! I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't!

Joss: Well, you should have told me! I thought we trusted each other Dex!

Dex: I do trust you Joss! But I don't trust Sonny!

Joss: I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULDN'T THINK TO TELL ME THIS!

Dex: Joss, I didn't have a choice!

Joss: YES YOU DID! YOU COULD HAVE CHOSEN TO DISASSOCIATE WITH SONNY!

Dex: Joss, I-

Joss: No! I thought I could trust you Dex! Clearly I can't!

*She grabs her stuff and storms out the door, leaving Dex in disbelief*

Leora and Ian had stayed with Esme for a few days to make sure she was okay, but Esme knew that Leora was wanting to get back to Pine Valley. The whole time they had been staying there, Esme was debating whether or not to show Leora the article she had found. She had really appreciated Leora being there, and didn't want to do anything to upset her, but also felt it would provide Leora with crucial information.

They had just finished breakfast and Leora and Ian were leaving for Pine Valley in a few hours. It was now or never.

*Esme is helping Leora pack her suitcase*

Esme: *Sigh* There's something that I need to show you before you leave. It could give you some information that may or may not be helpful in trying to find out what happened to you.

Leora: Okay. You seem a little hesitant about it.

Esme: It's rather disturbing. I can understand…

Leora: No, I'd like to see it.

Esme: Okay.

*She brings the article up on her phone, then hands it to Leora. Esme watches nervously as Leora reads it, with an increasingly-shocked expression on her face*

Leora: How did you find this?!

Esme: I actually stumbled upon it by searching for information about Stephen Clay. I saw his picture that Ian had shared on Instagram, I thought he looked familiar, so I searched for information about him, and that's what led me to this.

Leora: Thank you for showing me!

*Esme notices Leora looks angry*

Esme: I…hope you're not upset with me. I found it a while ago and was struggling about how to go about showing it to you.

Leora: No I'm not angry. Well I am angry but not with you. Brooke English told me that she had done two interviews with my father, but the more recent one wasn't published. Clearly it had been published, but then taken down. And it looks like there's only one page that's able to load.

*Esme starts crying*

Leora: What's wrong?

*Esme hugs Leora tightly*

Esme: I think my father killed your father!

Leora: What makes you say that?

Esme: Dr. Hayward mentions in the article how he finally felt comfortable sharing the information because my father and Dr. Clay were both dead. But then he was discovered dead two days after the article was published. And not long after that, my father was discovered to still be alive. He had faked his death. I'm so sorry Leora!

Leora: Esme, I understand why you feel like your father was responsible for what happened to my father, but we can't assume that he killed him based on one page of what looks like a long article.

Esme: I suppose you're right. I just feel awful. I remember when I first found out that my father was a notorious serial killer, I genuinely didn't care. I was so angry over everything I went through at the hands of my adoptive parents that I was dismissive of who he was. He promised me a better life while making me do a whole bunch of horrible things.

*She sniffles and dabs her broken nose with a tissue*

Esme: Had you met me one year earlier Leora, you would have met a completely different person. I genuinely didn't care that I was hurting people, including people like Spence. One of the few things I remembered when I woke up after jumping off the parapet was naming my baby Ace. I didn't know at the time if I was having a boy or a girl, just that I thought Ace was a good name. But then I remembered. I named my baby Ace because he was my "ace in the hole!" I was bringing a child into the world to use as leverage against Nikolas. But I also remember my father telling me to "seduce the prince!" Leora, he was pimping me out! If he could do something like that, it proved he had no conscience. He was a despicable human being and I'm glad he's dead!

Leora: I completely understand why you're angry Esme, and that's why you came to All Our Children!

Esme: But I'm not much better than my father! He didn't make me do what I did to Spence's friends. And when Joss punched me, for a second there I really could feel my anger towards the world building up like it hasn't since I got my memory back. Leora, I'm turning back into my old self!

Leora: YOU'RE WRONG!

*Esme looks at Leora, stunned that she would yell at her when she was normally so understanding*

Leora: You're not turning back into your old self Esme! The fact that you're feeling like this shows that you aren't the same person that you were before you lost your memory. And you have it in you to be a good person.

Esme: I know, Leora! I just don't want to lose control like that. I wasn't lying about taking boxing lessons and beating up those two guys. I refrained from beating both Joss and Trina within an inch of their lives!

Leora: But, you kind of had a reason to defend yourself. Joss punched you and from the looks of it was gearing up to do it again!

Esme: *Sigh* You're right. Leora, you've been a really great friend to me. I want to return the favor. I want to help you find out what happened to your father.

Leora: And you have. This article, while it was very difficult to read, nonetheless is probably going to be very useful in me figuring out what happened, and once I get back to Pine Valley, I'm going to talk to Brooke again, and ask if she maybe has the full article in her archives, or something. But I don't think we should assume that your father killed my father. In fact, I kind of think maybe something else might have happened to him.

Esme: You do?

Leora: Yes. I don't know what, but Ian and I did some digging, literally. We dug up the grave in the cemetery where I was supposedly buried. There was a casket buried there, and I was fully prepared to find a body inside and that maybe I wasn't Leora after all, but there wasn't a body. Instead there was this.

*She opens her suitcase and takes out the note from "T.K." that was inside the casket, and hands it to Esme for her to read*

Leora: I have no idea who this T.K. person is, but they obviously know something about why I was taken away from my parents when I was a baby, but they also wanted me to find my way back to them eventually. Which is why they left me this.

*She pulls out the heart pendant around her neck*

Leora: This was inside the casket, along with the note.

*Esme looks at the heart pendant*

Esme: It looks exactly like the one Jan has!

Leora: It was crafted by the same jeweller, only there's a message.

*She shows Esme the message embossed around the edge of the heart*

Leora: If I can find the person who left this for me, they will be able to tell me what happened. For all I know, this person is a relative. If they are willing to do a DNA test, and we're related, I will know that I am Leora.

Esme: I hope you find them. Please keep me posted, and if I can help you in any way, please let me know.

Leora: I will, and thank you. And don't worry, you're a wonderful friend, and I'm very grateful to have you.

*They hug. Ian walks into the room*

Ian: Everything okay?

Esme: Yes it is.

*Leora smiles and gently rubs Esme's back, then puts the note back in her suitcase and closes it. Esme carries Leora's purse while Leora and Ian pick up their suitcases. Nelle accompanies the three of them down to the boathouse to wait for the launch. When it arrives, Esme and Nelle hug both of them, and wave goodbye as the launch sails back to the pier*

Trina lay in bed in her room at her parents' house, holding a small porcelain turtle dove that Spencer had given her. There were two of them, and Spencer had the other one. They both carried them with them everywhere to remind them of each other when they weren't around. Spencer had his with him when he fell off the boat. Trina felt that the dove was all she had left of Spencer. She then heard the doorbell ring.

*Trina opens the door to see Joss*

Trina: Yes?

Joss: Dex and I had a fight.

Trina: This seems to be a regular thing!

Joss: I don't understand.

Trina: You nearly caused Esme to beat both of us up!

Joss: Because I thought she had tried to kill both you and Spencer! I wanted to make her pay! And it was only after I spent a night in jail and was ordered to pay restitution did I find out that Dex knew that Esme wasn't the one who drugged you, and I'm not sure if I can forgive him for it!

Trina: Well, I'm sorry to hear you and Dex had a fight, but it's not my problem!

Joss: What do you mean?

Trina: I've been an absolute wreck! I'm grieving Spencer, and my mom and I have been fighting ever since we got back from France. She's insisting that I stay here to protect me from Esme, who she says I wouldn't have to deal with if it weren't for me and Spencer, and is treating me like I'm a helpless child who can't defend myself. Then you go and punch Esme and nearly cause us to get beat up!

Joss: I was trying to protect you Trina!

Trina: Don't you get it, Josslyn?! I don't need protection! I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, and I'm sick and tired of people insisting on fighting my battles!

*She slams the door in Joss's face*