Chapter 40 – Fortune For Freedom

UNKNOWN LOCATION

A black car with tinted windows pulled up to the back entrance of a dingy warehouse. The driver got out and opened the trunk, inside of which was a terrified young woman, her arms and legs bound with ropes and a piece of duct tape over her mouth. He lifted her out of the trunk and slammed it shut, then carried her into the building and tied her to a chair. He then removed the tape from her mouth.

Young woman: Let me go! LET ME GO!

Man (mocking her): Lemme go! Lemme go! How about…NO?!

Young woman: PLEASE let me go!

Man: Do you really think saying "PLEASE!" before demanding that somebody does something for you is going to make them any more inclined to want to do it when they've already said no? Just how exactly did you get into one of the top universities in the country? This is behavior I'd expect from a preschooler!

Young woman: I'll give you anything you want, just let me go. Please!

Man: Let me think about it.

*He sarcastically rubs his chin and looks up at the ceiling*

Man: Hmmm…no! I don't think that you can give me what I want.

Woman: If you want ransom money, I'll gladly give you my mom's contact information. I'm sure she'll give you whatever you're asking.

Man: *Scoffs* You really think a commonplace doctor would be able to give me what I'm asking? I think not. I wouldn't want to bankrupt her practice. That would be unfair to her patients, wouldn't it? Besides, it probably wouldn't be nearly enough. No. The only person who is capable of giving me what I want is your grandmother!


PINE VALLEY

Leora and Ian were getting ready to watch a movie. While Leora was in the kitchen heating up some popcorn for the both of them to enjoy, Ian sat down on the plush sofa and turned on the TV.

News reporter: Now an update on the search for a student at UC Berkeley who was reported missing earlier this afternoon following some unruly behavior at a party last night causing massive damage to one of the dorm buildings. Police now suspect that what appeared to be a prank by a student getting out of hand may in fact have been a diversion to draw attention away from an even more serious crime.

22-year-old Emma Scorpio-Drake has not been seen since yesterday evening. According to her dormmates, Emma and her friends were hosting what was meant to be a small party in their dorm room, but the party quickly became out of control. At one point, someone triggered the sprinkler system in the building, causing massive water damage and displacing more than 200 students. Emma was last seen fleeing the building with everyone else. However, while her dormmates were accounted for and questioned by police about the incident, Emma was nowhere to be found.

Campus Police Officer: We have reason to believe that Emma and her friends, while admitting to some unruly behavior, never intended for things to get as out of control as they did. They had invited a small group of students over to celebrate their friend's 21st birthday party. They admitted to smuggling alcoholic beverages into the building, though it is unclear if Emma was intoxicated when the flood occurred. At the time, the sprinkler was believed to have been triggered by a student, however, upon reviewing the surveillance footage, we have reason to believe that it in fact was triggered by an intruder on campus.

News reporter: According to police, several students in a different dorm building reported seeing a suspicious person on campus not long before the incident. They describe the intruder as-

*Leora enters the room carrying a large bowl of popcorn*

Leora: Why are you always watching the news? Doesn't it make you anxious?

Ian: No. I like to know what's going on.

Leora: Locally, yeah, but this is happening on the complete opposite side of the country!

Ian: Good point. I hope they find her though.

Leora: Me too. Now let's start the movie.

Ian: Okay.

*He holds the remote up to the TV*

News reporter: Emma is described as a white female with long, light brown hair and green eyes. She is the daughter of Dr. Patrick Drake and his wife, Dr. Robin Scorpio-Drake. She is also the granddaughter of-

*Ian switches the TV to the streaming service*


PORT CHARLES

Anna Devane didn't think her current situation could be any worse. After many years of being an agent for the World Security Bureau (W.S.B.), word got out, thanks to Victor Cassadine, that Anna had once worked for the W.S.B.'s rivals, the D.V.X., and even though the Bureau has known about it, as Anna had been a double agent, they still publicly had her arrested for treason. Due to the outage sparked by her arrest, she was forced to resign from the W.S.B.. Not long afterwards, her house was set on fire by Jameson Forsyth, one of her many enemies, and not long after that, she had shot a home intruder, thinking it was Forsyth, when the intruder was actually Victor's fifteen-year-old granddaughter, Charlotte Cassadine, which led to the collapse of Anna's relationship with Charlotte's father, Valentin.

Then, just a few days earlier, she received a call from the mysterious Terri Kirk, wanting to know the location of a hidden stash of diamonds which presumably was part of the profit from the drug ring run by Proteus. Anna initially felt that Terri was merely interested in studying a high-profile criminal as part of an assignment for her criminology course, but the question about the diamonds had led Anna to suspect that Terri was not studying criminology at all. Unfortunately, by the time she reached this conclusion, she already had shared lesser-known information about Proteus with Terri, including that Proteus's real name was Vanessa Bennett, and she was Anna's former mother-in-law when Anna was married to David Hayward. She also had believed that the diamonds had been recovered and dumped into Miller's Falls by David's younger half-brother Leo. She hoped that these were the same diamonds that Terri was asking about, but now she wasn't so sure, and suspected there might be an additional stash of diamonds hidden away somewhere. She at least was glad that she didn't share any information about the Proteus fortune with Terri.

And now, she learned that her granddaughter, Emma, had likely been kidnapped from her dorm at UC Berkeley. Even though she hoped this wasn't the case, Anna suspected that Emma's captors were the people who were hoping to get their hands on the previously-unknown stash of Proteus diamonds, and Terri was working for them.

*Anna is resting on the sofa in her apartment when her phone rings, which startles her*

Anna: Hello?

Man: Hello Chief Devane.

Anna: Sorry, you've got the wrong number. There is no Chief Devane here.

Man: No, I definitely have the right number. Your granddaughter Emma and I have been having a little chat.

Anna: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HER?!

Man: Oh, she's fine. In fact, I'll even let you come see her. I'm sure she'd love to see you.

Anna: LET HER GO!

Man: Really? You expect me to comply and let her go simply by shouting "Let her go!"? No wonder they fired you from the W.S.B.! No, I expect something in return. Something very valuable!

Anna: Oh really, what would that be?

Man: Your late mother-in-law's fortune!

Anna: And what fortune is that?

Man: You mean you don't know? You were married to her son!

Anna: I don't know what you're talking about! You're going to have to be more specific!

Man: The diamonds!

Anna: Too bad, I don't have them.

Man: Oh, I didn't think you had them in your possession. But I know you know where they are, and if you want your granddaughter safely returned to what's left of her dorm room at UC Berkeley, if they haven't expelled her for it, you'll retrieve them and bring them to me!

Anna: I know where they are! My former brother-in-law Leo dumped them into Miller's Falls. This was over twenty years ago and they're long gone by now!

Man: Oh I know about those diamonds. It's a shame what happened to them. But I know of another stash hidden away somewhere in Pine Valley. Find them and bring them to me!

Anna: And what if I can't find them because I don't know where they are?

Man: THEN YOUR GRANDDAUGHTER DIES!

Anna: *Sigh* Alright, you said they're hidden in Pine Valley. Do you know where in Pine Valley they are?

Man: Lady, if I knew the answer to that question, I would already have retrieved them.

Anna: Look, if it's diamonds you're after, you'd have better luck finding what's left of the Ice Princess, and I know that there was a necklace made using pieces of it. Last I heard, it was at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Greenland. I can't guarantee that you'll find it, but I know approximately where to look. It's likely located near the area where the Haunted Star was when it was blown up! I can tell you the coordinates, so if you want to, you can have your men dive down to the bottom of the ocean to try and find it, even though it's likely that they'll die from hypothermia before they do. And I'm pretty sure it's much more valuable than whatever diamonds you're looking for.

Man: I already know about the Ice Princess. It's a shame what happened to both it and the Haunted Star. But I'm looking for a very specific set of diamonds, from the Proteus fortune, and they're hidden away somewhere in Pine Valley!

Anna: Where in Pine Valley?

Man: I DON'T KNOW WHERE?! THAT'S WHY I'M ASKING YOU!

Anna: Well, can you at least give me an idea of where it might be?

Man: Some mansion. I don't know which one, as there are several mansions in Pine Valley. You've got 72 hours to find the diamonds, or you can bid your granddaughter adios!

*He hangs up and turns to Emma*

Man: In case you don't speak Spanish, that means "goodbye!"

*He walks away and closes the door, leaving Emma alone in an office of the abandoned warehouse, still tied to a chair. Meanwhile Anna begins panicking!*


Esme so far had managed to successfully avoid Richard Thomas Smith for three days. She was happy that so far he hadn't figured out that she had been taking the long way to the parking lot, though unless he'd been expelled (which she hoped was the case even though she knew it was unlikely), she figured it was only a matter of time before she'd run into him again.

Her rideshare driver, Ernesto, had just dropped her off at the usual spot near the waterfront. She was about to head to the pier, where the launch was waiting, when she heard a familiar voice.

Man: Esme?

*Esme turns to see Nikolas Cassadine walking towards her*

Esme: What are you doing here?

Nikolas: I've been paroled, and I was hoping I'd find you here.

Esme: Oh really, why?

Nikolas: Because I want to see my son. I've missed nearly a year of his life!

Esme: And whose fault is that? You're the one who held me captive in that tower!

Nikolas: I did it in order to protect you Esme!

Esme: What a misogynist you are! I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself!

Nikolas: I don't doubt that for a second Esme, but you were carrying my baby…

*Esme is reminded of the DNA test results which she had yet to open*

Nikolas: And there was also a killer on the loose and you were the prime suspect, as all the victims…at least the intended ones…were connected in some way to Trina!

Esme: Yeah, but even after you locked me up, the murders didn't stop! That should've been the first clue that I was not the Hook Killer!

Nikolas: Yes, we know now that you were not the Hook Killer. But your mother was!

Esme: AND I DIDN'T KNOW AT THE TIME THAT SHE WAS MY MOTHER!

Nikolas: No you didn't, but your father is a killer too, and you and him were working together to ruin my marriage!

Esme: He was making me do all those horrible things! I didn't want to!

Nikolas: If there's one thing I'm glad to see it's that now that you seemingly have recovered from your amnesia, you at least realize the error of your ways. But that doesn't excuse you from everything you did to ruin not only my life but my son's life too!

Esme: Says the man who let his son believe he was dead when he needed you the most!

Nikolas: I had a very good reason for staying away for as long as I did, and that was to get the Cassadine family fortune back from Valentin, who was never meant to get it in the first place! It rightfully was mine, and Spencer was set to inherit all of it, and now that…

*He turns away from Esme to hide the fact that he's trying hard not to cry*

Nikolas: Now that Spencer is dead, the inheritance will go to Ace, as he's my only living heir now.

*Esme puts a hand to her pregnant belly. Even if Nikolas was Ace's father, the money would presumably go to Spencer's child whom she was carrying*

Nikolas: And due to the fact that you allowed us all to believe you were dead after the first time you fell off the parapet-

Esme: Which was Ava's fault by the way!

Nikolas: While I had my suspicion that you were still alive, I still did not expect to come in and find you attempting to break into the safe in the living room! And you were the one who told me you were pregnant. You even grabbed my hand and held it to your belly to show that you weren't kidding. I didn't want you in my house, but once you revealed that you were pregnant, I had no choice but to hold you in that tower. It was a much better than a prison cell, both for you and for Ace. It had some artwork lying around a couch, a bed, as well as a bathroom with a door capable of closing and locking so you could have privacy. And it would've had a nice view had I not been forced to board up the windows after you tried to escape!

Esme: Well I would think that when the murders didn't stop even after you locked me up, that would've been enough proof I wasn't the Hook!

Nikolas: For I knew it was a copycat killer. In any event, the only other alternative would've been to call the police saying that I had found you, and had haul you off to prison, where you belong. Even if you weren't the Hook, you were still wanted for other crimes, some of which were quite serious. So I did you a favor Esme! I kept you, and Ace, safe!

Esme: But you still are an unfit father and because of this, I don't want you anywhere near me or my son. Now if you'll excuse me I need to get to the docks, as the launch is waiting for me.

Nikolas: Then I'm coming with you!

Esme: Not you're not!

Nikolas: I WANT TO SEE MY SON!

Esme: Even if I wanted to allow you to see him, I couldn't. Jan isn't allowing any unwelcome visitors on the launch unless it's someone I'd want to see. Now I really must get to the docks.

*She heads to the docks. Nikolas follows her*

Esme: Didn't you hear me? You do not have permission to see Ace! He is being raised in a loving home, full of toys and other kids for him to play with them together, and I have plenty of support with raising him. Now leave me alone!

*She gets aboard the launch and stares angrily at Nikolas as the boat leaves the docks*