| The young man approached on horseback and Stavros groaned loudly. Xenia gave him a smirk. �Maybe he won�t stop in time and go straight over the cliff.� �I happen to like that horse.� �Yes of course, we�d hate to lose the horse.� The young man stopped short of the cliff�s edge, unfortunately. �I missed it. I heard Gregor�s men had caught him.� Stavros tried to ignore him. Xenia tried a more direct approach, �It�s getting very late, Dante. Perhaps you should get Amal back to the stables before the sun sets completely. No moon tonight, too dark to ride.� Dante Cassadine dismounted, ignoring her completely. �Did they shoot him? I thought I heard shots.� �Just a warning.� Stavros sighed. Dante had to be his least favorite inhabitant of the island. He�d practically thrown money at the boy to get rid of him but he wouldn�t budge. Stavros�s current circumstance made it inconvenient to order him off the island, so for now, he had to put up with him. �Why not just shoot the man? I hear he is nothing more than a common thug.� �And who is feeding you all this information? Who is it exactly that is gossiping behind my back?� �Well�you know���.the servants���� Dante sputtered. �A name, boy. Give me a name.� �I don�t recall��� Stavros clasped his hands behind his back and began making his way toward the compound. Xenia easily kept up but Dante was busy trying to make Amal follow him and she wasn�t cooperating. Stavros knew there was a reason he liked that horse. Xenia rolled her eyes. Stupid boy. While she was Victor�s only child, Tony Cassadine had a dozen children, that the family knew of. Some were legitimate, some were not, but all were worthless. If there was an inappropriate woman with in eye shot, Tony Cassadine managed to impregnate her. Most were penniless, of course, and completely without honor. They all showed up on the doorstep with their hand out eventually. And when the mother�s had worn out their welcome and emptied their bank accounts, they usually left the children behind for their father�s family to deal with. The curse of bad breeding. Dante was the youngest. Born three months after his father�s death, his mother had shown up demanding money, and left again. That had been the last they�d seen of her, until Dante was ten. His mother came to the island again and begged more money from Stefan. She�d gone through a small fortune. When Stefan refused, she said she had no way to care for the boy and asked to leave him on the island. It had taken Stefan less than an hour in Dante�s company to realize he�d give her whatever she wanted to leave and take the brat with her. Two years older than Nikolas, Dante was one cousin Stefan did not want influencing the young Prince. So they�d left again and she�d dumped him in one boarding school after another. Fights, poor grades, a fire, eventually he was thrown out of every single school until he�d shown up again on the island at the age of 19. With no one around to stop him, he�d made a nuisance of himself, tortured the servants, and genuinely worked hard at doing absolutely nothing. Since Stavros had come home, Dante made a point of letting the Prince know how much he wanted to be of service. He�d do anything to help Stavros and show his worth to the family. While Xenia�s affections were quite genuine, Stavros knew that Dante Cassadine would slit his throat if it meant attaining one ounce of power. He was a threat, the worst kind, one of their own. �You should have let me accompany them. Gregor is old, he�s getting soft. Let a true Cassadine show this criminal what it means to cross us.� The fact that the boy even dared to use the name Cassadine galled Stavros to no end. �Gregor did precisely as he was told.� �What if the man returns?� �That is not your concern.� �If he is a threat to the family���..� Stavros stopped, �If he is a threat to the family, Xenia will handle it. Won�t you, pet?� He stroked her cheek. It was all Dante could do not to sneer and Xenia caught the glint of jealousy and pure hatred in his eye. It was unfortunate, because if his soul weren�t so black, he�d be a terribly attractive young man. His hair was very long, not the fashion, but it was too beautiful to cut. Thick wavy blonde hair that made him look like he belonged on the cover of a cheesy romance novel. He was tan from endless hours of sailings and lying around the cove. He was tall and well spoken but once one got past the fa�ade, he was just a tightly wound ball of contempt. Xenia arrived on the island a few months before Stavros. She found things pretty much as she�d expected a complete mess. The entire island was over run with penniless guests, aging servants and prisoners no one even remembered anymore. Dante was drunk on power. He tossed his weight around and made everyone miserable. Xenia had a plan in place the first week to get rid of him. She�d thought of killing him, it wasn�t like anyone would miss him, but killing family was always messy. Even though no one really liked him, someone would find a way to use it against her later. She�d decided the best course of action was to simply send him off to the main land on some errand and make it impossible for him to return. But when Stavros arrived, he�d asked her to reconsider. Once on the mainland, Dante would inevitably run his mouth to anyone and everyone that Stavros was alive and the Prince wasn�t in the best position to deal with that. At least not yet. �You wouldn�t want Xenia to get hurt. Why not let me handle this situation for you?� Xenia and Stavros both looked up at him as though he had lost his mind. His arrogance knew no bounds. �There is a situation that requires some attention, are you certain you are up to it?� Dante smiled, �Of course.� �Very well. The last shipment of oats. One of the stable boys mentioned that it does not seem to agree with my Arabians. I think we should look into some new feed. Research the subject and speak with the veterinarian, see what he recommends.� Dante�s mouth nearly fell open. The task for a stable boy and a boring one at that. �I�ll look into it.� �I want a thorough analysis of all the current feed available on the market. Give me data on the top����..oh I don�t know������..30?� Dante nearly fell off the horse. �Right away.� �Take your time. Be very thorough. I want to know everything there is to know on the subject.� �I�ll��..I�ll prepare a report.� Dante turned the horse and hurried back toward the stables before Stavros could add anything more. Xenia held her stomach to keep from doubling over in laughter. �Well that will keep him busy.� �Don�t laugh my dear, that boy would kill us both given half a chance.� �I wish he would try, it would make my killing him easier to explain.� �This is preposterous. I�m tired of dealing with him. I should have let you follow through with your plan.� �No, you were right. We couldn�t take the chance of him telling everyone about your return, not yet anyway.� �Well we finally have the means to remedy that situation. I think it is time to put my little sister to work.� �So you will speak to her? Tonight?� �We should get back, she will be busy by now looking for a means of escape.� �Of which there are none, I can assure you.� Stavros kissed her hand. �I know.� ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ �Edward, you wanted to see me?� Nikolas was ushered in by Reggie who made a hasty exit, closing the door behind him. �Ah yes Nikolas.� Edward looked at his watch. �You wasted no time.� �Your message sounded pretty urgent. Is it Kristina? Has something happened to the baby?� �We aren�t sure.� �What do you mean? Hasn�t Alexis called? I checked with the hospital and they said she wasn�t back from Baltimore yet.� �Nikolas, have a seat.� Nikolas sat down, his heart in his throat. �The surgery didn�t go well?� �Alexis didn�t take Kristina to Baltimore.� �What are you talking about? Ned said she took Kristina for some kind of surgery.� �Oh it�s worse than we imagined, you really have no idea what is going on.� Nikolas closed his eyes and tried to remain calm. First his aunt, then his mother, then his little cousin born so premature, he wasn�t sure how much more he could stand. His whole family was falling apart; his whole WORLD was falling apart around him. �Just���..just tell me.� �From what we�ve been able to piece together, Alexis took little Kristina back to Greece.� �Greece? Why would Alexis take her there?� �We don�t believe she did it willingly. I mean, why would Alexis take the baby away from her father? No no, we fear your Aunt may be the victim of foul play.� �Where is Ned?� �Ned went after her, but he had to come back. She threatened little Brooke Lynn and Ned just couldn�t take a chance����� �She? Oh god, you don�t think��..� �Yes, Helena.� �But���.� �I don�t know for certain but the second Ned went to help Alexis, the threats started and poor little Emily���� Nikolas stood up, �She threatened Emily?� �Now listen, before you go off half cocked, you must be careful! I don�t have to tell you how dangerous that woman is but if she finds out that we told you��well there is no telling what she would do!� �I�ll���I�ll handle this.� �How?� �I�ll����� Nikolas was stumped. Stefan had been unreachable for months. Every time he called Milan he was told that his Uncle had extended his latest sabbatical in Africa. He couldn�t believe how long he�d been out of contact. He wasn�t even certain if Stefan knew of his sister�s death or that Laura was in the hospital. He had spoken to him briefly about Alexis�s pregnancy and at the time, he�d sounded anxious to come home and see her but then he had simply vanished and Nikolas had become more and more suspicious but didn�t want to face the possibility that something had happened to his Uncle. And now Helena had Alexis and the baby and there was no one to turn to. Ned had already tried and failed. Luke was half crazy and couldn�t even take care of his own family; he certainly wouldn�t be able to help Nikolas with his. �Are you certain they are in Greece?� �We know the plane she was on landed there, but Nikolas, oh you must promise not to let them know���.� �I�ll keep you out of it. I understand.� �If anything happened to Emily or little Brooke Lynn, I just don�t think Lila could take it. She�s already beside herself about the baby. I�m very worried about her.� �I�ll take care of it.� �What will you do?� �I guess���..I�ll go home.� �Yes, but it will be very dangerous. Are you sure you can handle it?� �Helena would never hurt me, not directly anyway. I might be able to reason with her about Alexis.� Edward threw his arm around Nikolas�s shoulders and began walking him toward the door. �Just be careful and do whatever you can to bring my precious little granddaughter back here. Lila is just so frail and����� Edward had tears in his eyes. �How could anyone be cold hearted enough to take that baby away from her family?� �I�ve been dealing with Helena my entire life, everything will be alright. Tell Mrs. Quartermaine not to worry.� �Oh bless you my boy. Now you be careful and call us the second you know they are both safe.� �I will. And tell Ned I�m sorry. I won�t let my Grandmother hurt your family, you have my word.� �That�s good enough for me.� Edward closed the front door and grinned. So they thought they could get away with threatening his family? �Let�s see how that bitch on the phone deals with the Prince when he learns of their little scheme.� Leaving Nikolas out of the plan was a slight blunder. At the very least, Alexis would have a lot of explaining to do. And the threats would stop, Nikolas would never let them hurt Emily�s family. Perhaps Nikolas could even talk Alexis into bringing the baby home. Where Edward could use her to his advantage. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Alexis blew at her bangs in frustration. There had to be a working phone somewhere in the house. They couldn�t be completely cut off from the mainland. She approached the next door with trepidation. Mikkos�s study. Her Father�s study, though she�d never thought of it that way as a child, because she hadn�t known. Or had she? The study was off limits, to everyone. It wasn�t even cleaned by the staff without Mikkos present. It was his sanctuary; no one had a key, not even Helena. Mikkos would spend weeks in his study, even sleeping there many nights. And to be summoned to the study was never a good thing. But even that hadn�t kept Alexis away, not entirely. Late at night, when everyone else was asleep, she�d snuck down the stairs on more than one occasion and hidden behind one of the two potted palms on either side of the door. There she would place her ear against the wall and listen. She always heard it, the music. She was drawn to it even though to be caught would have meant severe punishment. It occurred to her suddenly that someone must have known. Someone must have seen her, but nothing was ever done to stop her. She reached out for the handle. �You know it�s locked.� Alexis jumped and spun around. Xenia was leaning against the wall behind her. �Oh, you.� �Who were you expecting? Your Father perhaps?� �I don�t suppose you could tell me where the nearest working phone is?� Xenia stared at her blankly. �I didn�t think so.� Alexis jerked the handle anyway and of course it was locked. �The Prince requests your company for dinner.� �I�m not hungry.� �Follow me.� �I told you��..� �Requests was a polite way of saying get your ass to the breakfast room if you know what�s good for you.� �The breakfast room?� Alexis begrudgingly began to follow her cousin. �The banquet hall is full of guests. Stavros and I take our meals in the breakfast room now.� �So you DO know his name. Funny how you forgot to mention it until we got here.� �That was your mistake, not mine.� �Touch�. I�ll be sure to ask more specific questions. For instance, why am I still alive?� �Ask your brother.� �That would be Stavros, not Stefan.� �See there, you�re catching on.� �What�s in this for you? Why are you helping him?� �He asked.� �Okay, what the hell did I ever do to you to deserve this?� �Deserve what?� �Being kidnapped! Putting my child in danger! She�s just a baby.� Xenia stopped when she reached the door to the breakfast room. �I didn�t kidnap anyone. You asked for assistance in leaving in Port Charles, we provided it. As for the predicament you and your child are in now, that is your doing, not your brothers; don�t blame him for your mistakes.� Xenia opened the door. �No, I blame both of you, for taking advantage of them!� �So stop making so many Alexis. Have a seat, do your duty, and everyone will get what they want.� �My duty?� �Help your brother.� �Help him? I�ll never help him! He�s a monster. He murdered my best friend!� �That�s precisely why you are here.� Stavros stepped out of the shadows and Alexis jumped again. �Why, so you can kill me like you did poor Chloe?� �I never murdered anyone!� Stavros hissed. �You killed her! Just because Stefan loved her. You murdered that sweet innocent woman���.� �I did not.� �We know you did it Stavros. You had means, you had motive, you had opportunity. You�ll never convince me otherwise.� �Well that�s a pity because it will make your job that much more difficult.� �What job?� �Proving my innocence.� �That�s impossible!� �I hope not, for your sake. Because until you prove I�m innocent, you are as trapped here on this island as I am.� |