Never Tear Us Apart
Chapter
Fifteen
Chloe tried to push herself up, but the drug had weakened her system so severely that she could hardly move. She groaned in frustration as she only managed to scoot a few inches away from him. Phillip caressed her face with his icy fingers and continued smiling at her.
"What's the matter, beautiful?"
Chloe turned her face away from his hand and made a face of disgust. "You drugged me, you sick bastard."
"I only did it because I had to..."
Phillip pulled her up from her the bed into a sitting position, her back propped up by the wall. He had brought a chair in with him that he pulled up to the bed so they could face each other as they spoke. He looked her up and down for a moment and then continued speaking.
"Chloe... Maybe it sounds unbelievable, but you look even more beautiful now than you did the last time I saw you."
Chloe averted her eyes away from him, not wanting to acknowledge his presence if she could avoid it. Phillip would not be deterred and he continued on. "You must remember that day, don't you?"
She continued her silence, finding the energy to turn her head to the side. There was a long pause until Phillip leaned forward in his chair to cup her chin in his hand. He turned her face to look into her eyes and speak to her.
"Come on... It was that day in court. The day you sat up on the witness stand and told them that I tried to kill my nephew..."
Chloe spat her words out angrily. "You did try to kill your nephew... And -- and you might have killed me too, if Shawn and Belle had not shown up at the hospital when they did."
Phillip released his grasp on her face and shook his head sadly. "No, Chloe, I would have never hurt you. I love you..."
"You don't know the meaning of the word..."
"Now, now, you know that's not true. I love you, Chloe, I always have and I always will. And -- I forgive you. I forgive you for sending me to prison."
Chloe rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. "I never asked for your forgiveness, because I don't need it. Prison is where you belong... In fact, why don't you go back there right now?"
Phillip laughed softly and shook his head. "No can do. I've got more important things to do right now. Like plan my future -- OUR future, Chloe. Our future together."
"The only kind of future we share is the one where you either get sent back to prison or my husband kills you."
"No, Chloe, that's not going to happen... You see, what we're going to do is this. We're going to make that husband of yours believe that you're dead... Just like the rest of those idiots in Salem think I'm dead. And then you and I can have the life we were supposed to have... We can be together like we were meant to be - husband and wife... A family."
Chloe stared at him in complete shock. She had known back when he mowed Brady down with his car that he was very disturbed. But, she would have never imagined him to be as completely insane as he was acting now. She shook her head in denial, her tone of voice completely defiant as her blue eyes looked coldly at him.
"That will never happen. I will never be your wife, nor will I ever go anywhere with you."
His facial expression changed from amused to angry, his eyes narrowing as he glared at her. "You will. Because, if you don't, I'll make sure Brady and Wesley are dead, and that they suffer."
Chloe had gradually begun to regain feeling in her limbs, a slight tingle running over her entire body. Her hand was strong enough to grip the blanket beside her with her fingers. She swallowed the lump in her throat, fighting back the urge to cry.
"I won't do it, Phillip. I won't. I'll kill myself before I ever let you hurt my family."
Phillip stood up to sit on the bed beside her. His hand caressed her cheek and he leaned in close to her to speak softly. "That's not your family, Chloe. I'm your family... How could you forget that? I'm the only one who can love you like you need to be loved. YOu threw it away once, I won't let you do that again..."
Chloe shook her head as Phillip took his hand away from her face. "You -- you are insane. You'll never get away with it Phillip. Never."
"Yes, I will... I have all the resources I could possibly need. I can get away with anything... In fact, I think I already have. I'm out of prison, aren't I?"
"How? How did you do it?"
Phillip grinned at her and waved his finger scoldingly. "No, no, no -- you don't get to hear that story yet. We'll save that for another time, when you feel up to celebrating. Let me just say that I had a little help... a lot of help... from a friend."
Chloe squeezed her eyes shut tightly and whispered the answer she was looking for. "Stefano... Stefano DiMera... I should have known. This is just another part of the game."
"You always were so smart, Chloe... I guess you got my note, right?"
"The note at the hotel..."
Phillip smiled proudly and nodded, snaking his arm around her shoulder to pull her close to him. "I knew you would come... And, I was right. Brady always has to be the hero, and I knew that he would come running off to Venice to save Greta and his father... And, I knew you would come with him."
Chloe knew she could move her arms now, but kept herself from letting Phillip on to this fact. She just nodded slightly and kept him talking as her strength came back. "And Stefano... Why would he help *you*? He's not one to do favors for people..."
"Because this way, we both get what we want. Greta will be at his side, John Black will be dead and out of the way, you will be mine and Brady will be too devastated to get in Stefano's way like his father always has."
"That's not true. As long as there are DiMeras in this world, the Blacks and the Bradys will do everything they can to stop them."
Chloe wanted nothing more than to wriggle out of the arm that was wrapped around her shoulder, but Phillip held on to her tightly as he replied. "Let's see, Chloe... Brady's father will soon be dead, his dear friend Greta will have turned to the 'dark side' once Steffy activates that chip in her brain and his beloved wife, the love of his life, will be dead. At least, he'll think you are. I sure hope you have somebody that can take care of your son for you, because I have a feeling that my nephew is going to self-destruct once you're gone. That usually ruins your parenting skills..."
Chloe shook her head in denial, using all of the will in her body to prevent tears from falling. The last thing she wanted was for Phillip to see her cry. "You're wrong... He's not weak. He never was... You're the weak one, Phillip. I don't even know how the two of you have the same blood running through your veins. You're nothing alike. Brady is strong and you... you are pathetic..."
"Oh, Chloe... That is no way to be talking to your future husband. If we're going to make this work, you should at least try to be more respectful of me..."
Chloe's eyes widened in disbelief as the tone of her voice raised. "Respectful of you? My God, you really *have* lost your mind..."
Phillip loosened his grasp around her shoulder so he could face her. His fingers ran over her cheek to rest in her hair. "Chloe, don't talk like that... I love you."
Chloe narrowed her eyes, their sapphire blue suddenly full of fire and hatred. "And, I -- I hate you... So, really, this isn't going to work..."
Phillip leaned in close, his lips only centimeters away from hers. "Then we'll just have to make it work..."
His lips grazed hers and Chloe was afraid she was going to wretch, as she tried to turn her head away from him. "Phillip... Stop... You're sick."
Phillip kissed her neck lightly and whispered in her ear. "Stop trying to deny what's always been there... You and I were meant to be... Before you even knew Brady Black..."
"No, Phillip, we weren't... I never really loved you, not the way that you wanted to be loved..."
"Shhhhhhh... You will love me... You'll have no choice."
His last sentence was like a knife through her heart, as her mind raced with thoughts of what he might be planning. His lips pressed up against hers and Chloe knew this was her opportunity to use the strength she had just recently regained. She pushed against his shoulders and used all of her force to knock him off the bed on to the floor.
She stood up from the bed, her legs still a bit weakened from the drugs in her system and looked down at him. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and spit at Phillip, trying to rid herself of the foul taste of his lips.
"I will never love you. Never. Now let me go or suffer the consequences."
Phillip's look of surprise turned into a glance of mild amusement. He pulled himself up off the floor and stared directly into her eyes. "Suffer the consequences? Did you forget who has the power here? Because, it's not you..."
Chloe snarled at him and balled her hand into a fist, pulling back her arm to hit him. Phillip blocked her punch with his arm and used his other hand to slap her across the face roughly. Chloe fell backwards on to the bed, her hand immediately going to the side of her face, stinging from his blow.
Phillip ran his fingers through his hair and sighed in frustration. He went to the door and opened it up, motioning for his thug to come inside, the same one who had brought Chloe here. He pointed at Chloe and gave him a few instructions.
"Up the dosage. This one wore off too quickly. Then, I want you to tell Dr. Rolf to prepare the operating room... We'll have to go through with our Plan B after all."
Chloe took her hand away from her face and looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and fear. "Plan B? Operating room? What -- what are you going to do to me?"
Phillip wiped her saliva off of his face with the sleeve of his shirt and then grinned wickedly at her. "It's a surprise... One that you're going to love. Okay, well, maybe *you* won't, but *I* will... And that's what is really important here -- what *I* want. Now, sit tight, and Arthur here will be back with your injection..."
Arthur stepped out of the room, and Phillip began to follow, but Chloe's words stopped him in his tracks. "Phillip... What happened to Jake Maguire?"
Phillip paused to turn around, and Chloe found it difficult to read the expression on his face. "That's none of your damn business, Chloe..."
Phillip turned back around and slammed the door shut behind him, leaving her alone again. Chloe pressed her back against the wall and brought her legs close to her chest. She cried softly, but not because of Phillip, because of Brady, Wesley and the others she would be forced to leave behind.
~*~
(Hours Later ... Back at the Townhouse)
Brady threw the phone to the table in anger and sat down on the couch with a loud groan of frustration. Greta and Noah were in the chairs on each end of the couch watching him curiously. Greta looked at her friend sympathetically, inquiring about his latest phone call to Salem.
"So... What is it now?"
"My dad... He's in a coma. They can't wake him up at all now... If we don't find the antidote soon... then... Well, I think we all know what happens then."
Greta leaned over her chair and patted his knee soothingly. "We will find it, and we'll find Chloe too."
Noah nodded in agreement and interjected. "She's right... We've got every law enforcement agency in the world on this case now. Between them and us, we will find her."
There was a long pause as Brady looked curiously between Greta and Noah. He sighed softly and ran his fingers through his already tousled blonde hair. "I'm -- I'm falling apart... Aren't I? That's why you two are looking at me like that."
Greta shook her head and smiled at him. "You're not falling apart... You're too busy doing trying to save everyone to have time to fall apart..."
"I'm just -- I'm not used to having other people attempt to reassure me... That's usually my job."
Noah looked at him and nodded in understanding, he had always felt the same kind of responsibility to his family and loved ones, the protector and the caretaker of all of them. "Sometimes, Brady... Even the strongest people have to lean on other people for their strength. If you were falling apart, which I don't think you are, it would be perfectly understandable. All of us probably feel like we want to fall apart right now... I know I've felt like that sometimes too."
Greta grabbed her friends hand and squeezed it briefly. "He's right, Brady. With everything that you're going through right now, it's no wonder you feel confused or lost or like you're falling apart..."
Brady stood from the couch and began pacing around the room slowly. "I just don't know what Stefano would want with Chloe... I understand why he took you, Greta... I would even understand it if he took me, because of who my father is... But, Chloe... I don't get it."
"Maybe he -- maybe he just wants to bring more suffering to you. Or maybe she's a bargaining chip for something else... I don't know."
Noah was looking at her with a confused glance and decided to voice his thoughts out loud. "What I don't get is... How did he find us? We took all kinds of precautions to make sure that we could stay here undetected... How did he do it?"
Brady put his hands on his hips and ran his tongue over his teeth thoughtfully. "Good question... Obviously, Stefano is far more advanced than any of our precautions could have planned for... What I really want to know is -- How do we find him? There has to be a trail. He found us, so we have to be able to find him somehow."
There was a long silent pause as each of them tried to work it out in their heads like a math problem. Brady was definitely right, Stefano had been able to find them, so there had to be a way to follow the trail back to wherever he was keeping Chloe. Greta had her hands on her forehead, but removed them and sat straight up in her chair as an idea popped into her brain.
"Brady... Noah... I --"
Greta paused and grabbed a notepad and pen off the coffee table. She stood up and began writing something down, she ripped the paper off the pad and walked to Brady to show it to him. She had written just three words on the paper, ones that made Brady shake his head in denial. "Bait. Use me."
"No way, Greta... Absolutely not."
Greta gave him a scolding glance and put her finger up to her lips to shush him. She made a motion with her hand over her ear to indicate that Stefano probably had a bug planted somewhere on her or in their room. She walked over to Noah, who was now standing, and showed him the same note.
Noah shook his head and grabbed the notepad from her to write his own note. "Don't be crazy. We can't put you in danger too."
Greta sighed softly and quickly wrote back to him. "I already am in danger. Now I have to help Chloe."
Both men looked at her like she was crazy, but Greta pleaded with both of them silently, hoping that her facial expression would be enough to convince them. Brady went to grab her notepad to write his own message, but Greta stopped him. She laid her hands over his to keep him from writing. Her eyes locked with his, and Brady could see her heartbreaking desperation written all over her face.
She whispered softly to him, her voice full of the pain and fear they were all feeling. "Brady, please... Please. I love her too, you know..."
She grabbed the pen from his hand and wrote another message on the notepad he was holding. "I got you all in to this, I need to do something to get you out of it. Let me help, Chloe."
There was another long pause until finally, Brady nodded slightly. He knew Greta would not be deterred no matter what he had to say about it, and perhaps she was right. Perhaps using the princess as bait was the only way to get to Stefano. Greta smiled weakly and threw her arms around Brady to give him a brief appreciative hug. She let go of him and turned to Noah to seek his approval.
"Noah..."
Noah sighed loudly and looked at the floor as he begrudgingly gave her the go-ahead. "If Brady agrees -- then, so do I..."
Greta smiled and went over to the laptop computer they had been using for a lot of their research. She opened up a text document to make their planning a bit easier than using a notepad and pen. Before she could type anything, Noah nudged her in the ribs with his elbow and tapped his fingers over the key to type her a message.
"You're crazy for doing this, Princess."
Greta laughed softly and typed a message in reply. "And, you, are a pain in the ass."
Brady rolled his eyes as he watched their typing over Greta's shoulder, and muttered softly. "You're both pains..."