Never Tear Us Apart
Chapter
Nineteen
"CHLOE! GET OUT OF THE WAY NOW!"
Chloe slid her body in front of Brady's, her back pressed up against his chest. She could hear his heart beating rapidly underneath his shirt, matching the fearful pounding of her own heart. Chloe stared at Phillip defiantly and shook her head.
"I don't take orders from anybody, especially you."
"I'm asking you nicely, now... Please move out of the way, Chloe."
Chloe shook her head again and put her arms behind her to grip on to Brady tighter. "No... You want to shoot Brady? Shoot me too... Go ahead..."
There was an almost deafening silence in the room as Chloe and Brady waited for Phillip to make his move. He kept the gun firmly pointed at them, but he seemed hesitant. Chloe knew that even the most malevolent of characters had at least one weakness, and for Phillip, it was her.
"Chloe -- I -- I can't shoot you. You know that." Phillip held out his other hand and motioned for her to walk towards him. "Come here, Chloe... Come with me, and I will spare Brady's life... You wouldn't want your son to grow up without his father would you?"
"I don't believe you, Phillip..."
"I imagine you wouldn't... You have no reason to trust a word that comes out of my mouth. But believe me when I say that if you don't do as I ask, you will regret it. I'm willing to let Brady go right now, even though I have an order to kill him if I see him. If Stefano finds out that he was even within a mile of this place, he'll kill Brady, he'll kill Noah Maguire, and he'll kill Greta for letting Brady follow them here. Hell, he might even kill you too Chloe..."
Chloe stared at him doubtfully, even though her mind was telling her that Phillip was right. Stefano had no doubt given him the order to kill Brady, and he would make sure to obliterate anyone else who went against him. She turned her head to look up into Brady's eyes, and found that he was thinking the same thing.
"Chloe... Go... go with Phillip..."
"Brady, no, no... I can't..."
His eyes seemed to stare straight down into her soul, giving her an unspoken moment of reassurance. He smiled at her and ran his fingers over her cheek. "Do you trust me?"
Chloe creased her forehead with worry, fighting back the tears that were behind her eyes. "You know I do... with my life."
"Then go with Phillip..."
Chloe nodded and reluctantly let go of him, turning to look at Phillip. He smiled appreciatively and pointed at the music box. "Don't forget to bring the box with you..."
Chloe still had the box in her hands and walked towards Phillip, holding it out to him. Phillip shook his head and spoke softly to her. "You hold on to that, Chloe. We'll take it downstairs with us."
Chloe nodded and moved to stand at his side, her insides churning at the thought of going anywhere with Phillip. Brady was nearly expressionless as he waited to be given his leave of this place, but Phillip kept the gun pointed towards him.
"So, Phil... I can -- I can go now. Right?"
There was a moment's pause as a wicked grin curled up the corners of Phillip's mouth. He pulled back the trigger, hitting Brady in the shoulder. Brady staggered backwards and yelped in pain as the bullet tore through his flesh. Chloe dropped the music box and screamed loudly. She shouted at Phillip as she tried to knock the gun out of his hand.
"You said you'd let him go, Phillip!"
Phillip pushed her off of him roughly, and Chloe stumbled backwards into the drink cart behind her with a loud clatter, knocking a few bottles to the floor in her wake. Brady's face was contorted with anger and pain as he struggled to find his own weapon. He snarled at Phillip, shouting at him through his clenched teeth.
"You bastard! Damnit... I'm gonna kill you, you sonofabitch."
Phillip shook his head and aimed the gun towards Brady's heart. "Wrong again."
He fired another shot, this one hitting Brady directly in the chest. Brady made no noise as his body hit the floor with a deafening thud. Chloe let out a loud guttural scream and dashed across the room to kneel at his side. She first laid her hand on the shoulder wound and put her other hand on his chest as she stared at his face. She checked him for a pulse and then looked up at Phillip with tears in her eyes.
"You... You killed him..." Her sobs came quickly and she bowed her head as she tried to speak through her tears. "You, you killed him... You said you would let him go, but you killed him..."
Her whole body was shaking with sobs as Phillip walked towards her, wrapping his arms around her. Chloe slithered out of his arms and shook her head as she screamed at him. "DON'T TOUCH ME! I HATE YOU!"
Phillip yanked her up off the floor roughly, moving her away from Brady's body. "There's no time to grieve, you're coming with me now..."
Chloe looked back at Brady's body, her face practically drowned in tears. "I love you, Brady... I'm so sorry..."
Phillip rolled his eyes and grabbed on to her arm to drag her out of the room. "Come on... Bart will make sure he gets sent back to his family as soon as possible."
Chloe was wailing like a person being tortured as Phillip dragged her and the music box into the hallway. She kept crying out for Brady as he led her downstairs into the basement, and by the time they reached the operating room, Phillip was sick of hearing her crying and moaning.
Before he opened the door, he turned back to look at her, his annoyance written all over his face. "Chloe, you're really going to need to quiet down... All these theatrics will not impress Stefano..."
Chloe pulled her arm out of his grip and slapped him across the face, making a noise that echoed through the hallway. She spat out her words angrily as Phillip stared at her in surprise. "You just murdered my husband in front of me, and you want me to be QUIET?? SCREW YOU PHILLIP!"
Phillip rubbed the red mark on his face briefly and then took a deep breath in. He swiped his arm across her face, sending shooting pains throughout her head. Chloe kept her feet on the ground, but just barely, shocked at the amount of physical strength that Phillip put into his punch.
"Talk back to me again, and I'll make it hurt a lot worse the next time."
Chloe's lip was bleeding and she put her hand over her mouth as she stumbled into the now open door, with Phillip following close behind her. She was crying softly and her knees were shaky from everything she had been through already. Chloe kept her eyes on the cold cement floor, but heard Stefano's voice question Phillip.
"What happened, Kiriakis? What's all the yelling about?"
Phillip seemed to shrug it off nonchalantly, as if it was something that happened every day around here. Of course, knowing the DiMeras, it might just be. "We've got a cleanup on the first floor... Brady Black is out of the game. Chloe was a little upset, so I shut her up."
Chloe looked up and found herself staring into the dark eyes of Stefano DiMera, he seemed slightly annoyed by Phillip, and under better circumstances she might have laughed at that. Stefano looked at her and nodded. "You're a mess..."
Chloe scowled angrily and took her fingers away from her bloodied lip. Her voice was cold and dead as she replied to him. "Thank you."
She took a moment to look around the room and saw Greta tied to a chair in the corner. They shared a sad glance for a moment before Chloe turned to see Noah. He was unconscious on the operating table that she had vacated earlier, and Rolf was stitching him up. A hard lump formed in her throat as she realized she was too late to save Noah, and her turn on the table was probably next.
Phillip handed Stefano the music box and explained what had just transpired. "Looks like Brady found your safe..."
Stefano took the box and stared at it intently. "How -- how did he know that the antidote was in the box?"
Chloe found herself staring at her blood covered hands, some of it her own from her head and mouth, but most of it belonging to Brady. She kept her eyes on her hands as she replied to Stefano's question. "I told him... Phillip was talking to you about it when I first got here... I remembered."
"You were supposed to be drugged... unconscious."
Chloe looked up and met his eyes again, hatred running through her wide blue eyes. "I guess you need a new drug, you stupid bastard..."
Stefano ignored her, although he was clearly bothered by her defiance, instead he turned towards Bart who had just re-entered the room. "Bart, set up the other table so that Mrs. Black will have a place to lay down... Then, I want you to go back upstairs and clean up Phillip's mess."
Bart grabbed another operating table out of the corner and wheeled it over to sit next to the one that Noah was on. Greta stared at Chloe sadly and spoke for the first time since Chloe had arrived. "He's really... Brady -- he's..."
Chloe looked at Phillip and then towards Greta, her voice cracking as she replied. "He is. And Noah...?"
"He --"
Stefano interrupted Greta and replied confidently. "He's the newest member to the DiMera organization... His chip is already activated as a matter of fact... and when he wakes up, he'll be the new and improved Noah Maguire. Now, we just have to activate Greta's and put yours in, and we'll have a lovely set of three..."
Chloe glared at Stefano, trying to think of a way to stall for time. If there was one thing she was good at, it was talking and getting under people's skin. She stood up straight and frowned at the old man.
"How do you know Greta is really your daughter anyway?"
Stefano turned to stare at her in surprise. "Excuse me?"
"I'm serious... How do you KNOW? She might not be..."
"That is none of your business. Please keep your mouth shut."
Chloe rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Come on... I'm not even going to remember what you said an hour from now, nor will I give a s**t... So, I was just curious... How do you KNOW? Did you run a DNA test?
Stefano practically barked at her as he responded. "I don't need a DNA test! Gina told me that Greta is my daughter!"
"Riiiiiight... And we all remember how trustworthy Gina was. She told a lot of people a lot of things, and only about 2 percent of them were true. See... I have her diaries... In fact, they're at our townhouse right now. And, I decided not to start at the beginning where Greta's been reading them at, I started at the last diary. Sure enough, that's where the best stuff is... The part about John Black being Greta's father..."
Greta gasped softly, her eyes widening in shock. "What? Are you serious? Why didn't you say anything?"
Chloe laughed softly, the look on her face almost delirious in its nature. She had planted seeds of doubt in Stefano's mind, and that was what she had intended to do. "I didn't say anything, because, it's a lie... I never read that... But, it could be true. Right? And, if you didn't get all your facts straight, Stefano... well, you could just be doing this for nothing... Why would you even bother with Greta if she isn't really your daughter? You don't care about her, who she is, what she wants... you only care if she has your blood running through her veins. Right?"
Stefano's eyes darted lasers towards her as he replied. "Greta IS my daughter. I know she is..."
Chloe laughed again, this time louder and more wickedly. If there was one thing that knowing Brady had taught her, it was to never back down from a fight when you had the upper hand. "You may say that, but I know how the human brain works. Now all my words are sinking in and you're starting to doubt it... And, you will always doubt it unless you run a DNA test. I, for one, happen to think that when you do run that test, you'll find out she's not yours. Greta happens to have a soul, something which you completely lack... She can't possibly be a DiMera."
"I know what you are trying to do, Mrs. Black... And, it won't work. Phillip, take the object of your obsession over to her gurney. Rolf, prepare the anesthesia so we can get this over with."
Phillip grabbed on to Chloe's arms from behind her and began pushing her towards the operating table. "Come on, Chloe... Time to finish what we started."
He pushed her until she was on the gurney and forced her to lie down. Chloe could see Greta from where she was lying and the princess' expression was one of complete confusion and shock. She had not expected Chloe to confront Stefano so boldly, nor did she expect what was about to happen to next.
Chloe spoke loudly, doing her best to try and get under the skin of both Phillip and Stefano. "You know, whatever happens here... doesn't make a difference. So what? You killed Brady? So what -- you're killing John Black? So what -- you're controlling the minds of Greta, Noah and me. IT CHANGES NOTHING!"
Phillip held her down as Rolf was still preparing her anesthesia. "Chloe... Shut up..."
"NOTHING CHANGES, DIMERA! NOTHING!!!"
Stefano reacted calmly, taking this as the ramblings of a scared and disturbed young woman, nothing more. "I'm not sure what you mean, Mrs. Black..."
Chloe cackled loudly and continued on. "You can do all of this... But, it will never stop. The Bradys, the Blacks, the Hortons... they will always come after you... My family, my friends, they'll find me... and they'll kill you when they do. It never ends DiMera, you can never WIN."
Greta's eyes were wide with surprise and she shouted at Chloe to stop. "Chloe! What are you trying to do? Get yourself killed?"
Chloe grinned slightly and shook her head. "That's not what I'm trying to do, Greta... I'm trying to..."
She didn't have a chance to finish her sentence, because a voice from the doorway interrupted to finish it for her.
"Stall. She's trying to stall."
All heads turned to see Brady alive and well, his shirt opened to reveal a Kevlar vest underneath, his shoulder bloody from Phillip's first shot. He held his own gun in his right hand and the gun that Noah had discarded in the study was tucked into the front of his jeans.
Chloe sat up on the gurney and smiled at him, having just given the most brilliant acting performance of her life. She was the first voice to break through the stunned silence that had fallen across the room. "Time to go home?"
Brady grinned at her and nodded in agreement. "Time to end this game once and for all."