The pressure of his lips against hers sent her mind reeling and an electric shock pulsating through every nerve ending in her body. At first the kiss was almost bruising in its intensity and she wasn't sure if the intent was to bring pleasure or pain or some kind of intoxicating combination that left her shaking. Her bones completely disintegrated when the kiss gentled and deepened and she found herself grateful for the edge of the desk which was the only thing that kept her upright.
She was literally lost in him.
And God it felt right, as if her whole life up to now had been merely a prelude to this kiss. This moment.
She felt suddenly bereft when he pulled back, his eyes glowing even as he shook his head roughly and stepped away from her. His voice was husky and so damned uneven as he spoke that Emily was mesmerized just by the sound and totally enraptured by the fact that even as he tried to push her away his fingers wereb caressing her shoulders with a gentleness that took away what little breath remained after that kiss.
"This is crazy...... I shouldn't have.....Emily this is wrong..."
She nodded even as she stepped forward to close the difference between them. "Completely wrong." She echoed her eyes not leaving his. Her voice was breathless and he felt the warmth that was her in every fiber of his being.
He closed his eyes as he fought for control when all he wanted was to feel her in his arms again. "I'm a killer Emily. That's what I do and that's who I am. I don't want to hurt you."
"You wouldn't..." She protested softly.
With a gentleness he had been sure he wasn't capable of anymore, Jagger touched the lingering bruise carefully hidden by her hair. "I already have," he said simply. "You don't belong in my world Emily Quartermaine and I sure the hell don't belong in yours."
He could drown in the honesty of her eyes and he could swear that she saw right through him and the idea scared him like nothing and no one ever had.
"Do you think any of that matters to me?."
"No, but it matters to me." His voice was incredibly gentle as lifted her wrist and deftly pushed the golden bangles that covered her scars back and ran his thumb over the jagged pink line. "I swore that nobody would ever get the chance to hurt you again. No one. Not Morgan. Not Cassadine." He paused. "Not even me."
"Don't you think that I should have a say in that decision?" She couldn't keep the hurt out of her voice. "If we have feelings for each other...."
"Excuse me...." Jagger stepped back as the door to the office opened and the slightly bewildered manager of the PC Grill stepped in, obviously uncomfortable at having to interrupt the daughter of the owners. "Miss. Quartermaine? I'm sorry I thought you were finished."
Jagger locked eyes with Emily. "We are." He broke contact and turned to the door, stopping just once to look back at her. "You might even say we never even started."
Without another word Jagger turned and walked out of the door.
Still mostly in shock from what transpired between them, Emily shakily moved away from the desk, her eyes never leaving the door that Jagger had left through.
She took a deep breath and released it in a rush, "That's what you think," she whispered softly before heading out to once again resume her role in this twisted masquerade.
Jason released Sarah and she stumbled backwards, her trembling hand lightly touching her swollen lip, her expression dazed, and shaken.
There were at least ten inches between them and she could still feel the solid warmth of him as if it was touching her, heating her wherever it touched.
She'd never felt a need like this in her whole life. With Nikolas, there had been chaste kisses and stolen moments, but their romance had been about romantic fantasies not physical desires. With Jagger it had been about mutual need, a physical relationship that had been just another way of expressing their partnership.
This was like Jason Morgan was consuming her.
And the scary thing was that she didn't want it to stop.
"I guess that should convince Kosokov." Jason had no clue how he managed to keep his voice calm and detached when inside he was burning. He had to remind himself that this was an act, none of this was real, even if every instinct inside him was saying otherwise. She was so damned beautiful and strong in a way that took his breath away.
"Kosokov?" Sarah whispered the name almost as if she didn't know who he was talking about. She shook her head as if to restore the sanity that his touch had destroyed. "Right. Kosokov." Don't think about his hands on you, his lips on yours, his body exploring yours.....all right, just don't think Sarah. "I guess we should return to the table." She hated the hesitation in her voice.
Jason's expression was hooded. "Your in charge."
Sarah winced at the coldness of his tone even as she reminded herself that that was what she wanted. "Don't forget it," she said the words softly as they headed back to the table.
Nikolas was trying his best to keep a conversation going when they returned to the table, a difficult thing considering that Emily was staring into her champagne glass as if it held the secrets of the universe and Kosokov was merely grunting as he finished off a bottle of vodka in between leering at Emily and finishing his cigar.
Jason looked around him and decided that the Grill personnel were too intimidated or maybe too smart to let him know that smoking was illegal in public buildings. Jason vaguely wished that Taggert or Mac were here to arrest Kosokov just to stop what he knew was going to happen in the next few hours.
Absently, he held out the chair for Sarah to sit down, noticing as he did so that she slid herself closer to Kosokov. Looking around, he spotted Jagger in the corner nursing a drink of what he hoped to hell was nothing stronger than iced tea. If this damned plan was going to happen, than they would all need to be stone cold sober to carry it off. He glanced at Sarah and rethought that statement. Maybe Sarah would be better off if she were rip roaring drunk.
"Morgan," Kosokov's voice was loud and booming, heavily accented in tones that sounded like a cheap Omar Sharif imitation. "I must tell you that I am impressed by your hospitality. You surround yourself with fine food, excellent vodka, and beautiful women. Very beautiful women." As he said it he was looking at Emily, but it was Sarah who casually leaned over so that her breasts brushed against his arm and centered his attention on her.
Jason hoped he was the only one who saw Sarah flinched as Kosokov's flesh made contact with hers.
Gritting his teeth, Jason kept his voice neutral. "I am glad that you are pleased. I know that my partner and I look forward to doing business with you for a long time. I am sure that whatever the deal we negotiate it will be extremely profitable for both of us." Kosokov's finger touched the top of Sarah's breast above her dress and Sarah smiled at him while Jason resisted the urge to beat the bastard to a bloody pulp. "If you like we can return to my place and begin the negotiations."
Sarah glared at him, that wasn't part of the plan.
Kosokov shook his head. "Business can wait until the morning. An evening like this is meant for pleasure."
Emily had had enough. Taking one last sip of champagne and with one last furtive glance at Jagger near the bar, she turned to Nikolas, gently touching his shoulder with her fingers. "Nikolas, I do believe that all of this wonderful champagne has gone straight to my head." She trailed her fingers up and down his arm in what she hoped was a seductive caress. Or at least looked like one. "Take me home please."
Nikolas sucked in his breath. It had been so long since she had looked at him like that. "Right. Home."
Emily smiled at Jason and Kosokov. "I am sure you gentlemen will excuse us."
"As long as you promise me the pleasure of your company for lunch tomorrow. There is much about this beautiful city of yours that I long to see with an equally beautiful young woman."
Emily looked at Jason who nodded imperceptible If all went according to plan, Kosokov would be dead by morning. If all didn't go according to plan, Jason would kill him himself before he allowed the bastard to touch his sister.
Once they had reached the elevator, Emily turned to Nikolas with a smile as she leaned against the side of the elevator. "Thank you."
Nikolas grinned, the same kind of grin that used to make Emily's heart go flip-flop when they were kids and she smiled back. "You're welcome." His smile turned rueful. "Not that I understand one iota of what that was all about, but you have to know Emily that anytime you need me, I'll be here."
"Nikolas I...." She began but he stopped her, pressing the stop button on the elevator as he did so.
"Emily look..." Nikolas began hesitantly. "I know I hurt you and I know I hurt you badly. And you have to know that if I could do it over...well let's just say that my choices would be a lot smarter the second time around." He paused. "There are a lot of things in my life I regret Em. Not getting to know my brother better. Letting my resentment of Luke keep me from my mother. But the thing I regret the most is hurting you. You were...are the best thing that ever happened to me and I want, no I need, a second chance to make things right."
He reached out and grabbed her hand, compelling her to look at him. Emily stared at him, seeing for a moment not the Nikolas she had found in bed with Carly but the Nikolas she had fallen in love with. The Nikolas a part of her would always be in love with.
"Nikolas I..." She began when he once again stopped her.
"Just a chance Em," Nik whispered as he lowered his lips till they almost touched hers, his breath sweet like honey. "One chance." He begged before their lips touched.
For a moment, Emily let him kiss her, even softly kissing him back as her mind flooded with images from their shared past. But the kiss was more gentle than passionate, more remembrance than romance and Emily drew back, shaking her head gently.
"It's too late Nik."
"Emily...."
"No Nik." Emily looked into his eyes and felt like her heart was breaking and maybe it was. Nikolas and dreams of Nikolas had been a part of her life for what seemed like forever. "Some things that are broken can't be fixed. Some wounds can't heal. It's funny you know but I can't remember a time when I didn't love you but I'm no longer in love with you."
"Em, I'm sorry about Carly..."
"I know. I know you are. But the fact is that whether or not it meant anything, you slept with Carly and that hurt me. Maybe if things hadn't gone so crazy after that, if AJ hadn't died and if I hadn't started using again...I don't know. Maybe we could have found our way back to each other if things hadn't gone crazy but they did. We've hurt each other too much and its gone too far. We can't go back. I'm not the Emily you fell in love with anymore. These last few years, my time in Ferncliff, they've changed me in ways that I'm just beginning to understand." She gently touched his cheek with her finger. "You deserve to be happy Nikolas. We both do. But we can't find that happiness with each other anymore."
"I really screwed up didn't I?" Nik asked ruefully as he attempted to smile, even though his eyes were dark and somber.
"We both did." Emily half smiled. "But we can always blame it on our dysfunctional families."
"Dysfunctional families. We always did have that in common."
"And probably always will."
Nikolas laughed. "Promise me something Emily Quartermaine."
"What?"
"Promise me that one day, when I can look at you and not feel my heart breaking, promise me that we can be friends again."
"Oh Nikolas," Emily stepped closer to him and then moved forward into his arms, hugging him gently. "We will always be friends. Always."
"Right," Nikolas took one last moment to savor her warmth as she rested her head on his shoulders. Taking a deep breath, he stepped away from her and pressed the button so that the elevator continued on its way. "Time to get you home."
As the elevator made its way down to the lobby, neither of them were that the fact that the
elevator had stopped had not gone unnoticed. As the numbers continued to go down again, Jagger turned angrily and went back to work.
He was touching her and it was all she could do not to vomit. Sarah could feel the nausea rising as she tried to keep herself together. Every time he touched her, she imagined him dead, his head blown away and the image steadied her.
She wondered with a wry smile what a psychiatrist would make out of that. Maybe nothing. Or maybe too much.
She mentally shrugged, taking another sip of the drink in her hand. She had no intentions of getting drunk but there was no way that she was going to do what she needed to do sober either.
She forced herself to look up at Kosokov, to draw his attention to her by smiling and flirting as seductively as she could. "I've always had a thing for men in uniform," she drawled huskily.
Luckily Kosokov hadn't had much exposure to Western culture and he took the old line as a compliment, preening under her flattery.
Jason scowled. "You're drunk."
"Am not." She deliberately slurred her words even as she almost tipped over the champagne.
"Damn it what have I told you about holding your liquor." Jason threw down his napkin and motioned to Jagger. "I'm going to have Stone drive you home."
"No," Even Sarah had to wince at the petulant voice. "I don't want to go home. I want to stay here and have fun. I want to dance."
"We already danced." Jason pushed back his chair angrily. "It's time to go home."
"It's time to have fun." She pouted seductively. "You're no fun."
"And you're a drunken slut."
"Bastard." Sarah tossed her champagne at him and then managed to look appalled as the liquid covered Jason's silk shirt. "Oh my God." She kept her voice terrified even as she found the look on Morgan's face slightly funny.
"That's it." Jason stood angrily and turned to Jagger, who had come to stand beside him. "I'm leaving. You want to dance? Stay and dance. I don't give a damn what you do but I'm going." Pause as his eyes locked with Sarah. He waited for her to say something, to break the plan and plead to go with him. She remained silent and this time his anger wasn't feigned as he turned to Jagger. "Let's go."
As they both left, Sarah didn't have to pretend to look disconsolate as she reminded herself that this was the plan, this was what all the effort up to this point had been for. Seducing Kosokov so she was in a position to kill him.
Why then was she suddenly so damned scared?
Pushing aside her the sudden onslaught of fear and doubt, Sarah turned to Kosokov. "I guess that just leaves the two of us." She let the statement hang in the air suggestively as she moved so that her body was almost wrapped around him. "Not that I'm complaining."
The lust in Kosokov's eyes made her cringe. "Neither am I."
Jason stepped onto the elevator and turned to Jagger.
"I hate this."
Jagger looked at him coolly. "No one asked you to like it. All you have to do is play along."
Jason resisted the urge to hit him. "What happens now?"
"Now we wait. If Kosokov runs true to form he'll have Sarah in his hotel room in 30 minutes." Only a slight hesitation in Jagger's voice betrayed his uneasiness with that thought. Or what would happen once he had her in that hotel room.
"You have a wire on Sarah."
Jagger hesitated. "No."
"What?" Jagger found himself pushed against the wall, a hand gripped around his throat. "You sent her in without anything."
Slipping his hand into his pocket, Jagger brought his knife to Jason's ear and the hand around his throat relaxed. Jagger's voice was more than cold. It was frozen. "No one sends Sarah anywhere she doesn't want to be or hadn't you figured that out yet?" Jagger's voice was scornful. "As for not wiring Sarah, that was her choice. Her call. She didn't want to take a chance on the wire being found when they.... " His voice trailed off. "Besides she has what she needs to kill him. All she has to do is....."
"Fuck him." Jason deliberately used the crude terminology.
Jagger nodded. "It's the only way." He paused. "All we can do at this point is wait for her signal."
"It sucks."
For the first time Jagger found himself in complete agreement with Jason and he nodded.
The Gate House
Emily opened the door to the convertible as it pulled into the gatehouse drive.
She smiled at Nikolas. "Thank you for the lift and for....well everything I guess."
Nikolas's smile was tinged with sadness. "You're welcome." He attempted a smile. "I'll walk you to the door."
"You don't have to..." Emily began.
This time Nikolas just smiled. "Chalk it up to the Cassadine in me. My uncle Stefan would throw a fit if he knew that I didn't walk the fair damsel to her door."
Emily grinned even as she let him walk her up the narrow path. "How is Stefan anyway?"
"The last telegram I got from him was from Paris and they were planning on heading to Cairo next."
"Who would have thought that Stefan Cassadine would turn out to be a romantic at heart?" Emily sighed. "A trip around the world...."
"Don't get the wrong idea." Nik teased her. "He's definitely combining business with pleasure."
"Nikolas Cassadine did anyone ever tell you that you sometimes lack a sense of romance..." Emily began and then stopped, her heart in her throat as a heavily armed figure stepped out from behind a bush.
Nikolas arm came around her protectively as he moved between Emily and the silent figure that
now stared at them both.
Nikolas looked at the combat fatigues and the vaguely familiar military uniform. "Who the hell
are you? And what do you want?"
"Nik I don't think..." Emily's voice trailed off as she found herself staring at the end of an
automatic rifle. "I don't think we should argue with him. Isn't it a Cassadine rule not to argue with a man with a gun?" She finished softly, trying not to let her fear show.
"No." Nik said in a determined voice. "That sounds more like a Spencerism." He looked at the man in front of them. "Who are you and what do you want?"
The man smiled a smile that froze Emily's insides. "Who I am doesn't matter. As to what I want the answer is simple." He pointed the gun at Emily. "I want her. Or more specifically my employer wants her and I'm not about to disappoint him."
"You're crazy," Nik almost shouted the words and Emily winced. Calling a man who had you at gunpoint crazy did not strike her as a good idea.
"And? In my line of work crazy is not a bad thing." The man's grin was twisted. "However I'll give you a break. My orders are for her. You are free to go."
"You're flat out nuts." Nikolas's voice was incredulous.
Emily shook her head as a feeling of dread filled her. "Nik maybe you should go..."
"NO!" Nik's pushed Emily completely behind him. "I'm not letting you get hurt."
The man lifted his gun again. "Your choice." The simple words were barely said before a loud echo and a flash roared from the gun and Nikolas fell, blood spreading across his chest.
"Nikolas!" Emily screamed as she fell to her knees beside him. Desperately she took off her shawl and tried to use it to stop the flood of blood coming from his chest. "Oh God Nik No!" Emily began to pray as a rising hysteria filled her. Nik tried to speak, but the only sound that came from him was a sucking sound from his chest. Her fingers, pressed against his chest, were soaked in blood.
Suddenly she found herself jerked up and away. She whirled angrily, too caught up in grief and fear to think about what she was doing. "Let me go. I have to help him. I have to get him help. He's dying."
"He's dead." The man's voice was cold. "Let's go."
"No!" Emily let herself become dead weight as she fell, but his hand grabbed her and dragged her to her feet again. "God please let me stay with him." The words were halfway between a whimper and a cry.
"General Kosokov has other plans for you." The words were abrupt and caused Emily to whirl and stare at him in horror just before the hypodermic needle slipped into her arm as she collapsed, falling unconsciously to the ground beside Nikolas's still form.
Port Charles Hotel
Sarah stared out the window at the city below as Kosokov dismissed his bodyguards who left to take up their post outside the suite before he turned to her.
Leisurely, he walked over to her and traced the length of her torso with his fingers, lingering momentarily on her breast.
Sarah turned cold, she could feel the numbness in her body and in her mind growing with each touch, each putrid breath.
The moment had come and a part of her, a huge part of her, wanted nothing more than to run and hide. This man, this brute, this animal had been the leader of a gang who had viciously and brutally and repeatedly raped her. He was responsible for the death of her parents. He'd destroyed everything of value in her life and altered her world in ways she didn't want to think about. Her soul cried for protection from his presence while her mind and her heart cried for vengeance. She wanted him dead. Needed him dead.
She shivered as he unzipped her dress and she thanked God for the chill in the air which hid the real reason for the shudders that ran down her back. For a second, her traitorous mind went back to her earlier torrid embrace with Jason. Jason had made her feel warm and alive. Not cold and dead inside.
She could kill him now and it would all be over with. She didn't have to do this.
Even as the thought crossed her mind, she gathered her resolve and she knew that she had no
choice. Every action she had taken since Jagger and his men had rescued her that awful morning had led to this moment. This choice. If she tried to kill him now, it was too risky. The risk of failure too high. His men were too alert. One wrong noise and they would be back in here and she would be dead. Her being dead wasn't that terrible a thought but Kosokov would still be alive and that she couldn't have. No she had to wait. Wait until he slept. Until his men had drunk the vodka Jagger would arrange for the hotel to deliver. Wait so that everything would go according to plan.
Her dress fell to the floor around her and she stood in front of the man who she hated most in the world, naked save for delicate lace panties and a matching bra.
She felt the bra go and as his mouth began to suck her nipple, she bit her lip until it bled.....
