"I really do appreciate this, Monica. I want to make sure that we have all the evidence," Mac said, his hand on the door knob.

"We haven't...moved anything. I can barely stand going in............What's being done to find to Gia? If she did this...If she killed Emily, I want her found." Monica reigned in her emotions.

"We have every available person out looking for Gia. She'll be found."

"Edward said that they found the murder weapon in her car."

"We have yet to verify that it was that weapon that killed Emily."

"It has to be! What else would she be doing with it?" Monica clasped her hand over her mouth. She didn't want to do this. She had to stay in control. "I'll be downstairs if you need anything," she said before disappearing down the long hallway. Mac entered Emily's bedroom and flipped on the lights. Leaving the door open, he went to stand by the window. He had no idea what he was looking for, but if it existed, it was in this room.

He looked around, checking the closet, the desk, and underneath the bed, but nothing caught his eye. He went over to the dresser. He yanked carelessly on the drawer handle, and the whole thing came out of its slot. After managing not to spill the cotton socks, he stuck it back in it's place. It wouldn't go in smoothly, so Mac kneeled. He tried to jam the drawer into place. It was as if something were blocking the tracks. He laid the drawer aside and stuck his hand into the empty space. There was nothing there. Or so he thought, until he felt the cover of a book. He pulled it out, quickly recognizing it as a journal. There was tape on the bottom.

He held the drawer up in the air, noticing that there was tape on the bottom of it, as well. Emily must have kept her journal taped to the bottom of her sock drawer. He set the drawer back on the floor. Journal in hand, Mac sat on the edge of Emily's bed and flipped to the last entry. He began to read.

Gia is a fraud! Okay, why am I acting like I'm surprised. I knew she was a loser, but I never had any idea the depths of her money grubbing. And poor Nikolas has no clue. I have to save him from Gia. Once I do, maybe he'll understand how much I love him... ~*~  ~*~  ~*~

Nikolas pulled the lever and emerged from the tunnel into Stefan's study. He sat down, waiting for Stefan to finish his phone call. He tapped his foot impatiently. He wanted to get back to Gia. They still needed to talk. They had made love, but there were so many issues they  had to discuss.  He knew he loved her. He knew that he wanted to be with her. He knew that he needed her. The only thing he didn't know was whether or not he would be able to allow himself to trust her. The blind faith he once had was shattered. His greatest fear was that making a mistake by taking her back. What would he do if it all fell apart again?

"Fine, you follow your own judgment. Just make sure that the weapon disappears," Stefan concluded with a scowl, hanging the phone up.

"Is there a problem?"

"The murder weapon has been found."

"The gun that killed Emily? Let me guess, Gia's prints are on it, right?"

"They are."

"That's so very convenient. All of the other evidence is destroyed and more magically appears. When will Helena stop?" Nikolas groaned.

"Here's the best part. The weapon in question is one that was stolen from my security staff.  As your paramour, Gia had access to the island."

"There's Dara's entire case. Motive, means, and opportunity...I actually thought we could get out of this," Nikolas said, sinking down in his chair. "What are we going to do now? Gia can't give herself up! She'll end in prison for the rest of her life."

Stefan took his eyeglasses off and placed them on top of an open file. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he said, "I hadn't brought this up before, but I think that perhaps you should take Gia to Greece. The three of you will be safe there."

Nikolas didn't want to leave. His life was here. "If it becomes absolutely necessary, we will."

"Don't wait too long. You must think of the baby."

"I am thinking of the baby. I want to make sure that his mother is safe and not locked in a prison somewhere. We have to bring Helena to justice. The more I think about it, the more certain I am that she is the one responsible for Emily's death."

"That thought had occurred to me. All we have to do now is prove it."

The room fell silent. After a length of time, Stefan worked up enough courage to broach a subject he knew Nikolas wouldn't want to discuss. "Nikolas, as I informed you, Chloe still doesn't know about my deceit."

"AND?"

"And I would appreciate it if-"

"If I would keep your lies?!" Nikolas interrupted.

"Keep your voice down. Chloe went to visit Lila, but she could have returned by now."

"Look, I won't lie for you!"

"Nikolas-"

"BUT, I won't go out of my way to tell her, either.  I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it because Chloe loves you...and..." Nikolas paused for several long seconds, before finishing quietly, "and so do I. She makes you happy, and regardless of how much I wish you would lose all your hair, develop boils, and become incontinent, I do want you to be happy."

"Does that mean you've forgiven me?" Stefan asked eagerly.

"NO, it means I want you less  dead than I did two weeks ago."

"What progress we're making! By next week, I'll have worked my way up to a coma."

"Don't get ahead of yourself. Knowing you as I do, I think you could probably spend years brain dead and on life support."

Stefan smiled widely. "Decades." ~*~  ~*~  ~*~

...She was so angry! And she threatened me! But I held my ground. I am starting to think that I shouldn't just go around yelling the truth. There has got to be a better way to handle this. I think the tape is going to prove to be a valuable weapon against Gia. Pretty soon, Nikolas will understand what real love is. I'm going to spend the rest of my life making him happy.  Emily Cassadine- it has a certain ring to it!!! Okay, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, but I'm sure it will happen...

Mac closed the book. Could it be? Was his hunch right? After reading the journal, he was almost certain that the woman that Emily ran into at the hospital was the same woman who had later murdered her in cold blood.

Mac put the journal in the inside pocket of his jacket. Perhaps he would be able to call Taggert with good news. He turned to leave, and was taken aback to see someone standing in the doorway. Not just anyone, the woman from Emily's journal.

"Hi," he said, his voice filled with forced friendliness. "What are you doing here?

She came in the room, shutting the door behind her. Once she was inside, the gun at her side became visible. Mac swiftly pulled his own gun out of its holster.

"Put the gun down!" he ordered. Before he had finished the words, there was the sound of a gun cocking behind him. He felt cool steel pressed against his neck.

The woman in front of him said, "I think you had better put the gun down, Mac."

"Why are you doing this?"

"That is so cliché! Everyone always ask the same boring questions. Just put the gun down so we can get the show on the road."

The person behind him giggled. "Yeah, Bubba. Isn't that what Luke calls you? Bubba? I always laugh at that." It was a feminine voice. A familiar voice.

Mac dropped his gun, and the first woman kicked it under the bed. The woman behind him said thoughtfully, "It really is a shame Robin won't be able to have an open casket at the funeral, but we can't take any chances."

"Face shots are so messy," the other woman added. "Actually, we could probably shoot you in the chest."

"No, what if Monica found him? She's a cardiologist. She might be able to save him. Where would we be then?"

"As always," the first woman said, "you're far wiser than I. The face it is!"

Mac knew he was running out of time. He had to do something. The woman in front of him was aiming her gun. Obviously, she was the real killer. The other was just back up. He had a plan. It just might work.

Mac was about to make his move when the woman behind him kicked him fiercely in the back of his knee. The pain was sharp and forced him to the ground. "You're not superman, Mac," the woman who kicked him laughed.

"She's right. Whatever the plan was, it wasn't going to work." The woman in front of him agreed.

"Okay, I have the silencer on my gun, so I guess I get to do the honors. Be patient with me, Bubba, I'm a virgin. You're going to be my very first," the woman behind him cooed devilishly. Then she pulled the trigger. A low sound was emitted before Mac Scorpio crumpled over onto the floor. He was already dead.

"Wicked good job!" the first woman applauded. Then she reached into Mac's jacket and pulled out the journal. "This is going to save my butt!" She stuck it in a bag she had hidden in the hallway and came back in the room.

"Did anyone hear?"

"I don't think so. The hallway was clear. We had better get going, though," she replied, slinging the bag over her shoulder.

"Right!" the second woman said. They both left through Emily's window. They climbed down the tree. Once they reached bottom, they both disappeared into the brisk evening air. ~*~  ~*~  ~*~

Gia knew she had taken a wrong turn. She had been stumbling around for twenty minutes trying to find the kitchen without success. Now, she was at a dead end. "Stupid old house!" she muttered, banging her fist on the tunnel wall.

The portion of wall slid away. Some luck...FINALLY! She walked out of the darkened corridor into a bedroom. There were sketchbooks sprawled all over the bed, so Gia surmised that it must be Stefan and Chloe's room. She was startled when Chloe suddenly came out of the bathroom. "Hey, Chloe," Gia said.

Chloe jumped . "Oh, hi. I didn't know you were in here."

"I got lost in the tunnels. I was trying to find the kitchen."

"The kitchen's not up here."

"I know that," Gia said, biting the inside of her lip. If she called Chloe a stupid dolt, then Chloe might not help her find the kitchen. And she had to get to the kitchen. There were chocolate chip scones with her name on them. If she waited too long, Nikolas would finish them off. "Do you think you could point me in the right direction?"

"I don't know my way around the tunnels."

"Through the house is fine."

"Are you sure you should be seen? I wouldn't want you to be caught."

"We're on an island. Stefan said that with the added security, there's no way any intruders could get by without our knowing first."

"That's great."

"Yeah...so-- the kitchen?'

"Sure, I'll show you to the kitchen. We can use this time to get to know each other,"  Chloe said, going to the bed. She pulled a bag from underneath the bed and started stuffing her sketchbooks inside. "We can have tea in the conservatory."

"That would be a nice thing to do... one day."

"There's no time like the present, Gia! Let's do it now. I'll bring my stuff and maybe I can design a dress for you or something. Doesn't that sound like fun?" Chloe hefted the overflowing bag over her shoulder.

"Sure," Gia replied, making faces as she followed Chloe out of the bedroom. They walked through the house, Chloe's incessantly cheerful chatter filling every space.

"This is the kitchen," Chloe remarked as they neared the big swinging door. "I really do love this part of the house. I think it's less formal than the rest. I think the kitchen is what makes a house a home."

They neared the door, and as Chloe was about to push it in, Nikolas pushed out. The door knocked her in the head. She fell backwards into Gia and her bag of books went scattering.

"Oh Chloe! I'm so sorry. I didn't see you," Nikolas gushed with concern. He helped her to her feet. Gia set about collecting the sketchbooks. She stuffed them in the bag.

"My nose is bleeding...awwww..." Chloe groaned.

"It's not broken," Nikolas said after inspecting it.

"I better go wash up."

"Do you need some help?" Nikolas offered.

"No, I'll be fine. Just hand me my sketchbooks."

Gia handed her the heavy bag. "We'll have to have tea later.'

"I guess so," Chloe replied, her head tilted back to stop the running of blood.

After Chloe left, Gia playfully punched Nikolas in the gut. "Let me smell your breath, Buster."

"Why?" he said guardedly.

"Because you're guilty but I need proof."

"Guilty of what?" he asked innocently

Gia stepped forward and pulled his head down into a kiss. She pushed him away. "Exactly as I thought! That was definitely chocolate chip scone I tasted. Did you eat them all?"

"Yeah."

"Just wait until I tell the baby what a pig her father is!"

"Her? It's going to be a boy. The next Cassadine prince!"

"Cassadine Princess!"

"You're the only Cassadine Princess," he said, taking her left hand. "If you want to be...a Cassadine."

She felt tears coming. He was asking her to marry him! Her joy deflated when she realized that she couldn't say yes. "I want to be, but we can't. We haven't talked about any of the issues between us. We can't just gloss over the lies. I hurt you! I don't want to do that again. I don't think we should even consider getting married until we've talked to someone. A counselor or something."

"You're right, but the baby is coming. I want him to have the family I didn't."

"I want everything to be perfect for her, too. I just don't want to move too fast. I'm still a wanted criminal, you know."

"How could I forget that?" Nikolas asked.

Gia started walking into the kitchen when she tripped. She looked down to see a book. She picked it up. "Chloe must of dropped this."

"Probably."

"Remind me to give it back to her later," Gia said, " because right now, I've nothing but food on my mind."

"Is that all you've got on your mind?" He questioned, kissing Gia on the corner of her mouth.

"For you, mister-eat-all-the-scones-so-Gia-can't-have-any, yep. That's it. Anything else you're thinking about, you can just forget it. You're at the bottom of my list." ~*~  ~*~  ~*~ Chapter 26

End of chapter Twenty Six, Please e-mail any feedback by clicking on the mailbox below :)

Back to Romance Without Bounds Home page