Gia sat comfortably on Nikolas' lap. "Your biggest problem," she started, "is that you don't know how to have fun."

Stefan continued to read his book.

"Are you ignoring me?"

"I think he's ignoring you," Nikolas responded helpfully.

"Fine, go ahead and ignore me! You should have learned by now that it won't stop me from talking. I will just continue rambling until you look up from that stupid book and pay attention," Gia threatened.

"Please do. It doesn't bother me in the slightest," Stefan countered, turning the page.

"Anyway, you're pretty boring. I've been here for days and there are only five different things that you do. You work, you complain, you eat, you read, and you make noise. "

Stefan looked up. "Noise? What noise?"

"All of that noise. You know...in the morning, in the afternoon, in the middle of the night..."

Nikolas pinched Gia's arm. "Let's not have this conversation, Gia."

Stefan was genuinely confused. Noise? "I still have no idea to what you are referring."

She smiled widely as she climbed off of Nikolas' lap and trekked over to Stefan's chair. "You really have no idea?"

"No..."

Gia moved Stefan's book and plopped down on Stefan's lap.

"What are you doing?-" he started to protest.

"Shh. You want to know don't you?"

"I suppose..."

Gia took a deep breath. In her most manly voice, she moaned, "Oh, Chloe. That's it....like that.....ohhhhh...."

"GIA!" Nikolas scolded.

"Incredible, my darling....ohhhhh..."

Stefan's face dropped, quickly becoming red with embarrassment. "Is there anything you won't say?" he snapped.

"Not that I can think of! Besides you can't be angry. You did set me on fire." Gia replied, right before Nikolas pulled her off of Stefan.

Nikolas could see that Stefan was shocked and humiliated that such a private part of his life would be paraded about. Still, Nikolas  could barely contain his laughter. "The tunnels....they carry sound pretty well....I mean, well....you're loud....and at night it's coming through....we can hear you....it's..well it's pretty loud...it's always been pretty loud, though. You know, with Katherine, and especially with Bobbie..." Nikolas sputtered.  

Stefan was relieved when the phone rang. He almost ran upstairs to his study to answer it. He picked it up, listening carefully. His knuckles turned white as the voice spoke. He slammed the receiver down. He grabbed his coat off the back of his chair, racing down the stairs. Turning to Nikolas, he said, "I have to go. It's urgent."

"What is it?" Nikolas asked fearfully.

"My worst fears come true," Stefan announced, turning and leaving the room.

"I'm coming with you!" Nikolas yelled, racing after him. "I'll be back, Gia!"

Gia stood alone in the middle of the room. "Exactly what I said. No fun at all." ~*~  ~*~  ~*~

Twenty Minutes Earlier

"What do you want?" the woman who killed Emily asked impatiently. She eyed the interior of Helena's yacht warily. This place had always given her the creeps.

"Really, dear, you are in no position to be impatient or hostile," Helena replied coolly. She stood before her guest, slowly slipping sherry.

"What are you talking about?"

"I know that you murdered poor Emily Quartermaine. I know that you and your little friend disposed of Mac Scorpio. I know everything. Even why you did it."

The other woman laughed. "So?! Get real, Helena! I don't care what you *think* you know. I won't be blackmailed. And," she said, sticking her finger in Helena's face, "I don't like it when my hand is pushed."

It was the older woman's turn to laugh. Swatting the finger out of her face, Helena grabbed the woman's face in a fierce grip, taking extra pains to dig her fingernails in her cheeks. Seriously, she said, "Who do you think you are? I've been squashing little twits like you for decades. Don't think you can threaten me! If I didn't have plans for you, I would slit your throat right now,  just for the sheer delight of watching you bleed."  Helena let go of the other woman's face, pushing her roughly down onto the sofa.

Rubbing her cheeks, Emily's murderer said, "I am so not afraid of you!"

"Save the melodrama, dear. Your stupidity is your own business."  Helena stared down at the next phase of her plan. She was going to enjoy this. She would use this pathetic excuse for a criminal to reclaim Nikolas, And then, when the dust settled, Emily's murderer would take the fall for everything Helena had already set in motion. She was on the cusp of executing her most perfect plan to date.

Helena watched as her guest stared blankly at the floor. She rolled her eyes in disgust, calling out, "Andreas! Our friend looks like she could use a refreshment of some sort."  She could hear his movement in the hallway. She made a mental note to reprimand him on his lack of promptness.

Andreas came lumbering around the corner. Helena gasped in shock to see her nude manservant approaching her with a large knife in his back. Blood coated his back like a finely tailored shirt. He walked towards Helena, who immediately took several steps back.

Emily's murderer, on the other hand, was neither shocked nor repulsed. She stood up, watching the scene in delighted shades of red and slashes of black. She didn't feel anything but the heightened joy that punctuated her madness. Her eyes were blank, but she was very aware. Andreas stumbled over the coffee table and went crashing to the ground.  "Silly man," the younger woman replied cheerfully. "He should have been more careful. You never know when someone is stabbing you in the back."

Anger washed over Helena. That little bitch had some nerve killing Andreas! "You did this?!" she demanded angrily.

"I sure did. It wasn't all that hard either. He was more than willing to climb into the sack with...well someone who wasn't all wrinkly and gross like you. We made love. It was pretty good, too. Not as good as it is with my man, but good nonetheless. I really did hate to put that knife in his back. I had to, though. HAD TO! See, he's all the security you have today. Andreas gave all those other hunky men the night off. Wasn't that nice of him?" the younger woman chirped, slowly moving closer to her prey.

Helena smirked. There was no way that *this woman* would get the best of her. Sure, she was slowly being backed into a corner. Sure, she had no protection. Sure, she was forty years older than the wispy woman who was after her. That made no difference. It was not the end for Helena Cassadine. It couldn't be...

"What do you want?" Helena barked.

"Hey! That's the same question I asked you! My, haven't the roles reversed? I see fear in your eyes. Are you afraid of me?"

"Not on your best, most insane day, would I ever fear you!"

"You're hurting my feelings. So, you want to know what I want...well, first and foremost, I want you dead! You've taken far too much from me already. I can't let you take anymore."

She's crazy! Helena thought as she stepped forward, quickly picked up a large vase, and launched it at the younger woman. It hit the intended victim in the shoulder, giving Helena enough time to dart past her and run for it. Helena was almost up to the deck when Emily's murderer tackled her around the knees. The older woman started kicking and scratching, hitting her attacker in the chest with her high-heeled pump. 

Helena jumped up to run again, but instead, changed direction and headed towards her bedroom. She threw open the door, running to her desk and pulling out a loaded gun. She knew that the weapon was the advantage she needed. Gun drawn, Helena went back out into the dark corridor. She moved slowly along the wall, her heart beating wildly. Not only in fear, but in exhilaration. Murder always made her feel alive. "Show yourself! You can't win!"

Behind her, a soft voice responded, "Wanna bet?" Half a second later, Helena felt an electrifying volt race through her side. She crumpled to the ground, motionless and numb. "It's my new stun gun! You should really get one. They're great," Emily's murderer giggled. The younger woman grabbed both of Helena's arms and started dragging her down the stairs to the very bottom of the boat. She left her victim in the middle of the floor. "This is going to be fun." She pulled a step stool and some rope out from behind the little door.

She stood over a paralyzed Helena. "Did you know that I was a Campfire Girl? I loved it. We got to do all kinds of neat stuff. By far, my favorite was tying knots. I had a badge...I'm a pro! Do you want to see?" She held the rope up so that it could easily be seen. Then, she started intricately folding the rope. When she was done, she twirled a noose above her head. "See? Didn't I tell you I was good? Fast too."  She swaggered over to the step stool, quickly climbing up. She threw the loose portion of the rope over a strong steel pipe. "I sure hope that's not the gas line!" She securely tied the rope. She briefly stuck her own head in the noose, checking to see if it was hanging too low. She adjusted it. Once she was satisfied, she hopped down and dragged Helena over to the stool by her feet.

"This is the hard part. I'm stronger than I look, but you're dead weight." She paused a moment, amused at her unintended joke.   She managed to brace herself and then pull Helena into a sitting position. Then she turned and squatted, tucking Helena's arms underneath her own armpits. She stood up swiftly, Helena's limp body coming with her. Helena fell lifelessly against the young woman's back. The younger woman slowly tugged her victim up the step stool, almost losing her balance several times. Through sheer determination, they both made it to the top. She awkwardly maneuvered Helena's head into the noose, using the last of her strength to hold her in place.

The young woman smiled fiendishly as she jumped off the stool. Then, she removed it from beneath Helena's feet.

There was a sharp tug at Helena's throat as the rope cut into her neck. Her still numb legs dangled. She couldn't move her arms. Inside, Helena was in a frenzied panic. She was going to die! That little bitch was killing her!

NO!

She was trying to think, trying to figure out a way to save herself. The problem was, all of her brain cells were focused on the fact that she couldn't breathe.

"See ya later, Helena!" Emily's murderer called, happily skipping up the stairs.
~*~  ~*~  ~*~

Gia sat down, propping her legs up on the cocktail table. She looked around to make sure that Mrs. Landsbury was skulking about, sending out those evil glares. For some reason, the housekeeper just couldn't stand her. Gia had the sneaking suspicion that old Landsbury didn't think that she was good enough for Nikolas.

She was bored. She looked around for something to do. Reaching out, she picked up the book that Stefan had been reading. Gia was expecting some boring classical literature, but instead she recognized it as the book Chloe had dropped the previous day. She almost laughed, seriously doubting that Stefan would read anything that Chloe found entertaining.

She flipped open the cover. Scrawled across the very first page was a name.

Emily Bowen-Quartermaine

Gia looked at the outside of the book again, only this time, she recognized it as a journal. How had she missed that?

She absently ran her finger over the name. What was Dead Emily's journal doing at Wyndemere? Why was Stefan reading it?

What was Chloe doing with it?

Of course, Chloe was a Quartermaine. Perhaps they had asked her to discard of Emily's things. OR...

Gia turned past the signature, quickly locating the first entry.

Lucky is so funny sometimes. Today, we went down to Kelly's to see....

"Blah, blah, blah," Gia said aloud. She turned to a random page towards the back.

I could have screamed!  Today, Nikolas told me that he was in love with GiaPet. What does he see in that girl? She's not even all that pretty. Not really...well, I guess guys might think she is. I bet she's a slut...

"You ****! If you weren't already dead...."

Gia read a few more entries. Finally, she went to the very last one. It was dated the day that Emily was murdered. It started off with a bunch of bland gushing over how cute some kid named Michael was. Then, she reported all the grizzly details of the "tape".

Gia was about to close the journal when a name caught her eye.

I was absolutely stunned as I listened to Stefan and Gia practically confess to deceiving Nikolas. I made a mistake, though. I listened to the tape in the library and someone else heard it, too...

Emily stuffed the tape recorder back into her purse. She pushed out of her chair, getting up to leave. She was taken aback to see that someone else was in the room. "Chloe?...How long have you been here?"

"Long enough."

Emily bit her lip. Chloe was pale, her hands visibly shaking. It must be terrible for her to find out that her entire relationship with Stefan was based on a lie.  "Is there anything  I can do for you? Someone I can call?...I'm so awfully sorry, Chloe..."

Chloe's face was drawn into a frightened grimace. She stared vacantly at the wall above Emily's head. In a small, trembling voice, she mumbled, "I love him, Emily."

"I know. This must be awful for you," she said, moving to lay a gentle hand on Chloe's shoulder. "I wish you hadn't found out this way..."

Chloe was silent. She laid her own hand on top of Emily's comforting one. "You know...the truth. What are you going to do?"

"The right thing! I'm going to tell Nikolas everything."

"Then he'll confront Stefan."

"He has a right to. And so do you. "

Chloe's hand transformed into a claw, her nails digging into Emily's hand. "I don't want to know, Emily. Nikolas doesn't want to know. Keep your mouth shut!"

"Chloe! You're hurting me!" Emily wailed in pain.

"No, you're hurting me! Didn't you hear me? I love him!"

"He's lied to you...the truth has to come out." Emily wrenched her hand away. There were small little indents in her hand, but the skin wasn't broken. "Why would you want me not to tell?"

"Happiness is wonderful thing. I am happy. That is all I have ever wanted to be. Who cares how I got that way? Just leave it be, Emily!"

"I won't! If you want to stay with Stefan, go ahead, but Nikolas is my best friend. I will not let him be hurt! He's had enough of that."

"You're going to be the one hurt," Chloe fired, shoving Emily against the wall. "Give me the tape! I want the tape and then I want you to forget what you know!" Chloe moved in closer, her eyes menacing as they bored into Emily's.

"Look, the truth is out. Deal with it. I'm going to tell Nikolas. I don't care what you think, but I think that living a lie is worse than death!" Emily shoved past Chloe, grabbing her purse, and flitting towards the door. With her hand paused on the door knob, she turned back to say gently, "I know that you're just upset. Soon you'll realize that you can't make a life out of a box of lies. It just won't work."

Chloe stood, staring at the door that Emily had just exited through. All of Emily's words floated through her brain in a jumbled haze.

Chloe wasn't happy.

Gia gasped as the implications of the journal entry hit home. She jumped when she heard the front door open. She clutched the journal to her chest, jumping up. "Nikolas?!"

"It's not Nikolas," Chloe replied, sauntering into the room. "Disappointed?"

Gia's mouth went dry as she came face to face with a murderer. 

Chloe tilted her head slightly, her gaze immediately fixed on the book Gia held. She smiled, sticking her hand inside her purse. Her hand immediately locked around the handle of the gun she always kept nearby. "What's that you've got there, Gia? Are you messing with something that doesn't belong to you?"
~*~  ~*~  ~*~

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

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