HANLEY HOME

Felicia Bale parked her car in the large driveway at the Hanley mansion, then turned off the ignition and wondered if she should go in or not. Her son mentioned to her the other day that Ariel Hanley, Michael's daughter, was in town. She was one of the few people who had actually met Ariel when she was born, back when Michael was first happily married.

Unfortunately, visiting Ariel also meet running into Michael, which had become exceedingly more uncomfortable since her husband, Robert, had been accusing her of having an affair with him. She didn't want to think about having any type of romantic relationship with Michael — he was her brother.

But she couldn't tell anyone else that. Otherwise, her father would make sure that everyone in her family suffered. She wasn't allowed to tell anyone until he was ready. But that didn't mean she was going to spend time with someone she now knew was her niece.

Hopefully, she would be able to do the same with her nephew, Matt Holden. Which would be difficult, seeing as how he had a troublesome relationship with her son. "Well, here goes."

Felicia climbed out of the car and walked to the front door, where she rang the doorbell. The door opened up and revealed Vincent Moore standing there.

"Vince," Felicia said.

"Hi Mrs. Bale," Vince said. "I'm on my way out, Michael's in his office."

"I didn't come to see Michael," Felicia replied. "I came to see Ariel, is she home?"

"Sorry, just Michael here," Vince said. "I've gotta go."

Vince hurried out the mansion and started walking away from the mansion, while Felicia frowned and contemplated turning around to leave instead of waiting for Ariel. But before she could make a decision, she heard someone call out her name.

"Michael," Felicia said, glancing up at the man approaching her.

Robert Bale watched from his car as Vince left the house after having a brief conversation with Felicia. Robert frowned when he saw Michael come to the door and embrace Felicia. He slammed his fist onto the dashboard.

"Not having an affair with Michael Hanley, my ass," Robert snarled.



MARQUETTE COVE HIGH SCHOOL

"Student found frozen in Emerald Square," Akilah Moore read aloud, looking at an article from the online version of the Marquette Messenger. She was seated in the computer lab, working on a late homework assignment while simultaneously surfing the web. "That's weird…although, not as weird as that one cheerleader who spontaneously combusted during tryouts."

"Akilah!"

Akilah turned around to find Alec Bale entering the computer lab. She smiled when she saw him coming, hoping that he wanted more information about how his girlfriend, Jessica Reyes, was whoring it up all over town. But Akilah knew how angry Alec had gotten during their last conversation, so now she was going to play it cool and find a less blatant way to get Alec to hate his girlfriend.

"What do you want now, Alec?" Akilah demanded.

"Look, all that stuff you said about Jessica, that was a lie, right?" Alec asked.

Akilah rolled her eyes. "Yes, Alec. It was all a lie."

Alec breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God."

"Oh my God, I was kidding Alec," Akilah said. "Of course it's true, what, are you dense?"



EMERALD CEMETERY

Once he reached the cemetery, Vince headed toward his father's grave. It was a place he hadn't visited in months, because it was too hard for Vince to be reminded of his father's death. He used to visit it daily, until he realized that doing so wasn't going to make Sean Moore come back from the dead.

"You're really gone, dad," Vince said, kneeling before his father's headstone. "I know that, but I'm still…I'm still hoping you'll be able to help me."

Vince wiped a tear from his face.

"Everything's gone to hell, dad," Vince said. "I found out the real reason you died — Derek killed you. Then he tried to kill mom too, and I wasn't able to do anything about it. I should have been able to do something about it, but I was too busy being obsessed with Jessica. I was too busy trying to reclaim a part of my past."

Vince knew that he had been obsessing over Jessica, but now that she was freely spending time with him again, he didn't see a reason to be jealous of her relationship with Alec. It wouldn't be long before she admitted that she was truly in love with Vince, not his former best friend.

"I couldn't help because I was weak," Vince said softly. "But now I have the chance to become strong. I have the chance to finally do something big…something amazing with my life. So please, I need you to be with me when I do this."

Vince closed his eyes. "I'm ready."

"Then let's begin," Antonio said, arriving behind Vince.

Detective Joel Kincaid knocked on the door to the house and waited for a response. A few moments later, his daughter answered the door. Julia Mitchell smiled at her father and stepped outside.

"Are you going somewhere?" Joel asked. "I was hoping we could spend part of the day together, since I have off work."

"Well, I was actually on my way to see — you know what, maybe you could come with me," Julia offered.

"Go with you where?"

"To Uncle Duncan's new apartment," Julia said.

Joel's face went white. "What…what did you just say?"

"Oh my God, you didn't know, did you?" Julia asked. "Uncle Duncan is in town! I ran into him the other day."

"How did…how did he get here?" Joel gasped, turning away from his daughter. "He's supposed to be in jail!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Joel spun back around and grabbed Julia's arm. "You stay away from Duncan, do you hear me?"

"Dad, what the hell are you talking about?" Julia demanded.



EMERALD CEMETERY

"Are you sure about this?" Antonio asked.

Vince stood up and turned around to face Antonio, forcing a smile. "I'm ready."

"Good," Antonio said, holding out his hand for Vince to take it.

This was the moment Antonio had been waiting for. Soon, Vince would be taking the bait that Antonio had been setting him up to take since he first appeared in Marquette Cove nearly a year ago.

Vince took Antonio's hand, and then Antonio allowed him to clasp his other hand. They stood over Sean's grave, and Antonio stared into Vince's eyes. "You ready?"

"Aw, this is so cute."

Antonio turned his head and saw Zaliphyr sitting on Sean's headstone, with his arms folded. Antonio rolled his eyes at Zaliphyr and mouthed for him to go away, but Zaliphyr shook his head.

"I'm not crawling back into that screwed up brain of yours," Zaliphyr insisted. "Besides, I want to sit out here and catch the fireworks."

"Fine, just don't say anything," Antonio snapped.

"What's that?" Vince asked.

"Nothing," Antonio said quickly. "Let's start."



HANLEY HOME

"I'm here to see Ariel," Felicia said, walking into the mansion. "But Vince told me that she's not here."

"No, she went to the mall…again," Michael said. "However, she should be back shortly, she gave me a call a few minutes ago."

"I guess I'll wait then," Felicia said.

"So, how have you —"

"Get the hell away from my wife," Robert snarled, barging into the house and interrupting their conversation.

Michael sighed. "Don't I have a guard?"

"Robert, what are you doing here?" Felicia demanded.

"Maybe I should get an electric fence," Michael continued.

"I saw you coming into the mansion here," Robert said. "To meet your lover."

Felicia felt sick to her stomach at the mere thought that she could be her own brother's "lover," but she wasn't able to tell Robert that. Besides, he had no right to accuse her of having an affair. It was as ridiculous as it would be for her to accuse Robert of having an affair with Melissa.

"Robert, I am not going to listen to this," Felicia snapped. "I'm here to visit Ariel, that is all."

"Don't insult my intelligence," Robert said.

"Oh, you have intelligence?" Michael asked.

"Go to hell, Michael."

"Get out, before I have you thrown out."

Robert looked over at his wife. "Are you coming with me?"

"No," Felicia said.

Robert angrily stormed out of the house, slamming the door as he did so. Felicia sadly shook her head, while Michael tried massaging her shoulders to comfort her. But all it did was make her even more upset.



MARQUETTE COVE HIGH SCHOOL

"Huh?" Alec demanded. "What are you talking about?"

"It's true, idiot," Akilah said. "Your girlfriend has been spending time with my brother. Do you need me to write it down for you?"

"Akilah, I know you hate Jessica, but —"

"You're right, I hate her," Akilah said. "And I'm wondering why we're even still talking about her. Are you done?"

Alec frowned. Rather than turn around and leave, he sat down next to Akilah instead.

"Akilah, what is all of this about?"

"Nothing," Akilah snapped. "I'm just tired of talking about boring Jessica. What you need is a real girlfriend, someone who'll always be around."

"Oh yeah? Who's that, Akilah? Is it you?"

"Maybe," Akilah said, returning her focus to the computer screen.

"Look, I wish I could —"

Akilah cut him off. "I'm really busy. Could you leave?"

"Yeah…no problem."

Alec reluctantly stood up and walked toward the door. But before he left, he turned around to look at Akilah once more before exit the lab. He only saw the back of her head, so he could see her smiling. Akilah was hoping Alec would become so frustrated with Jessica that he'd immediately want the one person who apparently did want him.

At least, she hoped so.



MITCHELL HOME

"I want you to stay away from Duncan!" Joel shouted. "He's not the type of person you should be around, Julia."

"He's my uncle, dad," Julia insisted. "He's your brother. Why can't I spend time with him? I have seen him in years, not since he moved to Seattle."

"He didn't move to Seattle," Joel said. "He was in jail."

"Whoa!" Julia cried. "Really? That's awesome."

"Julia, I am not joking," Joel snapped. "I want you to stay the hell away from Duncan, and that's final."

"I hate you," Julia said, glaring at her father.

She went into the house and slammed the door shut. Joel clenched his teeth and slammed his fist against the door, wondering how his brother had gotten out of jail. He was also wondering what Duncan was up to if he was secretly meeting with Julia.

"Wait, now I know," Joel said. "I know exactly who's responsible for bringing that bastard back to Marquette Cove."

Quentin Blood stood in his living room, drinking from a glass of bourbon. He offered Detective Joel Kincaid a drink, but Kincaid declined. He wanted to finish their conversation as quickly as possible.

"The honorable Joel Kincaid," Quentin said, laughing. "You're just everyone's savior, aren't you? Everyone that's not related to you, of course."

Kincaid remained silent.

"Your estranged wife, your daughter…your brother. I'll bet he hates you most of all, doesn't he?" Quentin asked.

"We are not discussing my brother, or any of my family members," Kincaid snapped. "What we're going to do is make sure that you stay the hell away from Ricard Branch and Chris Server."

"I do enjoy how everyone in Marquette Cove makes me out to be a villain," Quentin said. "If my last name suddenly turned out to be Hanley, I'd probably be burned at the stake. And accusing me of some sort of foul play…this is tantamount to harassment."

"Just make one move that pisses me off, Blood. And your ass is mine."

Quentin smiled. "Is that what you said to Duncan when you viciously hunted down and arrest him?"

"Quit while you're ahead, Blood."

"Did you ask him if Kelly begged for mercy when he raped her within an inch of her life?"

"Shut up!" Kincaid shouted, grabbing Quentin by his shirt.

"Are you quite finished?" Quentin asked, without changing his expression.

Kincaid released Quentin from his grip.

"Go to hell," Kincaid growled.

"You'll pay for this, Quentin," Joel promised.

He hurried to his car, and then he sped off in the direction of Quentin's mansion.

Julia watched as her father left in his car, and then she opened the front door and stepped back outside again. She didn't know what her father's problem with Duncan was, but she intended to find out.

Of course, she wasn't just going to come out and ask him about his time in jail…she was going to have to be subtle about it.

"I'll find out what my uncle's secret is," Julia insisted.

She closed and locked the front door, and then she removed a pair of sunglasses from her purse and placed them on her face before heading toward her uncle's apartment.



HANLEY HOME

Ariel Hanley stepped into the living room, where she found Felicia and Michael sharing a cup of coffee. She smiled as Felicia looked up at her. "Hey there, Aunt Felicia."

Felicia froze after Ariel spoke, but then she quickly realized that Ariel had always referred to her as Aunt Felicia — it didn't mean Ariel knew the truth about Felicia's parentage. "Hello Ariel. It's good to see you."

Felicia stood up to give Ariel a hug.

"How are you?" Felicia asked. "How's London?"

"London is great," Ariel said.

"I'll give you two some time alone," Michael said, standing to leave.

He touched his daughter's shoulder before he left, but quickly removed his hand upon realizing how cold her skin felt. Ariel turned to look at Michael with a confused look on her face. "What's wrong?"

"Ariel, you're freezing," Michael said. "Your skin is cold to the touch."

"It's really hot outside," Ariel explained. "I had the AC turned up on full blast in the limo, sorry."

Michael frowned. "I'll be in my office."

Ariel intensely watched her uncle leave the room. While Ariel focused on him, a bright blue light flicker in her eyes as her lips curled into a smile. Michael Hanley wasn't going to know what hit him…and neither would the rest of Marquette Cove.