HANLEY HOME

Felicia Bale slapped Valerie Hanley-Holden across the face. "You ruined my life, Valerie! Don't you see? You've ruined my life and the lives of everyone I care about!"

"You're drunk, Felicia," Valerie said, ignoring the pain from the force of Felicia's blow. "When you're sober, you'll understand that I did this for your own good."

"You ruined my life!" Felicia repeated, nearly collapsing onto the floor.

Felicia gripped the dresser next to Michael Hanley's bed to keep her balance, then turned to look at her husband, Robert.

"I'm so sorry," Felicia cried. "I'm so very sorry."

"This is disgusting," Michael said. "I can't…how could you not tell me this?"

"Michael, this isn't about you," Valerie said.

"I almost slept with my sister!" Michael cried. "I think it's about me a little!"

"I can't…I can't do this," Felicia said, stumbling toward the door. "I have to get out of here."

As Felicia exited the room, Valerie sighed and rushed after her. "Felicia, stop! Don't do anything stupid!"

While Valerie and Felicia exited the room, Michael turned to stare at Robert. Robert glared at Michael.

"So, you were going to rape your own sister?" Robert demanded.

"I wasn't going to rape her," Michael insisted. "She was ready to have sex with me as well. Why wouldn't she? You've been running around town banging anything with a pulse."

"Only because you made me believe my wife was cheating on me, you bastard," Robert said. "We used to be friends, I don't even know what happened to you anymore. You're not the same Michael I went to high school with."

"And the Robert I went to high school with wasn't a self-righteous, sanctimonious hypocrite," Michael retorted.

"You're sick," Robert spat. "You and your entire family."

"Ironically enough, that includes your wife," Michael said, realizing what the implications of Felicia's secret were. "And your son."

Robert froze as he too realized that if Felicia was really Kevin Hanley's daughter, then that meant his own son was a Hanley. Robert had given birth to a child that was related to his worst enemy. It was enough to make him want to vomit.

"Felicia, stop!" Valerie cried, approaching Felicia in the hallway outside Michael's bedroom.

Felicia grabbed the railing next to the stairs and spun around to face Valerie. Tears were streaming down Felicia's face, she couldn't stop crying now that all of this had been revealed. Now that she had gone against Kevin Hanley's orders.

"This is all your fault," Felicia cried.

"Valerie, you were about to sleep with your brother!" Valerie shouted. "I stopped you from making the biggest mistake of your life. Trust me, you would have wanted to kill yourself if it had happened."

"Shut up," Felicia snapped.

"What if you had slept with him and gotten pregnant? Can you honestly say you want to have a little incest baby as Alec's sibling?"

"You bitch," Felicia cried, trying to slap Valerie again.

Valerie moved out of the way, causing Felicia to lose her balance. She cried out as she stumbled and slid backward down the stairs.

"Oh my God, Felicia!" Valerie cried.

Robert and Michael reached the stairs in time to find Felicia lying in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the stairs. Michael cried out and hurried to the bottom of the stairs, while Valerie stood frozen at the top of the stairs.

Robert reached into his pocket for his cell phone. He just hoped it wasn't too late to save Felicia's life.



REYES HOME

Vincent Moore rang the doorbell outside Jessica Reyes' home, having rushed to her house as soon as he reached a phone call from her. Jessica sounded distressed over the phone, which naturally meant that Vince would drop everything and get to her as quickly as possible.

The past few weeks had been great for Vince, now that Jessica had seemingly forgiven him for acting like a jerk when he found out about her relationship with his best friend, Alec Bale. She first began to come around when Vince's uncle, Derek, was killed in a car bomb — a similar demise had befallen Vince's own father, which was why Jessica was concerned about how Vince would deal with it.

Truth be told, after the initial shock, Vince didn't give a damn about his uncle and was actually glad he was dead. Derek was responsible for killing Vince's father and attempting to kill Vince's mother, so he deserved everything he got. Vince was only pretending to grieve now so he could get closer to Jessica and take her away from Alec.

"Whatever happened, she obviously couldn't call Alec," Vince realized. "Looks like things are finally going my way."

Vince's train of thought was interrupted as Jessica opened the front door. She appeared as if she had been crying, but she forced a smile and invited Vince into the house. Vince frowned as he entered the house and closed the door.

"Jessica, what's wrong?" Vince demanded.

"Everything is horrible," Jessica cried. "Nothing's going right."

"What are you talking about? Is this about Alec?"

Jessica nodded.

"What happened?"

"It's over, Vince," Jessica said. "It's over between me and Alec."

"It's about fucking time," Vince said, but only in his mind. His actual reaction was to reach out and take Jessica's arm, telling her how sorry he was for her. The celebration would come later.



KINCAID HOME

Detective Joel Kincaid awoke to the sound of someone pounding on the door of his house. He opened his eyes, finding that he was no longer in his bedroom. He was lying on the couch in his living room, with an empty bottle of vodka lying next to him.

"I'm coming…" Joel muttered, struggling to climb to his feet with the enormous hangover he was suffering from.

He stumbled toward the door and managed to unlock it. Once he opened the door, Joel found Vanessa Phillips, her sister Nikki Vicman, and her brother-in-law Marcus Vicman standing outside. Joel attempted to compose him and forced a smile.

"What do you want?"

"We have a problem," Vanessa said. "I think Alexis kidnapped Eamon."

"Your son, Eamon?"

"Yes," Vanessa said. "She's back in town at her house, and there's blood on the floor."

"You couldn't have called 911?"

"I told her that," Nikki insisted. "But she said you were closer, and she wants you to check it out."

"Have you been drinking?" Marcus wondered, narrowing his eyes at Joel.

"No," Joel snapped. "I'll grab my…something. Give me a minute."



AARON MADDOCK'S APARTMENT

Melissa Maddock exited the elevator once it reached the floor her cousin's penthouse was on. She moved slowly, since she had a headache and felt slightly nauseous that morning. She had some news she wanted to tell Aaron though, so she ignored her discomfort and continued toward his door.

She was briefly startled when her cell phone began to vibrate in her purse. Melissa paused in the hallway and unzipped her purse to remove the phone. She didn't recognize the number, but she answered it anyway.

"Hello?" Melissa answered.

"Good morning, Melissa," Hugh Rogers' voice was on the other end of the phone.

Melissa gasped, wondering how Hugh had gotten her number. "What do you want?"

"My money is due today," Hugh answered.

"You never said —"

"Never mind what I said," Hugh snapped. "I want my money today, you know how much is due."

"I don't have that amount of money on hand," Melissa said. "I mean, I have a credit card with me now and some cash, but my large amounts of money are in an account that I have to keep closed for the moment. It's a part of my practice with Robert."

"I don't give a damn about your money woes," Hugh said. "I want my money by midnight, or I'm going to have to show you exactly how serious I am."

"Hugh, you don't understand," Melissa pleaded.

"No, you don't understand," Hugh said, cutting her off. "I've given you an order, and I want it carried out. You remember taking orders from me, it shouldn't be that difficult."

"But please, I just need —"

"Tell me, Melissa," Hugh continued. "How attached are you to your daughter, Erin?"

"Oh my God," Melissa cried. "What did you do to her? What did you to my daughter?!"

Ricard Branch slowly ascended the stairs leading to Quentin Blood's private office. The office was located in the west wing of Quentin's castle-turned-mansion, and every time Ric entered it he felt as if he were walking into some type of vampire's lair in a video game.

Of course, that perception wasn't far off seeing as how Quentin might as well be a bloodsucking fiend, with how he was attempting to drain every bit of joy he could out of Ric's life. Not only Ric's, Chris Server's as well.

Quentin was a destroyer of lives, and he seemed content with keeping that job as he tore his way through Chris and Ric's own lives. Once they decided to leave his organization and get out of the drug dealing business, Quentin made it his mission to pay them back for what he perceived as an ultimate betrayal.

Never mind the fact that he had enough people working for him to leave Ric and Chris well enough alone…Quentin didn't seem to care when he blackmailed Ric into working for him again, and Ric could only assume that Quentin was going to do the same to Chris. Ric only hoped that Chris would have a stronger will to fight Quentin than Ric possessed himself.

Ric allowed himself to ask Quentin for help in making Sara Reynolds fall in love with him, and Quentin promised he would make Ric's fantasy a reality if he rejoined his organization. Unable to get over his intense feelings for Sara, Ric agreed to Quentin's term. Now Ric was only hoping he hadn't bound himself to working for Quentin for the rest of his life.

"Here goes nothing," Ric said, walking into the room.

As he entered Quentin's office, Ric noticed someone sitting before Quentin's desk with their back to the door. Ric thought he recognized the person, but then realized it couldn't be who he thought it was.

"No, it can't be…" Ric's voice trailed off.

"Ric?" Chris Server turned around to find Ric standing in the doorway. "Oh God…what are you doing here?"

"He's working for me again," Quentin explained, smoking a cigar while seated at his desk. "Much like you."

"This is — this is impossible," Chris said. "You left. I helped you leave Quentin's organization, Ric."

Quentin grinned. "Just when you thought you were out."

"It's a long story," Ric said softly, taking a seat next to Chris.

"Please, we have all of the time in the world," Quentin said. "I'd love you to hear your version of events."

Before Ric could open his mouth once more, someone else entered the office. It was a disheveled Matt Holden, wearing a pair of dark sunglasses. He removed the glasses and stared at Ric and Chris, just as surprised to see them as they were to see one another.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" Matt demanded.

"Everyone keeps asking that question," Ric muttered.

"We're working for Quentin again," Chris said, turning to face Matt.

"Apparently, it's a very long story," Quentin said. "All of which I will be more than happy to discuss with you after we take care of business here."

"Why the hell would you two come back?" Matt continued, ignoring Quentin.

Quentin smirked. "Unless you've forgotten, you're the one who informed me of Ric's decision to leave. I should think you'd be ecstatic."

Ric glared at Matt. "You did?"

"It…it's a long story," Matt insisted, attempting to change the subject. "That's not the point."

"No, it is, you rat bastard," Ric said, rising to his feet. "I thought you were my best friend."

"Obviously I wasn't," Matt replied. "Maybe you should hang out with your new friend, Chris. That is, when he's not having gay sex with Blake."

"What are you talking about?" Ric demanded.

"So I guess you were spying on me for Quentin," Chris said. "Are you the reason he was able to blackmail me into coming back if he got Blake off death row?"

"I don't need this," Matt snapped. "I don't fucking need any of this."

Matt turned around and stormed out of the office. Instead of reacting, Quentin stifled the urge to burst into laughter as well as the urge to follow Matt and tell him to stop acting like a whiny brat.

Instead, he opted to continue the meeting as if Matt hadn't been there at all.

Quentin began, "Now, if there are no more interruptions, we can continue."



EMERALD SQUARE

Akilah Moore cautiously bent over to look at the sheet paper that had slipped from her fingers, realizing that it was now written in English, and she could understand perfectly what was written.

"What the hell is going on?" Akilah demanded.

Akilah spoke the first word out loud, which caused the wind to slightly shift. Not noticing the change, Akilah continued reading from the sheet of paper. As she read, the speed of the wind intensified.

The already darkened sky grew darker, as black clouds shielded the moonlight and the sounds of thunder echoed in the distance. Akilah might have noticed then, if she hadn't become entranced by the words on the paper.

She was focusing intensely on the words, now repeating them as quickly as she could. By the time she had uttered the words enough for them to blur together, lighting struck a nearby tree. Akilah cried out, coming out of her trance and dropping the sheet of paper once more.

Before she had a chance to react to her new surroundings, another bolt of lighting struck. This time it hit her.



GREGORY BLACK'S APARTMENT

Having never experienced what humans referred to as sex, Ariel Hanley decided to continue her rendezvous with Timothy Black. Besides, she could tell that he was enjoying what she was doing to him and that he had never experienced sex before.

"I am making you happy," Ariel whispered, removing Tim's boxer shorts while kissing his chest. "I can tell, because all of the blood in your body has moved to your superfluous appendage."

"Why are you talking like that?" Tim asked, surprising Ariel.

She assumed she had him under enough control to curb his inquisitive human nature, but apparently she didn't. Ariel brushed off the commented and moved her attention lower on his body.

As Tim closed his eyes and moaned loudly, lighting began to flash outside. Tim's eyes flew open and for the first time all evening, he realized exactly what he was doing. He had no idea who this girl was in bed with him.

"What the hell is going on?" Tim cried, sliding back in his bed.

Ariel sat up in the bed, at first startled, but she soon began to feel what was happening. Someone was attempting to forcibly remove Ariel's influences from her surroundings. She couldn't allow this to happen.

"Whomever is responsible for this will die," Ariel said.



MARQUETTE COVE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

Robert rolled up the sleeves of his shirt as he stood in the hospital waiting room, waiting for news on Felicia. Once the ambulance had arrived at the mansion, he rode in Michael's limo with Michael and Valerie over to the hospital. The ride was tense, but everyone had remained silent until now.

"This has to be some sort of sign," Robert said.

"A sign that you've ruined your wife's life?" Valerie demanded. "Yes, I'd say it's a pretty big sign."

"Shut up, Valerie," Michael said, interjecting.

"Oh, you're defending Robert Bale now?" Valerie asked. "That's quite the shock."

"And you're all for shocking people tonight," Michael said. "You get off on it, don't you?"

"Go to hell, Michael," Valerie said.

Ignoring the squabbling siblings, Robert approached the emergency room and stood outside, praying to God that Felicia wasn’t dead. He couldn't believe that he had gone through this same ordeal a week earlier.

"You trying to tell me something, God?" Robert asked himself. "Is this a sign that I should try to work things out with Felicia? That I'm destined to be with her?"

"He is so deluded," Michael commented, rolling his eyes at Robert.

"No, you're deluded, Michael," Valerie said. "You can blame me all you want, but when all is said and done, you're just sorry you don't have another way to beat Robert."

Michael grabbed his sister's arm.

"No, you listen to me. When all is said and done, I'm going to be victorious, little sister. And you're going to get exactly what's coming to you."

"Yes, I will," Valerie said, yanking her arm away from Michael. "I am going to get everything I deserve. You can count on it."



LOPEZ HOME

Joel stood on the porch of Alexis' house, rubbing his eyes. Vanessa knocked on the door and nervously glanced back at Nikki and Marcus. She hoped that this time, Joel would be able to get the answers she needed.

"She has my baby," Vanessa said. "I know she does."

"Well find out soon enough," Joel offered, wondering what he would do if Alexis actually was keeping Eamon Phillips captive. That would mean that Alexis was capable of everything Ryan Phillips had been accusing her of, and if that was the case, then Joel was going to need back-up.

"Then we can lock that crazy heifer up," Nikki said.

"Honey —" Marcus began.

"Shut up, Marcus," Nikki snapped.

Before Nikki and Marcus could erupt into another argument, Alexis Lopez opened the door and peered outside. When she saw who it was, Alexis tried to close the door, but Joel pushed it back open.

"Alexis, I need to ask you some questions," Joel said.

"I don't have their baby!" Alexis cried. "So stop accusing me taking Vanessa's damn baby!"

Joel opened his mouth to respond, as Alexis slammed the door in their faces. Nikki's mouth dropped open and she advanced on the door, but Marcus grabbed her arm to stop her. Vanessa turned to Joel with a distraught look on her face.

"She has to have my baby," Vanessa said. "I thought Ryan was lying…but she did it. She stole my Eamon, Joel! She stole my baby!"

Vanessa slammed her fists against the door, crying out for Alexis to come back outside. Tears swelled in her eyes as she felt her emotions getting the best of her. She had only just given birth to her child, and now Eamon had been ripped from her arms.

"It's okay, Vanessa," Marcus said, attempting to get Vanessa away from the door. "We'll get your baby. We'll get Eamon back."

Joel removed his cell phone from his back pocket and dialed a number at the Marquette Cove Police Department. "Hey Jamie, I'm gonna need a car to watch the Lopez house."

Alexis spied at her visitors from the front door's peephole, realizing that they were most likely going to keep coming back until the could get their hands on her child. Vanessa had already stolen Alexis' baby once before, she wasn't going to let it happen again.

"I don't think so," Alexis said intensely, heading toward her bedroom.

She pushed open the door, where Eamon was resting on the pillow at the head of her bed. She picked up Eamon and smiled at him, rocking the child back and forth in her arms. Alexis ignored Eamon's cries, the only thing she could hear was the sound of people screaming at her.

"I'm going to stop them from upsetting you," Alexis promised Eamon. "We're going to take a little trip. We're going to go far, far away…and we're never coming back."



REYES HOME

After Jessica explained her fight with Alec to Vince, he sat down on the couch and allowed her to rest on his shoulder. It took all of his strength not to badmouth Alec, because he didn’t want to seem happy that Jessica and Alec broke up. He wanted to be concerned.

"There's so much going on," Jessica said. "First this thing with Ariel, and now Alec."

"How much of that do you remember?" Vince asked. "About Ariel?"

Jessica yawned. "Not much. Just her yelling at me about something…is she the reason why I can't remember what happened to me?"

"I don't know," Vince said. "But I'm going to find out what she's up to. I just want you to promise me you won't get involved until I deal with it." "

I promise…"

Jessica closed her eyes and drifted asleep while resting in Vince's arms. He took in the moment and waited for a while until he was sure Jessica was sound asleep. Then Vince laid Jessica along the couch and stood up, throwing a blanket onto her before he headed for the door.

Before he could open the door, someone else unlocked it and stepped inside. It was Natalie Reyes, Jessica's mother, arriving home carrying two bags of groceries.

"Let me help you with those," Vince offered.

Natalie's eyes widened. "What are you doing here?"

"Jessica called me," Vince said. "She and Alec broke up. It was very heartbreaking."

"I want you to stay away from my daughter," Natalie said. "She doesn't need to get in involved with you, she and Alec will make up."

Vince started toward the door. "Somehow, I doubt it."

"Your father would be ashamed of the man you've become," Natalie snapped.

Vince whirled back around glared at her.

"Don't you ever talk about my father!"

"How would your father feel about you living at the Hanley mansion?" Natalie continued, ignoring Vince's anger. "With the man who tried to ruin your family's life?"

"Michael Hanley's a good man," Vince said. "He actually cares about me, he'd do anything to make me happy."

"I don't think you really believe that."

"Do you believe that if I told him to fire you and keep you from getting a job cleaning windshields on a street corner, he would?" Vince asked.

Natalie remained silent, knowing that Michael had threatened to do exactly that when he want Jessica to drop the assault charges she had filed against Vince. Natalie wondered if Michael had shared that information with Vince.

"I guess that answers my question," Vince said, turning to leave.



GREGORY BLACK'S APARTMENT

"Whoa!" Tim cried out, hitting his bedpost with his back as he tried to move away from Ariel. "Who are you trying to kill?"

"I am not going to kill you," Ariel insisted, climbing out of Tim's bed.

She picked up her underwear from the floor and began to dress herself, while Tim watched in shock while also feeling oddly attracted to her. Once Ariel was fully dressed, she turned back to Tim.

"What's going on?" Tim demanded. "Who are you?"

"I do not have time to explain to you," Ariel said. "Just be grateful that I don't need you anymore."

Tim grabbed the sheet on his bed to cover himself as Ariel turned around and exited the bedroom. Tim took a deep breath and leaned against his bedpost, wondering what the hell had just happened.

"Well…at least Greg would be happy," Tim muttered.



AARON MADDOCK'S APARTMENT

"Melissa, what's wrong?"

Melissa turned to the right and saw Aaron standing in his doorway. She smiled at him and held up a hand to pause him for a moment. Then she turned away from Aaron to return to her phone call.

"I'll get you your money," Melissa whispered.

Hugh laughed. "That's a good girl."

Melissa hung up the phone and shoved it back into her purse before turning to face Aaron. "Aaron…I was just coming to see you."

"Who were you talking to?" Aaron asked.

"A client," Melissa said. "You know them, they always want their money."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Aaron said, laughing. "My clients never want to give me my money."

Aaron invited Melissa inside, and she followed him into the penthouse, breathing a sigh of relief that Aaron hadn't overheard her conversation. She didn't want Aaron to know that she was paying Hugh hush money to protect herself and him.

As she walked inside, Aaron excused himself as a timer in the kitchen went off. When he disappeared, Melissa took a seat on the couch in the living room where she began to wonder how she would be able to pay Hugh to save her daughter from harm.

Hugh didn't understand that while her father was a Maddock, she wasn't as wealthy as he had been. In fact, once he died most of his money had been collected by the IRS and her house that she currently lived in wasn't one she paid for, it was given to her in her father's will and by some struck of luck it hadn't been auctioned off.

Most of her legal work didn't let her live extremely wealthy, but she was well-off enough to have the money Hugh was requesting…it would just take some time for her to get access to it. But she didn't have time. She had to get it now.

Melissa wiped tears from her eyes and reached for a box of tissues from the table, noticing a sheet of paper lying next to an envelope by the tissue box. A closer look at the sheet of paper told Melissa that it was an access code to a bank account with Aaron's name on it.

"Aaron…he's from the wealthier side of our family," Melissa realized. "I could take the money from him and then I could have it back before he notices."

As she heard Aaron returning from the kitchen, Melissa snatched up the sheet of paper and folded it so she could place it in her purse. Melissa rose to her feet and spun around to face Aaron.

"So, you wanted to tell me something?" Aaron asked.

"Yes," Melissa said. "But actually…it's not all that important. It just has to do with me and Robert."

"You and Robert…Melissa, I think we should talk about this," Aaron said. "Robert is married."

"I know, but that relationship is over," Melissa said. "I'm sorry about what happened with Felicia, but…we have to move on. We're in love."

Aaron smiled. "Then that's all I need to hear."

"Okay," Melissa said. "And I think my news — I should tell Robert first. It's that kind of news."

"Something I should be worried about?"

"Hopefully not. If everything goes according to plan, it will be the best news ever," Melissa promised. "Trust me."

Melissa hugged Aaron and left the penthouse. Once she reached the elevator doors, Melissa broke down into tears. But she had to quickly wipe them away in case anyone else was on the elevator when the doors opened.