She hopes.
"Good morning, Holly," Leslie says, approaching Michael's assistant's desk. "Is Michael in?"
"What can I do for you, Mrs. Hanley?"
"It's Moore now."
"Oh, right. Because you got divorced to Mr. Hanley after he kidnapped your husband, erased his memory and then married you and tried to take your former husband's place in your life and your children's," Holly says, nodding.
Leslie narrows her eyes. "Excuse me?"
"Eric gave me a cheat sheet on you all," Holly says. "It is so complicated keeping up with who's screwed over who in this company, let alone this town."
"My last two checks haven't been deposited into my account, I was told I needed to see Michael about it," Leslie says, irritated.
"Oh, well he's in a meeting right now."
"A meeting?"
"Yes, with Judge Sullivan."
"Judge...Judge who?"
"Judge Sullivan," Holly repeats. "Do you need me to write it down? Pronounce it a different way?"
"I...I need to go," Leslie says, hurrying out the office. "Tell Michael to mail me my goddamn check."
Holly grins as Leslie exits, removing a set of checks from her desk with Leslie's name on them. She picks up her desk phone and quickly dials a number. "Eric, it's me. I made sure Leslie got here to intercept your father's meeting with Judge Sullivan..."
Or rather, part ownership. The actual name on the lease is Aaron Maddock's. The account balance in Kyle's off-shore bank account in the Cayman Islands is enough to buy the restaurant several times over, but in order to keep up illusions he had to convince Aaron that buying the restaurant for him would be enough to keep Kyle from going after his sister's fortune.
That idiot.
Aaron has no idea that Kyle is playing him like a fiddle. With Rebecca Li set to marry Aaron and already living in his house with her partner-in-crime Kane and Kyle's niece Alexis, everything is in place for Aaron's life to be completely destroyed. He'll pay for what he did to Kyle. What he did to Melissa. What he surely did to Alec.
But slowly.
Kyle wants complete and utter destruction before he tears apart Aaron's life. He wants him without friends. Without a career. Without anywhere to turn, until finally he has to end his own life to escape from the sheer horror of it all. How ironic that Kyle, the one everyone assumed committed suicide years ago would return to exact that same punishment on his enemy.
"Boss? Boss?"
"Huh?" Kyle snaps out of his daze, irritated to fine Kane Li standing before him, a perplexed look on his face. "What is it?"
"I need a break."
"You've been in for less than an hour," Kyle says.
"Yeah, well my work load has also included a bunch of overtime if you get my drift," Kane reminds him.
Kyle rolls his eyes. "Whatever. Just go."
"Thanks," Kane says, interrupted as his cell phone rings. He quickly answers it much to Kyle's exasperation, and steps to the side. "Hey...I told you to meet me in the back, don't come through the front door!"
As Kane hurries out the revolving doors to the restaurant, Kyle watches him with a suspicious gaze. Kane has always seemed the most antsy about his involvement in Kyle's plans, and that attitude requires Kyle keep a close watch on him at all times.
Kyle snaps his fingers, drawing a nearby Jessica Bale to his side. "Watch the front for me. I need to step outside for a moment."
DARREN REYNOLDS' APARTMENT
Darren Reynolds wipes the sweat from his forehead, taking another huge gulp from his bottle of water before he steps into his apartment. He allows the door to swing shut and heads toward the kitchen, headphones still blaring a Santogold song in his ears.
He drops his bottle onto the table and strips off his shirt before heading into his bedroom. As he goes toward the room, he's shocked by what he finds lying on the couch.
It's Blake Thomas.
Blake has been in the apartment so very little since moving in that Darren is downright surprised to find his roommate there. As he stands above the couch, contemplating whether or not to say anything, Blake's eyes open and he himself is startled by the sudden appearance of Darren.
Darren tugs at his earphones, removing them, and forces a smile. "I didn't mean to scare you."
"It's fine," Blake says, his voice just above a whisper. "I was just...napping. Long day."
"Classes?"
"Um, yeah. Test. Big one." At that moment, Darren notices the band-aid on Blake's neck. Before he can bring it up, however, Blake sits up and shifts away from Darren. "I should go study."
Darren doesn't want to let this go so easily, however. "How have you been?"
"I've been fine," Blake says, rising to his feet. "I've just been busy is all. I let a lot of stuff fall by the wayside because of The Blackthornes."
"Are we...are we okay?" Darren finally bites the bullet and asks the question he's been meaning to ask for months.
Blake laughs uncomfortably. "Of course we're okay."
"You're just never here is all, and I was wondering if it was something I did."
"No...nothing you did," Blake insists. "I'm in school full-time. I have a lot of work to do."
Darren wants to believe Blake, but he can feeling Akilah Moore's recent words nagging at his mind. She'd mentioned something to him about not trusting Blake, and while he hardly took stock in anything that came out of that irritating young girl's mouth, he felt like she might be on to something. And so, as if compelled by his subconscious, Darren spits out, "I don't believe you."
Blake stands there, stunned.
"I think there's something going on with you that you're hiding from me," Darren says. "And I want to know what it is."
MATA HARI'S
"Your eyes are going to fall out your head if you keep staring at Jessica," Robert Bale says, smiling across the table at Vincent Moore.
"I'm not staring," Vince insists, adjusting in his seat and taking a sip from his glass of water to calm his nerves. "I'm just noticing her new haircut, is all. It's lovely."
Robert laughs. "And you are nuts."
"Yeah, I am," Vince says. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be inappropriate. She's your daughter-in-law."
"Jessica is no longer married to Alec," Robert says. "And I know what you two had before Alec was involved."
Vince shakes his head. "But she was married to your son. And he's gone now. And so is your grandson. I should be more respectful."
"It's hard to be respectful when you care about someone. I think I've shown that several times over with Felicia and Melissa," Robert continues. "I've lost so much this year, I just want to celebrate the things I have, like your family. And your father is back alive. So many people I care about are back in my life."
"I'm really sorry about how I used to act to you," Vince says. "When Alec was alive...I was kind of an asshole."
"Vincent...have you forgotten who you're talking to?"
Vince laughs. "Right. Well, let me pay for dinner then."
"Vincent, I'm not broke," Robert says. "I did have money that wasn't Melissa's. It's merely the principle of the fact. But I'm glad that you're willing to help. I guess we've just got to work on Akilah now."
"Good luck with that," Vince mutters. "She's been nothing short of a bi..."
"Vincent!"
"How does she do that?" Vince wonders aloud, turning to see his mother entering the restaurant. But when he notices the frantic look on her face, he realizes something is wrong. "Mom, what's wrong?"
"Yes...Leslie?" Robert asks, rising from his seat.
"I was just at Michael's office," Leslie says. "And he was in a meeting with Judge Sullivan."
"As in presiding over your custody case, Judge Sullivan?" Robert demands.
Leslie nods. "Yes. Robert... I think he's really going to take my child away from me."
MATA HARI'S
"I can't let anyone see you," Kane says, whispering to Tyler Rogers as he leads him toward the alley behind Mata Hari's. "Least of all my boss."
"Your boss?" Tyler asks.
"Yeah, Kyle Maddock," Kane says. "The same guy who Rebecca got all roped up with who wants revenge on Aaron Maddock."
Tyler tenses up at the mention of Aaron's name, but the overly anxious Kane doesn't notice. "He doesn't know me."
"I know that, but I don't want anything getting back to Rebecca," Kane continues.
Tyler switches gears. "So did you do what I asked? Get Farrah to go along with the plan?"
"Not yet," Kane says. "But I've got an idea."
"Well you need to hurry up, we're running out of time. My father will be back from overseas soon, and he'll wonder why I'm gone."
"Don't worry, I've got a timetable too. I want to disappear during the honeymoon and give myself a headstart."
Tyler frowns. "Honeymoon?"
"Oh, I didn't tell you?" Kane says, shaking his head in disdain. "Rebecca's latest plan? Marry Aaron. I'm telling you, the bitch is nuts. This isn't what I signed up for."
"I'm staying at the Emerald Heart," Tyler says. "I would have stayed someplace less... semen-encrusted... but I had to pay in cash so Hugh wouldn't know where I was."
"I'll be in touch after I convince Farrah," Kane says. "The wedding is right on us...trust me, I've got this."
Tyler nods and says his goodbyes to Kane, hurrying out the alley. As Kane goes through the back entrance to the restaurant, Kyle finally steps into view, a stern look painted across his face.
While he was pissed off that the little bastard was planning to skip town, Kane was hardly Kyle's number one concern. No, his concern was Tyler Rogers. The one person who knew the truth about what happened to Kyle when he was younger, and Aaron was much older, and took advantage of him.
The only trouble is... Kyle has no idea exactly what happened between them. And if Tyler were to expose anything, it would also expose many of the small holes in Kyle's backstory.
"He needs to be taken care of before this wedding," Kyle says, entering the restaurant through the back and heading down into the basement.
He walks toward the end of the basement, where there's a locked freezer. He removes a key from his pocket and unlocks the freezer...inside, it reveals the cold body of the man he'd kept locked up at the hospital. The man whose DNA he'd had to scrape onto his tongue when those goddamn torch-wielding villagers demanded proof that he was Kyle Maddock.
Kyle reaches past the frozen body and grabs a small box. He opens it, reaches inside, and removes a gun. Gripping it in his hand, he aims the gun into the darkness, squinting his eyes as he imagines a target...
A target shaped like Tyler Rogers.
DARREN REYNOLDS' APARTMENT
Blake can barely believe what he's hearing. The last thing he needs right now is to get bitched out by Darren. He goes from the couch to his bedroom door, ignoring Darren's comment.
"Blake, I asked you a question," Darren snaps.
"I heard you," Blake answers. "I said nothing's wrong."
Darren folds his arms. "Well, I just don't believe that."
"I don't really care what you believe," Blake mutters, turning away.
"Blake...please."
Hearing the sadness and desperation in Darren's voice, Blake reluctantly turns back to face him. But it's not sympathy on Blake's face. It's irritation.
"What is this?"
Darren furrows his brow. "Excuse me?"
"Darren, we're not...we're not dating," Blake reminds him. "We're roommates. I don't need to tell you where I am all the time."
"I know that," Darren says. "But I just..."
"I'm not in the right place to be seeing anyone now," Blake says. "Not after Chris... I mean, Eric. Not after Eric."
"You moved into my apartment. I thought you wanted to work things out."
"I moved into your spare bedroom," Blake says coldly. "I told you when I was in the hospital after that fight with Jack that I didn't want to be in a relationship right now. I... I need some time to myself."
Granted, he's had over a year of "time to himself," but he's younger than Darren. And they're always going to want different things. Darren wants to settle down with someone, but Blake can't do that. Not when he has so much going on with Chris and everything else.
"I've tried giving you time," Darren insists, the tone of his voice begging Blake to reconsider.
"Maybe I can make things easier," Blake says. "I'll find my own apartment by the end of the month."
Blake can see Darren's lip shaking, as if he wants to say something... but Blake doesn't give him the chance, he spins on his heels and goes into his bedroom, slamming the door shut. And the echo of the thunderous door slam is enough to drown out the sound of his own heart breaking.
MATA HARI'S
"He can't do that," Vince says, breaking the silence as he tries to comfort Felicia. "He can't take my little brother or sister away."
"Judging by how easily a rank amateur like Aaron was able to manipulate the court system...I'm very worried about what Michael might be able to accomplish," Robert says, clasping Leslie's hand. "But Darren and I will do everything we can to help you."
"At least someone wants to help," Vince says.
"Vince, not now," Leslie says.
"No mom, I'm fucking sick of this," Vince snaps. "I'm tired of people like Michael, and Derek, and my deadbeat dad telling us what to do with our lives. Running our lives. Manipulating us. Our family is stronger than that."
Leslie opens her mouth in protest, but ultimately decides against saying something. Vince is right. She kicked a drug addiction to come back to her family. She can certainly beat Michael.
"Your father kidnapped Akilah and tried marrying her off in some weird blood ritual," Vince says, shuddering at the reminder of their last summer in South Africa. "Your crazy sister breezed into town and sided up with Michael, and some psycho from my school burned down our house so we had to move into the Hanley mansion. But we are still here."
"Aaron might have taken away Melissa's money from me, but he hasn't taken the memories I have of her," Robert says, nodding. "We're all still standing. And Michael Hanley is not going to destroy this family the way he destroyed mine with Felicia."
"You're all so optimistic, but I know Michael," Leslie insists. "He kept Sean away from me for years. The only reason we found out the truth was because of Eric's video camera."
"Then let's stop being victims and be proactive," Vince says. "Take care of Michael head on."
"I like the sound of that," Robert says, nodding. "Take out old Silver Hair once and for all and make the Hanleys stay the hell away from our families."
He trades glances with Vince and Leslie, who are all in agreement with Robert. Michael's plan was to divide their families and conquer them individually, but he had finally underestimated their resolve. Each of them were ready for a fight.