Risk

Chapter 22

No Man's An Island

Carly covers her hair with one hand then with her other hand holds down her dress that is trying to blow up over her head. She looks over at Stavros and shakes her head. As soon as they are clear of the helicopter she points a finger at him. "I am so going to get you for that." She laughs shouting over the sound of the rotors shutting down.

"You selected the venue, my dear. I merely arranged transportation. Where are we exactly?" Stavros keeps a Michael's hand in his. With Carly's injury she was definitely one handed and sometimes Michael forgot and tugged on Carly's bandaged hand. Which hurt both of them. Carly from her injury and Michael at the realization he'd caused his mother additional pain.

"Sonny owns this island. There are a lot of islands down here that don't show up on the big maps... only the navigational ones that the boat captains use. Nobody lives here... they just work here. You can only get here by boat... or helicopter."

"Work here doing what?"

"Can't you smell it? Sugar. Sugar cane. We saw the buildings over the rise." Carly points. "There is a plantation house there that the workers use for their noon meals... and the distillery."

"Distillery."

"Rum. All different kinds. From field to bottle everything is done from here."

"Where is Uncle Sonny?" Michael demands.

"Mr Man, he's suppose to meet us down here. But he's probably over at the casino or he might still be on his way. I have to give him a call. I'm sure he'll be here soon. Come on. Let's go up to the house. I guess we'll be roughing it until Sonny gets here."

"Roughing it." Stavros makes a face.

"Oh please. It couldn't be any worse than that tent you had us staying in at the base of Masada while you and Michael went on your dig. I'm sure there is a vehicle up at the house that can be sent back to get the luggage." Carly puts her overnight back up on her shoulder and starts in the direction of the house.

"It is very isolated." Stavros takes a bag. Michael slides on his backpack.

"Yeah. That's the idea. I'm going to need to talk to Sonny... privately." Carly reminds Stavros.

"I have made another appointment. It involves me taking the helicopter though."

"That will work." Carly nods. "Just so long as you remember to pick us back up."

"I told you would be present when Jax returned the purloined portion of the estate to me."

"What's purloined?" Michael asks.

"Stolen."

"It's wrong to steal." Michael says rightiously.

"Yes. And that is why I will get back what was stolen from me. It's only fair." Stavros goes up to the stairs to the full round porch of the plantation style house. He tests the door surprised to find it unlocked.

"I told you. Nobody is here. Everyone has gone back to Puerto Rico until the harvest starts up." Carly walks thru the door Stavros has opened for her and looks around. She switches on a set of lights relieved that they work. "Oh good. If I had to mess with a generator I would have been really cranky." She looks down at her son. "Michael go upstairs and find two rooms we can use to sleep in. One for Uncle Sonny and one for you and me to share." Michael drops his back pack and goes racing up the stairs. Carly starts opening doors until she finds the one that leads to the kitchen. "Good, good, good." Carly sees that the house is fully stocked...even for someone as fussy as Sonny. Her directions had been followed to the letter. By the back door there is a set of keys on a ring. "Here. I bet this is for some kind of vehicle." She tosses the ring to Stavros.

Stavros sidles up next to Carly. "Are you sure about this?"

Carly sighs. "No. But it's got to work. Otherwise eventually Sonny and Jason will end up going to war and it will destroy them both."

"Well you've found him his paradise to rule. And yes, it is difficult to access but not impossible. How will you keep him here?"

"As long as you or Jason control the boats.... although he could always tear the building apart and build himself a raft. I guess I'll have to make him want to stay." Carly bites her lip.

Stavros rubs his thumb over Carly's bottom lip freeing it. "There are easier ways. A nice cage where all his needs are taken care of. There is one back in Greece."

"No cages!" Carly demands her eyes wild. "No bars, no locks. The island is enough. It has to be enough. I just want Sonny to be safe."

Stavros cups her face and stares into her eyes. "I know what I would do if in your husband's situation."

"It'll be okay." Carly tries to convince herself. "Michael and I will come to visit. And Sonny will like it here. It's not a jail. It's not the witness protection program. He doesn't have to rat anyone out. It's a home, a beautiful home. It's paradise. He can make rum and fish and be the gentleman of the manor. It'll all work out-- you'll see."

Stavros shakes his head. "This visit will probably go as you plan for you have the element of surprise. But the next one...."

"It will work."

"Just because you will it so, doesn't make it so." Stavros holds up the keys. "I will go back to the helicopter and get the rest of the gear. Michael has been silent too long."

"I'll go check on him. Stavros..."

"Yes?"

"It will work."

"Not for long."

"Sonny's not you." Carly says defensively.

"For which you should be thanking God."

Alexis paces the stateroom. The waiting was killing her. Poor choice of words, Natasha. No watch, no clock only the sun moving to show the passage of time. They'd been anchored for a couple of days now. Andreas showed up periodically to take her up on deck for a walk... some air. like a damn pet poodle Meals appeared as an indicator of a passage of time. Novels provided. hell I haven't read fiction since... college. The music was piped into the stateroom from somewhere else. is he afraid I'll slit his throat with a cd? strangle him with a cassette tape ribbon? Alexis looks down at herself. And the clothes... another powerplay She is garbed in a beautiful dress... the finest quality.. obviously custom. No pants, no shorts, no suits, no jeans-- not even blouses and skirts. The closet of the stateroom is filled with dresses... in pastels. Chloe would have told me they managed to complement my coloring but not my personality.

Alexis wheels around at the sound of a key in the lock. Andreas enters after a brief rap on the door. "The Prince indicates he will be here for dinner."

"Oh great-- a last meal. What we having? Arsenic with a cyanide chaser?"

"Shall I have a gown pressed for you?" Andreas ignores Alexis' comments and goes over to the walk in closet. "This one I think."

"I'm not wearing that." Alexis says flatly.

"It is not in your best interest to displease The Prince."

"News flash. He's already displeased with me. He's always been displeased with me. I want my own clothes."

"No." Andreas counters. "It's not in my best interests to displease The Prince either."

"Like I really care what happens to you."

"Mrs Jacks, I have been authorized to take what steps necessary to make this dinner happen. If that means dressing you myself. So be it."

Sonny goes up the check in at the hotel casino. "Any messages for me?"

"No sir, Senor Corinthos." The clerk hands Sonny his keys. "Your normal rooms have been reserved. Will anyone else be joining you?"

"My wife and son." Sonny replies as he takes the keys. Knowing the casino and hotel like the back of his hand, Sonny makes his way to his usual cabin set back from the casino. "Come on, Carly. I'm here. Call."

"There is still time to back out." Stavros comments as they walk together back to the helicoptor.

"You are really starting to bum me out." Carly complains. "It'll be fine."

"It had better be. I'm expecting you to lead Jax to the next meeting once I have the scene set."

"Not a problem." Carly calls off from memory the exact suite where Jax is registered in Puerto Rico. "I'll make sure he catches me and forces me to come back to the yacht. Are you going to be ready?"

"I'll call you when the helicopter is on it's way to pick you and Michael back up."

"I'm going to leave Michael here with Sonny until after you are done dealing with Jax. He'll be safer here. And Sonny won't freak about me leaving then... he'll know I'll be back."

Stavros tangles his hand in Carly hair tilting her head back. His grip is just this side of painful. "If anything goes wrong... you call me. I'll come get you. Do you understand?"

"It won't go wrong."

"Do you understand?"

"I'll call. I swear. But it'll be fine. You just take care of your mysterious meeting so we can get to the good stuff with Jax. Cause as soon as you get the estate back... I want my company back. Laura is messing things up. I want to have something left before she gets done with it."

"First things first." Stavros releases Carly and strides off to the waiting helicopter.

Carly waves as the helicopter takes off and then reaches into her pocket for the cell phone as soon as the sound of the copter is far enough in the distance. Dialing a number from memory she presses the phone to her ear. "Sonny? It's Carly."

Andreas studies the table of the salon. Everything is prepared for a lavish dinner suitable for the prince. He straightens a fork and then steps back. The only thing left to do on the table is to light the candles but that would wait for the Prince's arrival. He sighs. Now the difficult part. Making sure the prince's sister is dressed properly for his arrival. One of the crewmen comes into the Salon. "The copter pilot called the captain. The Prince will arrive within minutes."

"Good. Make sure there are no obstructions on the fantail." Andreas directes. "I will ready our guest." Andreas goes below decks to Alexis' stateroom. He raps on the door and then enters. He swallows his relief. Alexis is dressed in the beautiful heavy white damask gown he'd prepared for her. Her hair is upswept in simple chignon. Diamond and sapphire earrings grace her ears. He frowns. "You are not wearing the matching necklace."

"And I'm not going to. It's a fear of strangling issue."

Andreas nods. He goes over to the jewelry box and pulls out a Cassadine Medallion on a thin chain. "Then perhaps this? The chain would break long before your wind. And it would remind The Prince that while he is displeased with you... you are blood."

"It is my blood that displeases him. Fine." Alexis turns around. Andreas takes the necklace and fastens it around Alexis' neck.

"There. Perfect."

"Let get this over with." Alexis demands fatalistically.

Andreas can hear the sound of the approaching copter. "This way." Andreas leads Alexis from her room to the teak and mahagony panelled cabin which functions as an office/study. He waits with Alexis while the staff brings Stavros to the room. "My Prince." Andreas makes a bow as Stavros enters.

"Leave us." Stavros demands. Andreas bows again and steps out of the office shutting the door behind him. "We didn't get the opportunity to... renew our relationship while I was in Port Charles." Stavros opens moving closer to Alexis.

"Bummer." Alexis quips keeping her eyes on him at all times. She sees the blow coming and stiffens. Exactly the wrong thing to do, just like a car wreck but on a more personal level. If she hadn't seen it coming she would have moved with the blow-- softened it. Alexis licks at the blood on her lip bringing her hand up to wipe it away. "I see you haven't changed."

"You forget your place." Stavros says coldly.

"As your punching bag? I'm sure you'll remind me." Alexis retorts fighting back verbally in the sure knowledge of her coming death and not planning on going quietly. "I'm not that scared little Alexis Davidovich anymore surviving on the scraps of the servants' table-- the poor relation. I remember everything. In case Helena didn't tell you while she was plotting to poison the world-- I am Mikkos Cassadine's daughter. He recognized me in his will. I am part of this family!"

Stavros laughs sending a cold chill down Alexis spine. "I have always known who you are... bastard. Stefan might have bought the fiction of you being a distant relative; he was but a child himself and a gullible one at that. But I was old enough to see it all. How your mother destroyed our father-- my family. She forgot her place as my father's whore and dreamed above her station too."

"Don't you dare speak of my mother!" Alexis shouts.

Stavros backhands her again rocking Alexis on her feet. "I will speak as I like. Don't you want to know about your mother?" He might have said mother but bitch comes thru loud and clear. "I knew Kristen Bergman. Stefan's nanny. Someone who'd scraped her way out of the gutter and into the household of a royal family with her sweet voice and pretty face. I saw the way she sniffed after my father like a bitch in heat while my mother fought to recover her strength after having my brother. I saw it all. My parents were happy. But Stefan's birth was difficult. Your mother saw an opportunity and exploited it."

"He loved my mother! He wanted to be with us!"

"My father was infatuated. Whores like your mother came and went. But they never forgot their place. The only difference was you. He was already losing the attraction when she came weeping to him that she was pregnant. The doctors had already told my father that Stefan's birth had taken it's toll on my mother and there would be no more children in their marriage bed. He took his whore off the island and gave her money and a house; introduced her to people who would give her a career as an opera singer. And he visited the child... you."

"My mother loved Mikkos. She showed him what a real family could be like!"

"My father had a real family already! He had a wife; he had two sons."

"Helena is insane, a monster!!"

"Who do you think made her that way?" Stavros comes behind Alexis and whispers in her ear. "Your mother. Her constant phone calls and little messages about your every sniffle. Demanding my father's attention at every little thing you did... your first tooth, your first step. Giving my father what my mother had lost bearing Stefan... Daddy's little girl.... frilly and cute like a puppy. And while she was pimping you to get my father to come around she spread her thighs yet again. That is when Helena lost it. She tolerated your existence... she tolerated Mikkos f'ing your mother during his visits to see you. Because Kristen wasn't my father's wife... just his very expensive whore. It wasn't your birth that condemned your mother but your sister's. And your mother's demand that Mikkos leave his wife and sons for her. I heard it all. I heard the phone calls. I heard my parents fighting. I have always known exactly who you are."

"They were happy!"

"At what cost?" Stavros retorts sharply. "Your mother destroyed Mikkos and Helena both. My mother never killed anyone before Kristen. That is the knowledge that destroyed their marriage. He threw himself into his work. He didn't start building the weather machine until after Kristen's death and their bargain that brought you to the island. He withdrew from his family, from his children and threw himself into his work. The work that killed him and drove my mother over the edge."

Alexis snorts. "Oh please she was over the edge long before Mikkos death." She draws back expecting another blow but it doesn't come.

"Perhaps." Stavros nods. Alexis is shocked that he is actually considering her viewpoint. "But without Father to rein her in.... With my father's distraction first on your mother and then on his work, She focused her attention on what she believed to be the future... me."

"What about Stefan? Okay I get why she treated me like dirt... but why her own son?" Alexis protests loyally.

"She blamed Stefan for not being able to bear more children. Not reasonable I know. And Stefan was a difficult baby.. a difficult child. First she was physically unable to bond with him and then by the time she was well... Mikkos had already begun the laison with your mother. Stefan always knew that Helena blamed him for something but not what. And then he had you. His cute little puppy to play with. His affection for you." Stavros shakes his head. "Stefan had no idea why that would annoy Mother so. Why it would make her hate him even more. I tried to get him to leave you alone. But I was bound by the facade agreed on by my parents. If only I could have been able to tell him the truth. He would have drowned you and taken his place as our mother's favored child. Another thing Kristen is responsible for... Helena's alienation from her own son."

"Why am I here? What do you want?"

"An accounting. Just as I indicated in the letter I left for you husband."

"I'm not married."

Stavros laughs. "You and Stefan both. So American of you. You should have been satisfied being Alexis Davidovich. The little drudge she was... She could go about her life, build a career become a reknown lawyer. Marry... divorce all at her own will. Such is not the life of Natasha Cassadine. She is subject to the will of the family. Be careful what you wish for, sister. The second son of a common family..." Stavros tsks. "Even the bastard daughter could have reached higher... a Count or perhaps even a Prince if the dowry had been significant enough."

"What century are you living in? I know you've been dead for decades but even back in the seventies..."

Stavros continues as if not interrupted. "I would have found an appropriate husband for you. Someone who would have treated you as you deserved."

"Glad I missed that one." Alexis shudders at the possibility.

"But you made your choice. So I will work from there."

"Excuse me?"

Not much later, at the candlelit dining room table in the salon. Stavros sits at one end and Alexis at the other. "You aren't eating, Natasha."

"I think you loosened a tooth." Alexis says wryly. The evening had taken on a surreal quality as she processes the ultimatum Stavros had issued before dinner. She changes the subject. "Where is Carly?"

"Caroline had other business."

"Alexis quirks a brow. "Other business."

"As in none of yours. She really doesn't care for you."

"She's a maniac." Alexis says flatly.

"Yes, I can see why you'd think so considering she got between you and a bullet-- obviously the sign of a deranged woman. Sorel, I believe? It would have been... unsettling for her to observe our conversation."

Alexis smiles. "I doubt she would have stopped you. As you say-- she doesn't care for me."

"But if would have upset her none the less. Caroline has little thought for her own well being when she is agitated."

Alexis stiffens. "What happened? What did you do?"

"A misunderstanding already resolved."

"Did you kill Chloe?" Alexis blurts out unable to resist what had been preying on her mind especially in the knowledge that she was being used to lure Jax out.

"A charming woman. Very intuitive. Her judgement though." Stavros clucks his tongue and shakes his head. "Stefan? Please! Barbara suits him much better. Ms Morgan was too sweet. While Barbara, she has fire and drive despite her less than humble beginnings. A true Cassadine bride...."

"Did you kill Chloe?" Alexis interrupts.

"Are you offering to defend me?"

"I could probably get you a deal... no needle." Alexis offers coldly.

"How thoughtful. I think I'll pass. I can get a much better deal without you. By the time Nikolas arranges his nuptials, I will be in attendance."

"You killed Chloe!" Alexis pushes back from the table.

"Sit down!" When Alexis is slow to comply Andreas comes up behidn her and assists her in regaining her seat. Alexis shrugs out from under Andreas hands on her shoulders. "No, I did not kill your little friend. She confronted me, realizing my true identity. The timing was all wrong. I... incapacitated her, planning on using her later. Mother killed her while I was out of the room." Stavros shakes his head. "It was unfortunate and unnecessary."

"Unfortunate. Unnecessary. She was a good person! The best!"

"Yes, that is why it was unfortunate. Stefan has always responded better to the carrot than the stick. Although he does have a tentency toward martyrdom which is so unattractive. Stefan would have done many things to discover where Chloe was. Mother was impatient and short sighted."

"You talk like Chloe was a cat that strayed out on the road at the wrong time." Alexis notes bitterly.

"An apt analogy. Bad timing." Stavros agrees.

"Have you no remorse?"

"For what? Ms Morgan's death? It cannot be undone. Well it's too late now to undo it. The autopsy put an end to that idea."

"Do you mean you could have..."

Stavros shrugs. "I have no idea. I suspect Mother poisoned her. It was her style."

"When she wasn't slitting throats."

"Lets keep to the issue at hand." Stavros reminds. "If Stefan hadn't shown up perhaps... but Mother was the one with both the experts and the one who killed Ms Morgan. A permenantly lethal combination for Ms Morgan."

The meal contines in silence as course after course is offered, eaten and removed. Alexis picks at her food carefully choosing items that will not irritate her jaw. "You aren't drinking."

Glancing up in Alexis direction, Stavros reaches for his glass of wine. He takes a sip. "There. Not poisoned."

"You always used to get drunk at dinner." Alexis accuses.

"Really and how would you know that? You were away at boarding school as soon as Stefan could scrape together the funds to send you."

"Your excesses were well known... common knowledge." Alexis counters.

"Something I've never strived to be... well known or common. Caroline prefers that alcohol be limited around her child. Something about a genetic heritage of alcoholism as well as injuries inflicted upon her by an AJ Quartermaine. I met him while I was in Port Charles. A very unimpressive man."

"She was no innocent bystander in that one." Alexis warns.

"Oh no, of course not." Stavros says sarcastically. "That's why Mr Quartermaine was the one in the hospital having just lost a child. A child Caroline still mourns."

"As you said-- Carly has little thought for her own well being when she's agitated. AJ agitates her. "

"Then I will have to ensure they have no contact."

Alexis winces wondering if she just signed AJ's death warrant. "AJ is Michael's father. Good or bad. He always will be. I don't particularly care for him but he is Michael's father."

Stavros raises a brow. "What? And a father should never be denied access? And absent father should never be spoken ill of?"

"Don't compare yourself or Mikkos to AJ. Mikkos is dead. You were dead."

"Death has become such a relative term. It just doesn't have the impact it used to." Alexis' eyes go wide at the implication and she leans forward in her chair. "We could always wake father and ask him whom he loved best." Stavros takes one look at Alexis' face and laughs. "You are as gullible as Stefan."