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Gia and Nikolas Headquarters
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Chapter 6 Lucky heard the car pull up to the cottage a few minutes past midnight. He looked out the window and saw Nikolas get out of the dark sedan carrying his bag and laptop. By the time Nikolas reached the front door, George had joined him and Lucky heard their voices as he unlocked the door. “All right, George,” Nikolas was saying, “you should go now. I agree with Lucky that it’s unlikely there will be any more trouble tonight.” “Sir, your brother advised me he didn’t inform the police of the break-in. Is that wise?” George asked. “My brother and I suspect this was my grandmother’s doing. The police are ineffective against Helena and there’s no help to be had from them, I’m convinced. I’ll take care of this myself. Drive carefully, George. I’ll speak with you tomorrow.” Nikolas entered the house, placed his bags by the closet and turned to find his brother standing in the entry way. Though starkly different in appearance, the two brothers shared a sharp understanding of each other and the look that passed between them was equal parts worry, anger and frustration. Nik nodded in greeting and joined his brother in the sitting area. “You made good time,” Lucky observed. “I didn’t think you’d make it up here so fast with the weather so bad in New York City.” “The rain cleared up two hours ago and the roads were practically empty. My driver was rather easy to convince that the speed limit is more of a suggestion than anything else,” Nikolas told him and dropped his tall frame unceremoniously unto the sofa. “Especially when large amounts of cash are involved, right?” Lucky said. Nikolas shrugged. “Where’s Gia?” he asked. “Upstairs asleep, I think,” Lucky answered. “She went up hours ago after Emily and Elizabeth left. She was pretty tired.” He paused a moment then added, “And pretty scared.” “I’ll admit to you, Lucky, I’m pretty scared myself right now. Helena is out of control. Stefan never wavered in his belief that there were three things standing between her and my safety: Money, the fact that I’m Stavros’ son and Stefan’s own presence. She’s eliminated two of the three and I don’t know if my parentage is a high enough wall to keep her out any longer.” “What happens to the Casssadine fortune if you were to relinquish your position or…die?” Lucky asked bluntly. “The entire estate would be distributed among the many Cassadines scattered about the planet. It’s a potential legal and accounting nightmare of immense proportions; Alexis gets a headache every time we discuss it. Chaos will more than likely ensue with Helena smack in the middle of it.” Nikolas rubbed his eyes. “Tell me what happened tonight. I know it’s late but I only got pieces of it from you and George on the phone.” “Yeah, no problem. I was planning on telling you everything but, you know, I could use some coffee. Mind if I go make some first?” “Go ahead,” Nikolas said and stood up, his eyes going to the stairs. “Do you think she’s okay up there? Have you gone up to check on her?” Lucky lifted one blonde eyebrow and replied, “I’ve been upstairs but I didn’t go into her room. I’d be happy to go see her, if that’s what you want,” he offered and observed his brother’s reaction with some amusement. “No, no, that’s all right,” Nikolas said quickly practically jumping to his fee. “I’ve got to go up and change anyway so I’ll just take a quick look and make sure she’s okay.” “Sure,” Lucky said, and refrained from commenting that his brother’s jeans and sweater looked perfectly comfortable to him. “I think that’s a good idea. I’ll go devote myself to the coffee machine.” Nikolas started for the stairs then called to Lucky as the latter disappeared through the kitchen door, “Use half the amount of coffee you think you should, Lucky, that stuff you made last time could take the finish off the furniture.” He didn’t wait for his brother’s response but took the stairs two at a time and stopped outside Gia’s closed door. Nikolas turned the knob carefully, entered the room and stood a moment waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark. He moved closer to the bed and found Gia sleeping on top of the covers with a corner of the bedspread tangled in her feet. She took up almost no room on the queen sized bed, curled up the way she was, like a cat. He turned down the covers on one side of the bed and moved around to where Gia was sleeping. Carefully, leaning one knee on the bed, he bent and lifted her easily in his arms then brought his other knee up and was ready to lay her down again when she opened her eyes. She looked at him in confusion then a faint smile curved her lips and she whispered his name, “Nikolas.” “Shhh, go to sleep,” he answered. “I’m just getting you under the covers so you don’t freeze.” “I’m glad you’re home,” she told him as laid her down and adjusted the covers over her, still on his knees on the bed. He remained leaning over her a moment, his hands on either side of her over the covers and before he could examine his motives, he leaned down and placed a swift but tender kiss squarely between her elegant brows. Astonished by his own impulsiveness, he drew back to gauge her reaction but she seemed to have fallen asleep again. Maybe she’d never really woken up at all, he thought and beat a hasty retreat off her bed. After first examining the locks on both windows in the room and the one in her bathroom, he did the same with the remaining windows on the floor then returned downstairs, his plans to change his clothes completely forgotten. Lucky was already drinking his coffee and held out a mug to Nikolas as the other sat opposite him. “Is it coffee or dynamite?” Nikolas asked regarding the contents of his cup with some trepidation. “Drink up, big brother,” was the response, “and take it like a man.” Nikolas continued to hold his cup as he stared at the fire Lucky had going in the fireplace. “So what happened, exactly?” Nikolas asked again. “Gia wasn’t clear on the exact time,” Lucky began, “but she figures she got home around 4:00. She’d had lunch with her mom and ran into Emily outside Kelly’s. Emily says that was around 2:30. Gia said she did some shopping in the afternoon then took the bus home and went upstairs to take a bath. She was almost done, when she heard the front door and thought it was you coming back early. She called out to you but didn’t get an answer so she got out of the tub and when she walked out into the hallway, she saw a man coming up the stairs.” Lucky continued, filling Nikolas in on everything that occurred up until the time he called from New York and got Emily on the line. “You and I know whoever broke in must work for Helena, but Gia would have no cause to assume that. I don’t understand why she didn’t get on the phone with the cops right away? Did she say why she didn’t want to call her brother?” Nikolas asked and ventured a sip from his mug, winced and sat the thing as far away from him on the coffee table as he could. “Gia has her own theory as to who broke in tonight,” Lucky answered, ignoring the insult to his coffee. Quickly he relayed Gia’s story to his brother then leaned back in his chair and waited for the information to sink in. Nikolas sat still, his face impassive, doing what Lucky privately thought of as “The Stefan Look”. Finally, he returned his focus on Lucky and spoke, the conviction in his tone unmistakeable. “My money’s still on Helena. If this character, Brad, wanted more money out of Gia, he would approach her as he did before. I don’t see him sending a thug to break into the house; it’s too subtle from what you’re telling me about the guy. No, this has Helena’s paw prints all over it. The only possibility I see that this involved Brad, is if he planned to burglarize the place, but a burglar would make sure no one was in the house.” Nikolas finished and asked Lucky, “What do you think?” “I agree,” Lucky said. “I thought about it the whole time I was waiting for you and I’m pretty sure I’ve covered every angle. You’re right, this wasn’t an attempted burglary and it has anything to do with the guy who was harassing Gia.” “So we’re back to Helena,” Nikolas said. “Yep,” Lucky agreed. “Which means, for what it’s worth, you won’t be getting any more visits tonight, maybe not for a few days while she re-groups and assesses the situation. Knowing her, she’s already got Plan B waiting in the wings but she tends to leave some space between attacks.” “She enjoys her games,” Nikolas completed his brother’s thought. “She relishes her evil and draws it out. Part of what gives her pleasure is observing the after-effects of one of her attacks. I have no doubt I’ll be receiving a visit from her tomorrow.” Lucky nodded, certain that his brother was correct. “Does Mom know Gia is living here?” “No,” Nikolas answered. “I’ll see her tomorrow and tell her. She plans to bring Lulu and our grandmother up after Thanksgiving. Maybe it’s best Lulu stayed away a little longer…” The two brothers sat in silence and listened to the house settle while the wind picked up force outside the tall windows. Lucky thought of Elizabeth and considered going home to Kelly’s but decided against it in the end. Tonight he’d stay here. “Get some rest, Nikolas,” he said. “I’ll crash on the couch.” Nikolas nodded, his gaze following the stairs up to the bedroom where Gia slept. He rose and got blankets out of the window seat, handed them to his brother and started up the stairs. “Lucky,” he said, stopping on the first step and looking back at the figure settling onto the sofa. “Thank you for everything.” “No problem,” was the reply. “We’ll figure something out, Nikolas. Between the two of us we’ll keep them all safe.”
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