Chapter 14
Nikolas and David were gone. Gia needed time to think, to make a plan, to get the hell out of Port Charles. Last night had been a mistake. She had done it before, and she knew if she stayed, she'd do it again and again. She wanted her left back. If not, she would be sucked in the vortex that was Nikolas Cassadine. She knew Nikolas, he would ask for very little, and she would give him everything.
Just after Nikolas and David left to visit the Spencers, she made her phone calls to New York to catch on work. She called the Port Charles lawyers handling the paternity and told them to speed it up. Or she'd come down to their offices and do it, herself.
David was up to something as well. If he hadn't known who is father was she did. He had it in him to as manipulative as any Cassadine, she'd ever met. The difference was he was her son. Once she figured out what he was up to, she'd stop it. It was a given he wanted to be with his father. She could give him that. But there was more going on, and she knew it.
Her son was playing his father, and she was watching it happen. How could she explain to Nikolas what was happeing without sounding like a crazy mother. He loved her son but she wasn't stupid. David was plotting something. She needed to get him out of Port Charles. She thought about it for awhile and knew what she had to do. Gia went up to her room and found her handbag. Inside, she pulled out her cell phone and found the number from her address list and dialed.
"Hi Marcus it's me," Gia said.
"Hey, what's up?" the familiar voice of her brother. She drew in a long deep breath.
"Nikolas knows about David."
"What! How?" Marcus shouted.
"David." It was all she had to say. Marcus knew his nephew too.
"You should have sent him out here this summer. Throw his butt on a plane." Her brother's solution to everything was to manhandle his way through. Once a cop, always a cop, Gia thought.
"Sure, Marcus, that would have work," she retorted.
"Last summer when most kids were at camp or playing ball, what was David doing?" Gia took a deep breath. It was a conversation they'd had over and over again.
"Not now, Marcus," she pleaded.
"Doing stock trades on the internet with one of his crazy friend!"
"David was involved with the school's fundraiser. Marcus, let it rest." Gia tried to calm her brother.
"Fundraiser! Sell cookies, have a car wash or something. But no, your kid gets it in his head to take his birthday money and turn it into a small fortune,"
"It was a good cause. Mal is off probation and everyone got over it." Gia didn't know who was worse, David or her brother.
"He convinced his friend into breaking into his father's online trading site. They brought and sold stocks for two months before any one realized that the kid's father had ten thousand dollar more than he should have. They were underage, Gia," Marcus said.
"Okay, okay take a breath. David knows what he did was wrong, he understood that now. He was trying to do a good thing. Now can we get back to the point," Gia demanded.
"Fine. What about Cassadine?"
"At first he was a little angry, but he's calmed down. David and he are getting alone just fine. David really loves being with his father," she said.
"It's not his father, I'm worried about," Marcus said.
"Well Helena knows and she's not happy about it. Nikolas and I've warned her."
"Yeah that seems to scare her. I'm coming out there," Marcus said. This wasn't what she wanted.
"No, please. I need you in California. I want to send David out to you, until this whole mess gets sorted out."
"Yeah, maybe that's good. I'll ask Trish to make up the spare bedroom. The girls haven't seen the cousin in awhile."
"How are the twins?" she asked, happy to have small talk.
"Growing, remember next month their birthday, and I promised Trish a trip to Disney. Maybe we could push it up early if David comes out," Marcus said. Gia sighed. How did Disney compare with being the Cassadine heir? She shook her head.
"Sure, sounds good. I know Nikolas might give me grief on this but until everything settles down,"
"Good, call me later," Marcus insisted. Gia promised. As she got off the phone, she heard a noise and turned to the sound. She saw a man standing in her bedroom holding a knife. She stopped breathing. He appeared from nowhere, and she realized he had come through Windermere's secret passageway. She silently cursed the place.
"Mrs. Cassadine sends her regards," the man said in an accented voice. "Now put down the phone." Gia did as the man asked. He was big.
"Please don't hurt me," Gia begged as the words caught in sobs. Every muscle in her body tensed.
"She would like me to break your fingers first. She said you'd understand" the man said coolly. Gia let out a gasp as the man step toward her. She backed up again the richly panel walls and held her pocketbook up to her face as a false sense of security.
"Please…,please don't do this. Tell her I'll take David away. I was just doing that, you hear me. Tell her that…" Gia screamed. The man laughed.
"She said you would beg." The man stepped closer as Gia clutch her pocketbook tighter and cried loudly.
"No one will hear you; they have all gone too see about a fire on the dock." Gia's eyes widened in disbelief.
"If you control yourself, I promise I will make this painless," the man said, holding out his hand to her, an invitation to death. Gia nodded understanding as her legs almost gave out. She steadied herself. He was only inches away from her as he held the blade up to show her.
"Painless," Gia whispered. In one swift move, she pulled out the canister from her pocketbook and aimed. The pepper spray hit the man directly in the eyes as Gia sprayed. The reaction was immediate as the man went for his face. There was a replica of a bronze Rodin statue of a dancer, on the nightstand next to her, Gia grabbed it. She swung, connecting to the side of his face. He stumbled back dropping the knife. The next hit his upper forearm and she heard the bone pop. He screamed trying to get away from her. He was blinded by the spray and the blow to the head was crippling.
The man's jacket opened up and Gia could see a hint of a gun. She knew she didn't have much time. The swing hit him on the side of the knee sending him to the floor.
Suddenly, two security men burst into the room with guns drawn. The men were shocked at the sight of Gia standing over the fallen man with the statue ready for another blow.
At the sight of Nikolas's security, Gia dropped the bronze ballerina statue. The man beneath her, groaned in pain, with his mutilated face and broken arm. She kneed down beside him and picked up the knife. The man glared up at her in disbelief. Gia stepped aside as the security men closed in, removed the intruder's gun and subdued him.
"I hope that wasn't painful." Gia said before she turned and headed out the bedroom door, leaving the security men and the intruder.
"Where are you going?" One of the guards called after her. She was already half way down the main staircase when she turned back to him.
She said. "To return a knife."
