~*~Chapter 15~*~

Liz lays awake, staring at the ceiling. She reaches up and wipes a tear off her cheek before looking over to make sure Sergei’s still sleeping. He is, so she quietly gets out of the bed, grabbing the throw blanket that is over the chair next to it and wrapping it tightly around herself. She tiptoes into the bathroom, locking the door behind her, then sits down on the toilet seat.

Now that she’s alone, she lets the tears come. Sergei had tried to be gentle, and the whole thing hadn’t lasted very long, but it didn’t matter. Even though she had tried to imagine that it was Lucky making love to her, her heart and body knew better. She was immediately brought back to her rape, and it was all she could do not to scream out in agony. Even after all the years that had passed, all the therapy and healing she had done, it had only taken this one incident to bring her right back to the beginning again.

“Lucky,” she whispers, her voice cracking as she wipes away her tears. Her whole body aches from crying so forcefully, and she’s suddenly exhausted. She grabs the robe that is hanging on the back of the door and puts it on, then wraps herself in the throw blanket and curls up on the floor of the bathroom. There’s no way she is sleeping in Sergei’s bed tonight, or any other night. She lays on the floor trembling and crying, trying to block out the memory of what had just happened, but its no use. It just keeps replaying itself over and over in her mind, like a broken record. Finally, sleep overtakes her.

She wakes a few hours later to a soft knocking, and looks around the bathroom groggily, trying to get her bearings.

“Elisha, are you in there?”

She groans as she remembers why she’s there. “I’m fine, Sergei, just please leave me alone.”

“If Helena finds out you slept in my bathroom, she’s only going to make things harder for you.”

“How is she going to find out?”

“I’ll tell her, I have to. She knows when I’m lying.”

Liz sighs and stads up. “Fine, but do you have a shirt or something I can put on?”

“Sure.”

She reluctantly goes to the door and unlocks it. Sergei is standing there holding a shirt for her. ‘At least he put on some pants,’ she thinks to herself as the takes the shirt and retreats into the bathroom long enough to change into it. When she comes back out he has returned to the bed, so she walks around and gets in on the other side, trying to stay as far away from him as possible.

“Good night, Elisha,” Sergei whispers, dozing off right away. Liz rolls her eyes and continues to stare off into the room. She wonders if this was how Laura had felt after being forced to marry Stavros. Lucky had told her once about what happened to her, how she had disappeared from the docks one day, and everyone eventually believed she was dead. He said she had been taken to the Cassidine’s island in Greece and forced to marry Helena’s oldest son after being told that Luke was dead. She had gone along with it, enduring her life as Stavros’s wife. Supposedly, she struck up a friendship with Stefan, although it came out later that she had been romantically involved with him as well.

Liz finds herself wishing that it was the same for her, that Sergei’s brother was there, even if it was only Nikolas and not Lucky. She feels so alone, so isolated. Sergei won’t talk to her, he’s too afraid of what Helena will do to him. Unable to sleep, she creeps out of bed once more and goes over to his writing desk. There is some paper there, so she sits down and begins to write a letter.

Dear Lucky,

I am writing this only a day or so after my sudden disappearance from Port Charles. I hope you haven’t given up hope for finding me, that you haven’t allowed anyone to tell you that I’m dead. I am very much alive, although totally miserable.

Helena is alive. She says she got out of the yacht before Luke blew it up. She has this sick idea to force me to relive what your mother was put through so many years ago. She brought me to the same Greek island, put me in the same bedroom, and even forced me to marry against my will. Believe it or not, Nikolas has a twin brother that she has kept a secret from everyone. His name is Sergei, and he’s absolutely horrible. He does anything she tells him to do, and has no concern for me at all. If I didn’t know that he was a Spencer, I would just say he was a typical Cassidine.

Helena didn’t waste any time. Only a day after being brought here, I was forced to marry Sergei. I tried to refuse, but she threatened to hurt me, or worse, those that I loved back home. I gave in and went through with it. I’m sorry, but I am weak here. There is no one to talk to, nothing to hope for. You all think Helena is dead, so I have lost all hope that you will find me. That is, if you’re even alive. For all I know, she’s actually telling the truth about that.

Oh, Lucky, I wish you were here. I need you so much. I had to sleep with Sergei tonight, another part of her horrible, twisted plan. It brought back all the memories of the rape, all the feelings that I thought I had finally worked through. I feel like I’m 15 again, but this time you’re not here to pull me out of the bushes and keep me safe. I thought I could do this, that I could struggle through whatever she had in store for me until you found me, but now I don’t think I can. I had hoped I could befriend Sergei, that he had inherited the same compassion and kindness that you and Nikolas have, but so far all I can see in him is detachment and obedience to Helena.

I hear him stirring, so I better go before he wakes up and finds me here at his desk. Lucky, I pray that you can forgive me for what I’ve done. I never wanted to betray you, but I was given no other choice. At least this way, everyone else is safe. Helena is pure evil, and I don’t doubt that she would go to any extreme in order to exact her revenge on our family. I hope that you are safe, that you haven’t given up on me, because I don’t know how long I can do this. I love you, Lucky, with all my heart.

Love,
Elizabeth

She folded up the letter and stuck it in the pocket of the clothes she had been wearing, checking to make sure her wedding ring was still there, then carefully climbed back into bed, trying not to wake Sergei. Writing the letter had taken a lot out of her, and she finally fell asleep.

~*~Chapter 16~*~

Luke and Laura walk out to the living room and call Mac, hoping for some good news. Unfortunately, the police haven’t found any more evidence, and there were no witnesses. Luke hangs up, then calls Sonny, hoping for better news, but he has nothing yet, either.

“Nothing,” Luke says angrily as he hangs up the phone. “All those men on it, and there’s nothing.”

“So now what do we do?” Laura asks desperately.

Luke shakes his head. “I don’t know, baby. For now, all we can do is let him sleep.”

“I don’t want to leave him here by himself. Can we stay?”

Luke puts his arm around her and nods. “Nothing could tear me away from here right now, anyway. If I thought he would go, I’d ask him to move back home for a while, but I know that won’t happen. This house is his connection to her, he won’t leave it.”

“I know. Can you hand me the phone? I want to make sure Nikolas and Emily are all right.” She takes the phone from him and dials.

~*~

“How did you sleep?” Nikolas asks, kissing Emily as he walks into the kitchen. “Better than I did, I hope.”

She shakes her head. “I didn’t sleep much. I couldn’t stop worrying about Liz. Lucky, too. They were so happy, why did this have to happen?”

He pulls her into his arms and kisses the top of her head. “I don’t know, honey. All we can do is pray that she’s safe. I just hope Lucky isn’t taking this too hard. I know how self-destructive Luke can get when he’s upset. What if Lucky is the same way?”

“Should we call him?” Emily asks, walking over to the phone. “I mean, what if he’s sleeping? I don’t want to wake him up, just to remind him of what happened yesterday.”

Before Nikolas can answer, the phone rings. “Hello?” Emily answers.

“Hi, Emily, it’s Laura. How are you two doing?”

“Oh, Laura, we’re okay, all things considered. How are you and Luke? Have you seen Lucky?”

“Actually, we’re calling from his place right now. We came by to make sure he was okay. Emily, he’s in so much pain. I’ve never seen him like this before. We’re staying here for the time being in case he needs anything.”

“That’s good,” Emily says, knowing that what Laura really means that they’re staying to make sure he doesn’t do anything drastic to himself. “Have you talked to Mac or Sonny yet?”

“Luke just called both of them. There’s nothing so far. Whoever did this was good. They covered all their tracks, and it doesn’t look very promising.”

“We have to find her, Laura. She can’t just disappear. She’s got to be out there somewhere! Lucky will find her, I know it.”

Laura sighs on the other end. “I hope you’re right. He’s just so distraught right now. Before he fell asleep, he claimed that he felt that she was in pain. I’m not sure what it meant, but I’m scared for her. Liz has been through enough pain already.”

“Well, if he could feel that, maybe he can use the connection they have to find her. Do you think that might work?”

“I don’t know. He’s too upset to think clearly right now. I just keep thinking about how I used to be able to feel when Lucky was in trouble, but the one time I really needed it, after the fire, I couldn’t. All I can figure is that the grief was too strong, that it overpowered whatever it was in me that brought on those feelings.”

“Well, I hope that’s not what happens to him. He may be the only one who can find her. Let us know if you need anything, okay?”

“Sure. Tell Nikolas we love him, okay?”

“Will do. Take care of yourselves, and Lucky. We’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye, Emily,” Laura says, hanging up.

“Bye.” Emily hangs up the phone and looks tearfully at her husband. “They’re at Lucky’s right now. They don’t think he should be alone.”

Nikolas nods and hugs her again. “Will you be okay here for a few hours? There’s something I need to do today.”

Emily looks up at him in concern. “What is it? Do you want me to come along?”

He shakes his head. “No, I need to do this by myself. It shouldn’t take too long.”

“I’ll be fine, just hurry home, okay?” she asks. He nods and kisses her before rushing out of the house. Emily sighs and sits down at the kitchen table, absently stirring her coffee.

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