Laura stared mutely at Lucky as she searched for the words to explain her behavior.

"I saw your medical records, Mom. I read them. I saw Lizzie's eyes, Mom, and they looked like yours do now." Lucky turned to Luke, who was staring in horror, unable to find any words to come to his own defense. "How could you? I can see in your eyes that you can't deny it. It's true, isn't it?" He broke off the question with a curse that ended in a sob. "What kind of a man does what you did? No, a man doesn't do that to a woman. Only some sort of sick puppy forces himself on a woman. A man takes no for an answer when that's what is said. He doesn't hurt the woman. That's what you always said. Love is supposed to be a giving thing that feels good, not a hurting thing that leaves a woman bruised and crying, scared out of her mind. Supposed-there's that word again. Supposed. Well, I was supposed to be your son, and now I find that's not true, either, but you know what? I'm glad! I mean, I'm really, really glad."

"Lucky," Laura whimpered. "It's not like you think."

"So tell me how it is," Lucky shot back. "Tell me that what you shared with Dad was so good that you didn't sleep with Stefan Cassadine yesterday! See, Mom, that's the hole in your story-make that one of the holes. Oh, sorry, Luke. You may not have known that-best guess is that she wasn't going to tell you that, either, but here goes. She came back yesterday and slept with Stefan Cassadine after telling him that Nikolas wasn't his son and that I was. You know what that means, don't you? It means that they had an affair while she was married to his brother. Of course, they justified that by saying that Stavros was mean to her and that he'd raped her. Like you did. So, she slept with Stefan because he was nice to her. Well, what was yesterday about, Mom? Why did you sleep with him then?"

"Lucky," Luke injected, his heart breaking as he listened to the words pour out of Lucky in a rush, confirming all that Kat had told him. With an even sicker feeling than he'd ever thought possible, he reached for Lucky.

"Don't touch me. See? She can't even deny any of it. It's true, isn't it?"

"Not like you said," Laura sobbed. "Not like you said."

"Did Luke rape you? Did he? Did he?!?!?"

Her answer was whispered, barely audible, but it was there. "Yes."

Lucky's shoulders drooped, the last doubt in his mind melting away.

"Lucky, I can explain," Luke began, but Lucky looked contemptuously at him.

"Somebody already tried to explain that you, too, were abused, but that doesn't matter to me. You were an adult. Mom was only a child. She was only seventeen! You were older-an adult! You'd have done time if she'd turned you in. God! This is so disgusting!"

"Lucky," Luke began again. "Son, you've got to listen to me."

"I'm not your son, thank heavens, and I do not have to listen to you. In fact, I do not even have to be here anymore. I'm leaving."

"Lucky," Laura sobbed, falling to her knees in tears.

"Get over it, Mom," he told her harshly. "You've been through worse. Besides, you can always go sleep with Stefan again, only this time, you'll have to do it knowing that everybody knows. You'll have to be honest about it, Mom." He laughed, but there was no humor in his voice. "Who knows? You might like it. Heaven knows that it'll be easier to keep your story straight. You know, all this time I've hated Stefan, and now I find that you brought me up to hate my father."

"He's not your father, Lucky," Luke injected, his voice breaking with emotion. "I'm your father."

"No," Lucky told him. "You're nothing to me. Less than nothing. You dragged me all over the world, both of you, and forced me to live a lie. A whole $%^&* series of lies. You took me from the life I should have had-where I would have known my father's name, and lied to me!"

"I did what I thought was best," Laura told him, the tears still falling freely. "I knew what they were, what they had done and..."

"Let me see if I have this straight," Lucky began. "You were married to Scott Baldwin and decided that you didn't love him anymore so you went to Luke's club and got raped. Then, and pardon me all to hell if I leave out a few things-my information is a bit limited-you decided to fall in love with him and get married. You married him-a man with mob ties, and then wound up getting kidnapped by Stavros who raped you, too." He paused, and asked, "Now, Nikolas has heard that he wasn't a Cassadine, Mom, so who was his father? Another rapist? Or was he some poor sap who believed your lies? Poor Stefan was suckered all these years taking care of a kid who wasn't his. Sort of like Luke here was. Is that your SOP, Mom? You lie to everybody and leave the man with another man's kid?" His voice raised in disgust, in outrage, and he turned to Laura with one last question. "Have you ever told the truth, Mom? Ever?"

Turning away from the only family he'd ever known, Lucky walked out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

"Lucky!" Laura sobbed as she watched him leave. Turning tear-filled eyes to Luke, she cried, "He's gone, Luke. We've got to get him back."

"We?" Luke said softly. "What 'we' are you talking about, woman? From what I hear, there isn't a 'we' that involves you and me anymore." He ran his fingers over the top of his head, feeling the closely cropped hair against his hand, the only familiar element in a world that had suddenly gone spinning wildly out of control. "You were with Stefan yesterday. With being defined as sexually involved." He saw the truth in her eyes, and turned away in disgust. "Why, Laura? I thought that you loved me. God knows I loved you."

"But I do love you, Luke," Laura cried. "More than anything."

"More than the truth?" he asked quietly, turning away from her, his voice raising in anger. "More than you loved Stefan? You lied to me, Laura! You lied to me, to Lucky, to Stefan. You lied and lied and lied, Laura. Lucky's heart is broken, I've lost my son, and our family is a shambles, though I'm no longer sure how much you cared about it. But today, Laura, today, your lies have cost a woman her life. Kat died because you were with Stefan-she heard you and told me. She should have been with him, not out having the life throttled out of her because the man she thought she loved, the man she thought loved her, was making love to you."