"Taste it," Sonny tempted as he held the iced drink out to Hannah.

"Only one?"

"It's large. I thought we could share."

There was a wealth of meaning in that statement, and Hannah smiled knowingly. Sonny was painfully transparent, but that was fine. It made her job easier. Accepting the drink, she sipped it thoughtfully. "Sangria?"

"I thought you'd like it. Sweet, tropical, fruity, yet with some body."

"Did you make it?"

"How'd you guess?"

She smiled again. "Just a hunch." She took another drink, then handed it back to him. "It's very good."

Sonny accepted the glass and drank, predictably, from the same place Hannah's lips had touched. His eyes never left hers as he handed the glass back.

Hannah laughed softly. This was going to be one of the easiest jobs she'd undertaken thus far. She licked her lips suggestively, making eye contact all the while, and as she knew he would, he returned her smile. His, however, was all male and all appreciative.

While his eyes stayed on her face, watching her expression and the blatantly erotic movements of her mouth, he failed to watch the furtive movements of her fingers, never noting that she'd turned the dome ring she wore around to the palm of her hand and clicked the hidden spring that released the contents into the glass. She handed the glass back to him, and he drank deeply.

Having taken the antidote to the drug earlier, Hannah had no fear of drinking from the glass, but she sipped carefully, preferring that Sonny got the full measure of the potion. Within a few minutes, Sonny was feeling strange, but good.

Hannah led him to a nearby bench, still in view of Sonny's guard. "Let's sit down here and enjoy the evening."

"Yeah," Sonny managed, wondering vaguely why the wine had affected him so strongly and so quickly. But that thought drifted into the night sky as Hannah turned to him and gave him another of her seductive smiles.

"Finish the drink," she whispered.

"Want more?" he asked.

"No, I've had enough. You want more, though."

"I want more," he agreed, lifting the drink to his mouth. He drained the glass, feeling the pleasant glow of the alcohol hit his stomach and sent a delicious languor over his body. "Good."

"Yes, the drink was good," Hannah said softly. "Best you've ever made."

"Best I've ever made," Sonny parroted.

"You please me."

"I please you," Sonny said, finding himself sinking into her eyes, swirling deeper into their chocolate depths.

"And you want to go on pleasing me."

"I want to go on pleasing you."

"You'll do as I say."

"As you say."

"Your will is mine."

"Yours."

"You cannot deny me anything."

"Cannot."

"When you hear the words 'little ripples in the water', you will do as I command."

"As you command."

"Little ripples in the water."

Sonny turned to her to await her command.

"When you awaken from this, you will propose marriage to me. Tonight. You will insist on it. You are in love with me, far more deeply than you ever were with Brenda."

"I'm in love with you."

"Now, we will kiss, and when we stop, you will awaken, remembering nothing of this last few minutes except that you have never experienced a kiss like ours. Then, you will propose."

Hannah took his face between her hands, and kissed him carefully, thoroughly.

Sonny looked into the dark eyes of the young woman he'd been kissing, and wondered what benevolent being had granted him a second chance at love. He couldn't let her get away from him, not when he'd just found her. "Marry me," he demanded, his voice hoarse with need.

"Tonight?" Hannah asked.

"Tonight."

Alexis scowled at Frisco as the two of them motored into Paris. There had been few words between them as they'd flown across the Atlantic, but it wasn't for Frisco's lack of trying.

"There's no point telling you anything," she finally told him. "Because I'll just have to repeat myself when I get wherever we're going, and knowing you, you'll butt in constantly."

"Knowing you...I like the sound of that."

"Get over yourself, Frisco. You think that just because you're WSB, that you're always right. Guess what? You're not."

"And you think that just because you're a Cassadine, that somehow you're better than everybody else."

Alexis gave Frisco a superior smirk that both annoyed and amused him. She followed him as they got out of the car, which stopped in front of a building that she recognized. Suddenly, she knew quite well whom she was there to see.

"Hi, guys," Robin greeted as they entered the suite of rooms on the top floor. "Zandor has been expecting you."

"If you'll excuse us," Zandor said, dismissing Robin and Frisco who quietly retired to the outside office. Jason looked on, then followed them out the door.

"What do you want?" Alexis demanded. "Up front-I have no idea who took Ned's daughter or tried to kill Lois. You're barking up the wrong tree on this one."

Zandor smiled and nodded. "I know that. But, I believe that whoever took the child has ties to your family."

"And that gives you the right to order me halfway around the world?"

"It does. The life of a child is worth far more than your inconvenience. Especially since that child is undoubtedly being used as a pawn in this whole affair."

"What whole affair?"

"The one that involves your family, the Spencer family, the Quartermaine family, and to some degree, the Jacks family whose sons are busily infiltrating the other families in some level."

"I'm not following you."

"Of course you are. You're trained to follow leads, to pick apart cases and to exploit the weaknesses of others."

"You make it sound like I'm an evil being."

"You're a lawyer," Zandor pointed out. "A hired gun, so to speak. And, you do your job well."

"I think that I've just been insulted."

Zandor smiled and chuckled softly. "No insult. You are good at what you do. But, I'm wondering how loyal you are to the Cassadines."

Alexis shook her head. "I'm an outcast. A pariah to the family. I am hated by Helena and Stefan alike. Nikolas tolerates me only when he must."

"Why do you suspect this is?"

"Helena sees me as the proof of her husband's infidelity, and Stefan sees me as having betrayed him once by driving a wedge between him and Catherine Bell, and once about Nikolas. Stefan feels that I've endangered Nikolas. I would never willingly hurt Nikolas, but I wanted my own place in the family, a place denied me because of lies and greed."

"And now?"

"Now I only want the truth. Whatever it is, I want it."

"No revenge?"

"This isn't about revenge," Alexis finally told him. "It's about the truth. It's about unmasking Helena as the murderous woman that she is, about making sure that she can't ever hurt anybody again. And, if it turns out that Helena had anything to do with Brooke Lynn's disappearance, it's about rescuing the little girl first, then dealing with Helena on a permanent basis."

"Which dovetails very neatly with my agenda."

"Which is?"

"I'm all about justice, little sister," Zandor told her. "Revenge belongs to God."

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