CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX "I must admit, that was my first reaction," Tracy replied. "But as soon as I got over the shock, the possibilities presented themselves. Very profitable possibilities."
"This is insane! Grandfather wouldn't have accepted this. He'd never have allowed what you're saying to be."
"Which is part of the beauty of the situation. Legally, I'm a Quartermaine and nobody can dispute that." She took a seat and in a rare moment of vulnerability, admitted, "He probably knew, which explains why he never really accepted me."
"That makes no sense. He accepted me, and I'm your son." Ned paused, his eyes meeting hers in askance. "I am your son?"
"Yes, and Larry's."
"But the Cassadines?"
"Tim Spencer had an affair with Helena Cassadine. They had three children-twin sons, Luke and Bill-who became Bill Eckert. They also had me. Mikkos Cassadine found out about the affair and was enraged. Tim left with the children. He returned to the states and split the family to protect them from Mikkos who had threatened to kill them. It's a long involved story, but the end result was that Bill and I were given away, and Luke stayed with Tim-for a little while. The old goat married Paulena Eckert, had Bobbie, and flew the coop again, leaving everybody. I was the luckiest-Lila adopted me and passed me off as her own daughter-why, I don't know. Maybe she owed Tim or something."
"Grandmother?" Ned knew that Lila's past was colorful, and that there were many things that she hadn't told him, but this was indeed news.
"Yes. Tim didn't tell me the details-I was too angry to listen, but I'm going to wring them out of him very soon."
"Cassadines," Ned murmured. "And Spencers."
"With connections to vast wealth and all the royal families in Europe. My nephew-your cousin Nikolas, is a direct descendant of Nicholas and Alexandra, who was, by the way, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England."
"So what?"
"It's interesting," Tracy answered. "Nikolas isn't Stefan's or Stavros' son-he's a Spencer. He's our family."
"So what?"
"Don't be dense, Ned. He's a wellspring of money! But, more importantly, I am a Cassadine, and therefore entitled to a piece of the action."
"A very small piece, at best."
"All I need is an in, and I've got one now." She rubbed her hands together in gleeful anticipation.
"Go away, Mother," Ned said, finally. "And take your pipe dreams with you."
"I was just leaving. Think I'll drop in on my brother, Luke." Tracy cackled. "You know-Nikolas' father."
At that moment, sirens began to wail in the distance, the sounds increasing quickly.
Ned rose and glanced out the window of his top floor office. In the distance, he could see a fire raging out of control-down near the docks. He stared. Was that Kelly's diner?
Nikolas watched as the diner burned, acutely aware of the diary in his backpack. He was returning from having copies made, when he'd heard sirens and saw the diner completely engulfed in flames. He could see at a glance that anybody inside would most certainly perish.
With the uneasy feeling that the blaze had been arson, Nik faded back into the shadows, pulling the dark knit cap over his ears. He knew in his heart that he was holding the reason for the fire, that the diary was the key. The author of the diary had feared for her life, and run away rather than face an evil woman whom Nik guessed was Helena Cassadine, his grandmother. Because of Helena, a faithless woman herself, a child had been deprived of her mother, and a man of his wife. Everything seemed to come back to Helena, and her secrets.
It was time, Nik decided, for the secrets to be revealed. The truth would end Helena's reign of terror, and frankly, he didn't much care who got embarrassed. As he watched the building burn, his heart aching for the gruff, older woman he'd come to like, another casualty, perhaps, of the Cassadine conquest, little more than road-kill to them. Them, he thought, realizing just how far he'd come. They were the enemy, and he'd defeat them if it was the last thing he did.
As the flames went out, he wandered back into the night, wondering who had been leading the charge this time? Had it been Stefan, who surely had much to lose? He suddenly wondered not if, but how long Stefan had known the truth.
"I need information, Lila." Marty was direct. "And, I think that you should know that Tim spoke with his children. Both of them."
"I think I'll stay dead," Lila murmured as Edward looked on.
"Who's Tim and why the hell should you care? I just want to go home! I'm sick of this place!"
"Shut up, Edward!" Lila was abrupt. She turned to Marty. "Then she knows?"
"She knows. I'm sorry, but given the circumstances, we thought it best. My guess is that the fallout will be considerable."
"Fall out?" Edward injected. "What fallout?"
"Shut up, Edward!" Marty and Lila ordered in unison.
"So how did she react?" Lila asked.
"She's gunning for Cassadine, Inc."
"Excellent. Has she seen......her son?"
At that moment, Marty's cell phone rang. "Yes?...When?...Completely?...She was?... Damn!" She hung up the phone, and remarked, "Bad news. Ruby Anderson was apparently killed in a fire a little while ago that completely destroyed the diner."
"My God," Lila said. "Was it arson?"
"Probably."
"But why?"
"Nothing definite as yet, but she was Luke Spencer's aunt, and Tim's sister."
"Tim Spencer? That no-good wife stealing scoundrel?" Edward blustered. "I'll never understand what you saw in him, Lila." Tired of being cooped up, frustrated, and now this, Edward exploded. "And every time I see Luke Spencer with that same smirk, I want to wring his miserable neck."
"I never had an affair with Tim," Lila shot back, "though right now, I wish I had."
"Then who was Tracy's father? Oh, don't feed me that crap about me being the father-the numbers don't work, but I loved you enough to act like I bought it. There was someone else? My God, Lila!"
"Tracy's not my natural daughter, either," Lila answered, her emotions close to the surface. "I adopted her after my..."
Seeing her stricken face, Edward knelt beside her. "I'm sorry, my darling. And what happened back then-well, I'm in no condition to throw stones."
"That's a fact," Marty muttered, rolling her eyes.
"But Tim was her father?" Edward demanded.
"Yes." Lila was still a bit wary.
"Then who was her mother?"
The silence was deafening as Lila carefully chose her words. Finally, she answered, "Helena Cassadine."
Edward was speechless, but only briefly. Then, he blistered the air with every invective at his command, the quantity of which was as considerable as his fortune. "That tears it! #$%^&$%^&%^&*!!! Danger or not, I'm coming back from the dead tonight! I won't leave ELQ in the hands of a Cassadine!"
"You didn't care when you thought that Ned might be a Spencer," Lila pointed out.
"Actually, I thought that his mother might have been...well, nevermind about that. At least a Spencer is almost as sneaky as a Quartermaine, and in their own way, honorable."
"Edward," Lila admonished, quietly, a gleam in her eyes. "Just what you think his mother might have been?"
"Damnit, Lila. You were-still are-the most beautiful woman in the world. If I found you irresistible, well, I'm sure that other men did, too. And, well, I haven't been exactly perfect."
"An understatement," Marty remarked dryly.
Edward continued. "Anyhow, I was so grateful to have you back-given the danger...that is......"
"Danger?" Lila asked.
"The Rose thing, Lila," Edward snapped. "You thought that I didn't know, but I did."
"Rose thing?" Marty was instantly alert. "What Rose thing?"
"It was a nickname," Lila told her. "You knew a part of it-you know about my past with Intrepid, but you might not have known about the seven roses-Intrepid referred to us as his roses among the thorns. Seven young women who worked for a short time on special projects back then-a bit before and after the war. I was the last one-so I was jokingly referred to as The Seventh Rose."
"It's done," came a voice over the phone to Julian. "The old woman said that she thought that Nikolas Cassadine had the diary. That's The Nikolas Cassadine. The thing wasn't in the building-I searched it."
"The woman?"
"She ain't talking ever again."
"Find Cassadine and retrieve the diary. Then eliminate him."
"But he's a Cassadine."
"Even Cassadines die. Accidentally, of course."
"Of course."
"That isn't funny," Ned spat. "Not in the least."
