CHAPTER FORTY Helena Cassadine ground her teeth. Julian had just mentioned a diary, and the name 'Kristin Cummings', and in one fell swoop, Helena realized that everything was on the brink of disaster, indeed, she decided, the eve of destruction. All she'd done for her family, for the entire Cassadine family, all the research, the plans, the schemes, the lies-all was set to come crashing down around her head. "I even killed for them," she muttered angrily. "And now, if what I fear is true, it will all be for naught." Helena cast a wary eye around the room, wondering for a moment if she was being observed, and, as a precaution, added, "I can't let them discover that I'm working with Julian Rose-not after all he's done for me. He'd be attacked mercilessly, his plans left in disarray." Satisfied that she'd covered her own situation, Helena fell to making more plans, developing more schemes and deciding how best to eliminate Julian Rose as an opponent before he undid her life's work. It was critical that he be persuaded to leave the country, get back on turf where she had more clout. She wondered briefly, if Stefan could be made to understand that this was an area in which he had to cooperate with her, in which the Cassadines had to stick together. Damn Kristin Cummings!! Even dead, the woman was causing trouble! She and that miserable brat of hers had died years ago, but what was this about a diary? And The Sixth Rose? And a Seventh Rose? What the he** was going on? Helena took a deep breath and began to think. Was it possible that she'd been misled? That she, Helena Cassadine, Queen of Deceit, had become the deceived? One thing for certain, she decided abruptly, reaching for her telephone. Julian had to be stopped. Immediately. "So I'm really Natasha Cummings?" Felicia asked, stunned. "And Julia is my sister? Along with somebody named Laura?" "It's even more complicated than that," Sean explained. "Kristin had a tempestuous youth-she was wild, rebellious, and at one point, she ran away from home and took another name. She was known as Lesley Williams. It was during this time that she had a relationship with a man last name of Grey, and eventually had a daughter by him-Laura." Sean met Lucky's and Nik's eyes and nodded. "Yes-Lesley, aka Kristin, was your grandmother. That makes Felicia your aunt. You are not her cousins, but her nephews. Anyhow, she was deceived into believing that her daughter was dead, and had a breakdown. She traveled, taking back her name, and met Mikkos. They had a daughter, Natasha, whom you know as Felicia, was born. Helena found out, and that was that. Kristin fled in terror-after nearly getting killed, and in desperation, reached out to her mother. Maria called me. Suffice it to say, we invented a cover story for Krystal and her daughter, and Kristin 'died' leaving her two daughters. Heartbroken, she retook the name Lesley, and you know the history from there." Felicia shook her head in disbelief. "I've been lied to my entire life?" "Protected, Princess," Sean told her. "It was that or keep you running from Helena Cassadine. Apparently, though, your mother hoped that someday the truth would out." "My grandmother would have allowed me to live my entire life as Felicia?" "It was the name your mother asked that she give you-it was her wish that you find happiness, something that eluded her all her life-hence the name 'Felicia'." "I can't believe this," Felicia said. "To think that I'm......" Then, she looked at Lucky and Nikolas and smiled. "From what I've heard, you're in the same boat." She laughed softly and said, "So I'm your aunt?" She smiled as they nodded, still in shock at all they'd learned. "What else is there to learn, Sean?" "It's simple, Princess," Sean answered. "The boys know the reason that Helena wanted you and your mother dead." Nikolas nodded. "Helena derives all her power from having been Mikkos' wife, and therefore mother or grandmother of 'The Cassadine.' If it can be shown that none of her children were by Mikkos, then she loses everything. Everything!" "And you have the proof?" Sean asked, intrigued. "Maria does," Nikolas answered. "And Julian knows that." "That's not a problem," Sean told him. "We have that base covered. What I'd like to know is why, if she had this evidence, didn't Kristin stop Helena earlier?" "The answer is right here," Nikolas responded, reading from the diary. "'I could stop it now, but what would happen? My own daughter would be forever sought as the daughter of Mikkos Cassadine, as the illegitimate daughter of the woman who brought down this powerful man, who destroyed his family, and that is the best possible option if they find out. More likely, Helena would kill the child, or make her life hell on earth. When I met Mikkos, I had no idea who he was, no idea that he was married, no idea that his wife was a nightmare walking. Better for my children that they grow up without me and without knowledge of their real heritage rather than suffer the taint of that Greek tragedy of a family." "I could have worked with that knowledge," Sean grumbled. "I could have made really good use of that.....no, I couldn't have done that. I couldn't have risked your life, Princess, though I'd have loved to have had the rest of the information-the part about Mikkos not being the father of his sons." "So, that means that the Cassadine family fortune is up for grabs?" Felicia asked, zeroing in on the obvious. "That's exactly what it may mean," Sean nodded. "You see, there are other Cassadines, and my best guess is that we'll see them coming out of the woodwork when this news leaks out." Bobbie watched as Stefan reached up and grasped his medallion in one hand. With a groan of anguish, he jerked it, breaking the clasp. Then, he stared at it as if it were some sort of evil talisman. "For this," he muttered as she watched, both stunned and fascinated. "For this I've done it all. Everything was done for this, this travesty of a family crest. I worshiped at its altar, dedicated my entire life to its service, denied my life, and Nikolas's life to serve it, and when I learned that I'd worshipped a false god, I continued to do so, unwilling to admit that I was wrong." "I don't understand," Bobbie said, seeing the pain in his eyes. "What are you saying, Stefan?" "It's over, Bobbie," Stefan told her. "It's over. I can't go on with my life, can't go on sacrificing to this-this symbol of decadence and deceit." "But it's your Cassadine medallion-like the one you gave me." "Take it off, Barbara," Stefan told her. "It's the emblem of evil." With that, with Bobbie and then Laura watching, Stefan picked up his phone and entered a series of numbers. "Kristin? It's time to return. Your daughters need you, and God help me, I need you, too."