CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Lulu's POV

"Are you sure that you can't see the wire under my sweater?"

I turned around, studying myself in the mirror. All of this had been my plan, but I was beginning to see Abby's point of view. This could all blow up in my face, and if that happened, I could lose everything.

"Not at all," Abby answered, handing me a light jacket. "Just keep this on in case. Johnny and I will be in the van right outside of the Quartermaine estate. If we hear anything going wrong or if you give us the signal, we'll be in there within three minutes."

When I first told Abby about my plan to use my relationship with Tracy to get access to Dillon's things, she insisted that we not do this alone. We agreed, however, that bringing Michael or Dante into it would risk getting them both into more trouble with the police. Michael could not risk going back to Pentonville, and Dante needed to stay off of Mac's radar for the time being so that he could get his job back.

Johnny was our best option for a partner in this project. He was not close to Dante or Sonny, so asking him to keep it a secret was not going to be asking too much. Beyond that, Johnny had promised to help me whenever I needed it, and at this moment, I could not think of any situation in which I would need more help.

"Nothing is going to go wrong," I affirmed, desperate to convince myself. "Dillon is filming with Maxie all day, so it should be easy enough just to sneak into his room, take a look at his computer and get out. All I need is some proof that he is working with Theo to bring to Mac. Then they'll give Dante his badge back, arrest Dillon and find Theo. All of this insanity will be behind us."

"But what if Dillon shows up and catches you snooping through his stuff?" Abby pushed.

"Well, he says he's in love with me, right? I'll just have to use that to keep him on my side."

Dante's POV

"Come on, Gabi, just a little burp for Daddy," I coaxed as I patted my daughter's back. "Then we can go downstairs and catch the end of the Yankee game. It's the Subway Series. Yankees/Mets… the only thing more exciting than that is when we play the Red Sox."

"Don't worry, kiddo," Michael interrupted as he entered the room. "There are like five whole months of the year that your dad won't be obsessed with baseball."

"Don't listen to him," I instructed, pleased when she finally burped. "There are plenty of deals made during free agency that we never have to forget about the Yankees."

"I knew that you were going to start her young with baseball, but I thought you would at least wait until she was old enough to sit up by herself," Michael laughed.

"Nah, it's never too early," I smiled at him and settled Gabriella into my arms. "What are you doing here? I thought you and Abby were house hunting today."

"Yeah, so did I," he groaned, following me out of the nursery and downstairs. "But she said something came up for work. So I thought I could come over and bribe Lulu into taking her place."

"Lulu left for work a few hours ago," I explained, taking a seat on the couch with my daughter. I thought back to Lulu's explanation for going back to work when she still had a few weeks left of maternity leave. "Actually, she said she was going in so that Abby could have the day off."

"So the fact that I just stopped by their office and neither of them is there means…"

I groaned, frustrated that I hadn't seen it for myself earlier. "They're up to something."

Lulu's POV

"Your father isn't here, Lulu," Tracy sighed when she entered the living room where Alice had instructed me to wait for her. "In fact, I have no idea where he is and, at the moment, I can't say that I care."

"That's not why I'm here," I explained with a yawn. "I actually came here to see you."

"How thrilled am I to have you here so alert," she replied with sarcasm.

"I'm a new mother," I defended, realizing the yawn could have been the biggest blessing I had been given all day. "Sleep isn't exactly easy, especially because we're stuck in Sonny's house. Everytime I think I could take a nap, Brenda gives me this look like it somehow makes me a terrible, lazy person for needing extra sleep. Look, I know this is probably incredibly rude, but I was just wondering if my old room was open for a few hours so that I could get some decent rest."

"You came all the way over here for a nap?" Tracy questioned.

"Yeah, I mean, this place used to be my home. These days, I don't really feel like home anywhere. I won't get in anybody's way," I begged, "Please, please, please?"

"Fine, of course," she gave in. "You know where your old room is. I have to run to ELQ, and Daddy took Cook and Alice to the country club for the day, so just let yourself out when you're well rested."

"Thank you!" I threw my arms around her in relief. My display of gratitude was probably overkill considering all she thought she was giving me was a bed for a few hours. But the reality of what I was getting – a chance to end the nightmare my family was going through – that was worth more than Tracy could imagine.

Dante's POV

"I've called Abby's cell fourteen times," Michael reported, "She won't answer."

"Lulu's phone goes straight to voicemail," I told him. I knew that there was a possibility that they were just taking a few hours to themselves to escape the tension that had surrounded all of us over the past year. But after the car crash and the fire, I was not about to take another risk with their lives. "Brenda is on her way home. She said she'll watch Gabi so we can go find them."

"Where do we even start looking?" he questioned. "If they are up to something, what would it be? Do you think they are looking to find Theo?"

"I wouldn't doubt it. Lulu's been miserable lately. She doesn't think I see it, but I do. She practically tiptoes around here. Every time her phone rings, she looks like she is going to jump out of her skin. She hates living here; she doesn't talk to me about any of it. It makes sense that she's trying to take the situation into her own hands."

"And Abby would be the first person to go with her. Damn it! If they find him, Theo is not going to have any problem taking advantage of the situation."

"Which means that we have to get to them before they get to him."

Lulu's POV

I waited until I heard Tracy leave the house to sneak across the hall into Dillon's room. Once the door was closed and I checked every crevice to make sure I was really alone, I spoke softly so that Abby and Johnny could hear me through the wire I was wearing.

"I'm in… now I just have to find his computer."

It didn't take long to locate a briefcase under the bed. I pulled it out and opened it to find a laptop and a digital camera. Knowing that my time was limited, I shoved the camera into my jacket pocket and turned on the computer.

"Damn it… I need a password," I whispered, beginning my attempts to guess it. I tried Dillon's birthday, along with his mother's, Georgie's and, much to my disgust, my own. None of them worked. Seconds felt like hours while I typed furiously, desperate to get just one piece of information.

"You're going to have to give me some motivation to tell you all my secrets."

The sound of Dillon's voice behind me sent shivers down my spine. I closed my eyes and exhaled, knowing that I would need to compose myself before he figured out that I was suspicious of him.

"Don't get me wrong," he continued, entering the room and closing the door behind him. "It's a great surprise to find you here in my bedroom. And here I was questioning whether or not you would ever return my affections."

"I was trying to leave you a message," I covered, setting the laptop down, but refusing to stand up and face him. The lie that was about to come out of my mouth made me nauseous. "This seemed like the only way to do it so that nobody else could find it."

"Lucky for you, nothing we choose to do in here will get back to Dante."

The way Dante's name sounded coming off of his lips told me that Dillon was not only jealous of my boyfriend; he hated him. I felt his hand on my shoulder and choked back the bile in my throat. "I don't have much time. I have to get back to Gabriella."

"Okay, we can rush this time," he whispered, brushing my hair away from one side of my neck and moving his lips towards my skin. "And maybe next time you can bring her so that we won't have to hurry. There's a full nursery across the hall."

Dante's POV

"Just get the GPS location off the phone, ok!" I yelled into my cell phone. "As soon as you have anything, call me!"

I tossed the phone into my lap and looked to my brother next to me as he drove us to the Metro Court. Without any other ideas, we thought we would start there and see if Lulu and Abby had been in to work at all that day. I had been trained to look at situations clearly and not make assumptions. But with the terrifying thoughts that were running through my mind, all I could do was panic.

"Maybe we should call Dad," Michael suggested. "He could get some guys on it…"

"Whatever it takes," I agreed. "We need to find Lulu and Abby before something happens that cannot be taken back."

Lulu's POV

Just stay calm… you have to do this for your family.

I gave myself the mental pep talk over and over. I knew that giving Dillon what he wanted was so wrong, but I could not see any other way to put an end to the madness that had become my life. I was not going to sleep with him. I just had to let him kiss me for a few minutes – just enough to convince him that I could be trusted. Then I could get the evidence I needed to track down the Balkan.

The feeling of his lips against mine was torturous, but I forced myself to endure it. However, the moment I felt his fingers unbuttoning my pants, I snapped, pulling away from him and slapping him hard across the face.

"What the hell!" he yelled.

"I can't…" I whispered, desperately trying to catch my breath while my heart raced.

"Of course you can," Dillon insisted, coming at me forcefully and trapping me between his body and the wall. He grabbed my waist and pressed himself against me. "If you won't let yourself have what you really want, I'll make sure you get it."

Before I could argue, his hands dipped underneath my sweater and hit the cord from the wire I was wearing.

"I really wish you wouldn't have done this…" he whispered, pulling the wire hard and disconnecting the device.

Dante's POV

"Are you sure your friend is right?" Michael questioned as we pulled onto the Quartermaines' street. "Abby has no business going to the Quartermaine estate."

"GPS doesn't lie," I told him. "So unless her phone was stolen – "

I was interrupted by Michael's cell phone ringing. I grabbed it from the cup holder between us and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Abby's name on the caller ID. Without hesitation, I answered the call for him.

"Abby, where are you? Please tell me Lulu is with you…"

"Dante? How soon can you get to the Quartermaine mansion?" she asked. I could hear the terror in her voice.

"What's wrong?"

"Just get here fast."

Lulu's POV

"Lulu, you need to look at me… I need to know that you are hearing what I am saying…"

"Dante is on his way," Abby reported to Johnny as she returned to the room. "Are you sure I shouldn't call 911?"

"Not yet," Johnny answered, not removing his gaze from me once. "Lulu, Dante is coming. Before he gets here, I need you to pull yourself together. Do you hear what I'm saying?"

I felt as if I had just come out of a deep sleep. I had to blink several times just to see Johnny's face clearly. I looked down at my sweater, which was torn down the front. I moved my hands to pull it closed, and that's when I saw the blood.

"I don't… I didn't…" I gasped, unable to get the words out of my mouth.

"Abby!" Michael's voice yelled from downstairs.

"We're up here!" she replied, moving toward the door.

I didn't want to look at the blood on my hands, but I couldn't pull my eyes away. Maybe I was too scared to see where the blood had come from, or maybe I was just frozen. My vision went in and out of focus while I tried to wrap my brain around what was going on. I had absolutely no recollection of what had happened after Dillon found the wire under my sweater.

Dante's POV

Michael and I sprinted up the stairs, following Abby's voice. None of what was happening made sense. However, I was not about to stop moving to figure it out. Abby sounded terrified on the phone, and she would not have called for help unless something really bad happened.

When we reached our destination, Abby met us in the hallway. She was paler than I had ever seen her, and my brother's face mirrored hers when he pulled her into his arms.

"What's going on?" he questioned, pulling back from her and examining for any sign of injury. "Are you alright?"

"Before you go in there, you have to know that we thought we had everything under control," she explained. "We were just trying to figure out what he knew. We didn't want anything bad to happen."

Tired of the horrific scenes running through my brain, I pushed past Michael and Abby to enter the bedroom. When I stepped inside, my eyes immediately landed on Lulu, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, her hands covered in blood with Johnny kneeling in front of her. Just past them, I saw Dillon lying face down on the floor with blood seeping from his head.

"Oh God," I muttered. "Is he alive?"