They climbed the stairs to Nikolas' room in silence. She didn'tseem to 
notice the bundle of gray fabric that Pierce had tucked under hisarm. They 
passed by the long row of family portraits and he saw theirpainted smiles as 
sneers of contempt. But it didn't matter, he thought, smiling.This common 
man was about to destroy the very foundation of theCassadine/Romanov royal 
house. 

They reached the top of the stairs and Helena opened the door.Pierce could 
see her grandson standing at the opposite end of the room. Nikolasmade no 
move to approach them when they entered. 

"What do you want?" Nikolas asked, in a dead, sullenvoice. 

Pierce looked at Helena. "May I speak first,darling?" 

Helena smiled, inclining her head in his direction in a motion ofassent. 

"As you already know Helena, one of your guards washed up on thebeach this morning, apparently the victim of an armed confrontation.A short distance away from his body, we found this..." 

He took the roll of fabric from under his arm, and held it up. Itwas the 
pilot's jacket that Stefan had worn while making his escape fromthe Athens 
airport. The room's artificial light shone through the fabric intwo 
separate beams, glowing beacons heralding the path of a bulletfired at close 
range. 

"The insignia on the front pocket indicates that this belonged toStefan 
Cassadine's pilot, who is remarkably alive and well in Athens. Ican only 
assume that it was the pilot's employer who was wearing this, andthat his 
remains are somewhere in the depths of the Aegean Sea." He heldthe jacket 
at arms length, as an offering to Helena. "Congratulations, mylove, you are 
now childless." 

Helena took the jacket and ran her fingers over the bullet holes.Despite a 
thorough washing in the ocean waves, she could still see the faintstains of 
blood. She clutched the gory fabric to her chest, and for amoment, she 
could see her son grasping his chest in a similar manner, shecould feel his 
shock of disbelief, and she could hear the murmured sounds of hisfinal 
confession, or perhaps his final curse. As for herself, she feltabsolutely 
nothing, save for a passing breath of satisfaction, like one whohad just 
swatted away an irritating insect. 

"NO!" Nikolas yelled, grasping at a chair for support. "NO! You'relying! 
This can't be true!" 

"Oh, but I'm afraid that it is," replied Pierce. "I am a doctor,and I can 
assure you that the placement of the bullet's entry and exitpoints indicate 
a fatal wound. No one could have survived that shot." He placed ahand on 
Nikolas' shoulder and said, with a smile: "I'm sorry,Nikky." 

"Don't touch me you bastard!" Nikolas replied, grabbing Dorman'shand and 
tossing it aside. 

"Bastard. What an interesting choice of words, little prince. Ordoes it 
take one to know one?" 

For a moment, it was as if Pierce Dorman's words were suspended inmid-air, 
trapped in a cartoonish bubble above his head, with Helena andNikolas 
reading them over and over again. 

"PIERCE!" Helena cried. "What are you talkingabout?" 

Dorman turned his bemused smile onto Helena. "You mean that youdidn't know? 
I find it hard to believe that a woman as thorough as you wouldnot have 
bothered to check the legitimacy of your Romanov heir, beforedisposing of 
all of the others. It would have been a simple thing, really, inthis case. 
I knew immediately when I checked the records at General Hospital.Stavros 
and Laura both had type O blood, while Nikolas has type A blood.Two type O 
parents can produce only type O children. So tell me, did Stefanhave type A 
blood, or did Laura Spencer bed one of the guards?" 

Helena said nothing. The only sounds were of Nikolas softlycrying. 

"Speechless, darling? That's a refreshing change. I frankly don'tcare if 
you believe me or not, because the evidence speaks for itself. Oh,and if 
you're thinking of raiding the General Hospital medical recordsarea, I've 
already had the necessary forms copied, notarized and removed to asafer 
location." 

"What is your price? Name it." 

"You think you can buy me? I'm sure that it would give you somesmall 
consolation if I were to prostitute myself to you further. Thereis nothing 
that you could possibly offer me that would outweigh thesatisfaction I am 
feeling as I look at you right now. You look old, Helena. Old,bitter, and 
defeated." 

"Get out," she said. Her words were measured and unresonant, likeheavy 
stones dropping onto sand. "Get out of my sight." 

"Gladly. Although, I have been out of your sight for quite a whilenow... 
and that was your fatal error." He walked to the steel door andturned to 
face her one more time. "Do you plan on killing me?" heasked, 
matter-of-factly. 

"No," she replied. "Why bother pursuing the rat that is alreadyscurrying 
away from my home?" She smiled when Pierce left without reply, butit was a 
small victory. She turned to face her grandson."Nikolas...." 

"I hate you," he said, in a cold, flat voice. "And I have neverhated 
another person before you. Even when I had thought that my motherabandoned 
me, I could not hate her. Even when I found out that my fa...Stavros was an 
abusive drunk, I could not hate him. Even when Luke Spencer triedto frame 
me and get me deported, I could not hate him. Even when his son,Lucky 
almost killed me, I could not hate him. And even when... my father... chose 
to lie to me all of those years... I could not... I cannot ...hate him. You 
are the first. Perhaps you are proud of the fact that I ache toreach out 
and end your life with my own hands. Have you made me into aCassadine, at 
last?" 

Helena moved closer and took Nikolas' hands and placed them oneither side of 
her neck. "Is this what you want, Nikky? All you have to do issqueeze." 

Nikolas pulled his hands away and nodded in the direction of thearmed guards 
at the door. "You tempt me, Helena, but I don't think that theywould stand 
idly by. I just want to leave here and never return. Please. Mysister and 
I are of no use to you anymore. Just let us go." 

"I can't," she said simply, as if she had no choice in thematter. 

Helena left the room, closing and locking the door behind her. Sheturned to 
the guards at the door and said, "Leave here." She followed themdown the 
stairs, dismissing servants as they passed her in the halls,ordering 
everyone out, until no one remained in the main house except forher and two 
of Laura Spencer's children. Then, she phoned the last of theguards 
stationed outside of the house and relieved them of theirduties. 

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