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Skye looked around. There were two other cars in the parking lot; a black Acura that she recognized as Sonny's, and a navy blue Alero whose owner she couldn't recall. Ehh, probably a bodyguard's, she thought. Taking a deep breath, she headed to the front entrance of the warehouse. Before she opened the door, she shut off her cell phone; with her luck, just as Sonny was about to comply, a telemarketer would interrupt and give him time to change his mind. She put the de-activated phone back in her purse and reached for the door. Going inside, she was surprised to see that neither Benny nor Max nor Jonny were standing guard. That's strange. She turned right down the hall towards Sonny's main office, and as she approached the door, she could hear voices.
"Thanks for meeting on such short notice," said the first voice. Sonny.
"Yeah, yeah, no problem," a woman's voice replied. "So do you want to hear the latest, or not?"
Skye decided to eavesdrop for a while. There was no one else in the building to catch her, so she might as well pick up some information and decide if it was beneficial to her or not.
"Lay your cards on the table."
"Are we alone?"
"I gave everyone the night off so we'd have some privacy," Sonny answered.
"The little hussy is on her way over to offer you a trade. Northstar for Jabot. Don't take it."
Skye's mouth dropped open. They were talking about her!
"In other words, Ms. Chandler-Quartermaine has some info on Northstar and she wants to get her hands on the company before I figure it out."
"Exactly."
"That's just like that damn schemer," Sonny spat, "always playing games."
Skye fumed. He should talk.
"The value of Northstar's gonna quadruple any day now."
"@#%$," Sonny murmured under his breath. "Well," he continued, in his normal voice, "thanks for letting me know. Once again, you've come through."
"Don't I always?"
"You'll be rewarded. You and your daughter."
"Leave my daughter the hell out of this! She doesn't even know what's going on. I don't want you or your thugs near her, you hear me?"
"Easy, easy," Sonny said. "Okay, no free limo rides for the daughter. Got it." He laughed.
"Very funny," the woman said angrily. "Now where's my payment?"
"You'll get it tomorrow-"
"That wasn't our deal!!! I give you the answers you want, you pay me- up front!"
"Come on, this was a big one. I can't get my hands on that kind of cash until the morning. Don't worry, Rebecca, you'll get it."
Rebecca???
"With interest."
"Of course."
"Well, the satisfaction of destroying Antoinette's life is almost payment enough- and I said ALMOST, before you get any funny ideas. Listening to her lose her mind is priceless."
"Yeah, well that little whore deserves it-"
Skye had had enough. She burst through the door, and Sonny and the woman turned around in surprise.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Sonny demanded. "Get the hell out-"
"No, wait, Sonny," the woman said, an intense look in her eyes. She clasped her hands together as if preparing for a conquest. "Well, well, well, what have we here? Antoinette, in the flesh!!" She let out a cackle.
"Who the hell are you?" Skye asked, utterly confused.
The woman laughed harder, and she put her hand to her cheek as she smiled a diabolically amused grin. "Ahh, this is priceless! You don't even know, do you?"
"Uh, no...should I?"
Sonny's eyebrows furrowed. "You mean you really don't know who this is?"
"Well," Skye said, crossing her arms, "I do know that she is the woman who's been spying on me, making me go crazy while destroying my business! You've got a lot of damn nerve, whoever you are, and I think it's time that we settle this-"
The woman let out a new round of giggles. "Still a rambler, after all these years? Well, I should have figured. What's that saying, a leopard doesn't change his spots, something like that...ahhh, Antoinette, you really crack me up-"
"Don't call me that name! My name is-"
"Yeah, I know. You go by the name Skye now. Pfft. Sounds like the name of a girl who prances around topless on a bar."
Sonny grinned. He was enjoying this.
"I want to know who you are, and what the hell you are doing with this scum," Skye said, motioning to Sonny.
"Hey, hey now, Antoinette, why the insults? I'm just an innocent bystander," he said with a wink.
"Think, now, girlie...look into my eyes. Don't you see the resemblance?"
Skye studied her features desperately, but she wasn't sure..."Resemblance to who?"
The woman smacked her forehead. "Hello!!! Are you a total idiot?"
A dazed look crossed Skye's face. "I don't know...do you know my mother or something?"
The woman snorted. "Which one?"
"Rae Cummings. Are you a patient of hers, or-"
"ENNHHH!!!" The woman yelled, imitating the buzzer that sounds when you give an incorrect response on a game show. "You've guessed the wrong bitch!"
"You're...you're talking about Althea???"
"Ahh, so you're not entirely brain-dead."
"How do you know Althea?"
As the woman began to chuckle again, Skye re-studied her face. Suddenly, it began to all fit. The golden-brown shade of her eyes, the shape of her lips, the slight up-turn of her nose. She was almost the spitting image of Althea.
"But- but-"
"Ahaha, that's right Sis, Becca is BACK!"
****
Titans Office
Carly looked up from her paperwork when she heard the door push open like a bolt of lightning. Jax rushed in, looking frantic.
"Whoa, Jax, what's wrong?" she asked, dropping her pen.
"Is Skye here?"
"She left about half an hour ago. Why?"
"She was supposed to just come here, pick something up and come back home, but she never made it. I waited and waited, and then tried her cell phone, but couldn't get through. I keep calling, but....she NEVER turns her cell phone off. Never."
"Well, maybe the battery just died-"
"No, something's wrong. I have a feeling. God, in the state she was in, I shouldn't have let her go anywhere alone...." Jax rubbed his eyes and tried to think. Where could she be?
"Wait, wait...I remember something she said when she was leaving."
"What?!?!"
"Something about going to see Sonny at the warehouse. Taking care of something."
"Corinthos. Oh God." Jax turned and ran for the door.
"Jax! Jax, wait!" Carly shouted. She sighed; well, she was nearly done her work anyway. She gathered up her stuff and followed her friend out of the building. He was in a state of panic, she figured she should go along to make sure he was ok.
****
"You're Becca?"
"That's right Sis- oh wait, you're not really my sister after all, are ya? Hehehe. I heard about the little switcheroo that Mom made with your new Gramps there....just like that filthy bitch."
"I...but...but I don't remember...you can't be my sister! I was an only child-"
"Ohhh, now Antoinette, you've hurt my feelings! You don't even remember your dear old sister. Playing dress up, watching Care Bears...singing syrupy Carpenters hits....ring a bell?"
Skye felt her fingers begin to tremble. She started to sweat, but she was freezing. Oh God....it was just like her dreams...but could it be true? How could she forget something like having a sister????
"Ahh, but I do understand, as hurtful as it may be," Becca said, sniffing in exaggeration as she wiped away a non-existent tear. "I've been doing my homework on you, Antoinette, and I know how you tend to block out things that are painful. So I guess losing me was traumatic enough to make you forget about me entirely! So, I suppose I should be flattered."
Skye brought her shaking fingers to her temples. She had no idea what to say, what to do....
"Surprise," Sonny said with a smirk.
"But....if you're my sister...how...why...why are you doing this?"
A look of intense anger and hatred filled Becca's eyes. She stepped towards Skye and looked her square in the eyes.
"Guess you forgot that one, too, huh, Antoinette? What you did was so...so STUPID, that you had to block it out? Huh? Couldn't face up to what you did? How you DESTROYED my entire life? Huh? HUH?"
Sonny put his hands on Becca's shoulders. "Calm down, Rebecca, just-"
"No! Shut up!" she said, whipping around and staring at him menacingly. "You have no idea! I'm talking to my sister, so leave me the hell alone!"
Sonny put up his hands as in admitting defeat. "Easy. I just don't want my newest business partner to lose it now-"
"Yeah, well thanks for your concern, Ricky Ricardo, but I don't need your surveillance, thank you."
"God, why don't you just tell me what the hell is going on here?" Skye said, her eyes brimming with tears.
"OK." Becca said, picking up a folding chair and slamming it loudly on the ground by Skye's feet. "Sit! I'll tell ya exactly what you want to know."
Skye sat down obediently. Becca pulled up another chair and turned it around and sat, facing the trembling woman. "You- you thought you had it bad living with Althea?"
Skye winced. "Well, if you're my sister like you say, you should know she was a monster-"
"A monster? Ha! You don't know the half of it! Althea was NOTHING compared to what I had to deal with. Nothing!"
"I don't understand-"
"My father, you idiot! HE was the monster!" Angry tears began to fill Becca's eyes, and her face began to twitch and tremble.
Skye didn't know what to say. She just stared.
"My father was a thousand times worse than Althea! Sure, she got drunk all the time, cursed, yelled, smacked us around a bit. But my father did much worse than that...." she paused as heavy tears began to stream past her face.
"I, I'm sorry, but-"
"Don't interrupt!" Becca yelled, pointing a shaky finger at Skye. "You have no right to even SPEAK to me, after what you did!"
"What? What did I do?"
"You let him get me! YOU let him get me!"
Skye began to cry. "I don't know what you're talking about-"
"Oh, that's right, the little baby can't handle painful memories. We-e-ell, I have a whole twenty-volume encyclopedia of PAINFUL MEMORIES, so you can just shut your damn mouth! You, missy...you let him in the house! You let that son-of-a-bitch IN OUR HOUSE, and you sent me down there! You didn't come down with me, you left me alone! And that bastard pulled me kicking and screaming out of the house into his car, and you didn't even come help me!!" The tears were taking her over, and she had to stop. She put her face in her hands and howled.
The dreams. Skye realized that what Becca was saying must be true; this all fit with her nightmare of the man who came to the door. The surprise. Skye wiped a tear. The surprise was actually a kidnapping.
"Figured it out?" Becca murmured as she wiped her cheeks. "He took me away from my house, away from my oh-so-beloved sister. He sped off to Vegas, and went on to make my life a living hell from that damned day forward! And you and Mommy Dearest didn't even care."
"I was a little kid!" Skye yelled. "I didn't even know what was going on!"
"Excuses, excuses!!! No matter what way you wanna sugar-coat it, Antoinette, you were responsible for that @#%$ beating me and molesting me and shooting me up day after day after DAY! And you didn't try to get Althea to find me. She didn't give one @#%$ that I was gone, and you just loved it, didn't you?"
"What?"
"You got all her attention to yourself, and you just relished that opportunity, didn't you? Daddy left you--although I really don't blame him--so you wanted- needed- Mommy all to yourself. Well, you got her, you little bitch! You got her! And I hope you got everything you wished for." She stood up and began to pace.
"I'm sorry," Skye whispered after a while. "I'm sorry."
****
Jax slammed on the horn. Just what he needed, a traffic jam. He closed his eyes and sent a silent wish to God for Skye to be all right. He glanced at Carly in the car behind him. She gave him a half-hearted smile. Jax turned his attention back to the road in front of him. Please...please get me out of this and to the woman I love!
****
"What are you laughing at?" Skye asked.
Becca bit her lip to stop her chuckling. "Why, it's just all too perfect!" she said in a shrill tone.
"What is?"
"This whole thing! Our chance meeting! Your stupidity! My...heh....ahhh my goodness, it's all just working out better than I thought!"
"Becca, you're not making sense-"
"Hah, why should I expect you to understand? It's all just coming to me as we speak! Ahhh, my word...I thought I'd just ruin you financially, make you sweat, make you crazy like you made me! But...oh my God...why take the long road when the shortcut is right in front of me! Haha! It's perfect!" She reached into her purse. Sonny's eyes widened. He got up from his desk and began walking quietly towards Becca, whose back was to him.
"What are you-"
"I said SHUT UP!" Skye's eyes widened in horror to see the crazy woman pull out a gun. When her eyes locked in on the weapon, she had a flash. That gun. It was the gun from her nightmare, she could recognize the lightning-bolt shaped gouge mark on the barrel, and the silver lines along the handle. It was Althea's gun. And now her latest dream made sense...the man that had broken in was Becca's father, and the item he had stolen was Althea's gun!
Becca pointed it at Skye, hands trembling. The barrel wavered unsteadily.
"Scared? Are you SCARED now, Antoinette? Huh? ARE YOU?"
"Becca, why don't we just talk about this-"
"I'm done talking!"
Skye closed her eyes. Her stomach turned over when she heard Becca flick the piece on the back, readying the gun to shoot.
"Becca, why don't you give me the gun?"
Skye opened her eyes as Becca whipped around and pointed it at Sonny. He put his hand out.
"It's okay," he said gently, "Just let me have it."
"Leave me alone!"
"Becca, I'm just trying to help you, now-"
"You're not trying to HELP me! Do you think I'm stupid? You're in cahoots with her! I should have known it, you've been lying all along!"
Sonny shook his head. "No. You're wrong. I'm on your side. Now, can I see the gun, please?"
"He's telling the truth," Skye added quietly.
"Everybody stop lying!!!" Becca shrieked.
"Becca, honey, calm down, and just let me have the gun."
"You want it?"
"Yes, I do."
"You really want it?!"
"Yes. Let me have it, Becca."
Skye's blood turned cold as she heard Becca's icy next words.
"You got it."
The next few seconds were a blur. Becca's grip tightening on the gun. Sonny's expression freezing in fear. The sound of footsteps in the background. But the next sound was much worse.
Becca fired twice in Sonny's direction. Skye watched in horror as his body crumpled to the ground, and blood began to pour out onto the floor. Skye rushed to him. She touched his shoulder gingerly.
"Sonny? Sonny?!" She knelt down to listen for a heartbeat, but before she even heard the lack of pulse, she knew he was dead.
"You killed him," Skye moaned, pointing a shaking finger at Becca. She saw the blood dripping off it from where she had touched Sonny, and her arm fell limply to her side.
"All in a day's work," Becca said, carelessly flicking a gloved hand in the air.
Tears dripping down her face, Skye began to fall to her knees. "What are you going to do now?" she asked. She loathed the question. She feared the answer.
"Hmm...well, I could plug you full of holes like Greaseball over there....but....nahh, that would be too quick an end."
"Then, what?" Skye squeaked. As Becca paced back and forth, hemming and hawing, Skye could still, in the back of her mind, hear footsteps. They seemed to be coming closer, but Skye hardly could take it all in. Her breathing got harder and harder, her heartbeat got faster and faster, her head began to pound. She felt like she was going to pass out.
"No, I have a better idea!" Becca said. She slowly crept towards Skye, who was already half out of it. "This type of revenge will be much longer lasting." She began to cackle again. Then her grin disappeared as she looked at the woozy woman.
"Stop shaking, you weakling!" She slapped her across the face, really hard. Skye fell back onto the ground. Before she knew what was happening, Becca shoved the gun in her hand, and kicked her once in the stomach.
Just before the room faded to black, Skye could vaguely see the doorway where Connie stood, frozen in horror.
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