Greta held up an old brass bell and rang it. The sound echoed through the dusty hallway of her mother’s hidden mansion. “What’s that thing? ” Eric asked.
“It’s used to summon servants,” Greta said. “Maybe we should have Kurt bring us some drinks. You think he’d like that? ”
“I think he’d come at you with a sharp object.
”
Greta’s mother had been Princess Gina, a woman who married Prince Von Amberg but lost him before Greta was born. His death was supposedly a yachting accident. But now, exploring the place her mother never told her about, Greta felt they were closing in on the truth. Eric groaned.
“I wonder where that Kurt guy is anyway. ”
“I don’t know,” Greta said. Down the hall, someone rattled a locked door. Princess Gina—alive, not dead, hidden for years—beat her fists against it.
“Kurt, you work for me! I demand you open that door and let me out this instant! ”
“Your Highness, please. It’s my sworn duty—”
“No, it is your sworn duty to obey me!
If you don’t open it, I shall do it myself. ”
Kurt had imprisoned her for her own “safety. ” But Gina didn’t believe that. John was coming for her.
He’d written to her, promised they’d run away together with darling Greta. Nothing would ever keep them apart. Gina pressed her ear to the door. She heard a car approaching.
“It’s John’s car! He has come for me, just as he promised! You’ve been keeping me here for yourself, haven’t you, Kurt? ”
“Your Highness, that’s not true.
”
“Lies! You wouldn’t be the first man who tried to steal me from John. But that could never happen! John!
John! ”
Kurt’s voice went cold. “He can’t hear you because he isn’t here. Even if he were, this room is soundproof.
Nobody can hear you. ”
“My God. I am a prisoner. But why?
”
“For your own good. To protect you. ”
“Protect me from what? ”
“The truth.
John isn’t coming. ”
Gina refused to accept it. But what if he was right? What if she had been standing in this room waiting for a man who had long since moved on?
Inside the mansion, Eric and Greta found her mother’s travel trunk. The one she had used whenever she traveled with Father John. “I wonder if this is the last place they went together,” Greta said. “Or maybe she was preparing to leave with him,” Eric said.
“Right, but we know he never came for her. ”
They set to work, searching for answers. In another part of the mansion, Stefano DiMera stood watching Bo Brady carefully build a layered drink. Hope Williams—restored, but reprogrammed as Princess Gina—stood nearby.
Bo placed the glass in front of Stefano. “Your pousse-café, sir. ”
Stefano examined it. “Beautifully done.
There’s just one small mistake. You put the crème Yvette on top of the crème de menthe instead of under it. Go make it again. ”
“Sorry, sir.
I’ll do it right this time. ”
Bo turned and walked away, no hint of rebellion in his eyes. Hope gasped. “Why does he have to be under your command like this?
”
“It’s none of your concern. ”
Stefano walked over and kissed Hope deeply. The old Bo Brady would have lunged at him, would have fought to protect the woman he loved. This Bo just stood there, perfectly still.
“See? ” Stefano said. “The old Bo Brady would have tried to strangle me for kissing his beloved Hope. ”
Hope had betrayed Stefano once before, trying to take John from him.
Now she was paying the price. She was Princess Gina, a prisoner in her own skin, feeding the potion to Bo to keep him under control. “Don’t worry,” Rolf said. “As long as you keep giving it to him as instructed, you have nothing to worry about.
”
“I’m not worried about Bo. ”
“You should worry about Stefano. You betrayed him once already. Pull a stunt like that again, and I assure you, your fate will be even worse than that of the real Princess Gina.
”
Hope shivered. “What happened to her? Did she go crazy when she lost John? ”
“Look,” Stefano said.
“I can only warn you that if you are not careful, history will repeat itself. ”
In Salem, Mike Horton stood in Carrie’s apartment, pulling her close. He had ordered dinner, champagne, everything for a celebration. Ali McIntyre had tried to destroy their relationship with a lawsuit against the hospital, and she had failed.
Carrie loved him. That was all that mattered. “Can you stop loving Austin? ” Mike asked.
“There will always be a part of me that will love him because of what we went through together,” Carrie said. “And what about your love for me? ”
“Ali really tested it. But that only proves that my love for you is real.
And I want more than anything… if you still want me. ”
“Of course I want you. ”
Mike popped the champagne. “Let’s celebrate.
Ali failed in all her psychotic attempts to split us up. ”
Carrie laughed. “I guess that astrologer in Vegas was right. Our love is in the stars.
”
At the Penthouse Grill, Ali had gathered everyone for a going-away dinner—Austin, Sami, her mother Claire, the hospital’s attorneys Margaret Winston and Mr. Lewis, and Craig and Nancy Wesley. She kept smiling that too-wide smile. “Dost thou thinkest I forget me friends?
” she joked in a fake accent. “Why nay. I have a surprise that should cheer you up. ”
But the surprise wasn’t cheerful.
A banner airplane flew overhead, pulling a photograph through the sky. A photo of Mike and Carrie together in New Orleans, wrapped in each other’s arms. Austin stared up at the sky. “How did that get up there?
”
“Damned if I know,” Ali said innocently. “I know,” Austin said. “It’s the same photo that someone emailed me, signed ‘a concerned friend,’ before I went to Vegas. You sent that, didn’t you, Ali?
”
“Answer me. ”
Ali’s smile didn’t falter. She had lost the case, but she wasn’t done. Not anywhere close.
Later that night, Mike and Carrie’s doorbell rang. Margaret Winston and Mr. Lewis stood in the doorway. “What can I do for you?
” Carrie asked. “Actually, we’ve come to talk to Mike,” Margaret said. Mike stepped forward. “What is it?
”
“In light of some new information that came out tonight,” Mr. Lewis said, “we feel we have no choice but to ask you to resign as chief of staff. ”
Mike stared at them. “This is Ali’s doing, isn’t it?
She took a private photo and made it public. ”
“The hospital cannot afford that kind of publicity,” Margaret said. “We need your resignation tomorrow morning. ”
Back in the mansion, Eric and Greta had found something.
A hand-drawn map of the château. “Where should we start first? ” Greta asked. Eric studied the map.
“We find out the truth about what Stefano did to your mother. ”
But in the soundproof room, Gina was about to do something desperate. The Pike—John’s car—was gone now. Kurt said John wasn’t coming.
But she didn’t believe him. She couldn’t believe him. “I am not afraid of danger, Kurt. If you go, I have to go with you.
”
“No,” she said, grabbing his arm. “I know John is out there. He will find me. You can’t keep us apart.
Do you understand? Nothing! ”
Kurt looked at her with pity. “Your Highness… the truth is…”
Gina shook her head hard, squeezing her eyes shut.
“No. Don’t tell me. Don’t you dare tell me he’s not coming. ”
She turned her back on him and stared at the locked door.
Somewhere out there, her daughter was looking for her. And somewhere out there, Stefano was laughing.
