Chapter 8
Alexis and Laura sat waiting for Sonny to bring over Will and Lucky. Mac had
agreed to give them privacy for Alexis' first meeting with Lucky and Will. It
would be hard enough for the boys to confide in one stranger… it wouldn't do
them any good to have to confide in two. Alexis couldn't imagine what was going
through Laura's mind right now. To see her son as a shell of his old self
because he had been abused must be hard on a mother. Especially hard on Laura,
if she felt desperate enough to ask her, a Cassadine, to represent her husband
in this case.
As if on cue to break the tension because of the dead silence in the room, Sonny
walked in with Will and Lucky. Laura ran to both of them and gave them hugs,
acting as if it had been years since she had seen them. “You're okay,” Laura
cried out, even though she knew that Sonny was keeping an eye on them.
“We're fine, Mom,” Lucky said, trying to reassure her.
Alexis looked over at Lucky and it was the first time she had seen him since
Lorenzo had kidnapped and abused him. He didn't seem the same at all. Gone was
the confident Lucky Spencer, who thought he knew almost everything there was to
know. Instead, in his place, was a frightened boy, looking younger than his
actual age. He looked as if he wanted to accept his mother's comfort completely,
but his pride, which was still intact somewhat, didn't allow him to show his
weakness. ‘So much like your father,' she thought.
Alexis gestured for Lucky and Will to take a seat across from her. Sonny
remained standing behind them, not taking his eyes off them. He had promised
Luke that he would keep on eye on them, and he meant to keep that promise. Laura
sat next to Lucky, holding his hand for support. Alexis didn't want to question
these boys, but she knew that she must. “Can you tell me, Lucky, in your own
words, what happened two months ago?”
Lucky looked down at his mother's hand, finding the strength that he needed to
relive the horrible nightmare he had lived. “My father told me he was taking off
for a while. I didn't want him to go, but I didn't tell him to stay. I was too
full of my anger to tell him how I really felt. Maybe if I did, he wouldn't have
gone and none of this would never have happened.”
Lucky took a deep breath, preparing to continue, as Laura rubbed his shoulder to
comfort him. “I was alone, walking around, and some guys grabbed me from behind
and knocked me out. When I came to, I was in a room, locked up, and this man
came in the door.” Lucky shuddered at the memory of how Lorenzo resembled Luke
in almost every detail. “That was the beginning of hell.”
Alexis looked over at Lucky, who was almost in tears. She, herself, had tears
forming in her eyes as the images in her mind were becoming more vivid. Lucky
continued to tell her about being tied up and the beatings he received when
Lorenzo got upset. “One day, Will decided he needed to get me out of there so he
snuck over to a payphone and called my house. My dad was home, along with mom,
and he came to get me and Will away from there. I was hoping that was the end of
this mess.”
“Did Lorenzo ever leave marks that can be shown in court?” Alexis asked.
“Lorenzo never did anything that wouldn't leave evidence of what he had done. He
wanted to make sure I could see it and remembered what would happen if I ever
did anything wrong again,” Lucky whispered.
“Can I see them?” Alexis asked softly, hoping not to cross the fragile line.
“You can take my word for it. As well as Will's word,” Lucky replied.
Alexis looked over at Will and stared at him for a while. It was unbelievable
how much he resembled Lucky in almost every way. You could take them for twins
if it weren't for the drastic difference in hair color. Both were around the
same age and both had that frightened look in their eyes as if they would never
fully trust anyone again. “You have scars from him too?”
“Yes, Mine are a little worse since I've lived with him for many years,” Will
said.
“Well, thanks for telling me the whole story. I know it was hard for you, but it
will help your father's case a great deal,” Alexis said. She looked at Lucky and
noticed that she didn't reassure him of how much help he had really been.
“Lucky, believe me when I say that you had a lot of courage to speak up like
this. Not many kids would have done the same. Your father would be very proud of
you.”
Lucky nodded and Sonny gestured for the boys to get up so they could leave.
Laura hugged them both and gave them each a kiss before they left. She looked
back at Alexis, tears streaming down her face in full force. “Those boys had to
live through so much,” she said.
Alexis knew that the situation was tense, but the lawyer in her wouldn't allow
her to let the subject to drop. There was a question she needed an answer to
right away. “Laura, how much of Luke's childhood are you aware of?”
Laura looked at her, shocked a little. “Why do you need to know?”
“Lorenzo is saying that it was Luke who did this to your son and Will. We can't
exactly prove that Luke wasn't anywhere near the boys for those two months,”
Alexis said, hoping that would be enough.
“The boys just told you that it was Lorenzo. Isn't that enough?” Laura asked,
getting a little annoyed at being ambushed about Luke's past.
“It might be, but there is a chance that it won't be,” Alexis said sincerely.
“I've seen cases like this before. I never handled one personally, but there
have been cases when the kids focused their blame on an innocent person because
they feared their abuser too much. Lorenzo will no doubt use that in court. If
we can say that Luke had gone through the same thing, it can support the kids'
story even more.”
“I'd like to help you, Alexis, but I can't betray Luke's trust. All I can say is
that his childhood was not one that you would envy. He went through a lot more
than any one of us could ever imagine and he survived. Anything else, I think
you should ask Luke personally,” Laura said, hoping the little she said wasn't
betraying Luke's trust. She had sworn a long time ago that she would never
reveal what Luke had told her about his scars.
Alexis looked at Laura, trying to decide whether to force her to say more, but
she decided against it. She could see that Laura was overcome with stress right
now and didn't want to push her further. She didn't know how much more Laura
could take before she broke down. She was impressed that Laura was strong enough
to handle all of this.
Laura took Alexis' silence as an acceptance to Laura's words and thanked her
again for taking Luke's case before leaving. Alexis watched her leave as she
thought over what she had gotten herself into. ‘I can't believe I'm supporting
the Spencer's, especially Luke,' she thought. She was packing up her stuff,
ready to leave as Mac walked back in. “Do you have a case?”
“There's definitely abuse, so that won't have to be proven,” Alexis said.
“Can you prove it wasn't Luke?” Mac asked.
“I sure hope for the boys sake that I can. I don't know what will happen if I
lose,” Alexis said as she headed out the door.
Mac sat back down in his chair, looked straight up and said, “I promise you,
Robert, I won't let you or Luke down.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laura walked into the house and saw Luke playing with Lulu. She remembered Luke
playing with Lucky when he was Lulu's age. It didn't feel so long ago sometimes,
but at this moment, it felt as if it were ages ago. Lucky had been so happy when
he was Lulu's age. So proud of his father, and Luke was definitely proud of
Lucky. They had been each other's best friend, doing everything together. Now,
the courts wouldn't even allow Luke to be near his son.
Luke looked up from Lulu's drawings to see Laura just standing by the door. “How
did it go?”
“It went as well as it could have. Lucky was staying strong during Alexis'
questions, but I could tell that he was so frightened inside,” Laura said as she
took off her coat and joined Luke on the couch.
“I know he's hurting. I know that more than anyone,” Luke said.
Laura grabbed his hand and held it in hers. “He's not going to let your father
beat him like you didn't let him. You'd be really proud of him right now.”
“I'm always proud of him,” Luke said quietly, as he put his arms around Laura
and held her close as they both watched their daughter color. Both of them
thought back to Lucky as they continued to watch… both wanting this nightmare to
end.
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