AT MYTHIC COMMUNICATIONS:

"Lucas, the shareholders are getting restless," Kate said as she hovered over Lucas's shoulder.

The two of them had spent the entire morning searching for documentation that proved E.J. Wells had been skimming profits from Mythic Communications, but Kate's search through his file cabinets had turned up nothing and Lucas's snooping through E.J.'s computer files had been fruitless as well.

Kate worried what they would tell the board of directors who had already been waiting for five minutes in Mythic's conference room to hear word from Kate and Lucas about the state of the company and the status of E.J. Wells.

Lucas paused a moment to think and rubbed his eyes, which were red and puffy from the sleepless night he'd had the day before.

Lucas had raced as quickly as he could back home catching the last flight from New Orleans to Salem when he learned that Sami had run off with E.J., but he had failed at leaving behind any of his bitterness or regret that he masked with self-righteous anger.

"I can't believe Sami ran off with that bastard who's framed us for embezzling," Lucas groaned as he stood up from behind the computer desk and threw his hands in the air. "It's over, Mom. He's got us. And there isn't anything we can do about it."

Just then E.J.'s office door opened, which was startling because Kate had locked it behind the two of them when they went to work. Lucas's mouth hung agape and Kate held her breath when she saw the tan, middle-aged well-dressed man enter.

"Why Kate and Lucas Roberts? It's been a long time no see, hasn't it?" smiled Tony Dimera.

"Tony," Lucas blurted. "What are you doing here?"

.............................................

AT MAISON BLANCHE:

Sami couldn't have been more confused about what was happening to her at Maison Blanche or what had happened to E.J.

She sat silently at breakfast and watched as Lexie and E.J. laughed carelessly as he told stories about his time on the European racing circuit over their orange juice and the pancakes he had made. The two of them carried on as if they were old friends, Sami thought, then realized no, the banter and stories and jokes reminded her of something else. The conversations she would have when she talked on the phone with her twin brother, Eric. She wondered if she would ever speak to her brother again and almost started to cry before putting him out of her thoughts with other matters.

Even with Bart and Rolf out of sight and E.J. distracted, Sami decided not to attempt another escape for a while. The horrifying work of Rolf on E.J. had served its purpose.

"Sami... Sami..." Lexie said shaking Sami out of her thoughts. "You hardly touched any of your breakfast. Remember, you're eating for two now so you need to be careful.

"How could I forget," she mumbled to herself.

Sami began shoveling in several large bitefuls of her breakfast while E.J. and Lexie went back to their conversation. About a minute later she slammed down her fork on the plate interrupting them.

"All finished," Sami told them. "Now, I would like to lay down for a bit. Is that possible, E.J.?"

"Well, I suppose that's all right," E.J. said turning to Lexie.

"I'll clean up the breakfast mess," Lexie told him. "You go ahead."

E.J. told Sami he had to take care of something first but would be right back.

As the kitchen door shut behind him, Sami started in on Lexie, "So has Rolf wiped your memory clean, too? You sure seemed to enjoy E.J.'s screams of pain last night."

"Listen Sami, I'm just trying to do what I have to do to survive. So that one day I can get back to my son... and my husband, if he'll ever take me back," Lexie said defensively before turning it back on Sami. "That's something I'd think you could relate to, isn't it?"

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