IN THE ATTIC IN MAISON BLANCHE:

E.J. walked toward Sami and sat at the end of the bed and turned to face her but said nothing and sighed.

"Is someone here to save me? Is something good happening to Samantha Brady FOR ONCE? Am I really getting out of this awful place?" Sami said to herself as she excitedly hopped out of bed with her voice picking up in volume as she bounded around the room until it had built to a shout. "Is my dad here? My mom? Did Lu...?"

E.J. stood and covered her mouth with the palm of her right hand before she could finish her thought about her husband coming back for her.

"Samantha... I... I can't let you... I'm so sorry... So so sorry," he whispered.

To E.J.'s surprise Sami bit down hard on his hand.

"Owww," E.J. said in shock more than pain as he shaked away the minor sting.

"You're sorry?" Sami said incredously, turning to face him and pounding at his chest with her fists. "No, you're not sorry. Maybe you could have been sorry before. But not now. Not after Rolf wiped your memory clean. Not after Tony has just proven that you were never here to PROTECT ME you're hear to IMPRISON ME."

Sami began to sob.

"Not after I've told you the truth which you refuse to acknowledge and you still believe that this child..."

"Samantha, I don't know what the truth is..." E.J. said pausing to wipe a tear from her cheek with his thumb. "I only know that disobeying Tony right now puts your child... or our child... if that is the case... in more danger than doing what he says."

ON THE FIRST FLOOR OF MAISON BLANCHE:

"Well, Kate, dear," Tony said moving toward her and caressing her face. "I assure you that I want to find E.J. and Sami and bring them back to Salem just as much as you do."

Kate knew that meant he actually didn't want to find Sami and E.J. at all, but considering them staying gone would mean the end of Lucas's marriage to the witch she was intrigued.

Kate licked her lips and leaned in for a kiss but stopped when they were interrupted.

"Hey, just what in the hell is going on here?" Roman asked furiously, while a disgusted Marlena and a horrified Lucas looked on.

Tony smiled.

"Is it a little early yet for love in the afternoon?" Tony joked but was the only one who laughed. "Sorry, I just couldn't resist. But Roman, if you must know I'm here to lend you my services."

"Your services?" Lucas scoffed.

"Yes. You see I'm here to help out the search party any way I can," Tony said grinning, not even bothering to feign sincerity.

"Why do you care if we find my daughter?" Roman asked angrily. "How did you even know where to find this place?"

"Well, as you all know by now, my brother, E.J. made off with quite a bit of money that Kate and I have a responsibility to try to track down as Mythic's chief corporate officers, so she thought I might join you here," Tony said with a wink at Kate.

"Oh did you, Kate?" Marlena snarled, still filled with fresh hatred for Kate for the danger in which Kate's son Phillip had put Belle and her granddaughter Claire in Tinda Lao.

Not to mention her lingering disdain for Kate keeping Claire's paternity a secret from Belle and Shawn and the fact that while she no longer wanted Roman, she hated the idea of any other woman having him even if it was only for a short while in Kate's marriage to Roman.

Suddenly defensive, Kate played right into Tony's hands covering up for him not so much to protect him but to protect herself from Marlena's damning stare.

"Look, I know I have had my issues with Sami over the years, but she is... my son's... wife," she said gulping as the words came out of her mouth. "And I just thought we should use all the resources that we could to track her down and Tony certainly has a lot of them."

Tony smiled.

None of them were buying Kate's story but it wouldn't matter because at that moment Marlena's phone started ringing.

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