“I said stop! ” John shouted, his voice suddenly raw and unfamiliar. The sound of it silenced Belle and Brady instantly. They stared up at their father, startled.
He hadn’t meant to yell at them. He had just been trying to plan his wedding, the one to their mother, the one that would finally make them one big happy family. The date was set. The plan was perfect.
But John Black was starting to hear another voice, one that wasn’t his own. It sliced through his thoughts like a blade, whispering orders in a voice he knew too well. Stop. Pay attention.
Stop. He tried to shake it off, chalked it up to stress, and forced a smile for the kids. He had booked the chapel and picked out the date. Nothing was going to ruin this.
Across town, his children were celebrating. Sami stood in a boutique, modeling a stunning blue dress she could never afford herself. Austin had insisted. He wanted this night to be first-class all the way around.
It was a celebration of her freedom, he said. Dinner at Tuscany. Just the two of them. Sami felt a warmth spread through her.
She was finally free, legally free from Lucas. She wanted to have full custody of Will again. Lucas had confessed to a crime he didn’t commit, a fact that infuriated Sami because she still believed the judge had gotten it wrong, that Will belonged with her. But Austin shared news that gave her pause.
Lucas had called him and said he wanted to share custody. Fifty-fifty. One week with Sami, the next week with his father. Sami was stunned he had relented.
Austin admitted he had simply reminded Lucas of something he once said, about being a hero to Will. Sami was grateful her suffering was finally ending. To celebrate, she had a surprise of her own in mind. She would invite Carrie to dinner with them.
She and Austin’s estranged wife could share a meal without fighting. It was a peace offering. Carrie, however, was locked in her own private war. She had moved out of the apartment Austin shared with her.
He had seen her in bed with Mike, and that was the breaking point. He asked her to leave, and she did. She was staying at the hospital, clinging to her job as the only thing she had left. Marlena found her and begged her to listen.
“Fight for your marriage,” she pleaded. “You could work somewhere else. You don’t have to be near Mike. ” Carrie was terrified.
Her marriage was over. Austin had made that painfully clear. But Marlena pushed harder. She spoke of the storm that had hit their family when Sami was on death row, when they all said and did terrible things they wouldn’t normally do.
“The storm has passed,” Marlena insisted. “Don’t give up on your love. ” But Carrie couldn’t see a path back. She had betrayed her husband.
She was living with the shame of it. She felt she had no right to ask for his forgiveness. She was trying to do what was best for Austin, even if it meant destroying herself. And her own forbidden relationship was fracturing from the pressure.
Mike found her in a private spot, his face pale with resolve. “Carrie, I need you to understand this,” he said, his voice strained. “I don’t think we should see each other anymore. ” He got the words out before he could lose his nerve.
He was doing it because he cared about her. The rumors were spreading. One of his former lovers, a nurse named Ali, had turned venomous. She was threatening to drag both his name and Carrie’s through the mud.
But even as Mike tried to create distance to protect Carrie, Ali was also plotting against her. Ali was convinced that Mike was in love with Carrie. She knew everything about their little road trip. She mocked his talk of professional boundaries while her eyes burned with obsessive jealousy.
She was determined to get the other woman out of the way. “I’m going to drag you and your sanctimonious wife through the mud until you both feel the pain and humiliation that I’ve endured,” she hissed. Then she called her mother, gloating about how she had refused to drop her lawsuit against Mike, claiming he had promised her the head nurse job in exchange for her affections. Ali declared that once Carrie was gone, Mike would be hers completely.
Mike, meanwhile, had no idea that his attempt at a noble good-bye was already too late. Austin had just called his lawyer, ready to take the proper legal steps to end his marriage to Carrie. Across the city, the Kiriakis mansion buzzed with tension. Kate was terrified of an upcoming party.
Or rather, she was terrified of the hostess. Vivian. The woman had committed unspeakable acts against her. Vivian had faked a relationship with Victor to steal their embryos and bear their child.
She had helped stage Kate’s plane crash. She had tormented her for years. The idea of attending Vivian’s going-away party was an insult of the highest order. Victor had to break the news that he promised Bo he would attend.
“It’s her last request. Her swan song,” Victor explained. It was an opportunity to reconnect with his son, one he couldn’t refuse. Kate questioned him angrily.
Why was Bo suddenly so interested in Vivian’s dying wish? She knew Bo blamed her for all his problems with Hope. This was Vivian exploiting that hatred. She sensed a trap.
“The only common denominator between Bo and Vivian is their hatred of me! ” Kate spat. “I’d be an absolute fool to walk into that lion’s den tonight. ” She refused to attend.
Yet even as Kate refused her invitation, others were eagerly accepting his. “Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives. ” Vivian’s townhouse was a flurry of last-minute preparations. Flowers, caterers, champagne.
Nicholas warned his “aunt” to keep up the act. Bo was suspicious. The supposed dying woman was bouncing around with the energy of a teenager. When Bo asked Nicholas how she was feeling, Nicholas claimed she was a trouper, rising to the occasion, that she wouldn’t even be able to lift her head off the pillow come tomorrow.
Bo took the excuse at face value, but his plan was in motion. He wanted to see the look on Stefano DiMera’s face when Vivian announced she was giving away her prized paintings. It was going to be his moment of triumph. In the midst of the chaos, Gina Von Amberg watched Bo with growing dread.
A young woman named Greta had been studying one of the paintings in Vivian’s living room. She turned to Vivian and explained her suspicion. “I believe my mother painted this,” Greta said. “Princess Gina Von Amberg.
” The declaration hung in the air like a verdict. Gina, who was in reality the notorious Hope Brady, was stealing desperate glances at the art on the wall. Her secret was about to be exposed. But just as the panic swelled in her chest, the party planner chased them all out of the room to prepare the staging.
Gina saw her chance. She was desperate to swap out a painting, but she was out of time. As everyone filed out, she lingered, trying to figure out how to hide her work. Stefano DiMera himself was in the highest of spirits.
He had dispatched his loyal Dr. Rolf to make the necessary preparations for their next great scheme. Stefano had had a confrontation with John Black, a man who had once been his most obedient pawn. John was becoming too dangerous, remembering too much.
The simplest solution, as far as Stefano was concerned, was to wipe his memory and turn him back into a weapon. Rolf protested. John wasn’t like Gina; they couldn’t reprogram him via satellite. They would have to physically subdue the indomitable John Black.
“Subdue him? ” Stefano laughed, waving off Rolf’s concerns. There was no risk too great when the prize was regaining control over his “favorite mercenary. ” Stefano was determined not to allow anything to ruin his euphoric state.
He was looking forward to tonight’s party, to celebrating the completion of Gina’s work. Soon, life would be perfect. He and Gina would be together again. Back in his home, John was battling his own demons.
Every moment of peace was shattered by another piercing whisper of command. He clutched his head, gritting his teeth. His children looked on with concern. He tried to hide it, telling them it was nothing, that he just slipped.
He sent them upstairs to bug Chelsea before bedtime. As they scampered away, he called them back for a final hug and kiss. He needed to tuck them in, but he sensed time was running out. The voice was growing louder.
“John, you know your mission,” the voice commanded through the haze of his fractured mind. “Kill anyone who tries to stop you. Anyone who gets in your way. You must not fail.
” John Black’s eyes glazed over as the order sunk in. “Failure is not an option, sir,” he replied, his cadence robotic and hollow. Stefano probed further, testing his control. “What if you are captured?
” “Without hesitation, I will take my own life, sir. ” The words escaped John’s mouth as if he were reading them off a piece of paper within his mind. “To die is more honorable than to be captured. ” The words were not his own.
They were ancient programming, surfacing from a past life he barely remembered. “Take my own life, sir,” he repeated to himself, his voice a hollow echo of the man who had just told his children he loved them. Marlena walked through the front door of their home, her voice light and cheerful. “Honey, I’m home.
” She saw John standing in the middle of the living room, his back facing her. “John, are you—” The sight of him stopped her cold. He was standing rigid, but a strange calm had settled over him. As she got closer, the truth of the situation slammed into her.
He didn’t turn to greet her. He didn’t even seem to hear her. He was muttering, his eyes vacant, his movements stiff. “No.
” The word was a choked whisper. “John! ” She ran to him, her heart seizing with terror as she reached out for the shell of the man she loved. He was gone.
He was breathing, but he was gone.
