The moment arrived without warning. All of his life, he lived in anticipation and dread. He never wanted to be the Cassadine, yet here he was finally...The Prince.
He left the confines of his lake front hideaway and strolled down to the dock's edge. His legs dangled over the crystal blue water as he sat down. Reaching inside the front pocket of his khaki shorts, he pulled out the telegram. He already had the words memorized, but seeing them on paper made them frighteningly real. Taking a sharp breath, his eyes scanned the sad announcement once again.
"They're all gone," he choked. Sorrow filled his heart as he thought of it. His father, his grandmother and his aunt met a fiery death when a fire blazed through his father's estate. Dental records were the only means of identifying the three bodies and now, he would have to return to pick up the pieces.
Tears stung his eyes as he crumpled the telegram and flung it into the waves. Staring out across the horizon at the setting sun, one thought came to Nikolas Cassadine's mind. He had to go home.