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Chapter 9

Bundling up against the January chill Elizabeth left Kelly's at the end of her shift and set out to go somewhere. Anywhere. Normally she would head to her studio but at the moment it was the last place she wanted to be. So she found herself standing at the docks staring at the water.

"Hey you." Emily's bright call shattered the silence.

"Hey Em." Elizabeth accepted the hug she knew was coming. "What are you doing out here?"

"I'm on my way to meet Zander for coffee. Wanna come?" Emily studied her friend. A month ago Elizabeth had been glowing. For the first time in forever she seemed really happy and now she looked miserable. Emily suspected that things with the guy that Liz wouldn't talk about had gone south.

"And be a third wheel, no thanks." Elizabeth turned back to the water, maybe if she stayed out here long enough she'd become so numb she wouldn't miss Jason so much. "You go ahead."

"Okay, that's enough." Emily declared putting her hands on her hips. "Who is he?"

Elizabeth simply gave her a blank stare.

"If I didn't know any better I'd think you were hanging out with my brother. That looks a lot like his glare." At her friends slight look of guilt Emily paused. 'No way. Elizabeth and Jason? Did they even know each other like that?' "If you tell me who it was that broke your heart, I'll have Jason go beat him to a bloody pulp." At her brother's name that same look flashed across her face. 'Jason and Elizabeth?' She had no idea how that could have happened but Emily liked it, she liked it a lot.

Of course if Elizabeth was looking like death not even warmed over something must have happened. Emily figured that more than likely her idiot brother had done something. Probably pulled out the 'it's too dangerous for us to be near each other speech'. Actually he probably didn't even give her the speech, Jason seemed to think everyone knew what he was thinking. She loved her brother but sometimes he could be a dope.

Elizabeth was no prize either. More than likely she let Jason walk without a fight. Emily bet that her friend had convinced herself that she wasn't good enough for Jason. That he could do better. If left to their own devices the two of them would still be doing this ten years from now. Emily was tired just thinking about that. She was going to have to fix this. She just needed to figure out how. Maybe she could find a way to make sure they spent time together. "You sure you don't want to come have coffee?"

"No, I'm gonna go to the library and then head home. Say hi to Zander for me." Elizabeth turned and headed out. She was envious of her friend. She had the guy she wanted right there where she could touch and talk to him. The last thing she wanted to do was watch the two of them be all lovey dovey.

It had only been one week and already she was miserable. What happened to strong independent Elizabeth? She fell in love with a bad boy that's what happened. Whatever Jason was doing was so that they could be together so the least she could do was not walk around like her world had imploded. It hadn't. She was fine and so was Jason. If something had happened Francis or Johnny would let her know. 'Man up' Elizabeth told herself. Turning on her heels she headed to the library to get a travel guide on Italy.


Stepping off the elevator Jason nodded to the guard on the penthouse door. Walking in he nodded to Francis and Johnny who were in the living room at his instruction. "Sonny's in his office, he'll be right out." Johnny told his boss. He and Francis exchanged a discreet look. Jason looked like hell. He wasn't completely healed yet but that was only part of it. The other part was he was missing Elizabeth.

One week ago he showed up at the warehouse telling Sonny that he was leaving town for a few days. Sonny had immediately asked where Jason had been and instead of answering the enforcer had turned and walked out of the office. Jason made sure that plenty of people saw him over the next few days so that the families would know that he was in fact alive and well.

It was also no secret that Jason left Port Charles and went to Palermo. Which meant he went to Maximus Giambetti. The man who sat at the head of the Costra Nostra. In their world it didn't get any bigger than him.

As far as everyone knew Jason hadn't spoken to Sonny other than that one brief conversation, and he hadn't spoken to Carly at all. Not that the blonde hadn't tried, the minute she heard he was back she showed up at Jake's. Too bad he wasn't there. So she spent two days going to every place he was known to frequent. After Sonny told her that Jason left town Carly immediate tracked down Elizabeth and the two women had gotten into a physical altercation. That bit of news most likely hadn't made it back to Jason yet, it would be ugly when it did.

"Good, you're here." Sonny looked at Jason. The younger man still didn't look good. "I need you to go to Puerto Rico and handle a situation."

"No." Jason replied not saying anything else.

"No?" Sonny repeated surprised. Jason never said no to an order.

"I came to tell you that last night Joseph Sorel died in a tragic accident." He had accidentally found himself on the wrong end of a gun. The official cause of death would be car accident. "His car went over the rails on Cliff Road. A person really should be more careful driving this time of year with the black ice and all."

Sorel dying so soon after Jason visiting Maximus could not be a coincidence.

"Why don't you two wait in the hall?" Sonny told Johnny and Francis. This was not a discussion they needed to have in front of their LTs.

"Stay put." Jason ordered the two men. "This is business they can stay. I am taking my share of the business and I am leaving." He wanted to get to the point and leave. He was still angry and right now he wanted to smash his fist into Sonny's face.

"You can't do that." Sonny said knowing that Jason could.

"Who's going to stop me?" Jason asked coldly. "You?"

"We can talk about this." Jason wasn't just his partner he was the majority partner. He owned Corinthos Morgan. A review of the books would show that Sonny owned the casino in Puerto Rico, the private island as well as the casino there. He also owned the Towers and Deception that was it. Everything else was still in Jason's name.

Sonny didn't even have the ELQ stocks anymore having sold them back to Jason when he left after Lily died. "In the hall." Sonny said to the other two men in the room. Looking at Jason they left when he nodded. Alone Sonny poured himself a scotch. "We can talk about this."

"No we can't." Jason told his former partner. "Have Alexis contact Dara. She has the paperwork ready to dissolve our business association. I am willing to sell you back certain parts of the business as they no longer interest me. It is in your best interest to sign the papers when they come."

"No, I want to find a way for us to work together again. Maybe be friends." Sonny started trying to find a tactic that would get Jason to change his mind.

"Whose bed did Carly wake up in this morning?" Jason asked in a low tone.

"Mine." Sonny admitted. "I know you're angry that we slept together."

"No Sonny, I'm not angry that you slept together. Carly was never more than a warm body to me if you wanted her all you had to do was wait until I was done. I could care less who she sleeps with. I'm angry that you slept with her. You look me in the eye, tell me I'm your brother and then you take her to bed. How am I supposed to trust you again? How do I know you won't try to take something else from me?" Elizabeth flashed through Jason's mind.

"You have to give it time." Sonny knew that the damage wouldn't be repaired overnight. "Dissolving our partnership is a drastic step."

"Ending our business association is the only thing keeping you alive." Jason told the man he looked at as a mentor. "I am willing to discuss an alliance. But that is all." Maximus had suggested that Jason would want to keep Sonny close. "Keep Carly away from me for right now, if she pisses me off I'm taking it out on you. Keep her away from Elizabeth Webber as well. I know Carly's been attacking her and there is no reason for her to do so." It felt wrong to deny that Elizabeth was important to him but until he knew what Sonny would do there was no other way. "She is my sister's friend and I will not tolerate her being disrespected. Sign the contracts when they come." Having said his peace Jason walked out.

It was Sonny's turn to exhale deeply. His hand shook as he drank the Scotch he had poured. Honestly he had expected Jason to come in and shoot him. The visit to Maximus had shaken Sonny deeply. So had the news early this morning of Sorel's death. Maximus's sons were both in Port Charles having shown up while Jason was gone. Now everyone knew why.

The fact that Jason was dissolving their partnership wasn't really a surprise. The fact that the former enforcer was now going to be a boss was. But it was also really smart. The younger man was in too far to ever walk away. If he didn't want to be with Sonny then he had to strike out on his own. There was no better way to do it than with a blessing from Maximus. Sonny would sign the papers and he would forge the alliance. He smiled slowly it wasn't how he saw it happening but he now had what he wanted. Carly in his bed and Jason still as his partner.

Now the only thing he needed to do was figure out how to keep Carly in line. At least until the business deal was done. She was not easily controlled and he didn't see her listening when she was told to stay away from Jason. She would look for someone to blame for the fact that he walked away. Elizabeth made a handy target but from what Sonny had heard the little brunette held her own pretty well. He would make sure that Hank stayed on his toes. The last thing he needed was for Carly to screw this up for him.


For several hours he simply rode, pushing his bike to its limits as he tried to silence the pain in his heart. He missed her. With each passing day the ache got worse. Sometimes he had to talk himself out of going down to Kelly's to just watch her through the windows. He had made the choice to walk away for now to keep her safe until he had solidified his power base. If someone wanted to try and stop him they would do it now.

He knew that this separation was for the best because at the moment he was at his most vulnerable. Their staying away from one another wasn't permanent he knew that. He just hadn't expected it to hurt so much. He felt like a part of him was missing.

Coming to a stop he looked around and gave a harsh laugh. He was Nowhere. Again. No matter how long he drove every time he'd taken the bike out since leaving her he ended up here. This was their place, somewhere that he brought her and no one else. He didn't think anyone else would appreciate it the way she did. He remembered her asking about the statues and the house that stood on the property. To have the answers he'd gone to the library and done research like some school student.

Now he was here without her and it was wrong. Telling himself to leave he walked further into the overgrown grass until he reached the statue of the little girl. He'd never gotten around to bringing Elizabeth here during the day. He'd never done a lot of things with her that he wanted. Like kiss her. All that was going to change, when they were back together he would never let her go again.


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