Chapter 10

It felt like hours before he reached the docks of Spoon Island, the fucking launch only had two speeds: slow and un-fucking-believably slow. He was even more pissed off at himself that he wasn't able to maneuver the launch around the rocky edge where the sparks from the gun fire was coming from, instead he had to dock it on the island's pier. Running off towards the cliffs with his men pounding behind him, Jason realized why Sam had chosen the more dangerous rocky shore to dock, they would've been vulnerable on all this open land off the docks, might as well tape a bull's eye on your back and let the Balkan's men have a bit of target practice. She had chosen the rocks for a cover, smart girl.

It was bad enough to balance themselves as Jason and his men ran and leaped over the slippery rocks, but now they had to duck behind the boulders as bullets were suddenly ripped into the air ahead of them. The Balkan's men were firing at them at a constant pace so Jason waited patiently, counting the bullets as they were fired, they had to be running out of bullets. Waiting for the right time to when they were going to exchange clips, Max was the first to jump out when there was a moment of hesitation, Milo and Cody ran along with beside him. Jason was gearing up to follow when a dark figure to his left caught his eye, swinging the gun and aiming it, Jason was ready to take the guy out. He froze when he saw Lucky running up to him yelling at him, "Don't shoot, it's me, Lucky!" Looking behind Lucky, a chill went up Jason's spine when he realized that Sam wasn't with him.

"Where's Sam?!" He demanded then impatiently waited as Lucky took a moment to catch his breath.

"We…. We split up…." Lucky took a deep breath. "Sam came up with the idea to separate in the tunnels, we would've been out in the open if we docked…" Seeing Jason nod in agreement, Lucky continued, he had a feeling Jason wasn't going to like this next part. "We were looking for the tunnel that led to Nikolas' study, so Sam, me and Aidan split up and each took a way…."

"Aidan?!" Jason was confused and completely pissed off to hear the guy's name. "How the fuck did he get involved?" He wasn't able to hide his annoyance if his life depended on it.

"We ran into him on the docks. I know you don't like him Jason but he helped us out." Lucky hoped to form some type of peace between them. Seeing that he wasn't going to get anywhere, Lucky continued. "I went through the far left, it took me to the stables. One of the Balkan's men came after me and I took him out. There were four all together."

"Which tunnel did Sam go through?" Jason turned towards the cave only to be stopped by his men running towards him from that way.

"The tunnel is caved in, it looks like just recently." Cody spoke up seeing the rage overcome his boss. He went ahead with his report. "We took out two men, both of them had full clips and grenades on them. They may have taken out the tunnels that way."

"DAMN IT!" Jason punched his fist through the air, frustration and darkness was consuming him at not knowing if Sam was alive or not, and they still one guy left to deal with. What if he had Sam?

"Why the hell would they be packing so much?" Lucky asked, that was a lot of arsenal for their original plan. "Unless…"

"They knew ahead of time, it was a setup." Jason finished his thoughts. "Someone leaked the information out…." He speared his hands through his hair, now was not the time to think about a trader in their midst, he needed to find Sam, she could be trapped, she could be dead…. NO! He wasn't going to think like that, maybe she found her way to the study. "We have to find Sam!" Jason took off to the direction of the mansion, his men and Lucky right behind him.

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"Did you find anything?" Sam asked Aidan for the tenth time as she was feeling the rocks to the right of the wall while Aidan did the same to the left side, wincing whenever she found a jagged piece. She had to find it, the lever should be around here somewhere, she remembered Helena coming through it once long time ago.

"No." Aidan answered shaking his head as he kept looking. He still couldn't believe that he was stuck here, trapped in this cave, with Sam. All he had ever wanted was a little alone time with her, time so that she could see that Aidan was the better match for her, not that murdering hitman. But this was even better, they were in a high intense life and death bonding situation, they would always be connected to this very moment, the moment when they had almost died, together, this would bond them forever. "I don't feel anything, you?"

"No. Nothing but rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Ughh!" She threw her hands up in the air and dropped to the ground in defeat, her back hitting hard against the concrete wall behind her. "I can't believe this! I can't believe we're stuck here!"

Hearing the frustration in her voice, Aidan walked up to her and dropped down right next to her, so close that their thighs were touching, his body started to heat up, she was so close to him, he could feel the heat from her body. Taking her hand in his and trying to push down the desire that flared him up, Aidan tried his best to soothe her. "Hey, don't worry, Lucky is still out there and he'll find us."

"What if something happened to him? What if he's dead? What if…..?" She fired off the questions, getting agitated fearing for her friend.

"Shhhh…" Aidan turned his body towards her, his right hand held hers, as his left hand moved to her head and started to stroke her hair. His body went up in flames as he felt the soft silkiness of her hair between his fingers, he bit back a groan and pulled her body more to him as he lowered her head to his shoulder. He felt her stiffen at first , but as his fingers continued their stroke through her strands as his he trailed his thumb lovingly across the back of her hand, she relaxed against him. This was where they belonged. "He'll be fine, I'm sure Lucky can handle himself. Isn't he a cop or something?"

Sam was grateful that she had Aidan with her, she took his comfort like any other friend, but she really wished that Jason was here with her instead. "Yeah, he's a cop, but Interpol hired him to go undercover as one of the Balkan's men?"

"Look, not that I'm not happy to help you out, but would you like to tell me what is going on, you know, since we're trapped down here anyways, until Lucky sends help." He added the last part, hoping that it would calm her down a bit. When she lifted her head off his shoulders, Aidan wanted to curse. He suddenly felt empty, it was as if a piece of himself was missing. Tightening his hold on her hand, he tried to pull her to him again, but stopped short when she pulled herself away from him and flattened her back against the wall. Not letting her completely pull away, Aidan grabbed a hold of her hand and intertwined their fingers together with both of their backs braced up against the wall. He just needed to touch her. When he noticed her eyes fall to their hands, he immediately brought up the subject again to change her train of thought. "Samantha, what happened?"

Forgetting about the uncomfortable hold he had on her hand, Sam felt guilty for sucking Aidan into this whole mess. It really wasn't her fault that he got mixed up into this, but she and Lucky did practically run him over trying to get away, and Aidan did help, a lot. She owed him the truth. So, she told him, about Brenda, about the Balkan, about Jason and Lucky helping out, about the plan that went to hell, about all of it, and she couldn't believe how light she felt. This situation had been weighing her down and being able to talk about, even to Aidan, seemed to help. Until….

"So he just left you?" Aidan asked not believing that Morgan chose to leave his girlfriend to face the Balkan's men while he tended to his ex wife.

"No! No… he didn't just leave me… Lucky was there…"

"But he still left you…"

"Brenda was in trouble, he had to make sure she was ok…." It didn't sound right even to her own ears.

"His ex wife was in trouble, so he jumped on his white horse to save the damsel in distress, leaving his current girlfriend to fend for herself. Face it Samantha, he left you."

"You don't understand, you don't know Jason, he knows that I can take care of myself, he doesn't need to babysit me."

"I understand that, I know how strong and how capable you are, but I would never… never leave you to go chase someone else. You, Samantha, you would always be my first priority." He held her gaze, wanting to lean in to her, to kiss her, wanting to finally taste her, but she looked away.

Not comfortable with the conversation, Sam turned her head. "Just forget it, you don't understand." She tried to pull her hand away but he held on firmly.

Feeling her pull away, Aidan realized that he pushed her too far, he held on to her hand tighter. "I'm sorry, alright, I didn't mean to make you doubt him, forgive me, please…" He was practically begging.

Hearing the sincerity in his voice, Sam gave him a break and relaxed again. "It's fine." In truth it wasn't fine, Aidan was right, no matter how you spin it, Jason still left her. But she still missed him, still wished that she could be with him, hold him, hear his voice… She yanked her hand away and searched through her pockets for her phone, realizing that she must have dropped it when she came up empty. "Damn it! I dropped my phone!" She looked over to Aidan. "Do you have yours on you? We can call Jason..."

He had two choices, he could tell her the truth and hand his phone over to her, or he could lie and tell her that he dropped it. He struggled with his choice but hearing how she said the bastard's name, and knowing that they would be free that much sooner and be away from her, he chose to hold on to her a little while longer. He pretended to search through the pockets of his jeans, knowing full well that his phone was in his inside jacket pocket. "No, I must've dropped it too."

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"Where is everyone?" Jason asked as he followed Lucky into Nikolas' study. He took notice of how empty the house was, no one was around, not even Alfred. They quickly made their way over to the massive fireplace.

"Nikolas is out of town with Spencer, and his staff usually goes with him." Lucky answered as he placed his hands underneath the mantle and felt around, taking notice that Jason did the same. "It's under here somewhere, I've seen Nikolas and Helena use it." Feeling around, he found the lever and pulled on it. "Found it!" He yelled out and stepped back, waiting for it to open, but it wouldn't, it was stuck.

"What's going on?" Jason noticed the confused look on Lucky's face, the lever didn't work. "Why isn't it working?" Jason was growing more impatient, Sam was on the other side and he had to get to her.

"I don't know." Lucky looked over at him then looked back at the fireplace, willing it to open. "It must be stuck…" He reached under the mantle again and yanked harder. Nothing.

"Fuck it!" Jason leaned up to the wall above the mantel and pounded hard. "SAM! SAM CAN YOU HEAR ME? SAM! ANSWER ME!"

After a moment of silence, he heard it. "Jason?" It was soft, almost as if he imagined it but then he heard it again, louder this time. "JASON!"

"Oh thank God!" Jason breathed in a sigh of relief at hearing her angelic voice. "JUST HOLD ON BABY! WE'RE GONNA GET YOU OUT! ARE YOU OK?"

"Yeah, we're fine!"

Jason's breathing grew heavy, the 'we' part let him know that Aidan was trapped in there with her. How convenient? "Ok, get up against the wall and push!" He ordered his men and went to stand next to them. Each grabbed a hold of the brick wall of the fireplace and waited for his word. Looking up at Lucky to keep his hand on the lever, Jason counted out, "1, 2, 3… PUSH!" As hard as they could, Jason along with Max and Cody pushed against the wall forcing it to open. Bit by bit the massive wall moved, slowly it opened. And when it was finally opened, his eyes immediately locked on to her brown ones. "Oh, Sam…" He breathed out and held his arms open wide as the woman he loved jumped into his embrace. His arms immediately circled around her as he held her tight against him thanking God that she was once again with him, the feeling over body wrapped tightly around his warmed his heart, he was reunited with the other half of his soul.

Purposely ignoring Aidan, Jason only spoke to her. "Let's get you home." He kissed her forehead and walked out with the rest of the men behind him. Lucky and Aidan fell in last, as they talked about what happened that night and the fallout. Jason could feel Aidan's eyes burning a hole through him, but he didn't care, all he cared about was that he had his woman back in his arms, where she would always stay.

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Hours and hours and a long hot shower later, Sam and Jason were snuggled up together in their bed at the penthouse. Dante had handled Mac and the cops earlier and had Brenda home safe and in bed hours ago, while Jason and his men cleaned up the mess at the warehouse, the docks, and Wyndemere. He was thankful that he didn't lose any men, some were shot, but nothing serious. They had a mess on their hands, he had a leak in his organization and it needed to be dealt with, but not tonight. Tonight, he wanted to be in his bed with the woman he loved, his Sam. He tightened his hold around her and pulled her tight against him, her back flush with his chest, he didn't want to let her go. Kissing her head, he whispered "Goodnight" and closed his eyes.

The shriek of a Brenda's voice had awakened both of them up, Jason jumped out of his bed with Sam scrambling to get up and run behind him. She was half asleep when she got to Brenda's room only to stop short at the sight before her. Brenda had her arms and her body pressed up against Jason as she sobbed against him, his arms wrapped protectively around her. Sam knew he was just soothing her, trying to get her to calm down, but the sight before her was making her ill. She turned away.

He left you….

Aidan's words echoed through her mind, he was right, no matter how you spin it, Jason still left her. Feeling out of place, Sam went back to their bedroom, no, it was still only Jason's bedroom, Sam had no claim here. He did ask her to move in, but she declined, knowing that he was only doing it to reassure her place in his heart. She knew that Jason loved her, knew that she was the only woman in his life, but she couldn't help feeling that something wasn't right. She sank on the bed thinking it through, feeling that this was so familiar, something was wrong, when all of sudden it hit her. Déjà vu. It was that awful year all over again, the year where he kept a huge life altering secret from her, the lies, the secret meetings with Elizabeth, the betrayal that drove them apart. Thinking about earlier that day, Sam remembered that there was still a secret between them, something that Jason wasn't telling her, something that he was still keeping from her. But why? She already knew that Brenda killed the Balkan's son, what was the big deal. He always told her everything that involved the business, they had no secrets between them, not anymore.

Looking up at the clock, Sam saw 5 minutes go by, then 10, then 20, when she realized that he was still in Brenda's room, she couldn't stay there anymore. She didn't want to even entertain the idea that he would be sleeping in her room to make Brenda feel better. She was his friend but they barely could stand each other, wait, didn't her and Jason's relationship start off that same way. Not liking the insecure feeling that she was getting, she grabbed her jacket and slowly and quietly made her way down the stairs. Leaving the penthouse, she was grateful that Max and Milo weren't there to stop her for questions. As she pressed the lobby button on the elevator, Sam tried hard to keep her tears at bay, not wanting to cry over this, but she couldn't help it. She was feeling left out. All of the events that day had finally caught up to her, she wanted to be with Jason, wanted to have his arms holding her, she almost died that day and instead of comforting her, he was comforting that stupid bitch. She couldn't stop the tears, they came down heavy, even as she stepped into her bedroom at her apartment, they still came down. Shutting off her phone, unplugging her land line, Sam threw herself on her bed and buried herself beneath the covers. She was alone.

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Aidan paced back and forth in his hotel room at the Metro Court. He was alone. That murderer practically forced her to go with him, not even giving the chance, or the option. If she was at her own place, Aidan could've at least visited her, made sure that she was ok. Just because Morgan could leave her to save someone else, Aidan would let her know that he cared about her, that he would always be there for her. Instead, he carted her off back to his fortress. There was no way that Morgan was going to let him in to see her. Picking up his phone, he called her, after getting her voice mail, it suddenly hit him: he told her that he lost his phone. He paced some more thinking about an excuse, it was ok, he would just tell her that he found it on the docks. She would believe him, she had to. Picking up again, he dialed for the second on, no answer, her voicemail kicked on. He sank down on the bed, listening to the sweet melody of her voice. There was nobody like her. She was special, she was different. He had to have her, one way or another he had to have her. He just had to get rid of Morgan first.