CHAPTER 12

Sonny's body guards, who double as his thugs, Max and his brother Milo, drag Johnny kicking and screaming onto Baker Street. Johnny already has a blackened eye and is bleeding from his mouth. His clothes are torn and tattered, and he has obviously been roughed up. Sonny enters Baker Street and the guards throw Johnny onto the ground. Sonny walks up to the battered Johnny lying on the ground.

Johnny looks up at him, "I thought he had a truce," he barely manages through his bloodied, busted lip.

"We did, but that didn't mean for you to go sleep with my daughter!"

Max and Milo, who were not previously privy to why Sonny wanted to see Johnny, look at each other and raise their eyebrows. Johnny says nothing. He just sits up the best he can on the ground, glaring up at Sonny.

"So, you're not going to deny it? That makes you look guilty, Johnny."

"It doesn't matter whether I deny it or not; either way, you're going to do whatever you want to me. That's how you work." Johnny tells Sonny.

Sonny pulls out his gun and points it at Johnny. Sonny cocks the gun. Johnny flinches and takes a deep breath. He closes his eyes. All of the sudden, out of nowhere, Kristina comes running in and gets between the gun and Johnny.

"No!" she yells.

Sonny quickly points the gun downward, avoiding aiming it at his daughter. "Kristina!"

Max and Milo swoop in and try to pull her out of the way. She fights them. "Let her go!" Sonny orders. The two guards let go of her.

"What are you doing, Kristina?" Johnny asks as he looks up at her.

"I can't let you die!" She says, looking down at him.

"What on earth possessed you to get between a gun and Johnny! He's no good, Kristina; he's hurt you too many times; he's hurt too many people. He needs to go away, sweetie."

"No! I refuse to move!" Kristina informs her father while standing directly in front of Johnny. "I'm not going to let you kill him! I love him! You can't kill the man I love!"

Johnny looks stunned. That's the first time he's ever heard Kristina say she loves him.

"Kristina, come on, please, move!" Sonny begs his daughter.

"No!"

"Sweetheart, he's too old for you. He's no good for you. He hurts people for a living."

"Oh, and you don't? You're in the same business, Dad! How are you any better than Johnny?"

"Kristina, we've been through this."

"Yeah, and I still don't get it."

"Kristina, I'm sorry I have to do this to you. I hate to see you hurt, but it's for your own good and someday you'll realize that!"

Sonny motions for his guards to remove Kristina. They pick her up under her arms, with her struggling all the way. They put her down on the side of the street and hold her back while she's trying to break through them. Sonny raises his gun back towards Johnny. Johnny looks over quickly to Kristina who is crying. Then he looks back at Sonny.

"Bye, bye, Johnny," Sonny says smugly to his prisoner.

Johnny closes his eyes. "I'm pregnant!" Kristina yells, and Johnny opens his eyes and looks at her.

Sonny drops his gun to the ground in astonishment. Max and Milo immediately let go of her. No one can believe what they have just heard. Kristina is crying uncontrollably. Sonny looks at Kristina, then at Johnny, then at Kristina. Johnny's eyes never leave Kristina. Johnny stands up and staggers over to Kristina who looks up at him, her eyes filled with tears. She jumps into his arms and they hug. He holds her in his arms for what feels like an eternity. Sonny is dumbfounded; he just watches all this unfold silently, not knowing what to do or say. Max and Milo are also shocked and back away slowly and silently. Kristina regains some composer and Johnny releases her from his arms.

Kristina turns to her father, and still crying says, "You can't kill the father of your unborn grandchild! You could never live with yourself if you were the reason why your only daughter was a single teenage mother!" She turns back to Johnny and his arms.

Sonny drops his head because he knows what his daughter has said is the truth. He doesn't know what to do in this situation. He never even dreamt of anything like this happening. Usually if someone gets in his way or hurts the people he loves, he gets rid of them. But Kristina is right, how can he be responsible for his own daughter becoming a single teenage mother?

Johnny is speechless. He just holds Kristina, and then he looks over at Sonny, who is staring down at the ground, completely silent.