Finding titles can sometimes be a real pain... what was I thinking with that C... lol. Anyways, I hope you'll like what I have in store for our characters this chapter!

Part 21

C for Calling the Shots

Elizabeth couldn't stand still. She was vividly pacing across the tight PCPD holding cell where she had been placed, replaying in her mind her conversation with Ric and wondering how she hadn't seen it coming. Of course Ric Lansing had been up to no good inviting her to his office to talk, just like he had been during their first meeting. And now that he knew who she really was, he had an enormous advantage over the brunette and had not hesitated twice before using it.

Asshole, she thought then stopped walking and stood still for a few seconds as she wondered if Sonny was aware of Ric's plan. She shook her head. Knowing how protective her biological father had been of her, despite her animosity towards him, she was convinced he would never have agreed to this arrest; and even less to reveal her real identity to the world as he had always respected her wish for their link to remain hidden... unless he had changed his mind now that she had poked too strong at him.

And then she thought about how everyone would react after finding out she was the daughter of the infamous Michael Corinthos Jr., given Ric would probably not waste any time before making this information public knowledge. It was an unfortunate part of her she had so desperately tried to keep under wraps, since the day she had herself learned this truth. But secrets had a way of coming to light and she would now have to deal with the repercussions of being known as Sonny's daughter. She would surely lose her job, and maybe even her friends. Would they understand her choice to keep it a secret once they found out as Jason thankfully had?

Her mind was on overdrive but kept coming back to Jason and Spinelli, who with every passing minute would be growing worried something had happened to her. They needed to know what was going on so they could help her out of the trap Ric had set up for her and beat him to his own game. They were so close; she could feel it.

Elizabeth walked up to the jail cell bars and gripped them with both hands. "I want to call a lawyer! I know my rights." She yelled, so that the officer on guard duty couldn't pretend not to have heard her.

But she didn't get any reply and assumed Ric had asked them to stall this process as much as possible to make her life difficult. "Did you hear me, I want to call a lawyer!" She let out a sigh then went on. "You can't keep me in here without letting me call someone at least!" She insisted. "Keep this up and the PCPD is going to get slapped with a lawsuit!"

"Shut up! I'm trying to sleep!" She heard a drunken voice coming from her adjacent cell but Elizabeth ignored her neighbor and continued yelling as she decided she would until someone came up to her. After five long minutes, a police officer slowly appeared in front of her cell.

"You're going to have to stop yelling." He told her, hands resting on his hips.

"And you're going to have to start respecting my constitutional rights! Do you realize that it's a violation to keep me locked up in here without giving me access to legal counsel?" She lectured him.

The police officer looked down at his feet then back at the feisty brunette who obviously knew what she was talking about. "We were not finished with your booking, but you can have your call now." He told her then unlocked her cell and placed handcuffs back on her wrists. He led the agent to an interrogation room with a phone on a table.

"You have five minutes so make it quick." He told her then crossed his arms.

The brunette looked down at her cuffed wrists realizing she would have to manage that way. She let out a loud sigh and sat on the cold chair. She could feel the policeman's eyes locked on her. "I'm not going anywhere." She reminded him, asking for her privacy.

The young man nodded at once and left the room to stand at the door.

Elizabeth then picked up the phone and tried to remember Spinelli's cell phone number in vain. She cursed her bad memory, and then not to waste any more time she dialed one of the few numbers she knew by heart and a person she could trust.

"Dr. Drake speaking."

"Patrick, thank god you answered!" Elizabeth's voice sounded deeply relieved.

"Hey Liz! You're lucky; I'm just out of surgery. What's up, how's your friend doing... and what's this number you're calling me from?" The doctor went on; unaware of the dire situation his friend was in.

"Listen, Patrick, I don't have much time to explain but I'm at the PCPD, I was arrested." She dropped on him.

"What?!" Was Patrick's natural reaction to the shocking news. "For what?" He then asked, still dumbfounded.

"It's a bit complicated and I will explain everything but right now I need you to do two things for me." She said then lifted her gaze up to look at the closed door, from which she was expecting the police officer to barge in any minute.

"Do you need me to come bail you out? I'll be right there..."

"No, no... listen I need you to go to my studio and tell Jason that I was arrested, he is there with my colleague Spinelli. Tell them that Lansing knows everything and that he is framing me for conspiracy in retaliation for coming after him." Elizabeth said, hoping Patrick wouldn't ask too many questions and just do as she asked.

"Conspiracy? Elizabeth, that's serious! I'm not sure I'm understanding where all of this is coming from but fine, I will do anything you ask." Patrick told his friend. "You said two things, what else do you need?"

"Yes, as soon as you hang up please call the FBI and ask to talk to Diane Miller to tell her I'm here and that I need her to get me out asap." She told him, certain that Diane Miler would manage to go head to head with Lansing better than anyone else.

"Okay, I will." Patrick promised. "But at least tell me this is not as bad as it sounds. I know this must be related to your big case, but how can you be framed for something you didn't do..."

"I'm going to be fine. Patrick and I'm really sorry." She said, not only sorry she had to involve him in the situation but also for keeping something as important as her real paternity from her closest friend. She hoped he would forgive her for that.

"Sorry about what?" Patrick asked. "You don't have anything to be sorry for."

"Listen, I'll have to hang up soon but I want you to learn this from me before you start hearing rumors." She unconsciously cleared her throat before saying. "Sonny Corinthos is my real father."

"Time's up!" The officer suddenly said entering back into the room. He approached the brunette who didn't have a choice but to hang up the phone and stand up before hearing Patrick's reaction. "Let's go!" He told her and dragged her back to her cell.

Jason and Spinelli had finished looking into the very long list of transactions Spinelli had unearthed while waiting for Elizabeth to come back from her meeting with Ric Lansing. Jason gazed at his watch for the tenth time since she had left and couldn't wait for her to come back. Ric Lansing was a snake, he was convinced of that and hoped for his sake that he wouldn't try anything stupid.

"What pressing matter do you think the Dastardly DA wanted to talk about with our Queen?" Spinelli suddenly asked him.

"He is probably nervous we might have discovered his involvement with Corinthos and will try to scare her off. But what makes me a bit worried is that this man is smart." Jason contemplated, holding his bandaged arm.

"And so is the Fair Elizabeth." The computer genius said.

"She definitely is, without her we wouldn't even have thought about looking into this sham of a company Lansing owns." Jason told him, still impressed by the agent's wits. "But we still need to figure out how Carly's mother is involved in all this, I'm sure that's our key."

"The Valiant Spy truly believes that talking to Mrs. C would unlock this mystery for us?" Spinelli pondered. "But Queen Elizabeth was really adamant that the Master of Doom's wife is not to be trusted."

"I see Elizabeth's point, it would be risky to get her involved but at the same time we don't have much to lose at this point." The young man said then took another glance at his watch. "This is taking forever, she should have been back by now."

"The Jackal can track her mobile phone's sim card which will give us her exact current location and we will know is she has already left the office of the D-DA."

"You can really do that?" Jason asked, his face completely straight, but one eyebrow that he raised high.

"Yup! Don't you know by now that the Assassin of the Internet is capable of anything?" Spinelli said then started typing on his computer while Jason shook his head, once more amazed and a bit perturbed by Spinelli's cyber-powers. "And location is... unknown!"

"I thought you could do anything?" Jason teased his new friend with a straight face.

"I can, but only when the phone is turned on, it appears to be off or dead, that I am not sure of." Spinelli speculated.

Before Jason was able to say anything else a determined knock at the door interrupted them. Both silently wondered who that could well be, until they heard. "Jason! Open up, it's Patrick again!" The surgeon sounded impatient.

"Patrick, as in Mc. Dreamy Drake?" Spinelli asked surprised. "I know him and Queen E. are close friends but I didn't know you two were acquainted."

"He helped me after I got shot. I would be in much worse shape if it wasn't for him." Jason explained then quickly made his way to open the door and let Patrick in.

The out of breath doctor rushed in the small studio, looking alarmed. "It's Elizabeth!" He said before Jason could even ask him anything. "She is in police custody, something about being framed and a conspiracy… I don't know much about police business but I know it sounded bad."

"What? Are you certain about this?" Jason right away asked. "Did you speak with her?"

Patrick nodded. "She called me and asked me to call a certain Diane Miller at the FBI, which I did, and then to come tell you two."

"This has Ric Lansing written all over it." Jason realized, with a concerned frown.

"Yea, he is the one framing her apparently, she also mentioned that Lansing knows everything. I don't know what she meant by that." The surgeon then said.

Jason opened his eyes wide. "Shit! That's not good, not good at all."

"What does the Dastardly DA know? The Jackal is utterly confused." Spinelli jumped in.

Jason could feel both Patrick and Spinelli's questioning eyes on him and wondered if he should fill them in. He then realized that now that Ric knew, everyone would soon know too.

Patrick scratched his short dark hair before saying. "She also told me the most disturbing thing, right before she had to hang up, she said that Sonny Corinthos was... was her real father."

Spinelli almost spit out as he heard these words then jumped to his feet, his laptop under his arm. "Whaaat? Did the Jackal hear correctly?" Noticing Jason's lack of surprise, Spinelli then said. "Wait, you knew about this? So it's... true?"

Jason nodded once. "She told me after I witnessed a conversation she had with Corinthos... but he is only her biological father nothing else. Anyway, she will be able to explain the situation better than I can. We need to get her out of there."

"I think her colleagues at the FBI are already on that." Patrick said. "But I just don't understand how that would even be possible…"

Jason interrupted. "He mother was with Corinthos when she was young and left him after she became pregnant with Elizabeth. Her new husband raised her as if she was his and she only found out much later."

"Wow this is crazy… but then why has she been so focused on investigating Sonny Corinthos and sending him to prison if he is her own father?" Patrick continued asking all the questions he wish he could have asked Elizabeth before their conversation was cut short.

Jason let out a sigh and sat on the couch. "Because he killed her true father... but It's really not my place to explain, she will tell you everything once she can."

"What? This is insane!" The doctor exclaimed still a bit confused and dropped on the sofa next to Jason. "I had no idea about all this and I have known her for years."

"It's not something she ever wanted anyone to know, but now Ric is going to use this against her to ruin he reputation." Jason shook his head. "We can't let this happen."

"But what can we do, are we supposed to wait for this Diane Miller to magically get her out of there?" Patrick asked the other two men in the room.

"That would be wise, Diane Miller is known to be a shark. She will no doubt set our Queen free in no time." Spinelli reassured them.

"I can't just wait in here quietly." Jason sighed; he couldn't sit still and risk Ric Lansing getting his way. "We need to do something…"

Ric marched right inside Sonny's imposing home, his head high and chest pumped up. He comfortably made his way towards the study where he knew Sonny usually spent his time when he was home. Ric wondered why he even owned such an enormous property if he was only going to use one room. Sure it was a very spacious and nicely decorated room that had it's own bar and a small library attached to it but still, why stay locked up in there all the time? He wondered as he approached the room. He opened the door and unsurprisingly found his brother siting behind his desk.

"You shouldn't be here Ric." Sonny said as soon as he noticed his brother's presence.

"Relax, I'm here on official business." Ric said and walked forward to stand in the middle of the room. "There are two PCPD officers in your front lawn by the way, here to watch my back."

"You bring police officers to my home now, have you lost your damn mind?" Sonny asked rhetorically.

"You don't have anything to worry about. They are harmless, pure decoration so that everyone assumes I'm here about an investigation."

"Then you better make it quick." Sonny said then stood up and walked to his personal bar to pour himself a glass of scotch. He offered one to his little brother who declined the invitation. "So what was so important you had to see me in person to tell me? Is it about this audit, did you make it disappear already?"

"Kind of." Ric said with a proud beam. "The audit in itself will be very easy to dismiss now that I have taken certain measures."

"Good… so we have nothing to worry about anymore." Sonny brought the glass to his lips.

"And you have me to thank for that." Ric reminded his brother, hoping he would remember that once he told him how exactly he had handled the issue.

"Anything I need to know?" Sonny asked then took another sip of his liquor.

"Actually, I could ask you the same thing Sonny." The lawyer in Ric returned the question. "Is there something I should know that you have been hiding from me?"

"You know everything you need to know so I'm not sure where you are going with this." The older man dropped the glass on his desk, his eyes focused on Ric.

"Listen Sonny I know alright? So no need to keep pretending; I know who Elizabeth Webber really is." Ric admitted.

An awkward silence took over the room. "I see." Sonny then simply said as he looked away. "And how did you find out about this?"

"Come on, it was pretty obvious something was up when you insisted on letting her continue undermining our business." Ric told him. "You should have told me about this! We are partners, something this big affects me too!" Ric expressed his discontentment.

"The fact that she is my daughter doesn't change anything, she doesn't want to have anything to do with me and she has made that clear." Sonny painfully explained then cleared his suddenly dry throat.

"And she has used this against you!" Ric threw in his face. "This little brat knows she is untouchable in your eyes; you have enabled her to keep coming after us again and again without any consequences… But it doesn't mean I have to."

"I told you to leave this alone! This is my problem and I'll deal with it the way I see fit." Sonny firmly said.

"No, no... it's OUR problem! How many times am I supposed to remind you that it affects me too? She is coming after me too! This audit could bring our arrangement to light… my life is on the line if anything is discovered!" Ric insisted.

"And trust me when I tell you that I will take care of it! I will, but my way and on my terms! Don't forget who is calling the shots in this partnership!"

Sonny's constant need to remind his brother he was the one in charge was beyond infuriating for the lawyer who crossed his arms before speaking again. "Alright brother... sure you are the big and powerful mob boss and I agreed to stay in the background but I did that because I trusted you to keep a clear head and run this organization the best way possible but you know what... I'm not sure you can do this in these circumstances anymore."

"What are you talking about? What circumstances? Elizabeth is no real threat for us and she has never been." Sonny assured his brother. "All I need to do is..."

"Please!" Ric interrupted him. "I don't trust for one second that you would do anything to handle her... so I took it upon myself to make you a favor and take care of her for you."

"You did what?" Sonny demanded to know fearing the worse. At times he thought his little brother could be even more dangerous than he was.

"Like I told you, I took some measures to make sure she cannot come after us anymore. She was arrested an hour ago for conspiring with you and if everything goes as planned she will be put away for a while and not be a problem for us anymore." As Ric spoke, a faint grin formed on his lips, he was proud of his 'coup'.

"How dare you go after her when I specifically told you to stay out of it?" Sonny raised his tone, angered. "She is my blood, no matter how stubborn she is! How dare you go after my blood?"

"And so what? Was I supposed to watch everything we have built crumble just because you have a soft spot for a spiteful offspring who hates you? No Sonny, that wasn't going to happen!" Ric rationalized. "I am your blood and I am on your side! She, on the other hand, is your worst enemy and you don't even see it."

Sonny rubbed his chin for a few seconds before he said. "Drop it, all the charges, now! Let her go." He pointed his finger at Ric's face as he spoke in a threatening tone.

Ric was taken aback by Sonny's disproportionate anger; he expected him to resent the fact that he went behind his back to do what he hadn't had the guts to do but not to chastise him for protecting them. "Sonny, I did this for us! Why can't you see that?" Ric shook his head. "And anyway, I'm afraid dropping these charges won't be possible."

"You're the DA, you brought in these charges you can drop them. So do it!" Sonny insisted.

"I can't!" Ric harshly let out, knowing the press release he had his assistant draft over the FBI Agent's arrest would be public knowledge any minute now. Who was really calling the shots now? He thought before saying. "The cat is already out of the bag. Everyone is finding out she is your daughter as we speak and there is nothing you can do about it."

Carly suddenly opened the door and barged in the room. "You have a daughter?"