"What do you think you're going to do with that?"
Realizing that he wasn't tied to the chair, Julian jumped to his feet in scrambling panic, only to feel Jason's brace against his shoulder when he shoved him, hard, sending him back down to the chair with impact.
"Sit down!"
The force of his landing sent the wooden chair railing backwards to the floor, where Julian laid looking up frantically when the two henchmen rushed in from the front, the first one stepping on his chest with a heavy, muddy boot, while the other removed Julian's own boot and sock from his left foot, to clasp his small toe in a vice, holding it steady over the overturned leg of the chair.
Jason snapped the shears once again. "Media Mogul bleeds to death in abandoned warehouse…that's going to be the news caption in your paper tomorrow, if I have to keep asking." He placed the tool on Julians toe, then gripped it uncomfortably tight. "Who's threatening my family?"
Julian's eyes bulged at the sight of the vein popping in the enforcer's neck and the promise of his death set in the icy blues glaring down at him. His sister was no one to fool with…she meant business and she had a score to settle, but in that moment Jason Morgan was equally no joke! He'd heard of the deadly skills the man possessed - he was a legend in their circles - revered as the enforcer like no other, whispered about even after he was thought gone for good…and now he could clearly see why! He was frightening, and Julian had no doubt that the man would go all the way, despite the familial ties between them.
That brief moment of hesitation was all it took to prove to himself he was right, when he felt the skin break and the start of a sharp pain as the shears started to cut through flesh.
"OKAY, OKAY, OKAY! STOP, GODDAMIT! I'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING I KNOW!"
Keeping the shears in place, Jason stopped just where it hit bone, eyeing the man on the floor with hatred, his raised eyebrow the indication that there was an unanswered question still between them.
"OLIVIA - OLIVIA JEROME!" Julian yelled in frustration, then whimpered when he felt the shears leave his toe, the blood from the cut trickling down his foot to drip to the floor below.
"Jerome? Some relative of yours?" Jason didn't step away from the man's foot, wordlessly reminding him there was danger still present.
"My sister! Olivia's my sister!"
"What? My wife and our kids are in danger from her aunt?" His eyes narrowed and his lips turned up in disgust. "What kind of fucked up family are you people?"
"She has a grudge, okay? She's angry about something that happened a long time ago - and she means to get her revenge by hurting my family."
"Sam is not your family, Julian! You took care of that when you tried to cut her mother's throat. Sam is MY family…and I'll send you AND your sister to hell before I let you hurt her - you understand me?"
Gesturing to Ronaldo to get him up, Jason turned his back on the man and placed the shears on the table, his mind catapulting into overdrive. Turning around to face him now seated upright, beleaguering his wounded foot, Jason peeled the gloves from his hands.
"You're going to tell me everything, and I swear if I feel like you're leaving out a single fucking thing, I'll take both your big toes before I drop you in a wood chipper!"
"Sam is my daughter - I love her! Just like I love her mother! Olivia thinks I tried to kill her, so now she wants revenge and she'll get it by taking it out on them. She's very powerful - you don't know who you're dealing with."
"So, my wife has a target on her back just because she's related to you, and you didn't think she had a right to know any of that?"
"It's the safest thing for her, for your children. You have to convince Sam to stop trying to free Sonny's right hand - Olivia wants him left behind bars, and as long as Sam stays away from it, she'll leave her alone."
"This involves Shawn and Sonny? How?"
"I don't know - I don't ask questions and you shouldn't either. It's safer that way."
"You expect me to take advise from you, a man who let a sister who hasn't been a player in this town in years, just roll back in and bring him to his knees in fear? Listen to yourself, you're scared shitless by this woman."
"You would be too, if you knew what she was capable of." His voice got squeaky and his lips quivered for a second. "I had to make Alexis believe I would kill her, make Olivia believe I would go through with it…just so she'd back off."
"So, according to you, Olivia made you do it? It wasn't you who forced Alexis to defend a criminal so he'd keep quiet about his involvement with you? It wasn't you who sanctioned the death of a troubled kid finally winning his fight against drug addiction, who's only crime was coming forward to try to do the right thing? Taking a knife and holding it to the throat of your daughter's mother - your wife…that's on Olivia…she made you do it all, huh?"
"Olivia is not kidding - she's going to hurt Sam, and it'll be your fault! Now that you forced me to tell you about her, Sam and Alexis are in real danger! She'll be going after them now, because of you, Morgan!"
"So I stop her! That's what you do when somebody threatens someone you love - you fucking stop them!"
Jason could feel his heart racing with the anger soaring through his veins. This fool had done absolutely nothing, while he's allowed a deranged woman to breathe the same air as the people who mean everything to him, making plans to harm them, while he cowered in a corner wetting his pants in fear. He shook his head at the pathetic loser who liked to talk as though he was some type of gangster anyone should be afraid of.
"It seriously never occurred to you to bring her to my attention, to even join forces to protect the people in our lives?" Jason watched the dawning in the man's eyes and snorted. "Of course not…you figured burying your head in the sand and trying to kill your wife made alot more sense."
Jason leant back against the table and braced his hands behind him on it, to physically prevent himself from reaching into his pocket for his gun to shoot the blithering coward.
"You pathetic son of a bitch - you really do believe that keeping quiet will stop this lunatic, don't you? My wife could meet this woman and think she's completely harmless, leave herself vulnerable because she has no idea different…but you think that would be okay for her? You think that's the safe way to play this…to have them stumbling around blind, in the dark about the danger they're in…because you're a dipshit?"
"She promised to leave them alone as long as I do what she says, and I have…she'll get what she came for and leave town. You just have to leave it alone, Morgan! Don't do anything, or she'll hurt Alexis and Sam. Think about the baby!"
Jason lost his calm, rushing towards the man angrily. "Don't talk about them! Don't even breathe in their direction again. Sam is not going to hide her head in the sand and hope for the best - she is NOTHING like you! The only thing I want to hear from you is where to find your sister and what she looks like!"
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Olivia poured a second cup of tea and sat behind the mahogany desk, thinking back to her last conversation with Rouge, hissing at herself again for being surrounded by such incompetence. Just then the ire of her thoughts came through the door of the small store office.
"Ma'am, your brother has been located. He was last seen driving away from the parking garage at the MetroCourt, with what was assumed to be an uninvited passenger."
The English drawl that was usually so cultured and cute was grating on her nerves. Funny how that always happened when he had distasteful news to report.
"Why do you say that?"
"Mr. Morgan was spotted getting into the backseat of the car, right before your brother came down from the hotel. They were tailed to the docks and it was observed that their entry to a warehouse was not by Mr. Jerome's consent."
"When was this?"
"Less than an hour ago."
As the anger blazed anew through her, she ground her teeth behind tight lips and laid the cup down on the desk.
"That cowering fool better not say a word." She started fuming but then the realization of what she needed to do came to the forefront of her mind. "Bring the car around…I have a doctor's appointment with my new OB."
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Sam sat at the desk in her office, beating away at the keyboards. The DMV report on the plates she'd pulled from her mother's house didn't reveal much. One was out of state and the registered last name was the same as that of a neighbor, and the other, which Sam concluded was driven by the blonde woman, was a rental. Her next stop was the rental records, but they threw up another road block, showing the car rented to a man. Sam didn't recognize him from the photocopy of his license in the file.
Why the secrecy, what was with the cloak and daggers? Liv had parked on the street, and not even directly in front of the lakehouse that had room in the driveway for several cars…so obviously, she didn't want to be observed visiting Alexis. She was driving a car rented by someone else. Usually, only people with something sinister to hide went through so many steps to keep themselves hidden. Who was this woman?
Her cellphone on the desk beeped and she glanced over to see Jason's scowling face, bringing a smile to hers even before she picked it up to hear his voice. Her love was calling.
"Hey!"
"Hey, babe - where are you?"
There was concern in his voice.
"At the office - what's going on?"
"I just had a talk with your father and he shared something interesting you won't even believe."
The mere mention of the man caused Sam's eyes to roll skyward and irritation to peak. "What now?"
"Did you know that Ava wasn't your only aunt?" At her startled, "What?" he continued, "Apparently they have an older sister named, Olivia. She was thought dead for years but has made a reappearance, and somehow blames you for the shit in her life."
Sam's head drooped slowly forward as she pinched the bridge between closed eyes, using the forefinger and thumb of her free hand, cursing the image of the reoccurring fuckup her father had turned out to be. Add two sadistic aunts who hated their own lives so much they devoted themselves to destroying other people's, and the picture was perfect. Why, dear God, were these people related to her?
"Sam? Sam!"
She lifted her head and opened her eyes to the worried sound of her lifeline through the phone, running a weary hand over her mouth. "Yea. I'm listening."
"I'm sorry, baby…I know." He knew exactly what she was thinking - he was thinking it too - but the Jeromes fell short of being a priority, if it weren't for the threat they now posed to his family, he wouldn't care less what they did.
"Who is this woman?"
"Don't know for sure yet, but she came to town recently and according to Julian, she's behind all the crap he's been pulling. I'll call Spinelli to help, but in the meantime, I need you to be careful, okay? I think you should lay low at home until I find her."
"You don't need to bother Spinelli, Jason - I can help you look. Did Julian give you a description, address, anything?" Sam listened when Jason relayed what he learned from Julian, sitting upright in her seat when she heard the physical description.
"No way! This has to be a coincidence!" But her gut was reminding her that with them, it usually wasn't.
"What does?" Jason listened as Sam went on to tell him about her encounter with the woman at her mother's home.
"Jason, I instantly disliked her - it was the strangest thing. Then she kept trying to touch me and she was asking the most personal questions! It's her Jason - it's too neat not to be. She's new in town, she fits the physical description, has latched on to my mother, and she's overly interested in us. It's got to be her!"
"Was she still with your mom when you left?"
"She's pretending to be her sponsor! Jason, I have to go!"
"Sam, no - let me…" but he was talking to thin air…she'd already hung up. Cursing under his breath, he had turned the SUV around and was heading towards the lakehouse when she called him back minutes later.
"She's okay - she's with Diane at her office going over case files."
"Good. Now, stay put - I'm coming to get you."
"I'm fine, Jason. You should go warn Sonny."
"I can call him - I'm not letting you out of my sight until we find your crazy aunt. She's already made contact with you, Sam - she made her first move!"
"I'm heading to the hospital right now - Kelly wants to see me, and before you ask, no, it's not an emergency. Her office said she just wanted to followup on the discussion we had last time about the fetal non-stress test. Remember she said she was going to review the tests?"
He remembered very well that Sam was uneasy after that appointment but tried to bury the doubts eating at her. "Good, I'll meet you there."
"You don't have to come to every single doctor's appointment, Jason - you have something important to do."
"Listen to me - I don't care how often you have to go in, or how minor it is - I don't want to miss a thing, Sam…I want to share it all with you. Talking to Sonny can wait."
"I love you for saying that, but it's really not necessary. I can still handle a few minor things on my own - this is one of them. But if you insist, just meet me after you talk to Sonny. You have to do it in person - you know you can't say everything on the phone. I'll wait for you at the hospital, okay?"
Jason thought for a minute before relenting. "Alright, I'll do it your way, but I won't be long. Promise you'll wait for me there?"
"Promise."
"I love you!" He couldn't show her, tell her enough.
"I love you too. See you soon."
Jason hung up and sighed. Sometimes, as much as he lauded and admired her independent self reliance, he also wished she needed him more. But he had to admit that it made her sexy as all hell and he was the proud man who could call her wife. Olivia Jerome was in for a rude awakening if she was expecting a damsel in distress in his Sam Morgan!
He found Sonny at home in the study, where he was having a heated discussion on the phone.
"It's not that complicated, Max - you say, yes Mr. C - I'll take care of it…and then you take care of it. It's a little late for Diane to have a problem with you doing your job, don't you think? And before you say one more word that's going to piss me off, remember you work for me!"
Jason entered and sat where Sonny indicated for him to take a seat, before he slammed the phone down on the desk and walked over to the wet bar.
"I don't know why I keep putting up with it!"
"He's a standup guy, that's why."
Sonny turned to look at the man he considered his brother and smiled at his usual quick and short way of putting something into perspective, gesturing with the whisky bottle. Turning back to the bar when Jason nodded yes, he poured one for his friend then joined him, taking the opposite chair.
"So what brings you by?"
"Well, you're not going to believe this, but Julian Jerome's got a sister."
Sonny squished his brow in confusion. "What do you mean by that - we all know Ava."
Jason shook his head and lowered the glass he'd just taken a sip from. "Olivia. Turns out there's one nobody knew anything about. She was dead - now she's not."
"Great - that's all we need - another one!"
"Yeah, well we have a problem. She's up to something - we have no idea what yet, but it hinges on Shawn staying locked up."
"That's just too damn bad then, isn't it? Diane's taking his case - I talked to her this morning about replacing those hacks he had for lawyers. She thinks she can get him released soon, with his sentence commuted to time served."
"She's made contact with Alexis under a fake persona and we know Julian is scared shitless of her, which really doesn't say much, but it sounds like she's been quietly making some serious inroads. We don't know what it is she really wants or how she's getting it. We need to find her and fast."
"I know somebody who can help us do just that." Sonny was out of his chair and making his way to the phone on his desk. "We'll have a location before nightfall."
