A/N – Thanks for the comments! Glad you're still hanging in there with me and like the new and improved Helena. It's fun writing her differently.
Chapter 29
Edward watched his mail guy enter his office with four packages. "What's that?" They were oddly shaped and he hadn't ordered anything.
"It's from Elizabeth Webber and you're not allowed to open them until she gets here. Maintenance is on their way up to put some screws on the wall to secure them."
Edward grinned. He knew exactly what they were. "Thank you, Darren."
"You're welcome Mr. Quartermaine."
An hour later, Elizabeth strode into the room.
"There you are? I've been waiting rather impatiently."
She smiled. "Well, are you ready?"
"Yes. Should I leave until you are done?"
"Um, yeah. Can you get someone tall to help me?"
"I'll summon Darren."
A minute later, he walked into the room and helped Liz hang the paintings.
"They are beautiful," he said as he stood back and admired them.
"Thank you."
"I'll go get Mr. Quartermaine."
Edward walked into the office and gasped. "Oh my."
She let him peruse them for a long moment.
He turned and hugged her, catching her by surprise. "Elizabeth, they are perfect."
"I'm so glad that you like them."
"I love them. You've captured the gardens perfectly."
"I have one more surprise for you."
She had taken a picture when they hadn't been looking.
Edward took the wrapped package from her hand and carefully opened it. His eyes filled with tears. "I can't even tell you how much this means to me."
It was a sketch of Edward kissing Lila's cheek and joy radiated from her face.
She watched him struggle with his emotions.
"I have to take this home and show her, but it will be on my desk front and center after that."
"That is no charge. It is my way of thanking you for treating me like family."
He hugged her. "No repayment was necessary, but you're not getting this back."
Liz laughed and then kissed him on the cheek. "I better get back to the office."
"Wait." He grabbed an envelope from his desk. "I checked with Jax and this is a fair price. You are not allowed to look at it until you get back to your desk and if you don't deposit it within two days, I'll double it and figure out a way to deposit it directly to your account."
She took it from his hand as she looked at him skeptically. "Okay."
"Good girl."
She left and Edward sat down, grasping the picture and a tear rolled down his cheek.
Tracy entered the room and noted his demeanor. "Daddy?"
He looked up and hastily and wiped his face.
"What is that?" She took it from his hand and grinned. "Did Elizabeth do this?"
"Yes."
"I get it in the will."
His mouth opened and closed twice.
"What? It's my two favorite people in the world."
His eyes softened. "Thank you."
"Alright, enough mushy crap. Let's go over these numbers."
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Elizabeth sat at her desk and ripped the envelope open and made such a weird sound that Jax ran out of his office. "What's wrong?"
She stuttered as she looked at the check. Jax moved to her side and grinned.
"Nice."
She glared at him. "How could you?"
"Elizabeth…"
"Don't Elizabeth me. This is too much."
"No it's not. The paintings are awesome and I checked with someone first."
Her eyes narrowed. "Who?"
"Another gallery owner. I had her take a look at them and give me a price."
"And then you marked it up?"
He grinned. "Elizabeth, don't you have any faith in me?"
She growled.
"Look, your work is valuable and Edward had no problem with it."
"Of course he doesn't, he wants me to marry his grandson."
Jax just couldn't hide his smile. "Marriage? Are you even officially his girlfriend yet?"
She stood and then grabbed her purse. "Don't you change the subject. I need to go fix this."
"No you're not."
She spun around and fixed her gaze on him. "What?"
"Edward will be offended if you do that. He wanted to pay you more and I had to talk him down."
"More? This is for five thousand dollars."
John smirked as he texted Jason from the couch in the waiting area.
"He wanted to pay you ten."
Her mouth opened and closed a few times and then she sputtered.
He grabbed her shoulders. "You're going to have to get used to people paying top dollar for your paintings. You work hard and you deserve it. Please don't insult Edward by not allowing him to pay fair price. He texted me and was so happy with what you did and also sent me a picture of your sketch. It was beyond wonderful that you did that and besides that, it's incredible. What do you say?"
She sighed in defeat. "Fine. I need to go deposit it. He said if I don't do it in two days, he'd double it."
Jax grinned.
"You and that darn smile."
He listened to her mutter all the way to the elevator where John gave him the thumbs up before they disappeared inside.
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Jason strode into Windemere with Johnny.
"Welcome. Follow me," Alfred said before leading them to the entrance of the tunnels.
"This place is beyond creepy," Johnny said, making Alfred smirk.
"I'll warn you. The room I'm taking you to is set up like a medieval torture chamber."
"Why am I not surprised," Jason mumbled.
"I assure you that you are both safe here. Madame would never hurt you."
Jason and Johnny glanced at each other and then followed him into a room.
"Dayum," Johnny said under his breath.
"I'm glad you like it," Helena said, stepping from the shadows.
The room was dark and foreboding and there were all sorts of crazy apparatuses hanging from the walls and lying on tables.
"I think I'm in heaven," Jason said making her chuckle.
"I know you have a reputation, but you have nothing on me."
Johnny smiled. He was starting to like the old broad.
She ripped a sheet off someone and Frank blinked a few times before his gaze locked with Jason's.
"Mr. Morgan. We never got to finish our conversation."
Johnny noted that Frank was naked, but had no marks as of yet.
Jason slammed his eyes shut as his body recoiled and Helena stood in front of him and grabbed his face.
"Look at me."
He slowly opened his eyes as he struggled to stay in the present.
"That man hurt you badly and you need to confront him right now. Show him all your fury by mutilating his body. He deserves it and you need closure. Fight the urge to flee. You are supposed to be cold and hard and that is the place you need to be if you're going to get your revenge. Do you hear me?"
He sucked in as much air as he could, trying to calm himself down before nodding.
She stared at him like she was willing him to be okay before she dropped her hands. "I have no problem finishing this, but I had the feeling you needed to inflict some pain on him. Was I right?"
"Yes."
"Then do what you do best."
Johnny breathed out a sigh of relief that Jason had held it together. That small victory gave his friend the courage he needed to continue.
"Well, well. Did someone find his balls again?" Frank said.
"They were never lost." Jason picked up a drill. "Now are you going to tell me where James is?"
"Never."
A cold smirk erupted on Jason's face. "We'll see about that."
Frank screamed as the drill pierced his side. Jason pulled it out roughly.
"I'm going to ask you again."
"Never, but I will tell you this."
"What?"
"I know who sent the letter to Elizabeth's parents."
Jason shrugged. "So do I."
"But you probably don't have proof. I do. Unlike you, I don't require such."
"Do you think that I'll let you go?"
Frank smirked. "Yes, because you'd do anything for her."
"While that is true, I would never let you get away with what you did. No deal."
"Interesting."
Jason put the drill to his head and pressed a button as the doctor began to scream. Helena watched as the enforcer methodically made the doctor suffer, thoroughly enjoying the show.
"You want to say something?"
Frank sucked in some air as he struggled to stay conscious. "Her attack…check out the parents."
Jason's body shook with anger. If the Webbers had anything to do with that attack, he didn't think he could hold back from killing them. For an hour more he took out his anger and frustration on Frank and then faced Helena. "He's yours."
Helena grabbed Jason's arm as he strode by. "Are you okay?"
He nodded.
She held Johnny's gaze for a moment and then turned to one of her men. "Let us begin."
As Jason and Johnny went back upstairs, Frank's screams once again filled the air.
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"Are you really okay?" Johnny asked as the launch pulled forward.
"Yeah."
Johnny wasn't convinced. "Jason…"
"I'm fine. It was hard, but I did it. It felt good to feel like I was in control again."
"And?"
Jason took a deep breath. "I never thought I'd be grateful to Helena for anything. I needed to confront him or I'd never get over what was done to me."
"What about what he said?"
"I'll research it. He could be lying, hoping I'd kill them and Liz would be upset. I'm not going to upset her unless I know. If it's true, it will hurt her so badly."
"Well, if it's true, I'm riding shotgun." Her family sucked, but he really hoped they hadn't done the unthinkable.
Neither said anything for the rest of the ride. Jason was a jumbled up ball of energy though and he really wanted to unwind before he saw his girl.
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Liz's head jerked up when she heard the door. "Hey."
"Hi. Give me a minute to shower okay?"
"Okay."
About fifteen minutes later, he sat beside her.
"Is everything good?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Do you want to tell me where you were?"
He shook his head.
Liz reached over and grabbed his hand. After a long moment, he sucked in a deep breath.
"I was at Windemere. Helen captured the doctor that tortured me."
Liz bit her lip.
"She wanted me to confront him. I started to panic, but she brought me back and I…"
His voice trailed off and he leaned forward and put his hands over his face.
Liz rubbed his back.
"I was hurting him when he tried to make a deal saying he had proof of who sent the letter to your parents. I'm sorry. I couldn't let him live just to get that. I'll find another way."
"Jason, I'm not worried about that. I'm more concerned about you."
"I let Helena finish him off. I just—it's hard for me to not have control."
"But you didn't lose control and I read that confronting what happened, in this case Frank, is actually a big part of you healing completely."
He flopped backwards and Liz climbed onto his lap and held his face.
"I love you and I know that you're going to get through this. I believe in you, Jason."
He pulled her closer before fisting her hair and devouring her lips, making her moan. Her whole body vibrated as every stroke of his tongue whipped her into a frenzy. Then she heard the sound of her shirt ripping open and his mouth was on her throat as her fingers raked against his scalp. She dropped her hands to remove what remained of her top and felt him undo her bra. She gasped as he pulled it away and stared at her for a moment. "Beautiful." The sound of his raspy voice hung in the air and then his lips curled around her nipple.
"Jason!" she moaned as he sucked and licked her now turgid nipple. A jolt went through her body as his mouth created all sorts of wonderful sensations in her body.
Suddenly, he stopped and kissed his way back up to her throat and then nestled his head into the crook of her neck as she struggled to calm herself.
"Why did you stop?"
"I ripped your shirt." He realized that the man who attacked her had done the same thing.
Liz understood why he was having regrets, but she pushed it aside, proud of herself for staying in the moment. "And? I can buy a new one."
A smile graced his face as he listened to her frustrated tone. He was proud of her. "Did you like how that felt?"
"You know I did. Take off your shirt."
"I'm not so sure that is a good idea."
There gaze was locked for several seconds before Jason conceded. When he had finally removed the offending material, she moved forward until she could press herself against him.
"Better," she said as she relaxed.
"Perfect."
They stayed that way for a few minutes and then Liz smirked and started kissing Jason's chest.
His eyes flicked opened as he watched her. "You're really bad."
"I'm learning from you," she said before laying another wet kiss on him.
She yelped when he grabbed her and conquered her mouth again. Slowly, her hand slipped downward until she brushed against his bulge and Jason gasped into her mouth. "Elizabeth."
"Yeah?"
She squeezed and he grabbed her hand, pulling towards his mouth.
"You're killing me," he said before kissing it.
"I want you to feel good too."
"I do. Soon okay?"
"Okay."
He kissed her again and then stood with her in his arms. "Let's go upstairs."
She would go anywhere with him.
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The next day, Jason went to visit Lila.
"What's wrong?" She could tell he was down due to his posture.
"I'm just hitting a dead end."
"About what?"
"I think Carly is the one that sent the note to Liz's parents."
"I've hit a dead end too. All I have is handwriting."
"May I see it?"
She called to Alice to bring her the envelope and then handed it to her grandson.
When Jason saw it, he closed his eyes. "That's her hand writing."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault. I'll take care of it."
"Jason, you don't have to do everything by yourself."
"I know, but I already have a plan."
"She was your best friend."
He sat next to her. "I'll be fine. I've suspected this for a while so I've had some time to process it."
"Well if you need anything, I hope you know that you can come to me."
"I do."
He stayed for a little while longer and then went to see Siobhan.
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John met Enzo about a half a block from the school. "How did it go?"
Enzo smirked. "He has a shiner and Brian said he peed his pants. A few of the kids saw it when he ran away, so I'm sure he'll get teased for quite a while."
John chuckled. "Your brother earned those tickets."
"And he'll gladly accept them."
Brian ran up to them. "Hey John."
They shook hands.
"He's not going to go near Maxie again, right?"
"Nope. I also let him know that if he talked shit about her I'd know and kick his ass."
"Good." John handed him an envelope.
"Thanks! I've got to go."
They watched him walk back to the building.
"You have someone keeping an eye out right?" Enzo asked.
"Yeah. We put one of the new guys on him. His name is Cooper. He's good."
John felt a lot better knowing that Kiefer was handled. Maxie was back in school and so far, she was doing fine.
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Elizabeth squealed when she got a package that said, Chloe Morgan Originals on it. She carefully opened it and then pulled the dress out. "Wow."
John smiled. "That's beautiful."
Jax came out of his office. "You're going to knock Jason's socks off."
"That's the plan." She couldn't wait for the ball. Usually, she didn't like white gowns, but it was so beautiful.
"Do you have shoes to go with that?"
"No, but I will."
"Olivia would probably go shopping with you."
Liz smiled. "Sounds good to me."
If Jax had anything to say about it, she wasn't going to be paying for the shoes. He picked up his phone and called his girlfriend to make the arrangements.
