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Chapter 43
"Hi." Elizabeth said from the doorway of Alexis's office.
"Elizabeth, hi." Alexis took off her reading glasses. She wasn't surprised to see her young friend. "What brings you by?" She said playing dumb.
"Really?" Elizabeth said flopping down in one of the comfy chairs. Logan was outside standing post. "You know why I'm here. Spill."
Alexis came around to sit in the matching chair. "He's a really good cook."
"Told you." Elizabeth said grinning. "And?"
"A very good conversationalist." Alexis added on.
"And?" Elizabeth prodded.
"He's incredibly charming." Alexis said losing the battle to keep from smiling.
"When are you going out again?" Elizabeth wanted to know.
"I don't think we are." That left her feeling sad. Alexis had a great time last night.
"Why not?" Elizabeth would kick Sonny's butt if he let Alexis slip away. She was done with the bimbos.
"He hasn't asked." Alexis told her friend. "I think I move too slowly for Sonny. He's used to women who stay the night. I didn't even kiss him." She said shrugging.
"Did you get flowers?" Elizabeth knew all of Sonny's moves.
"No, which I guess proves my point." Alexis responded. When Elizabeth grinned wide she just looked confused. "That makes you happy?"
"It does." Elizabeth said clapping her hands. "When Sonny sends flowers after a first date it means he has no intention of seeing you again, but wants to be remembered fondly. He will call and ask you out again."
"You think?" Alexis said feeling excitement at the prospect.
"Yup." Elizabeth would bet money on it. "Okay, now that I'm up to date on your love life, I'm heading home. I will need to have you out soon." If all went well Sonny would bring her when he came.
"I should do some work." The two ladies walked out of the back office just as a well-dressed man came through the front door.
Logan instantly pulled Elizabeth behind him and hit the alarm button on his phone. "Why are you here?" His hand dropped down to his gun.
"Do I know you?" Ric asked smiling. He might not know his name but he recognized a company man when he saw one. He would bet money the petite brunette was Elizabeth Webber. Two for one. The point of the visit was to get a look at the woman their source inside the Corinthos Organization said Sonny had a date with last night. From the quick glimpse he had gotten Elizabeth was pretty, but Ric really liked the look of Alexis Davis. Seducing her would be no hardship at all, and it would piss off Sonny.
Logan didn't answer the question, instead he just waited for backup. "Ladies, return to the office."
Elizabeth took Alexis's hand and they did as instructed. "Who is that?" Alexis asked once the door closed.
"No clue. I didn't really get a good look at him." Elizabeth answered. "Logan did not like him." That was enough for her.
"He's not going to kill him in my gallery is he?" Alexis worried.
"I doubt it." Elizabeth said trying to reassure her friend. If he did the cleanup crew would make it look like it never happened.
"It was impressive how fast he moved." Alexis was trying to calm down.
"Is this making you rethink going out with Sonny?" Elizabeth hoped not.
Alexis gave the question some thought. "No, I really like him." After one date she felt stronger about him than she had about Jasper after a month. Something about Sonny was just right for her.
"Good." Elizabeth said smiling.
"Do we wait for Logan to come get us?" Alexis wanted to know.
"Yes, want to talk about my show?" Elizabeth wasn't sure how long they were going to be in here.
"May as well be productive." Alexis said grabbing a note pad and her glasses. "This is what I was thinking." She said as the two women got down to work.
Sonny came through the door and Johnny was with him. Jason was on his way. Logan's alarm caused the mob boss's heart to stop. The fact that the guard was signaling from Alexis's gallery didn't calm him any. "Ric."
"Sonny, I was wondering when I would bump into you. Interested in some art?" The lawyer asked in a conversational tone.
Before Sonny could even answer Jason came through the door. Logan tilted his head to indicate the ladies were in the office. Jason nodded before turning his attention to Ric.
"Why are you here?" Sonny asked the other man.
"I have an apartment with empty walls. This gallery was recommended." Ric said giving the mob boss a smug smile. "If you shop here it must be good."
"I think you will find the gallery across town has things more to your liking." Sonny gave the warning, the urge to just shoot Ric and end this right now was very strong at the moment.
"I'm sure Ms. Davis would not approve you of sending business away. I hear she represents several promising artists. The show for Elizabeth Webber is getting a lot of buzz." Ric delivered his own threat. As of right now he hadn't done anything overt but he wanted Sonny and Jason both to know he was aware of who they were spending time with.
"Leave. Now." Jason told Ric, done with this.
"I'll come back another day." Ric had every intention of doing so. He'd riled up the hornet's nest enough for now. If Sonny and Jason were focused on him they wouldn't even notice Faith when she made her move. "Gentleman."
Jason looked at Sonny who was shaking his head. Ric was going to force their hands. Having just gotten rid of Sorel another disappearance right now could be dangerous, but he would not be allowed to threaten their ladies. Without a word Jason walked over to the door and turned the knob. When he found it locked he knocked.
"Yes?" Elizabeth yelled from the other side.
Jason grinned at the guys, his girl was not stupid. "It's me." Jason told her.
Elizabeth opened the door and smiled up at him. "Good timing we just finished."
"Finished what?" Jason wanted to know. She was acting like they hadn't just locked themselves in Alexis's office to avoid a threat.
"Looking at Alexis's ideas for my showing." Elizabeth said coming out into the main room. "So who was that?" She asked Sonny.
Johnny just snorted as he tried not to laugh. Elizabeth was perfect for Jason.
Sonny shot his enforcer a look. "Ric Lansing. He is the lawyer for John Zacchara."
"Don't sell him any of my art." Elizabeth requested of Alexis.
"I doubt he would appreciate it anyway." Alexis responded nodding. If Elizabeth could be calm then so could she. The antacids she chewed during their time in the office helped tremendously. "Did you see he was wearing black shoes with a brown suit?"
"That is so wrong." Elizabeth said smiling. Alexis was just what Sonny needed.
Sonny, Jason, Johnny, and Logan all took in the play by play. "Do you have a security guard?" Sonny wanted to know. Walking in he had worried that his chance with Alexis was blown, now he was thinking it wasn't.
"I'm guessing I will tomorrow?" Alexis asked Sonny.
"It is not a coincidence that Ric walked through this door." Sonny looked at Jason and could see that knowledge reflected in his eyes as well. Everything Ric did was calculated. His coming here the day after Sonny's date with Alexis reeked of insider information. They had another leak, and until they knew who Ric couldn't be eliminated which sucked. "I would like to make sure you are protected." She was in a good neighborhood which would help.
"I open at ten and generally close at six. Opening nights of showings are always on Fridays. I will make sure you get the schedule." Alexis promised.
"Thank you." Sonny was happy she wasn't fighting him. He wondered if maybe Elizabeth and she had talked about more than art while in that room.
"I'll close up, then get my jacket and you can tell me where we are going to dinner tonight as we leave." Alexis told him.
"We are going out to dinner?" Sonny asked surprised.
"A man just walked into my gallery to have a look around. From the reaction of all of you he wasn't here to look at art. Even if he was here to see Elizabeth, which I doubt because her visit was not planned he came. So yes we are going out to dinner, because alone for the next few hours is the last thing I want to be. Dinner, a large martini, and then you can take me home where I expect to see one of your employees sitting outside my door for the rest of the night. Depending on how much I drink I may or may not kiss you before you leave." Alexis explained how it was going to be.
"Okay then." Sonny would make a reservation while she got ready.
Elizabeth grinned as Alexis walked away. "She was pretty rattled at first but she settled down." She whispered to Sonny. "Behave yourself tonight, she is not in any shape to make life altering decisions. You are family, but she is quickly becoming family as well." Elizabeth didn't want either one of them hurt.
"I won't take advantage." Sonny assured his young friend.
"Good invite her to brunch on Sunday." Elizabeth instructed. Sonny often hosted a lavish brunch at the penthouse. "I will come help you cook."
"Ready to go home?" Jason wanted her behind the gates of the house. The alarm had scared him badly.
"Yup." Elizabeth told her boyfriend. She knew he wouldn't relax until she was somewhere secure. "Thank you Logan."
The guard was surprised at the comment. He really did need to stop trying to pigeonhole Ms. Webber as just another one of Jason's girls. "Just doing my job." He said shrugging.
"It is appreciated." Elizabeth told him.
"I'll walk you out." Johnny would make sure they got to the car safely. He'd come back to make sure Sonny and Alexis were safe. The four of them, because Logan would follow them to the house, walked to the lot where all the were cars parked. "So, it looks like Sonny is down for the count." The Irishman grinned.
"Alexis is a keeper. So that just leaves you for now." Elizabeth said with a wicked grin.
"Not gonna happen." Johnny challenged. Knowing Elizabeth he needed to get ready to have women paraded by him on a regular basis. It should be fun. "Work on Hayes."
"Oh, I plan to." Elizabeth promised her friend.
The guard from Texas just snorted. The only woman he was interested in was Emily, and he didn't see Ms. Webber helping him with that.
"Get in the car." Jason said trying not to laugh. When she was inside he turned to Johnny. "I want security airtight tonight."
"It will be, any clue who the leak is?" Johnny asked his boss.
"No, but we will find him." Jason promised.
"Yeah." Johnny nodded before heading back to the gallery.
Johnny made a quick trip to the warehouse, to update Francis. Alexis was home getting ready for dinner and Sonny was at the penthouse doing the same thing. "What happened?" Francis asked as soon as Johnny walked inside.
"Ric." Johnny said helping himself to coffee. He had a long night ahead of him because he was going to be at the restaurant too. While on paper Francis was just the warehouse manager, he was also now head of security for the Corinthos Organization.
"He looking to commit suicide by Sonny?" Francis questioned.
"He knows about Alexis." Johnny said taking a seat.
"We have another leak." Francis made the connection quickly.
"Any clue who?" Johnny asked his friend.
"No. Not a lot of us know about Alexis." Francis was already puzzling this out.
"Could it just be that the Towers is under surveillance?" Johnny said trying a different angle.
"With all the apartments in the Towers there was no guarantee Alexis was going to see Sonny. You think he was there for Alexis and not Liz?" Francis was relying on second hand info which he hated, but Johnny rarely missed anything important.
"What makes me say yes is the location. There are easier places to get to Liz." That was a statement neither one of them liked. "He went to Alexis's business."
"Sending a message." Francis said on an exhalation. "We need to figure this out and he needs to go."
"I will let you know if I get any more info." Johnny promised.
"Alright. Be careful tonight." Francis cautioned.
"Always." Johnny said with a cocky grin.
"Hello." Faith was sitting in her car on a back road in Crimson Pointe waiting for her informant to show up.
"I've caused quite the dust up this morning. Both with Corinthos and Morgan." Ric was proud of himself. "I got a look at the lovely Alexis Davis and as a bonus saw Elizabeth Webber."
"Well haven't you been the busy little bee. What does the Webber woman look like?" Faith wanted to know.
"Petite, brunette. I only got a quick look, but I'd probably recognize her again if I saw her. I intend to spend as much time in Port Charles as I can, so I will see her again." The town was too small to not. "She has a guard with quick reflexes." Ric passed along. Based on how fast he had shielded Elizabeth the guards had already been warned about Ric, which was fine. He was just the distraction.
"I'll find out who." Faith told him. "Anything else?"
"Yes. Sonny's father lives in Port Charles." Ric told her.
"I know. He owns a diner." Faith had no idea why the man worked at all. His son could afford to give him a better life style. The different last names offered Mike no protection, as Sonny had hoped it would.
"Are you planning on using that to your advantage?" Ric wanted to know.
"I will tell you my plans when I'm ready for you to know them." Faith said in a cold voice. It would not due for Ric to forget his place. She had offered him more, he said no.
"I get Alexis when this is all said and done." Ric proclaimed.
"You will get no argument from me." Faith saw another car pull up. "I will check in with you later." She was hanging up as the man walked over to her window. She had no intention of getting out. The glass slid down as she turned her head. "What do you have for me?"
"Not much this week. I do know Elizabeth is not going to the funeral tomorrow." Ronnie passed along.
"That's fine." Faith wasn't planning on moving just yet anyway. "Tell me about her guard."
"Logan Hayes. Ex-military. He's really good. We work together at the garage, although he may not be there much now." Ronnie told her. Logan would be where Jason's girlfriend was.
"Ex-military." Faith repeated. That could pose a problem, but she wouldn't let that deter her. "Do you know anything about Sonny's movements?"
"He has a dinner date tonight, but I don't know where. It's last minute." Ronnie told her. "I'm not on that detail."
Faith nodded. "Jason?"
"He doesn't tell us his schedule." Ronnie explained.
"That's fine." Faith didn't need to know where the enforcer was, just when he wasn't with Elizabeth. "You have the guard schedule for the week?"
Ronnie handed over the paper. As a senior guard it hadn't been at all suspicious when he walked into Max's office this morning. Copying the schedule hadn't taken long at all. As long as Faith didn't want him to do this all the time no one should be the wiser.
"is there any chance this will change?" Faith wanted to know.
"Not unless someone is sick, or gets injured." Ronnie reported. He was hoping this was over soon. The only reason that he was here at all was that Faith knew that he killed a woman a few years back. Beat her to death during a bad drug trip. If Sonny or Jason learned about the crime Ronnie would be dead. They didn't condone violence against women. Nor did they tolerate drugs. The only reason Faith knew was because Ronnie had the misfortune of committing this crime in one of her father's clubs where he was working as an off the books bouncer. Faith had been waiting for years for that information to pay off.
"Well done. Wait for my next call." Faith said as she slipped her sunglasses on before starting the engine of her car. Tomorrow was the funeral, she would play the grieving girlfriend and when the service was over start making plans.
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