Chapter 6

Sonny's office

Benny walked into the office, a frustrated look on his face. Sonny raised his eyebrows. "Something up?" Benny sighed. "Yeah, boss, and I wish I knew what." Sonny laughed. "You want to elaborate?" Benny sighed again. "I wish I could! But that's the problem, I can't." Sonny rubbed his face with his hands. "Would you just spill it!" Benny sat down in a chair. "I found out yesterday that Dawson is going to be flying to Rome this afternoon to take care of some problems at one of his businesses. You know how he owns some small subsidiaries of major companies, small enough so that the company doesn't really pay attention to them, other than that they're showing a profit. Those kinds of deals are great for doing all kinds of shady business. Well, apparently one of his parent companies is getting suspicious, and he's going there to check it out. The thing is, I can't find out the name of his subsidiary, or the parent company that owns it." Sonny leaned back in his chair. "I see where you're going with this. You're worried that the subsidiary he owns just so happens to be the same subsidiary, Espressive, that we're in negotiations to buy from Café Italiano." Benny cleared his throat. "Well it makes sense, boss. Dawson's been sniffing around our coffee business alot. Now he's heading to Rome because he's concerned that one of his companies, business unknown, is getting too much scrutiny lately. Why would the parent company be scrutinizing him, unless they were planning to sell his business to someone else?" Sonny nodded. "It is a bit too much of a coincidence. And your spies can't find anything out?" Benny shook his head. "Not from here. And I don't want to ask the folks over at Café Italiano any questions, for fear of making them nervous. I think our only option is to send someone over to Rome to spy on Dawson – see where he goes."

Sonny gazed thoughtfully at the ceiling. Rome, Italy. It would be nice to get away for a little while. And he could keep a personal eye on Dawson. He looked at Benny, making a decision. "Have Gary get the jet ready for a trip to Rome. I better go home and pack." Benny looked at him wide-eyed. "You're going to take care of this yourself?" Sonny stood up and walked towards the door. "I need everyone here to run the business. Besides, if something goes down, I want to be there personally to handle it." With that he left the office, leaving Benny to sigh in disappointment that he wouldn't be taking the trip himself.

Skye's Townhouse

The airport limousine driver pulled up to the curb, and popped the trunk. He hurried out and loaded Skye's luggage into the vehicle. She had arranged to be in Rome a week. If she finished her business in two days, then she would just have to entertain herself somehow, she thought with a smile. Skye climbed into the back seat, and pulled out Jax's report again. She had gone over it several times, and was quite convinced that something shady was going on. Café Italiano was attempting to sell one of its subsidiaries to another coffee company named Mocha Mike. Mocha Mike just happened to be owned by Sonny Corinthos. Jax had explained in the report that the coffee business was one of the few companies owned by Sonny that was completely legitimate. He didn't think that the problems stemmed from that end, especially since Sonny didn't know that Jax was the major shareholder of Café Italiano. Skye was well aware that Jax tended to keep his involvement in these things private. There weren't many people who knew he was the primary shareholder at ELQ.

Jax seemed to feel that the problem was with the subsidiary itself, a company called Espressive that made chocolate covered espresso beans. They'd been chugging along, making a profit, no difficulties to speak of. Then when Café Italiano had decided to shed some bulk and sell the subsidiary, all of a sudden the folks at Espressive were wringing their hands. The financial statements they were providing to Sonny's coffee business made it look as if the business were failing, and therefore an undesirable purchase. Obviously they didn't want to get sold, because they felt just cozy right where they were. Skye would find out why. Much as she would like to recommend selling the subsidiary to Sonny and letting him deal with the problem, she knew that Jax liked to keep his nose clean, and Sonny would raise a stink if he knew he was being shafted. Skye looked up and saw that they had arrived at the main airport terminal. She was taking a commercial airline because Jax was using his personal jet for his honeymoon.

Port Charles International Airport

Sonny's limo was passing by the main terminal, on his way to the runway for private jets, when he saw Skye exiting from a vehicle by the curb. He told his driver to pull over at the next available space. He thought for a moment. It could be a coincidence, but he wanted to know for sure. He did not want any surprises when he landed in Rome. He told the driver to wait, and he got out, following Skye as she made her way to the first class section of a major airline. Making sure not to be seen, he listened in to her conversation. "Hello, I'm Skye Chandler-Quartermaine. I'm taking the 4:45 flight to Rome." She handed the clerk her passport. Sonny heard all he needed to know. He left the terminal and got back into his limousine. A muscle worked in his jaw as he realized how right he had been about her. Skye was in cahoots with Dawson. There was no other explanation. Neither Café Italiano nor Espressive had any association with ELQ, so there was no other reason for her to be involved except as Dawson's partner in crime. He shook his head. He had actually started to be taken in by her sob story. And she really laid it on thick too. Well, she wouldn't fool him again.