"Why don't you tell me where you really were?" Sonny's voice broke the silence. Carly just looked at her husband. With a heavy sigh, she turned away and set her purse on the desk.
"Carly?" he asked again, anger rising in his voice. Are you afraid of your husband? The voice sang in her ear causing her to hesitate in turning to look at Sonny.
"What Sonny?" she asked, letting her exhaustion seep into her voice. She didn't want to have this conversation. She knew exactly where it was going to go. If she told the whole truth, Sonny, Courtney and Jason would all be hurt and Sonny would go after Lorenzo. If she told half of the truth, Sonny would go after Lorenzo. If she lied, there would be a long, drawn out fight about lying, trust and love. She wasn't up for any of them.
"I asked you where you were," he said, sitting against the back of the couch and crossing his arms.
"Sonny, I'm tired, okay? I just wanted some alone time and I went for a walk. And now, I just want to go to bed," she said. It was at that moment that she realized that she had left her jacket at Lorenzo's. Well, she was out a jacket because she wasn't going back there. Ever.
"Well, that tells me a lot, Carly," he said. Carly's eyes flared with anger at his subtle insinuation.
"And what, pray tell, does that tell you, Sonny?" she spat out. He stood up and pointed an angry finger at her.
"It tells me you're lying, Carly! That you have no intention of telling me the truth! It tells me that we… you… are letting this marriage slip back to where it was months ago," he yelled. Carly closed her eyes, holding back tears. She was not going to cry. Silence fell over the room as Sonny glared angrily at her.
"What's it going to be, Carly?" Sonny asked. Why is it that she has to be the one that has to change so drastically? Carly crossed her arms and looked to the floor.
"Fine, Sonny. I'll tell you what you already know. I lied. Okay? Does that satisfy you?" she asked as she began walking to the stairs. Sonny's hand shot out and gripped her arm. It was uncommonly tight. She tried to shake her arm loose, but his grip stayed.
"No, Carly. That does not satisfy me. I want to know where you went," he said tightly. Carly looked at his hand on her arm, a tear finally escaping out of the corner of her eye.
"I… I was at Alcazar's," she said softly. She winced as his grip tightened even more, hurting her. His face was a picture of furious shock.
"You… you went to Alcazar's! A man who kidnapped you and… and held you hostage! A man who obviously wants you!" Sonny yelled, flinging her arm away from him and turning away from her. Tears ran freely down her face as she rubbed her arm gingerly. Sonny suddenly turned back to face her. "You were there when Jason and I came in looking for you, weren't you?" Carly opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She looked down to her feet.
"Weren't you!" Sonny yelled again. Carly nodded before looking back up at her irate husband.
"Yes, I was," she admitted, her chin lifting. "I went there because…" Sonny whipped his hand in the air.
"I don't care why you were there, Carly! All that matters was that you were there, in another man's house, and you hid from me! Your husband!" he ranted. Carly's tears were now angry tears.
"Screw you, Sonny! I know exactly what you're trying to say!" she fired back. "I went there because of Courtney!"
"I don't care!" Sonny exclaimed before rubbing the bridge of his nose. Carly's shock turned to a frown.
"Well, you should. I was trying to save Courtney, and to protect you and Jason. Lorenzo… Alcazar… he claimed that he saw Courtney run down Elizabeth. He had her car, so I went to meet him. I told him to give it to me, and he did," she said. Sonny's eyes had flared again.
"And what did you do with the car that Lorenzo gave you?" he asked, the other man's name dripping acidly off his tongue. Carly reached up to wipe the tears from her face as she sat her tired frame down on the couch.
"I took it to the steepest part of Salisbury Point… I figured that if I put the car into neutral that it would slide over the point and into the water by itself. It did," she said with a satisfied look. Sonny looked shocked as he sat down on the opposite end of the couch.
"You put Courtney's car at the bottom of the lake?" he asked. Carly nodded.
"So, why were you at Alcazar's?" he asked suspiciously. Carly looked down at her now-folded hands.
"Because I slipped…" she said.
"You what?" Sonny asked.
"I slipped!" she almost yelled. "The dirt was loose, and I couldn't get my footing. I… anyways, Alcazar was there to help me… he wanted to make sure I got home okay. So he brought me to his place so that I could clean up a little before I came back here." Sonny was silent as Carly's voice trailed off. He continued to look at her for a few seconds more before speaking his mind.
"You… endangered the life of our child, Carly," he said with a menacing softness. Carly's eyes shot to his.
"I took a risk, Sonny… I know that…"
"No, Carly! You stupidly endangered the life of our child. You endangered that innocent life to do something that I could have done! You trusted another man over me!" he yelled. Carly shot up out of her seat.
"Is that what this is all about, Sonny? Your bruised ego? Your slighted manhood? The embarrassment that your wife didn't come to your sure-fired manliness? Because if it is, then this argument is over. It simply isn't worth it," she said as she started walking back to the stairs. She turned back as she reached the bottom of the steps. "I fixed this Sonny. I fixed this and tried to avoid involving you. I'm sorry if that hurts you. But I'm not sorry I did it. I did it to avoid causing you more pain when you realized what happened to Courtney." Sonny's eyes met hers. For the first time since she walked through the penthouse door, they didn't have a trace of anger in them. They just looked sad.
"Carly, you went over my head. You… you kept things from me…" he said, being cut off as Jason walked through the penthouse door. Carly and Sonny both turned to look at him. The man noted Carly's puffy eyes and Sonny's weary look.
"I know you guys are in the middle of something, but I really need to talk to you," he told Sonny. Sonny looked to his wife, who was now stepping towards Jason. His eyes turned to meet Jason's.
"Is it about Courtney?" he asked, standing up. The shock registered on Jason's face.
"Yeah, how did you know?" he asked. Sonny looked to Carly again.
"We were just talking about it," he said, heading to the mini bar to pour himself a drink. Jason's eyes questioned Carly, but she said nothing, just looked to the ground.
"Well, she thinks she hit Elizabeth," he said. Sonny took a deep breath and a drink from his glass.
"Yeah, I know. Carly… she got a picture of Courtney's car from Alcazar. He claims he saw her hit Elizabeth and continue driving. So, he stole Courtney's car before the police could find it. He gave it to Carly, and she dumped it off Salisbury Point over two hours ago," Sonny explained. Jason faced Carly, surprise and exasperation written on his features.
"You dumped a car, Carly? What if something happened?" he asked. Carly shook her head and waved her hand in dismissal.
"Sonny and I have already covered this, Jason. I'm stupid and a bad mother… You don't need to rehash it," she said, fresh tears watering her eyes a bit. Jason reached over and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Carly, I never said you were stupid and I never said you were a bad mother. What if something had happened to you?" he asked, crouching down a bit so that he could meet her downcast eyes. Carly closed her eyes as her heart warmed at her best friend's concern for her welfare. She smiled slightly as she reached up and touched his cheek.
"I did what I had to do for you, Jason. For you and Courtney. I'm not going to let the closest thing I have to a sister be searched out like a hardened criminal when what happened was an accident," she said. Jason shook his head.
"Carly, you've got to stop doing crazy stuff like this! You're pregnant!" he said. Carly smiled again.
"Jason, it wasn't crazy," she said. Jason didn't smile back.
"Carly, you keep saying you won't pull stunts like this. But in the end, you always do," he said softly. Carly's blood ran cold in her veins. Of all the people, she expected Jason to understand her… just a little. She expected him to realize that she was who she was. She'd matured, yes. But underneath it all, she was still Carly. Nothing could change that. Refusing to cry, she stepped back from the ever-observant man. He knew, immediately, that he'd said the wrong thing. He reached out to her, but she avoided him. Avoided him completely, and walked around him. Sonny also tried to stop her, but she whipped her arm out of his grasp.
"Don't touch me. Don't either of you touch me," she said with icy coolness. She found her way to the desk and picked up her purse.
"Where are you going?" Sonny asked. She just glared at him.
"None of your damn concern," she said as she flung the door open. There stood Max, blocking her exit. He scrambled out of her way when he saw the look on her face. The last time she looked like that, she'd kicked him where no man should be kicked. Carly smiled a short smile of gratitude and quickly made for the elevator. With a sigh, she watched the doors close. She needed to walk off…everything. The crisp late summer air hit her face as she walked out of the front doors. The docks always calmed her, so she headed in that direction.