Outside of Kelly's-
The breeze from the harbor was becoming much less tolerable as the twilight days of summer began to pass the citizens of Port Charles. Lorenzo Alcazar walked out of Kelly's holding a cup of coffee, it was one of the few things that he did in his life that had no evil subtext, unless one was to ask those that believe that caffeine is the devil. He had many addictions: Money, Power, Carly and Coffee. Of those four only coffee would he admit to a total stranger, and to only Carly herself would he ever claim to be addicted. But he was. He was infatuated with the woman from the moment he first laid eyes upon her. It had never stopped, the yearning, and it would never stop until he was dead, even if she died before him. Sadly, that was always a possibility, given that her own love was the dangerous and brash Sonny. He couldn't protect her, not like Lorenzo could. Alcazar firmly believed that fact. After all, it wasn't he who put the bullet in her brain without a second thought. No, that was Sonny acting out in the way that he often does, allowing everything else to get in the way of what is really important. Carly deserved someone better, Carly deserved Lorenzo. But there would always be one huge detour in their relationship. The fact that Sonny was Morgan's biological father and Michael's adoptive father would always place Lorenzo and Carly at odds. He could care for those children as well, if she would only give him the chance. But she did not want to harm the children, and he admired that, even if it did rip at his heart.
A familiar blond woman walked past him, paying him no heed. Either she did not see him, or she was ignoring him completely. Lorenzo firmly believed in the latter. After all, the woman was Courtney Matthews-Morgan. "Good morning, Mrs. Morgan," Lorenzo called out, knowing that it would anger her.
Courtney rolled her eyes and did not turn around, "What do you want?"
"Is that any way to greet someone?"
"You're not worth a civil greeting, Alcazar," Courtney commented venomously.
"No, I'm potentially worth billions," Lorenzo dryly countered.
Courtney faced him at that remark. "All the money in the world couldn't make you a decent man, we both know that."
Lorenzo smiled, "There are plenty of people in this town and in this country who would say that I am among the most polite and decent people that they have ever met."
Courtney snickered, "And I'm sure that none of those people know that you helped keep a pregnant woman locked away in a room for months before taking her all around the world as a hostage. I'm sure that they don't know that when you couldn't take Carly prisoner anymore you instead switched her for me and cost me the baby that Jason and I wanted so badly."
"I regret the loss that you succumbed while in my custody deeply, Courtney. As little you may think of me, the truth is that I do not enjoy using innocents in my battles if they can be avoided. You made the choice to jump off the yacht, you cost yourself that baby. What would you have named it? Jason Junior?"
Courtney thought about slapping him, but he would only use it against her in some way. Instead she managed to keep her anger inside and just shook her head, "You're a sick and twisted man, you know that? You try and take everything that you've done and make it seem like you're nothing more than the impartial scapegoat."
"I cannot help it if that is how the events play themselves out," Lorenzo replied. He took a sip of his coffe, "But that wasn't the reason why I stopped you, to dig up the past. I live for the now and the future, my past means nothing to me."
"I don't care what means anything to you, Alcazar," Courtney said spitefully. "You mean absolutely nothing to me."
"How is Michael?"
Courtney blinked, "What?"
"Michael, your nephew, how is he?"
"Why do you care?" Courtney asked.
"Didn't you just hear me?" Lorenzo finished his drink and put the cup on the table nearby. "I don't use innocents in my battles, and I don't like it when they get hurt. You cannot get more innocent than a child, and I happy to be very fond of Michael. He always brought Carly such happiness whenever she talked to him."
"She loves her son and she wanted to be with him because she knew that he was worried about her. If you really do love Carly like you're always claiming you do, you would have seen that and let her come home sooner, or not even taken her in the first place. But then you don't really know anything about love, do you?"
"I know more about it than Jason does," Lorenzo quickly countered. "After all, I can remember the woman that owned my heart before all others. Can he?"
"Jason has a medical condition that impairs his memory, you sick bastard!" Courtney was almost shouting. She could take him insulting her much better than she could take him insulting the man that she loved with all of her heart and soul.
"One that just conveniently made him a better pawn for your brother to use."
"My brother doesn't use Jason! Sonny treats those around him like they should be treated, like human beings. You're the one that treats people like pieces in some game of chess, leading the expendable ones into the slaughter house like they were swine."
Lorenzo grinned devilishly, "You let your love of your husband and your brother cloud your judgment, it will only put you in more danger. You lost the ability to bear children the last time you made an error, the next time you may lose your life."
"At least I know what real love actually feels like," Courtney picked up her things. "I've places to be, you've kept me from them long enough."
"You never answered my question."
"You were never going to get an answer to that question. What happens to anyone in my family stays within my family or at least to the people that I actually trust. You are neither." Courtney walked away.
Lorenzo's grin widened, "I'm just someone who knows how to press your buttons."
Inside Kelly's-
Mac was desperate, very desperate. He hated the fact that Maxie was in love with someone like that. He knew next to nothing about Damian, but he knew the one fact that made everything else not matter: He was Sonny's son. Nothing could change that. No matter what, he would always be a part of the world that Mac had sworn to stomp out. He couldn't just let Maxie get involved with that type of life, but he wasn't given a choice. As much as he hated to admit it, his girls were growing up fast, they already were grown up. They didn't need their dad standing over them and being their protectors anymore. That didn't mean that Mac wouldn't stop trying. He'd do anything to keep his daughters safe, or so he thought. When he saw Lorenzo Alcazar walk into the place his heart stopped. He realized that he would never sink low enough to ask those people for help, and yet Maxie was in love with the son of one of them. He couldn't get close to her, he'd never be anything more than her father in this situation. Georgie would never blatantly betray her older sister like that, they were much too close for any ideas he had about getting her to be his eyes and ears work. She would tell him if something got too out of hand, though, and for that he was very thankful. That left only one person. Mac would make a deal with just about any devil to keep his daughter safe. Even if that devil was a Quatermaine.
Dillon walked in and saw Mac looking right at him. Even though Mac had called this meeting he was still scary. His eyes pierced into Dillon's soul like knives. He wanted to turn away, but something might have happened to Georgie. Something bad enough hat it would Mac tell him, not have Maxie do it for him. Dillon gulped as he took a few steps forward, trying to keep his balance. "You wanted to see me."
"I would have thought you would spend a few minutes talking to your good friend outside."
Dillon tossed a look behind his shoulder and saw Alcazar. "Look, Mac, I don't do anything for that guy anymore. I know what he is, I know the trouble that he can get himself into, and I know that if I was working for him it would put Georgie in danger. She already has you being her father, she doesn't need another strong connection that would make her a target."
"It's nice to know that we can agree about something from time to time, isn't it, Dillon?" Mac asked.
"We both agree that Georgie is a very special person that we love very much."
"Yes, we do."
"She's fine, isn't she?" Dillon asked. "I mean, you didn't call me here to tell me that something really bad happened to her last night, did you?"
Mac shook his head, "No, Georgie is fine."
Dillon sighed in relief, but there was still a bit of doubt swelling inside of him. He had to know, and he going to make Mac tell him what he wanted to know, "Would you have told me?"
Mac cocked an eyebrow, "What?"
"If something bad happened to Georgie, and I mean really bad, would you have told me? If she gets into a bad accident one day and doesn't have very much time left to live, will you tell me, will you let me spend a few final moments with the woman that I love more than anything else? Or would you let your hatred of me keep us apart until the end? Just the way you would really want it." Dillon was afraid of Mac, very afraid, but he would do anything for Georgie, including confronting her father.
"I didn't come here to talk about what could happen, Dillon."
"I don't care what you came here to talk about, Mac!" Dillon countered forcefully, "I want an answer!"
A few eyes had turned to look at the two, but neither really seemed to care. "You want an answer?" Mac asked. "Fine, I'll give you an answer. Yes, Dillon, I would tell you. Regardless of how I feel about you, I know that my daughter cares about you, and if it were one of her final wishes then I couldn't deny her the chance to at least say goodbye. Provided you weren't the one that caused her to be on her deathbed."
"I would never do that to Georgie."
"Never say never," Mac warned. "I never thought I would put them in danger either, but as you've pointed out, being the Commissioner means that the people that want to get my attention can always try and hurt one of them. Can we talk about something else now?"
"Fine," Dillon muttered.
"I have an offer to make you," Mac said. "Maxie's taken to being around Sonny's adult son, have you met him?"
Dillon shook his head, "No, not yet."
"I don't trust the guy."
"You don't trust anyone that tries to get close to your daughters," Dillon remarked.
"That's beside the point. I don't want his life getting my daughter hurt, but I can't be there at all, because she knows how I feel and she'll try to keep me away from them at all costs. You, however, are her sister's boyfriend, and Maxie does consider you her friend. You could get a lot more information about them than I could."
"You want me to spy on your daughter and her new boyfriend?" Dillon gathered. "That's pretty bad, Mac, even for you."
"I'm just doing whatever I need to in order to keep her safe, Dillon. You've got your flaws, but I put more weight on your word than I do his."
"Have you even met the guy yet?"
"Do I need to?" Mac countered. "He's Sonny's child, I'm sure you can understand what that means in this town."
"He's a target."
"A big target, and one that puts Maxie in the crossfire."
Dillon shook his head, "I can't betray Maxie, she's my friend. I love her, maybe not the way that I love Georgie, but I love her nonetheless. It would break her heart to know that you're trying to plot against her relationship, so I won't tell her anything. But, Mac, you need to understand something, we're more than who our families are. I'm more than a Quatermaine, and he's more than Corinthos more than likely. If you keep on refusing to give the people that come into your daughters lives a fair chance at being worthy of them you're only going to push yourself away from your children. I don't think you want that. I know they don't."
"Rethink my offer," Mac said. "I don't need a definite answer right away. Just know that if you agree to help me, the benefits could be great."
"I won't do it," Dillon got out of the seat and walked out.
Mac hung his head low. His best chance had just been blown, he would have to find another way to keep them apart.
223
The breeze from the harbor was becoming much less tolerable as the twilight days of summer began to pass the citizens of Port Charles. Lorenzo Alcazar walked out of Kelly's holding a cup of coffee, it was one of the few things that he did in his life that had no evil subtext, unless one was to ask those that believe that caffeine is the devil. He had many addictions: Money, Power, Carly and Coffee. Of those four only coffee would he admit to a total stranger, and to only Carly herself would he ever claim to be addicted. But he was. He was infatuated with the woman from the moment he first laid eyes upon her. It had never stopped, the yearning, and it would never stop until he was dead, even if she died before him. Sadly, that was always a possibility, given that her own love was the dangerous and brash Sonny. He couldn't protect her, not like Lorenzo could. Alcazar firmly believed that fact. After all, it wasn't he who put the bullet in her brain without a second thought. No, that was Sonny acting out in the way that he often does, allowing everything else to get in the way of what is really important. Carly deserved someone better, Carly deserved Lorenzo. But there would always be one huge detour in their relationship. The fact that Sonny was Morgan's biological father and Michael's adoptive father would always place Lorenzo and Carly at odds. He could care for those children as well, if she would only give him the chance. But she did not want to harm the children, and he admired that, even if it did rip at his heart.
A familiar blond woman walked past him, paying him no heed. Either she did not see him, or she was ignoring him completely. Lorenzo firmly believed in the latter. After all, the woman was Courtney Matthews-Morgan. "Good morning, Mrs. Morgan," Lorenzo called out, knowing that it would anger her.
Courtney rolled her eyes and did not turn around, "What do you want?"
"Is that any way to greet someone?"
"You're not worth a civil greeting, Alcazar," Courtney commented venomously.
"No, I'm potentially worth billions," Lorenzo dryly countered.
Courtney faced him at that remark. "All the money in the world couldn't make you a decent man, we both know that."
Lorenzo smiled, "There are plenty of people in this town and in this country who would say that I am among the most polite and decent people that they have ever met."
Courtney snickered, "And I'm sure that none of those people know that you helped keep a pregnant woman locked away in a room for months before taking her all around the world as a hostage. I'm sure that they don't know that when you couldn't take Carly prisoner anymore you instead switched her for me and cost me the baby that Jason and I wanted so badly."
"I regret the loss that you succumbed while in my custody deeply, Courtney. As little you may think of me, the truth is that I do not enjoy using innocents in my battles if they can be avoided. You made the choice to jump off the yacht, you cost yourself that baby. What would you have named it? Jason Junior?"
Courtney thought about slapping him, but he would only use it against her in some way. Instead she managed to keep her anger inside and just shook her head, "You're a sick and twisted man, you know that? You try and take everything that you've done and make it seem like you're nothing more than the impartial scapegoat."
"I cannot help it if that is how the events play themselves out," Lorenzo replied. He took a sip of his coffe, "But that wasn't the reason why I stopped you, to dig up the past. I live for the now and the future, my past means nothing to me."
"I don't care what means anything to you, Alcazar," Courtney said spitefully. "You mean absolutely nothing to me."
"How is Michael?"
Courtney blinked, "What?"
"Michael, your nephew, how is he?"
"Why do you care?" Courtney asked.
"Didn't you just hear me?" Lorenzo finished his drink and put the cup on the table nearby. "I don't use innocents in my battles, and I don't like it when they get hurt. You cannot get more innocent than a child, and I happy to be very fond of Michael. He always brought Carly such happiness whenever she talked to him."
"She loves her son and she wanted to be with him because she knew that he was worried about her. If you really do love Carly like you're always claiming you do, you would have seen that and let her come home sooner, or not even taken her in the first place. But then you don't really know anything about love, do you?"
"I know more about it than Jason does," Lorenzo quickly countered. "After all, I can remember the woman that owned my heart before all others. Can he?"
"Jason has a medical condition that impairs his memory, you sick bastard!" Courtney was almost shouting. She could take him insulting her much better than she could take him insulting the man that she loved with all of her heart and soul.
"One that just conveniently made him a better pawn for your brother to use."
"My brother doesn't use Jason! Sonny treats those around him like they should be treated, like human beings. You're the one that treats people like pieces in some game of chess, leading the expendable ones into the slaughter house like they were swine."
Lorenzo grinned devilishly, "You let your love of your husband and your brother cloud your judgment, it will only put you in more danger. You lost the ability to bear children the last time you made an error, the next time you may lose your life."
"At least I know what real love actually feels like," Courtney picked up her things. "I've places to be, you've kept me from them long enough."
"You never answered my question."
"You were never going to get an answer to that question. What happens to anyone in my family stays within my family or at least to the people that I actually trust. You are neither." Courtney walked away.
Lorenzo's grin widened, "I'm just someone who knows how to press your buttons."
Inside Kelly's-
Mac was desperate, very desperate. He hated the fact that Maxie was in love with someone like that. He knew next to nothing about Damian, but he knew the one fact that made everything else not matter: He was Sonny's son. Nothing could change that. No matter what, he would always be a part of the world that Mac had sworn to stomp out. He couldn't just let Maxie get involved with that type of life, but he wasn't given a choice. As much as he hated to admit it, his girls were growing up fast, they already were grown up. They didn't need their dad standing over them and being their protectors anymore. That didn't mean that Mac wouldn't stop trying. He'd do anything to keep his daughters safe, or so he thought. When he saw Lorenzo Alcazar walk into the place his heart stopped. He realized that he would never sink low enough to ask those people for help, and yet Maxie was in love with the son of one of them. He couldn't get close to her, he'd never be anything more than her father in this situation. Georgie would never blatantly betray her older sister like that, they were much too close for any ideas he had about getting her to be his eyes and ears work. She would tell him if something got too out of hand, though, and for that he was very thankful. That left only one person. Mac would make a deal with just about any devil to keep his daughter safe. Even if that devil was a Quatermaine.
Dillon walked in and saw Mac looking right at him. Even though Mac had called this meeting he was still scary. His eyes pierced into Dillon's soul like knives. He wanted to turn away, but something might have happened to Georgie. Something bad enough hat it would Mac tell him, not have Maxie do it for him. Dillon gulped as he took a few steps forward, trying to keep his balance. "You wanted to see me."
"I would have thought you would spend a few minutes talking to your good friend outside."
Dillon tossed a look behind his shoulder and saw Alcazar. "Look, Mac, I don't do anything for that guy anymore. I know what he is, I know the trouble that he can get himself into, and I know that if I was working for him it would put Georgie in danger. She already has you being her father, she doesn't need another strong connection that would make her a target."
"It's nice to know that we can agree about something from time to time, isn't it, Dillon?" Mac asked.
"We both agree that Georgie is a very special person that we love very much."
"Yes, we do."
"She's fine, isn't she?" Dillon asked. "I mean, you didn't call me here to tell me that something really bad happened to her last night, did you?"
Mac shook his head, "No, Georgie is fine."
Dillon sighed in relief, but there was still a bit of doubt swelling inside of him. He had to know, and he going to make Mac tell him what he wanted to know, "Would you have told me?"
Mac cocked an eyebrow, "What?"
"If something bad happened to Georgie, and I mean really bad, would you have told me? If she gets into a bad accident one day and doesn't have very much time left to live, will you tell me, will you let me spend a few final moments with the woman that I love more than anything else? Or would you let your hatred of me keep us apart until the end? Just the way you would really want it." Dillon was afraid of Mac, very afraid, but he would do anything for Georgie, including confronting her father.
"I didn't come here to talk about what could happen, Dillon."
"I don't care what you came here to talk about, Mac!" Dillon countered forcefully, "I want an answer!"
A few eyes had turned to look at the two, but neither really seemed to care. "You want an answer?" Mac asked. "Fine, I'll give you an answer. Yes, Dillon, I would tell you. Regardless of how I feel about you, I know that my daughter cares about you, and if it were one of her final wishes then I couldn't deny her the chance to at least say goodbye. Provided you weren't the one that caused her to be on her deathbed."
"I would never do that to Georgie."
"Never say never," Mac warned. "I never thought I would put them in danger either, but as you've pointed out, being the Commissioner means that the people that want to get my attention can always try and hurt one of them. Can we talk about something else now?"
"Fine," Dillon muttered.
"I have an offer to make you," Mac said. "Maxie's taken to being around Sonny's adult son, have you met him?"
Dillon shook his head, "No, not yet."
"I don't trust the guy."
"You don't trust anyone that tries to get close to your daughters," Dillon remarked.
"That's beside the point. I don't want his life getting my daughter hurt, but I can't be there at all, because she knows how I feel and she'll try to keep me away from them at all costs. You, however, are her sister's boyfriend, and Maxie does consider you her friend. You could get a lot more information about them than I could."
"You want me to spy on your daughter and her new boyfriend?" Dillon gathered. "That's pretty bad, Mac, even for you."
"I'm just doing whatever I need to in order to keep her safe, Dillon. You've got your flaws, but I put more weight on your word than I do his."
"Have you even met the guy yet?"
"Do I need to?" Mac countered. "He's Sonny's child, I'm sure you can understand what that means in this town."
"He's a target."
"A big target, and one that puts Maxie in the crossfire."
Dillon shook his head, "I can't betray Maxie, she's my friend. I love her, maybe not the way that I love Georgie, but I love her nonetheless. It would break her heart to know that you're trying to plot against her relationship, so I won't tell her anything. But, Mac, you need to understand something, we're more than who our families are. I'm more than a Quatermaine, and he's more than Corinthos more than likely. If you keep on refusing to give the people that come into your daughters lives a fair chance at being worthy of them you're only going to push yourself away from your children. I don't think you want that. I know they don't."
"Rethink my offer," Mac said. "I don't need a definite answer right away. Just know that if you agree to help me, the benefits could be great."
"I won't do it," Dillon got out of the seat and walked out.
Mac hung his head low. His best chance had just been blown, he would have to find another way to keep them apart.
223