Lake House-

Lorenzo wasn't sure if his 'guest' was going to be sleeping or not. Without the medications that he was being fed, there was no telling if he would be knocked out. It didn't matter, if Damian was asleep, Lorenzo would wake him up. Lorenzo came into the room and saw that the young man was as alert as ever. "Are you hungry?"

"No."

"Thirsty?"

"What is this? Feed the hostage day?"

Lorenzo smirked. "If I let you die, I couldn't use you as a hostage, could I?'

"If you let us go..."

"That is not going to happen, so you can just forget the notion and continue on with your life."

"How can I continue with my life if you're keeping me and my aunt captive here against our wills?"

"Touché," Lorenzo dryly commented. "It doesn't appear to be in your favor that I'm the one with the power in this situation, does it?"

"You don't have any power," Damian sneered. "You just got lucky that you were able to exploit the fact that my father was on the other side of the country and I happened to be laid up in the hospital. You've struck at my family when we were at our weakest, that's the sign of a coward."

"Or a smart tactician," Lorenzo sat on the end of the bed. He wasn't afraid of Damian doing anything. If he even tried to harm Lorenzo, Damian would feel the pain that came with having several broken ribs, and even if he was able to ignore that pain, Lorenzo would make sure that the boy suffered through other means. "Your father may be a brilliant man, but he allows himself to be blinded far too easily, it allowed me to, as you so eloquently put it, exploit the weakness as I saw fit."

"Congratulations." Damian said sarcastically, "Remind me to buy you a new copy of Risk for your birthday."

"I don't play Risk with the board, boy, I play it with real land."

"Don't call me boy."

"I can call you whatever I like," Lorenzo said. "Must you be so opposed to being in my custody?"

"Yes," Damian replied. "Because I don't enjoy being someone's prisoner."

"You're your father's prisoner, aren't you?"

"No," Damian said. "My father doesn't hold me captive. He lets me leave whenever I want to leave, he didn't oppose my leaving when you sabotaged our relationship the first time."

"He didn't? How many times did he try to get you back?"

"He tried to get me back, he didn't force me back into his home. I came on my own terms, that shows how much he cares about me, and how much I care about him."

"I seem to remember a time when you loathed your father because of the man that he truly was."

"Now I've got a new person to loathe," Damian shot an icy stare at Lorenzo. "Want to take a guess at who it is?"

"I think I've got a pretty good idea."

"If I stay with you... will you let my aunt go? She doesn't even know where you are, Alcazar. If you throw her somewhere and then leave her unconscious, she'll find her way back to the penthouse, but she won't know anything." Damian was willing to barter away his freedom for Courtney's. He cared about her too much. He would have done the same for Carly, although he would never admit that aloud.

"She will know that you are alive."

"Don't you want that? My father would look for me even more if he knew for certain that I lived."

"The idea is appealing, but I'm afraid that I'm going to decline," Lorenzo smiled. "It's not part of my plan."

"I suppose this is the part where you tell me what that plan is."

"No," Alcazar replied. "I may not be a movie buff like your friend Dillon Quatermaine, but I've seen enough movies to know that the villain really shouldn't start telling people his master plan."

"I think I'm a little more harmless than the people like James Bond, plus, I lack the accent."

Lorenzo laughed, "You're amusing, you know that? It's a pity that I'm going to kill you, we could have done things together that would have made us both very powerful individuals."

"I never wanted power," Damian told the crime lord simply. "I only wanted to help people."

"Maybe you are not your father's son, then."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Sonny craves power more than anything. If someone such as yourself, with a direct tie to him, does not thirst for the same thing, then there is almost no way that the two of you could be related."

"He's my father."

"Can you be so certain?" Lorenzo asked.

"We had a blood test taken..."

"Those could easily be faked," Lorenzo smirked.

"What are you saying?"

"Think about it," Lorenzo said. "You appear to be a bright boy, read between the lines."

"You weren't even aware of who I could have been when we met."

"I'm a lot more educated than you think, Damian. I always keep tracks on the Port Charles area. Everyone who comes in through it, I know... remember how I said that your last name seemed to spark an interest? Who's to say that I didn't plant those results?"

"That can't be true!" Damian yelled. "My mother told me who my father was..."

"Maybe she was only remembering one person..."

"She never slept with anyone else!"

"How naïve do you expect yourself to be? I realize that you wish to believe that your mother was some saintly figure, but there is no way that any woman her age could have gotten away with not sleeping around."

"Sonny Corinthos is my father..."

"If you say so," Lorenzo knew that it was a lie. He knew that he was only implanting ideas in Damian's head about his lineage. He didn't tamper with the test results, he was just playing head games. Damian needed to be broken down, weakened. Even with his injuries, his will to stand up to Alcazar was amazing. "What would he do... if he knew the truth?"

"He knows the truth."

"And if his perception of the truth was skewered? What if the veil of ignorance was lifted and your father realized that he is not your father?"

"Stop saying that!" Damian yelled. "They're my family..."

"You're so optimistic."

"Even if they're not my blood family, which I am not saying I believe, they are my family in my heart, and that's the only way that matters. I don't have to be blood related to have a family. Michael is my little brother, regardless of if he is tied to me by blood or not, which he wouldn't be even if this idea of yours is true."

"That boy clings onto anyone," Lorenzo remarked. "If Sonny were gone and I took charge of Carly's life he would eventually see me as his father."

"He would never see anyone but our father as his own father!"

"You're getting worked up rather easily," Lorenzo commented. "Did I touch a nerve?"

"No..."

"Now you're lying."

"I know who my family is."

Lorenzo laughed. "Do you know why I offered you the chance to work for me before I decided that you needed to be eliminated?"

"Because of my magnetic personality?"

"You don't have one of those," Lorenzo's smile faded. "It's because you remind me quite a bit of myself when I was your age. If I could mold you into the person that I am now, I could ensure that my empire thrived. My niece would find you attractive... she would gladly have an heir."

"I wouldn't love anyone but Maxie..."

"You'd be surprised how I could break you," Lorenzo muttered. "I have people who could make death seem like a reward."

"Well it's not like I'm going to worry about that anytime soon, right?" Damian asked. "You're going to kill me, and that's the severity of the situation."

"I wish things could have been different," Lorenzo admitted. "Like I said, you show vast potential."

"That's what my father said."

"But unlike your supposed father, I would find a way to tap into that potential."

"My father lets me tap into my potential in a way that I want to... it doesn't matter what he wants. That's something that you could never do. It has to be your way. My dad may not like some of my actions, but he will never try to make me be something that I'm not."

"You seem to care too much for Sonny..."

"I was raised to care about my family."

"At least you'll die with that feeling in your heart," Lorenzo got up and walked out. His plan of breaking Damian was going to take some more time. He wondered if he had the time that it was going to take.