Anthony stood in the doorway of one of the many Malucci warehouses. The bright light streaming through the open door behind him cast darkness upon the many images in front of him. Reggie, Anthony's long time friend and ally slid the heavy metal door closed with a resounding thud. It was then that Anthony's eyes adjusted revealing the many empty spaces that just a mere week ago had housed the Morgan trucks and merchandise that he had been successful in claiming from his enemy. Now, however, there was nothing there but barren space.
Rocco had been true to his word. He had given everything that his son had been able to extract back to its rightful owner not to mention doubling the tax paid to the Morgan family. Anthony knew his father had done it to teach him a lesson. A lesson that Rocco felt needed to be relearned. The thought of it all angered Anthony beyond belief. He could only imagine what a laugh Joseph and Jason Morgan had at his expense as they lined their pockets with the Malucci's money.
Anthony felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand erect with the thought of Jason and how unmistakably enamored Elizabeth was with him. Anthony's blood was about to boil over as he thought back to how she had lavished praise on Jason for his sizable contribution to the Coronary Care Unit benefit. The recollection of that night had left a bad taste in Anthony's mouth. The original intention of the event was to bring the Malucci family to center stage, but again somehow the Morgans had relegated them to the background.
Anthony felt his fists clench at his sides. The time for letting his father run the family had long since passed. It was now time for him to set forth a new version of the Malucci family justice. A justice that would be fast and furious. A calculated smile filled Anthony's face. Just the mere idea of what he was contemplating brought him such pleasure. To systematically destroy the Morgan Empire piece by piece had Anthony as giddy as a child on Christmas morning.
"Tony," Reggie's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Huh?"
"What gives man?"
"I have a job for you," Anthony answered.
"So you said."
Anthony eyed his friend carefully. He had used Reggie on other occasions when his plans were just beyond the reaches of what his father would have approved of. Anthony knew that Reggie was loyal to him and him alone. In no way could he ever be tied to the Malucci family, which was perfect for the barrage of events Anthony had planned for the Morgans. "Here." Anthony handed Reggie a folder.
"What the hell is this?" the man questioned curiously.
"It's the details of your work assignment," Anthony said in his most business like voice.
Reggie opened the folder and saw the opponents in Anthony's game. First there was the newspaper article on Morgan enterprises generous donation to the upcoming benefit. Jason's photo was front and center. Beneath that came photos and news clippings for each member of the Morgan family. "So what? What's all this?" Reggie was still quite in the dark as to what his friend intended for him to do.
"Those are the people that you will be sure meet with an accident or two," Anthony sneered.
"Accident?" Reggie echoed.
"Yes!" Anthony grew impatient.
"Are you sure you know what you are doing Tony?" Reggie questioned knowing the stakes in this game.
"Of course I know what the fuck I am doing!"
"This is the Morgan family we are talking about here....."
Anthony cut him off before Reggie had a chance to express his apprehensions about messing with the most powerful crime family in Chicago. "What if it is the Morgans? You telling me that this guy scares you?" Anthony thrust the picture of Jason in Reggie's face. "Look at him man! He's never even had to get his hands dirty. I bet he doesn't even know how to fire a god damned gun!!"
Reggie had his doubts about his friend's last remark. He knew of Jason Morgan's reputation and he was certain that Anthony was underestimating him. Reggie stared at his friend not quite sure what to make of his irate display. In the past all the tasks that Anthony had ever asked of him had been beyond the realm of even Mafia law, as skewed as it was. This though Reggie could tell was different and far too personal. That thought had him thinking twice about putting himself between Anthony Malucci and the Morgan family. He couldn't help feeling that no matter the outcome, he would be on the losing end. "It's not that...." Reggie stammered wondering how he could possibly remove himself from Anthony's equation.
"Maybe this will change your tune." Anthony threw the brown leather satchel he had been carrying at Reggie's feet. Cautiously Reggie bent down and undid the bag's gold clasp. There had to be over 100 G's sitting in the bag before him. "There will be another bag to match this one when you have completed the job as assigned."
"What do you want me to do?" Reggie said. The allure of the money had him taking leave of what little senses he had.
Joseph Morgan yawned as he watched the morning sun rise high into the sky. He had watched it lower itself the previous night while the voices of his children had echoed in his head. He was admittedly still baffled by each of their revelations yet AJ's was one that Joseph understood the most. His eldest son had used every opportunity to instruct his father that he wanted no parts of the life Joseph Morgan led.
'I thought we agreed that the hands of this family would never come into contact with anything related to Matthews Construction?'
Joseph could hear his son's words as if he was still standing beside him. AJ Morgan never realized how much his need to denounce all that the Morgan family stood for hurt his father. With that thought, Emily's question also nagged him.
'I never meant that I wanted to be part of your business, but I think I have a right to know why you didn't want AJ involved either. More importantly, Jason has a right to know, too.'
Joseph rubbed his weary eyes, searching for an answer to that remark. He had seriously thought that he had done the right thing by focusing all his energies on Jason. Now, however, Joseph had to consider what he had done to his younger son. Listening to Jason the pervious afternoon as he exploded with fury for his brother had broken Joseph's heart, for he knew that he had been the cause of such anger.
'Oh I see. Jason is getting his way again...'
'GETTING MY OWN WAY?! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING RIGHT?!'
'HARDLY!'
'All I have ever asked for is a life unencumbered by the strings of this world.'
'As far as I can tell you got just that! You are happily married and living the great All-American Dream! What more could you fucking want?! Face it AJ, you can't always get what you want. I have come to finally learn that.'
'Meaning?'
'Meaning that you walked away leaving me holding the bag. You have everything that you want, a wife to love and a life that's completely yours. What do I have? NOTHING!!'
It was that comment that haunted Joseph all night and into the wee hours of the morning. Nothing he did irradiated Jason's tortured voice from his mind as Jason had cried that he had a life filled with nothing. Joseph also recalled how his youngest son scoffed at the idea that he could have a life filled with all the things he felt he had been missing. Joseph truly believed that Jason could have a life filled with all the things that he felt his brother had.
That thought forced Joseph to recall his rather blunt conversation with his daughter. The notion that she could even remotely condone the idea of Jason pursuing Elizabeth Malucci escaped him. He hadn't cared that Emily believed Elizabeth to be unhappy or miserable as she had put it. That wasn't any concern of his. What happened behind the closed gates of the Malucci compound was something for Rocco to worry about. Joseph tried to push the thoughts of Rocco and his condition out of his head but the recollection of Elizabeth's mention of her father in law's chest pains and the look of despair in the young woman's eyes caused his heart to sink. There was no denying the genuine concern he knew that Elizabeth felt for Rocco and it was that concern that endeared Elizabeth Malucci to him and further complicated an already overly complex situation.
Emily had asked him to keep an open mind. How in good conscious could he do that? Joseph knew what a fireball this was in the making. It would only be a matter of time before it would ignite into a full-scale wildfire. He feared once it started there would be nothing he could do to stop it. Joseph looked into his empty coffee cup. He had lost count as to how many times he had filled it previously but made his way to the expansive kitchen just the same hoping to find some elusive answer within its black depths. Just as Joseph was about to round the corner and enter the side door of the kitchen he saw Jason slip in the back entrance of the house. "I see we have been out all night again," Joseph said taking notice of his son's rumpled clothes. Jason felt his shoulders immediately tighten at the sound of his father's voice. "Would you care to explain where the hell you have been all night?"
"Out," Jason offered evasively.
"I can see that."
Jason opened the refrigerator and pulled out a large glass pitcher full of orange juice while he artfully tried to ignore his father's piercing eyes that were boring holes in the back of his head.
"Do you really think if you pretend I'm not here I will magically disappear?" Joseph's voice was even and collected but his anger was building inside.
"No," Jason said curtly finally looking his father square in the face.
"Jason, where were you last night?"
"Out."
"Enough of this nonsense!" Joseph bellowed. "Where did you go after you stormed out of here yesterday and what was that all about with your brother?"
"What was it all about?" Jason repeated. "Weren't you in the same room with us? I'm pretty sure I made my points abundantly clear!"
Both men were clearly speaking in their own riddles, with neither wanting to address the other's obvious questions. "Jason, you know that AJ ..."
"Save it!" Jason said through clenched teeth. He didn't want to hear the same speech recited again.
"JASON!!" The redness entering Joseph's face indicated to Jason that he was beginning to push his father too far.
"What?" Jason questioned innocently.
"Where were you?" Joseph returned to his original question.
"I was at the Drake Hotel if you must know for god sakes!"
"Like hell you were!" his father countered. "I called your penthouse numerous times. There was no answer."
"Did you ever think I just wasn't answering the phone?" Jason said unable to hide his sarcasm.
"Enough of these games Jason! Ronald informed me that your car never left the hotel garage all night, but his morning you turned up in a taxi! Where were you?" Joseph's voice echoed off the tiled kitchen walls.
"What are you having me tailed now? You don't trust your own son?" Jason's voice was a mixture of pure rage and a little fear. Fear at what else his father may have known.
"I keep a check on anyone who I feel is out of control in our organization and as sorry as I am to say this Jason, you are more out of control than you can see."
"This is priceless – just fucking priceless!" Jason seethed. "I'M THE ONE OUT OF CONTROL!? You are so blind Papa that you can't see the only person out of control is the one who you have decided to leave up to the devices of a feeble man on his deathbed. You would rather tail your own son than put a stop to what you know to be happening right under your own nose!!"
"Why must every conversation we have revert back to Anthony Malucci?"
"WHY??"
"Yes, why?"
"Because you are letting him play us for fools. You really think that he's going to take Rocco's returning his ill-gotten gains to us by just lying down? If you do than I think it's your who has lost all sense of reason, not me!"
"I will not have this conversation again with you Jason," Joseph forced. "Anthony and what he does or doesn't do isn't for me to decide. Nor is his punishment. I would no more tolerate Rocco acting against you as he should be acting against his son..."
"THAT'S BULLSHIT!! You know it and I know it. Rocco Malucci is nothing more than a Capo in the Morgan army. This need to let him handle his own crew is all in your head! If this had been any of the other families, the man responsible for stealing from us would be dead by now!" Jason said point blank.
"As would the man sleeping with another man's wife!" Joseph stated firmly.
"Anthony's marriage isn't even a marriage!" Jason heard the words drop from his mouth before he could even stop them. He swallowed hard around the lump in his throat and waited for the next assault from his father.
"So you were with Anthony's wife?" Joseph asked.
"Like I said, he marriage isn't even a marriage," Jason stated again.
"That's not the answer I am looking for. Were you or weren't you with Anthony's wife last night?"
"What if I was?" Jason asked forgoing all pretenses now. Through all his early morning soul searching he knew that as much as letting Elizabeth walk out of his life was the best for all concerned, that wasn't going to happen. So why spend so much time denying his feeling in his own house?
"Jason," Joseph sighed shaking his head. "What have you done?"
"Nothing that Anthony hasn't done to Elizabeth," Jason shot back knowing that was not an answer Joseph Morgan would accept.
"Do you hear yourself? Elizabeth and Anthony are married Jason. Married – do you know what that means?"
"Yes, but might I suggest you try explaining that to her husband. If I recall, not that long ago he was standing in this very house with a woman that we now know wasn't his wife, but it's me who is getting the lecture."
"You can't twist the facts around to suit your own needs son. I don't care what Anthony does or doesn't do. He and Elizabeth are still married and in my book that's all that matters!"
"Does it matter to you at all that Elizabeth's father used her as pawn to save his own sorry ass?"
"What? What are you talking about?"
"I'm saying that Elizabeth was duped. Anthony played the loving suitor just long enough to reel her in."
"Jason, you aren't making any sense," Joseph countered. He was flustered by his son's unwillingness to let this go.
"I'm making perfect sense if you would just listen to me! Elizabeth was nothing more than a means to an end for her father and Anthony. The illustrious Congressman Webber got to keep his ass out of jail and Anthony got to hitch his tarnished Malucci star to a political campaign. Are you starting to see the light now?" Jason mocked.
"None of that excuses you thinking that taking up with another man's wife is acceptable. Not to mention that this woman is Elizabeth Malucci for heaven sakes! That's pure and utter madness. Madness that has to stop! Do you hear me Jason? You have to put an end to this."
"If I don't?" Jason questioned.
"Then I won't be responsible for what happens from this point forward. You are on your own son and god help you." Joseph turned and threw his hands up in defeat. He had seen that determined look in Jason's eyes on more than one occasion and knew there was no changing his son's mind.
Emily stood quietly for a moment waiting to be certain that her father was actually gone. The display she just witnessed saddened her greatly. All the things she had once thought that she knew about the man she called papa were beginning to crumble and fall to pieces. Emily had always believed that for Joseph his children and their happiness came first. Now, however, she was seeing quite a different picture. AJ and she were happy living their lives, but Jason was trapped inside the box that their father had built around him.
Emily thought about the girl who had not so long ago sat across from her on the patio and said that she had had no feelings for Jason. Emily knew that day that Elizabeth had been lying. The adoration that Elizabeth held for Jason was written over every feature of her face that afternoon, in much the same way she had seen her brother's eyes light up the minute Elizabeth entered the room. The one thing that undeniably frightened Emily was Anthony Malucci. As sheltered of a life that Joseph had wanted his daughter to lead, that hadn't stopped her knowledge of just how much both Jason and Anthony despised one another. Given that fact, Emily knew that the pairing of Anthony's wife and Jason was a disaster in the making. She was torn though. Torn by the facts that were so glaringly apparent and the things that her heart knew to be true.
"Jason?" she said softly as she made her way further into the confines of the kitchen.
"What!?" His harsh tone spilled out.
"I wanted to talk to you," she hesitated in an attempt to gauge her brother's ill mood.
"I don't have time right now," he barked.
"I wanted to talk to you about Elizabeth. I couldn't help but overhear what you and Papa were talking about."
"So what – you have come to join the ranks of those who want to tell me what a mistake I am making?"
"No."
"Yeah right!" he scoffed knowing he was being cruel yet unable to disentangle the anger he had for his father in his words to Emily.
"Jason," she gasped.
"What? You know what, I'm not in the mood for another lecture. I have had my fill for one day, so you can save yours for another time. Besides if you were listening, then you know that I'm on my own from now on!" Jason dropped the empty juice glass in the since and made a hasty exit leaving Emily to stare at his retreating back.
It appeared that if she was to get any answers she would have to approach the other half of this budding pair and her father had given her just the cover to do it. Emily picked up the cordless phone that sat on the counter and dialed the Malucci mansion.
Rocco had been true to his word. He had given everything that his son had been able to extract back to its rightful owner not to mention doubling the tax paid to the Morgan family. Anthony knew his father had done it to teach him a lesson. A lesson that Rocco felt needed to be relearned. The thought of it all angered Anthony beyond belief. He could only imagine what a laugh Joseph and Jason Morgan had at his expense as they lined their pockets with the Malucci's money.
Anthony felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand erect with the thought of Jason and how unmistakably enamored Elizabeth was with him. Anthony's blood was about to boil over as he thought back to how she had lavished praise on Jason for his sizable contribution to the Coronary Care Unit benefit. The recollection of that night had left a bad taste in Anthony's mouth. The original intention of the event was to bring the Malucci family to center stage, but again somehow the Morgans had relegated them to the background.
Anthony felt his fists clench at his sides. The time for letting his father run the family had long since passed. It was now time for him to set forth a new version of the Malucci family justice. A justice that would be fast and furious. A calculated smile filled Anthony's face. Just the mere idea of what he was contemplating brought him such pleasure. To systematically destroy the Morgan Empire piece by piece had Anthony as giddy as a child on Christmas morning.
"Tony," Reggie's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Huh?"
"What gives man?"
"I have a job for you," Anthony answered.
"So you said."
Anthony eyed his friend carefully. He had used Reggie on other occasions when his plans were just beyond the reaches of what his father would have approved of. Anthony knew that Reggie was loyal to him and him alone. In no way could he ever be tied to the Malucci family, which was perfect for the barrage of events Anthony had planned for the Morgans. "Here." Anthony handed Reggie a folder.
"What the hell is this?" the man questioned curiously.
"It's the details of your work assignment," Anthony said in his most business like voice.
Reggie opened the folder and saw the opponents in Anthony's game. First there was the newspaper article on Morgan enterprises generous donation to the upcoming benefit. Jason's photo was front and center. Beneath that came photos and news clippings for each member of the Morgan family. "So what? What's all this?" Reggie was still quite in the dark as to what his friend intended for him to do.
"Those are the people that you will be sure meet with an accident or two," Anthony sneered.
"Accident?" Reggie echoed.
"Yes!" Anthony grew impatient.
"Are you sure you know what you are doing Tony?" Reggie questioned knowing the stakes in this game.
"Of course I know what the fuck I am doing!"
"This is the Morgan family we are talking about here....."
Anthony cut him off before Reggie had a chance to express his apprehensions about messing with the most powerful crime family in Chicago. "What if it is the Morgans? You telling me that this guy scares you?" Anthony thrust the picture of Jason in Reggie's face. "Look at him man! He's never even had to get his hands dirty. I bet he doesn't even know how to fire a god damned gun!!"
Reggie had his doubts about his friend's last remark. He knew of Jason Morgan's reputation and he was certain that Anthony was underestimating him. Reggie stared at his friend not quite sure what to make of his irate display. In the past all the tasks that Anthony had ever asked of him had been beyond the realm of even Mafia law, as skewed as it was. This though Reggie could tell was different and far too personal. That thought had him thinking twice about putting himself between Anthony Malucci and the Morgan family. He couldn't help feeling that no matter the outcome, he would be on the losing end. "It's not that...." Reggie stammered wondering how he could possibly remove himself from Anthony's equation.
"Maybe this will change your tune." Anthony threw the brown leather satchel he had been carrying at Reggie's feet. Cautiously Reggie bent down and undid the bag's gold clasp. There had to be over 100 G's sitting in the bag before him. "There will be another bag to match this one when you have completed the job as assigned."
"What do you want me to do?" Reggie said. The allure of the money had him taking leave of what little senses he had.
Joseph Morgan yawned as he watched the morning sun rise high into the sky. He had watched it lower itself the previous night while the voices of his children had echoed in his head. He was admittedly still baffled by each of their revelations yet AJ's was one that Joseph understood the most. His eldest son had used every opportunity to instruct his father that he wanted no parts of the life Joseph Morgan led.
'I thought we agreed that the hands of this family would never come into contact with anything related to Matthews Construction?'
Joseph could hear his son's words as if he was still standing beside him. AJ Morgan never realized how much his need to denounce all that the Morgan family stood for hurt his father. With that thought, Emily's question also nagged him.
'I never meant that I wanted to be part of your business, but I think I have a right to know why you didn't want AJ involved either. More importantly, Jason has a right to know, too.'
Joseph rubbed his weary eyes, searching for an answer to that remark. He had seriously thought that he had done the right thing by focusing all his energies on Jason. Now, however, Joseph had to consider what he had done to his younger son. Listening to Jason the pervious afternoon as he exploded with fury for his brother had broken Joseph's heart, for he knew that he had been the cause of such anger.
'Oh I see. Jason is getting his way again...'
'GETTING MY OWN WAY?! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING RIGHT?!'
'HARDLY!'
'All I have ever asked for is a life unencumbered by the strings of this world.'
'As far as I can tell you got just that! You are happily married and living the great All-American Dream! What more could you fucking want?! Face it AJ, you can't always get what you want. I have come to finally learn that.'
'Meaning?'
'Meaning that you walked away leaving me holding the bag. You have everything that you want, a wife to love and a life that's completely yours. What do I have? NOTHING!!'
It was that comment that haunted Joseph all night and into the wee hours of the morning. Nothing he did irradiated Jason's tortured voice from his mind as Jason had cried that he had a life filled with nothing. Joseph also recalled how his youngest son scoffed at the idea that he could have a life filled with all the things he felt he had been missing. Joseph truly believed that Jason could have a life filled with all the things that he felt his brother had.
That thought forced Joseph to recall his rather blunt conversation with his daughter. The notion that she could even remotely condone the idea of Jason pursuing Elizabeth Malucci escaped him. He hadn't cared that Emily believed Elizabeth to be unhappy or miserable as she had put it. That wasn't any concern of his. What happened behind the closed gates of the Malucci compound was something for Rocco to worry about. Joseph tried to push the thoughts of Rocco and his condition out of his head but the recollection of Elizabeth's mention of her father in law's chest pains and the look of despair in the young woman's eyes caused his heart to sink. There was no denying the genuine concern he knew that Elizabeth felt for Rocco and it was that concern that endeared Elizabeth Malucci to him and further complicated an already overly complex situation.
Emily had asked him to keep an open mind. How in good conscious could he do that? Joseph knew what a fireball this was in the making. It would only be a matter of time before it would ignite into a full-scale wildfire. He feared once it started there would be nothing he could do to stop it. Joseph looked into his empty coffee cup. He had lost count as to how many times he had filled it previously but made his way to the expansive kitchen just the same hoping to find some elusive answer within its black depths. Just as Joseph was about to round the corner and enter the side door of the kitchen he saw Jason slip in the back entrance of the house. "I see we have been out all night again," Joseph said taking notice of his son's rumpled clothes. Jason felt his shoulders immediately tighten at the sound of his father's voice. "Would you care to explain where the hell you have been all night?"
"Out," Jason offered evasively.
"I can see that."
Jason opened the refrigerator and pulled out a large glass pitcher full of orange juice while he artfully tried to ignore his father's piercing eyes that were boring holes in the back of his head.
"Do you really think if you pretend I'm not here I will magically disappear?" Joseph's voice was even and collected but his anger was building inside.
"No," Jason said curtly finally looking his father square in the face.
"Jason, where were you last night?"
"Out."
"Enough of this nonsense!" Joseph bellowed. "Where did you go after you stormed out of here yesterday and what was that all about with your brother?"
"What was it all about?" Jason repeated. "Weren't you in the same room with us? I'm pretty sure I made my points abundantly clear!"
Both men were clearly speaking in their own riddles, with neither wanting to address the other's obvious questions. "Jason, you know that AJ ..."
"Save it!" Jason said through clenched teeth. He didn't want to hear the same speech recited again.
"JASON!!" The redness entering Joseph's face indicated to Jason that he was beginning to push his father too far.
"What?" Jason questioned innocently.
"Where were you?" Joseph returned to his original question.
"I was at the Drake Hotel if you must know for god sakes!"
"Like hell you were!" his father countered. "I called your penthouse numerous times. There was no answer."
"Did you ever think I just wasn't answering the phone?" Jason said unable to hide his sarcasm.
"Enough of these games Jason! Ronald informed me that your car never left the hotel garage all night, but his morning you turned up in a taxi! Where were you?" Joseph's voice echoed off the tiled kitchen walls.
"What are you having me tailed now? You don't trust your own son?" Jason's voice was a mixture of pure rage and a little fear. Fear at what else his father may have known.
"I keep a check on anyone who I feel is out of control in our organization and as sorry as I am to say this Jason, you are more out of control than you can see."
"This is priceless – just fucking priceless!" Jason seethed. "I'M THE ONE OUT OF CONTROL!? You are so blind Papa that you can't see the only person out of control is the one who you have decided to leave up to the devices of a feeble man on his deathbed. You would rather tail your own son than put a stop to what you know to be happening right under your own nose!!"
"Why must every conversation we have revert back to Anthony Malucci?"
"WHY??"
"Yes, why?"
"Because you are letting him play us for fools. You really think that he's going to take Rocco's returning his ill-gotten gains to us by just lying down? If you do than I think it's your who has lost all sense of reason, not me!"
"I will not have this conversation again with you Jason," Joseph forced. "Anthony and what he does or doesn't do isn't for me to decide. Nor is his punishment. I would no more tolerate Rocco acting against you as he should be acting against his son..."
"THAT'S BULLSHIT!! You know it and I know it. Rocco Malucci is nothing more than a Capo in the Morgan army. This need to let him handle his own crew is all in your head! If this had been any of the other families, the man responsible for stealing from us would be dead by now!" Jason said point blank.
"As would the man sleeping with another man's wife!" Joseph stated firmly.
"Anthony's marriage isn't even a marriage!" Jason heard the words drop from his mouth before he could even stop them. He swallowed hard around the lump in his throat and waited for the next assault from his father.
"So you were with Anthony's wife?" Joseph asked.
"Like I said, he marriage isn't even a marriage," Jason stated again.
"That's not the answer I am looking for. Were you or weren't you with Anthony's wife last night?"
"What if I was?" Jason asked forgoing all pretenses now. Through all his early morning soul searching he knew that as much as letting Elizabeth walk out of his life was the best for all concerned, that wasn't going to happen. So why spend so much time denying his feeling in his own house?
"Jason," Joseph sighed shaking his head. "What have you done?"
"Nothing that Anthony hasn't done to Elizabeth," Jason shot back knowing that was not an answer Joseph Morgan would accept.
"Do you hear yourself? Elizabeth and Anthony are married Jason. Married – do you know what that means?"
"Yes, but might I suggest you try explaining that to her husband. If I recall, not that long ago he was standing in this very house with a woman that we now know wasn't his wife, but it's me who is getting the lecture."
"You can't twist the facts around to suit your own needs son. I don't care what Anthony does or doesn't do. He and Elizabeth are still married and in my book that's all that matters!"
"Does it matter to you at all that Elizabeth's father used her as pawn to save his own sorry ass?"
"What? What are you talking about?"
"I'm saying that Elizabeth was duped. Anthony played the loving suitor just long enough to reel her in."
"Jason, you aren't making any sense," Joseph countered. He was flustered by his son's unwillingness to let this go.
"I'm making perfect sense if you would just listen to me! Elizabeth was nothing more than a means to an end for her father and Anthony. The illustrious Congressman Webber got to keep his ass out of jail and Anthony got to hitch his tarnished Malucci star to a political campaign. Are you starting to see the light now?" Jason mocked.
"None of that excuses you thinking that taking up with another man's wife is acceptable. Not to mention that this woman is Elizabeth Malucci for heaven sakes! That's pure and utter madness. Madness that has to stop! Do you hear me Jason? You have to put an end to this."
"If I don't?" Jason questioned.
"Then I won't be responsible for what happens from this point forward. You are on your own son and god help you." Joseph turned and threw his hands up in defeat. He had seen that determined look in Jason's eyes on more than one occasion and knew there was no changing his son's mind.
Emily stood quietly for a moment waiting to be certain that her father was actually gone. The display she just witnessed saddened her greatly. All the things she had once thought that she knew about the man she called papa were beginning to crumble and fall to pieces. Emily had always believed that for Joseph his children and their happiness came first. Now, however, she was seeing quite a different picture. AJ and she were happy living their lives, but Jason was trapped inside the box that their father had built around him.
Emily thought about the girl who had not so long ago sat across from her on the patio and said that she had had no feelings for Jason. Emily knew that day that Elizabeth had been lying. The adoration that Elizabeth held for Jason was written over every feature of her face that afternoon, in much the same way she had seen her brother's eyes light up the minute Elizabeth entered the room. The one thing that undeniably frightened Emily was Anthony Malucci. As sheltered of a life that Joseph had wanted his daughter to lead, that hadn't stopped her knowledge of just how much both Jason and Anthony despised one another. Given that fact, Emily knew that the pairing of Anthony's wife and Jason was a disaster in the making. She was torn though. Torn by the facts that were so glaringly apparent and the things that her heart knew to be true.
"Jason?" she said softly as she made her way further into the confines of the kitchen.
"What!?" His harsh tone spilled out.
"I wanted to talk to you," she hesitated in an attempt to gauge her brother's ill mood.
"I don't have time right now," he barked.
"I wanted to talk to you about Elizabeth. I couldn't help but overhear what you and Papa were talking about."
"So what – you have come to join the ranks of those who want to tell me what a mistake I am making?"
"No."
"Yeah right!" he scoffed knowing he was being cruel yet unable to disentangle the anger he had for his father in his words to Emily.
"Jason," she gasped.
"What? You know what, I'm not in the mood for another lecture. I have had my fill for one day, so you can save yours for another time. Besides if you were listening, then you know that I'm on my own from now on!" Jason dropped the empty juice glass in the since and made a hasty exit leaving Emily to stare at his retreating back.
It appeared that if she was to get any answers she would have to approach the other half of this budding pair and her father had given her just the cover to do it. Emily picked up the cordless phone that sat on the counter and dialed the Malucci mansion.