Pete's calls echoed through the stale afternoon air. Instinctively,
AJ pushed his wife to the ground and shielded her body with his own. The
hard sound of the steel beam crashing within feet of where they lay
resounded throughout the construction site. Cautiously, AJ turned his head
and stared at the object that had come so close to ending their lives.
Within minutes, the entire site crew found their way to them. AJ heard the
foremen of each crew barking orders and questions over his head, yet he
wasn't able to concentrate of them.
"Are you both okay?" Pete's calm voice and hand reached down to assist the pair and pulled AJ from his confused thoughts.
"Huh?" AJ gave his friend and colleague a bewildered stare.
"Are you and Courtney all right?" Pete questioned again.
The reality that his pregnant wife lying beneath him forced AJ to jump up without thought to his own possible injuries. "OH GOD, COURTNEY!!" Fear and panic consumed AJ as he cradled Courtney in his arms.
"Call for an ambulance!" Pete shouted to another man standing just beyond the group. He knew that this situation required him to be the voice of reason since AJ was certainly not capable of such logic at the moment.
"Courtney, baby....." AJ took his hand and wiped the dirt from her face. "Courtney, baby, can you hear me?" AJ choked on his threatening tears.
"AJ?" Courtney barely spoke above a whisper.
"Don't move," Pete instructed as he watched AJ's wife attempt to sit up.
"What happened?" Courtney licked her parched lips, tasting dirt from where her face made contact with the dusty ground.
"There... ... I ... ...," AJ stammered not having an answer. He felt Courtney stiffened under his grasp. "Court? What's the matter?" His eyes ran the length of her body as they searched for any visible signs of injury. Another wave of pain ripped through her abdomen, as Courtney bit hard on her lip. Tears filled her eyes. She knew something was wrong, but she couldn't find the words to say aloud what she knew in her heart was happening within her body. "Honey, what? What is it?" AJ's voice grew frantic as he watched his wife's face contort in agony again. Courtney grabbed her husband's hand and squeezed it with all she had in her. "WHERE'S THAT DAMN AMBULANCE!?" AJ shouted to those that stood around watching helplessly. "Hang in there sweetie. Just hold on." AJ leaned in and kissed her forehead in a vain attempt to calm not only her fears but also his own.
"I'm scared," Courtney said as the tears continued to silently roll down his cheeks.
Joseph and Jason stormed through the swinging doors of the emergency room. Neither man had said a thing in their short trip from the Morgan compound to the hospital, yet each had a variety of rapid thoughts bombarding them.
"I received a phone call regarding an accident on one of the Matthews Constructions job sites. I am looking for AJ and Courtney Morgan."
Jason watched his father in amazement. Joseph Morgan was cool, calm and collected. All of those things were something that Jason could have never pulled off at that moment. The word 'accident' again came to sit in his mind's eye. Jason couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't an accident any more than what had happened to his parents the previous night had been.
"The doctor is in with them both. We can see them as soon as he's finished his examination," Joseph told his son. Jason stared out the ER window, but he wasn't really seeing anything. His mind was focused on what Anthony Malucci had in store for the rest of the Morgan family, not to mention Elizabeth. "Jason," Joseph rested his hand on his son's shoulder.
"What?"
"Would you like a cup of coffee?"
"Sure." Jason couldn't help but wonder where the sharp-tongued man from such a short time ago had vanished to. It was as if their argument from before the phone rang ceased to exist. For Jason though, his concerns regarding Anthony Malucci were now even more founded. Joseph handed Jason a steaming cup of coffee from the vending machine that sat at the end of the corridor. "Thank you," Jason responded. "Were either of them badly hurt?" he asked referring to his brother and sister in law.
"From what I could gather, there weren't seriously injured. Thank god for that," Joseph sighed.
"That's good to know." Jason eyed his father cautiously. He wanted to discuss his suspicions but he needed to do it in such a way that their conversation wouldn't cause another volcanic eruption from his father. "Papa?" he began hesitantly.
"Yes?" Joseph sipped his coffee with his eyes trained on the swinging doors. He hoped that his intent stare would elicit the doctor's presence.
"I know this isn't something you are going to want to discuss, but I can't stand here in conscience and say nothing. We need to put a stop to Anthony before any more harm comes to our family."
Joseph shot a dagger filled look at his son. "I will not discuss this here!"
"Why?" Jason countered with exasperation.
"AJ and Courtney could have been gravely injured ... ..."
"That's exactly my point!" Jason interjected before Joseph could continue. "If you haven't noticed, Anthony is systematically picking us off one by one. I, for one, don't want to wait to see who will be next!"
"Let's be honest here Jason. The only person who you are concerned that Anthony will harm is your precious Elizabeth!" Joseph's voice contained more venom than he intended, but the fire from within him couldn't be contained.
Jason couldn't say a word. He only stared at his father in disbelief. Joseph's words had torn a hole in his Jason's heart. "You really think that little of me?" Jason walked away, not wishing to continue beating his already battered body against his father's stone wall of thinking.
Joseph looked on as Jason stormed away from him. Methodically, he found himself piecing Jason's version of events into a reasonable sense of order. Joseph knew all of this pointed directly at Anthony Malucci. Anthony was a hot head who thought the rules of the Borgata didn't apply to him. Joseph shook his head, now wondering if Jason wasn't falling into the same trap. His youngest son certainly wasn't following the code of honor that he had been taught from an early age. Jason's attraction to Anthony's wife wasn't something that Joseph could tolerate, but Rocco's urgent request to keep Elizabeth safe from Anthony's rage picked at him from the back of his mind. They were like two warring forces and Joseph had to question just how many more casualties there might be before all was said and done.
AJ's mind wandered as he lay in the cubicle next to Courtney. He listened intently to the sounds coming from behind the makeshift walls that surrounded her, yet nothing intelligible met his ears. He felt the unshed tears he had been forcing down inside himself finally come forth to now sting his eyes. The images of pain that Courtney had worn on her face just before the ambulance arrived terrified him. In his head AJ knew for all intents and purposes what was happening to his wife, but his heart and the love he already harbored for the child she was carrying wouldn't let him think such thoughts.
He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the tiny table. AJ could already feel the stiffness invading his body. The reverberation of the heavy steel beam hitting the ground beside them rang in his ears. In all of his years on construction sites, nothing of this magnitude had ever happened. He couldn't conceive of how it had occurred this time either. He and Courtney's father, Jack, were always so cautious when it came to the security on their sites. This accident didn't make any sense to AJ at all.
"Mr. Morgan," the nurse's voice startled AJ.
"Yes?" he held his breath.
"You can go in and see your wife now. The doctor will be in shortly to speak with you both."
AJ's eyes implored the portly woman to give him more information, yet she remained silent. It was a silence that had AJ fearing the worst. He hesitated at the front of the cubicle. Suddenly, his hands did not feel ready to push away the thin curtain that separated him from his wife. AJ finally pasted on a smile and walked in. "Courtney?" his voice cracked with the single word of her name. He received no response from her. Courtney only continued to stare at the wall to her left. "Courtney," AJ stepped further into the space and eased himself onto the small rolling stool next to the bed. "Sweetie?" AJ heard the trembling of his own voice, and Courtney's silence spoke volumes to him. He reached out to gently stroke her arm. "Courtney?"
Finally she slowly turned to face him. Her once crystal blue eyes were traced with red from her tears. AJ swallowed hard around the lump in his throat, suddenly losing his resolve to be strong for his wife. Before he could even begin to speak, Courtney's tears summoned him closer. Being careful not to jar his own arm, which hung in a sling, AJ cradled his wife against his chest. The sound of the doctor clearing his throat forced AJ to look up, but he hadn't wanted to. He would have preferred to remain oblivious to the facts that this man in the white coat was about to tell them. AJ didn't want to hear that in a split second all that he and Courtney had dreamed of had been taken away.
Jason threw open the swinging doors to the ambulance bay with great force. His pent up rage at his father now spilled forth freely. The idea that Jason's affair with Elizabeth had somehow been the cause of all of this baffled him. He had to wonder where his father had been during all of those times prior to this moment, prior to Jason evening knowing whom Anthony's wife even was. How had it been so easy for Joseph to forget how vehemently Anthony despised all of the Morgan family, not just Jason alone?
Jason paced back and forth in the ambulance bay looking for a way to crack his father's perception of all this. Jason wasn't disputing the fact that what he was doing with Elizabeth would certainly add fuel to Anthony's fire, but it hadn't been the spark that had ignited this bonfire. It was then that Jason let his mind focus on Elizabeth. He couldn't squash the feelings he had for her. He had tried unsuccessfully to do just that, but he was drawn to her in a way he couldn't find words to explain. The thought that Anthony could harm her along with the rest of Jason's family sent chills down his spine. He turned around and took a deep breath. Jason had to make his father see that Anthony and Anthony alone was the problem here. A problem that needed to be irradiated right here, right now.
Joseph sat in the emergency room waiting area wringing his hands. There still have been no word on either AJ or Courtney. Jason saw the look of worry etched on his father's face. "Papa?" Jason said quietly.
"Jason...." Joseph sighed, "I don't have neither the patience or the energy to debate this with you anymore."
"I think you need to make the time," Jason countered somberly.
"Why is it that you aren't hearing me Jason?" Joseph shot back with a harsh tone.
"Oh I am hearing you. I think you are the one who isn't hearing me!" Jason retorted, feeling as if he had just stepped back on this endless carousel ride with his father. "Anthony has been gunning for our family for longer than I can remember. He's looking to take what he thinks is rightfully his... ..."
"ELIZABETH IS RIGHTFULLY HIS!!" Joseph nearly shouted.
"Why are you so damned blind to the fact that this has nothing to do with Elizabeth? It's just a convenient excuse for him!"
"YOU ARE SLEEPING WITH HIS WIFE!! HE DOESN'T NEED AN EXCUSE!!"
"What did you just say?" AJ's voice stopped the two men cold.
"How are you son?" Joseph came forward leaving his argument with Jason behind him. "Where's Courtney? How is she?" Joseph asked as he looked around.
"What were you and Jason just saying?" AJ questioned again.
"Never mind that, how are you?"
"Jason?" AJ looked over his father's shoulder at his brother.
"Papa's right, how are you and Courtney? What happened at the site?" Jason asked cautiously.
"What were you talking about?" AJ pressed.
"Nothing that concerns you, really. Here sit down." Joseph offered AJ a seat.
"My wife and I just lost our baby. I think that the 'family business'," AJ quipped, "very much concerns me!!"
"WHAT!?" Joseph gasped in horror as he shot a hated look in Jason's direction. "Courtney lost the baby?" Joseph repeated AJ's words in disbelief.
"Yes," AJ whispered the reality of his words still not truly hitting him. "Up until now, Matthews Construction hasn't had one accident on any of our job sites. Somehow I can't help but think that 'la familia' and its warped sense of justice played a part in all of this!" AJ said as his angry eyes shot between his brother and father.
Jason felt the world spin violently beneath his feet. AJ's statement bantered around in his mind and he felt as though he was about to vomit. Anthony hadn't been successful in getting rid of the two eldest Morgan men, but he had ensured that the next Morgan generation was stopped before it had ever even started. Jason felt a tear trickle down his cheek for his brother's loss.
"YOU – YOU DID THIS!!" Joseph was blinded by his fury. Jason stood dumbfounded, unable to say a word. "ANTHONY'S ATTACK ON OUR FAMILY IS YOUR FAULT, JASON!! YOU AND YOUR NEED TO FUCK HIS WIFE!!" Joseph had lost all sense of reason. The loss of his first grandchild had him feeling as though he was in some sort of suspended animation. Jason's role, or what Joseph thought to be Jason's role, in all of this was all that he was able to see.
"Is what Papa says true? You are responsible for this?" AJ lifted his head and stared at Jason almost stunned by the notion that his own brother could have played even a small part in this nightmare.
"NO!!" Jason gasped. He truly believed his words, however the men before him carried far different expressions.
"I nearly lost my wife and I did lose my child. All of this happened because you couldn't keep your goddamn pants on!?!" AJ's voice shook with anger.
"That's not true!" Jason shot back.
"The hell it isn't! Do you hate me that much?" AJ questioned.
"What?" Jason looked at his brother with a quizzical expression, not understanding what AJ was asking him.
"Do you hate me so much for leaving you holding the bag that you would go out and look for a way to steal what you thought should have been yours?!" AJ was consumed by the anguish he felt over losing his child. He couldn't make sense out of any of this. Previous conversations regarding Anthony Malucci mixed with the words that were now being spoken until AJ wasn't able to think straight. The one thing that stood out in his mind was the way Courtney looked when the doctor confirmed what they had already known. Her agony and his own pain were the only things that were pushing AJ forward at the moment.
Jason suddenly felt as if the world was swallowing him alive. His head screamed that he wasn't the bad guy in all of this. His heart broke with the idea that his father and brother thought that he would intentionally bring harm to his own family in any way. "I'm not to blame for this!" he screamed as though he was a small child again. "I'm not the one out to destroy this family!" Jason ached for them to understand. "Why are you so blind to the fact that Anthony has been a threat to us from the first time he thought that his family, not ours, should have been on top? Papa," Jason nearly pleaded with his father, "you know that I speak the truth. Anthony has been looking for this opening for years. He sees opportunity in his father's impending death. He sees it in the fact that you are so damned loyal to Rocco. Anthony knows that you won't clip Rocco's only son!"
"You benefit from that loyalty as well!!" Joseph interrupted. "I am sure that's why you are still standing before us now. Rocco would no more let Anthony harm you than I would you him."
"Don't you see that he's doing just that?!?" Jason threw his hands up in the air, frustrated by his father's tunnel vision. "Are you telling me that Anthony's attempts on the lives of this family are sanctioned by Rocco?"
"NO!" Joseph shot back.
"So, then my thoughts are right. Anthony is looking for his opening and if he can't find it, well, it appears he's willing to make his own."
Joseph leaned into the stiff plastic chair and covered his face with his hands in the hopes that when he removed them this would all be just a bad dream. He had so many jumbled emotions running rampant through him that Joseph couldn't differentiate what was possible fact from what was pure fiction.
"I will take my part in all of this but you have to accept yours as well, Papa. None of that matters now anyhow. What does matter is that Anthony is careless. Careless so much so that he has cost this family a child. I know you, Papa. I know the codes. Women and children are always protected. They are virtually off limes. Anthony has ignored that on both accounts. He is a menace. A menace who needs to be stopped dead in his tracks!" Jason said matter of fact.
Joseph rested his hand gently on AJ's knee. His eldest son had lost a possible son today through no fault of his own. Joseph had gone out of his way to insulate AJ from all aspects of the business. Everyone in his circle knew that AJ and his family were never to be touched. Today, Anthony Malucci had changed all of that. Retribution was necessary. Going about exacting that retribution would be a delicate matter, however it was one that Joseph needed to sort out on his own.
"Does that mean that you will stop pursuing Anthony's wife?" Joseph asked calmly.
"You expect me to leave her unprotected?" Jason asked incredulously. "WE all know what Anthony is capable of. I certainly can't leave Elizabeth whipping in the wind."
"Oh – but you can do that to your own flesh and blood?!" AJ growled.
"AJ," Jason cried, "I am truly sorry... ..."
"SORRY!?! SORRY – that's all you can say? Courtney lost a baby today and all you can think about is what might happen to your precious goomah."
"Elizabeth's not ... ..."
"ENOUGH!" Joseph barked. "Both of you, that's enough. Jason, I think it would be best if you left AJ and I alone for a while."
"What about Anthony?" Jason asked.
"Trust me Jason. I will handle what needs to be done," Joseph asserted.
Jason eyed his father carefully. "Trust you?" he thought to himself. Not more than thirty seconds earlier the man he called father had wanted his head on a chopping block and now that same man was telling him to trust him. Jason wasn't so sure he could do that.
"Are you both okay?" Pete's calm voice and hand reached down to assist the pair and pulled AJ from his confused thoughts.
"Huh?" AJ gave his friend and colleague a bewildered stare.
"Are you and Courtney all right?" Pete questioned again.
The reality that his pregnant wife lying beneath him forced AJ to jump up without thought to his own possible injuries. "OH GOD, COURTNEY!!" Fear and panic consumed AJ as he cradled Courtney in his arms.
"Call for an ambulance!" Pete shouted to another man standing just beyond the group. He knew that this situation required him to be the voice of reason since AJ was certainly not capable of such logic at the moment.
"Courtney, baby....." AJ took his hand and wiped the dirt from her face. "Courtney, baby, can you hear me?" AJ choked on his threatening tears.
"AJ?" Courtney barely spoke above a whisper.
"Don't move," Pete instructed as he watched AJ's wife attempt to sit up.
"What happened?" Courtney licked her parched lips, tasting dirt from where her face made contact with the dusty ground.
"There... ... I ... ...," AJ stammered not having an answer. He felt Courtney stiffened under his grasp. "Court? What's the matter?" His eyes ran the length of her body as they searched for any visible signs of injury. Another wave of pain ripped through her abdomen, as Courtney bit hard on her lip. Tears filled her eyes. She knew something was wrong, but she couldn't find the words to say aloud what she knew in her heart was happening within her body. "Honey, what? What is it?" AJ's voice grew frantic as he watched his wife's face contort in agony again. Courtney grabbed her husband's hand and squeezed it with all she had in her. "WHERE'S THAT DAMN AMBULANCE!?" AJ shouted to those that stood around watching helplessly. "Hang in there sweetie. Just hold on." AJ leaned in and kissed her forehead in a vain attempt to calm not only her fears but also his own.
"I'm scared," Courtney said as the tears continued to silently roll down his cheeks.
Joseph and Jason stormed through the swinging doors of the emergency room. Neither man had said a thing in their short trip from the Morgan compound to the hospital, yet each had a variety of rapid thoughts bombarding them.
"I received a phone call regarding an accident on one of the Matthews Constructions job sites. I am looking for AJ and Courtney Morgan."
Jason watched his father in amazement. Joseph Morgan was cool, calm and collected. All of those things were something that Jason could have never pulled off at that moment. The word 'accident' again came to sit in his mind's eye. Jason couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't an accident any more than what had happened to his parents the previous night had been.
"The doctor is in with them both. We can see them as soon as he's finished his examination," Joseph told his son. Jason stared out the ER window, but he wasn't really seeing anything. His mind was focused on what Anthony Malucci had in store for the rest of the Morgan family, not to mention Elizabeth. "Jason," Joseph rested his hand on his son's shoulder.
"What?"
"Would you like a cup of coffee?"
"Sure." Jason couldn't help but wonder where the sharp-tongued man from such a short time ago had vanished to. It was as if their argument from before the phone rang ceased to exist. For Jason though, his concerns regarding Anthony Malucci were now even more founded. Joseph handed Jason a steaming cup of coffee from the vending machine that sat at the end of the corridor. "Thank you," Jason responded. "Were either of them badly hurt?" he asked referring to his brother and sister in law.
"From what I could gather, there weren't seriously injured. Thank god for that," Joseph sighed.
"That's good to know." Jason eyed his father cautiously. He wanted to discuss his suspicions but he needed to do it in such a way that their conversation wouldn't cause another volcanic eruption from his father. "Papa?" he began hesitantly.
"Yes?" Joseph sipped his coffee with his eyes trained on the swinging doors. He hoped that his intent stare would elicit the doctor's presence.
"I know this isn't something you are going to want to discuss, but I can't stand here in conscience and say nothing. We need to put a stop to Anthony before any more harm comes to our family."
Joseph shot a dagger filled look at his son. "I will not discuss this here!"
"Why?" Jason countered with exasperation.
"AJ and Courtney could have been gravely injured ... ..."
"That's exactly my point!" Jason interjected before Joseph could continue. "If you haven't noticed, Anthony is systematically picking us off one by one. I, for one, don't want to wait to see who will be next!"
"Let's be honest here Jason. The only person who you are concerned that Anthony will harm is your precious Elizabeth!" Joseph's voice contained more venom than he intended, but the fire from within him couldn't be contained.
Jason couldn't say a word. He only stared at his father in disbelief. Joseph's words had torn a hole in his Jason's heart. "You really think that little of me?" Jason walked away, not wishing to continue beating his already battered body against his father's stone wall of thinking.
Joseph looked on as Jason stormed away from him. Methodically, he found himself piecing Jason's version of events into a reasonable sense of order. Joseph knew all of this pointed directly at Anthony Malucci. Anthony was a hot head who thought the rules of the Borgata didn't apply to him. Joseph shook his head, now wondering if Jason wasn't falling into the same trap. His youngest son certainly wasn't following the code of honor that he had been taught from an early age. Jason's attraction to Anthony's wife wasn't something that Joseph could tolerate, but Rocco's urgent request to keep Elizabeth safe from Anthony's rage picked at him from the back of his mind. They were like two warring forces and Joseph had to question just how many more casualties there might be before all was said and done.
AJ's mind wandered as he lay in the cubicle next to Courtney. He listened intently to the sounds coming from behind the makeshift walls that surrounded her, yet nothing intelligible met his ears. He felt the unshed tears he had been forcing down inside himself finally come forth to now sting his eyes. The images of pain that Courtney had worn on her face just before the ambulance arrived terrified him. In his head AJ knew for all intents and purposes what was happening to his wife, but his heart and the love he already harbored for the child she was carrying wouldn't let him think such thoughts.
He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the tiny table. AJ could already feel the stiffness invading his body. The reverberation of the heavy steel beam hitting the ground beside them rang in his ears. In all of his years on construction sites, nothing of this magnitude had ever happened. He couldn't conceive of how it had occurred this time either. He and Courtney's father, Jack, were always so cautious when it came to the security on their sites. This accident didn't make any sense to AJ at all.
"Mr. Morgan," the nurse's voice startled AJ.
"Yes?" he held his breath.
"You can go in and see your wife now. The doctor will be in shortly to speak with you both."
AJ's eyes implored the portly woman to give him more information, yet she remained silent. It was a silence that had AJ fearing the worst. He hesitated at the front of the cubicle. Suddenly, his hands did not feel ready to push away the thin curtain that separated him from his wife. AJ finally pasted on a smile and walked in. "Courtney?" his voice cracked with the single word of her name. He received no response from her. Courtney only continued to stare at the wall to her left. "Courtney," AJ stepped further into the space and eased himself onto the small rolling stool next to the bed. "Sweetie?" AJ heard the trembling of his own voice, and Courtney's silence spoke volumes to him. He reached out to gently stroke her arm. "Courtney?"
Finally she slowly turned to face him. Her once crystal blue eyes were traced with red from her tears. AJ swallowed hard around the lump in his throat, suddenly losing his resolve to be strong for his wife. Before he could even begin to speak, Courtney's tears summoned him closer. Being careful not to jar his own arm, which hung in a sling, AJ cradled his wife against his chest. The sound of the doctor clearing his throat forced AJ to look up, but he hadn't wanted to. He would have preferred to remain oblivious to the facts that this man in the white coat was about to tell them. AJ didn't want to hear that in a split second all that he and Courtney had dreamed of had been taken away.
Jason threw open the swinging doors to the ambulance bay with great force. His pent up rage at his father now spilled forth freely. The idea that Jason's affair with Elizabeth had somehow been the cause of all of this baffled him. He had to wonder where his father had been during all of those times prior to this moment, prior to Jason evening knowing whom Anthony's wife even was. How had it been so easy for Joseph to forget how vehemently Anthony despised all of the Morgan family, not just Jason alone?
Jason paced back and forth in the ambulance bay looking for a way to crack his father's perception of all this. Jason wasn't disputing the fact that what he was doing with Elizabeth would certainly add fuel to Anthony's fire, but it hadn't been the spark that had ignited this bonfire. It was then that Jason let his mind focus on Elizabeth. He couldn't squash the feelings he had for her. He had tried unsuccessfully to do just that, but he was drawn to her in a way he couldn't find words to explain. The thought that Anthony could harm her along with the rest of Jason's family sent chills down his spine. He turned around and took a deep breath. Jason had to make his father see that Anthony and Anthony alone was the problem here. A problem that needed to be irradiated right here, right now.
Joseph sat in the emergency room waiting area wringing his hands. There still have been no word on either AJ or Courtney. Jason saw the look of worry etched on his father's face. "Papa?" Jason said quietly.
"Jason...." Joseph sighed, "I don't have neither the patience or the energy to debate this with you anymore."
"I think you need to make the time," Jason countered somberly.
"Why is it that you aren't hearing me Jason?" Joseph shot back with a harsh tone.
"Oh I am hearing you. I think you are the one who isn't hearing me!" Jason retorted, feeling as if he had just stepped back on this endless carousel ride with his father. "Anthony has been gunning for our family for longer than I can remember. He's looking to take what he thinks is rightfully his... ..."
"ELIZABETH IS RIGHTFULLY HIS!!" Joseph nearly shouted.
"Why are you so damned blind to the fact that this has nothing to do with Elizabeth? It's just a convenient excuse for him!"
"YOU ARE SLEEPING WITH HIS WIFE!! HE DOESN'T NEED AN EXCUSE!!"
"What did you just say?" AJ's voice stopped the two men cold.
"How are you son?" Joseph came forward leaving his argument with Jason behind him. "Where's Courtney? How is she?" Joseph asked as he looked around.
"What were you and Jason just saying?" AJ questioned again.
"Never mind that, how are you?"
"Jason?" AJ looked over his father's shoulder at his brother.
"Papa's right, how are you and Courtney? What happened at the site?" Jason asked cautiously.
"What were you talking about?" AJ pressed.
"Nothing that concerns you, really. Here sit down." Joseph offered AJ a seat.
"My wife and I just lost our baby. I think that the 'family business'," AJ quipped, "very much concerns me!!"
"WHAT!?" Joseph gasped in horror as he shot a hated look in Jason's direction. "Courtney lost the baby?" Joseph repeated AJ's words in disbelief.
"Yes," AJ whispered the reality of his words still not truly hitting him. "Up until now, Matthews Construction hasn't had one accident on any of our job sites. Somehow I can't help but think that 'la familia' and its warped sense of justice played a part in all of this!" AJ said as his angry eyes shot between his brother and father.
Jason felt the world spin violently beneath his feet. AJ's statement bantered around in his mind and he felt as though he was about to vomit. Anthony hadn't been successful in getting rid of the two eldest Morgan men, but he had ensured that the next Morgan generation was stopped before it had ever even started. Jason felt a tear trickle down his cheek for his brother's loss.
"YOU – YOU DID THIS!!" Joseph was blinded by his fury. Jason stood dumbfounded, unable to say a word. "ANTHONY'S ATTACK ON OUR FAMILY IS YOUR FAULT, JASON!! YOU AND YOUR NEED TO FUCK HIS WIFE!!" Joseph had lost all sense of reason. The loss of his first grandchild had him feeling as though he was in some sort of suspended animation. Jason's role, or what Joseph thought to be Jason's role, in all of this was all that he was able to see.
"Is what Papa says true? You are responsible for this?" AJ lifted his head and stared at Jason almost stunned by the notion that his own brother could have played even a small part in this nightmare.
"NO!!" Jason gasped. He truly believed his words, however the men before him carried far different expressions.
"I nearly lost my wife and I did lose my child. All of this happened because you couldn't keep your goddamn pants on!?!" AJ's voice shook with anger.
"That's not true!" Jason shot back.
"The hell it isn't! Do you hate me that much?" AJ questioned.
"What?" Jason looked at his brother with a quizzical expression, not understanding what AJ was asking him.
"Do you hate me so much for leaving you holding the bag that you would go out and look for a way to steal what you thought should have been yours?!" AJ was consumed by the anguish he felt over losing his child. He couldn't make sense out of any of this. Previous conversations regarding Anthony Malucci mixed with the words that were now being spoken until AJ wasn't able to think straight. The one thing that stood out in his mind was the way Courtney looked when the doctor confirmed what they had already known. Her agony and his own pain were the only things that were pushing AJ forward at the moment.
Jason suddenly felt as if the world was swallowing him alive. His head screamed that he wasn't the bad guy in all of this. His heart broke with the idea that his father and brother thought that he would intentionally bring harm to his own family in any way. "I'm not to blame for this!" he screamed as though he was a small child again. "I'm not the one out to destroy this family!" Jason ached for them to understand. "Why are you so blind to the fact that Anthony has been a threat to us from the first time he thought that his family, not ours, should have been on top? Papa," Jason nearly pleaded with his father, "you know that I speak the truth. Anthony has been looking for this opening for years. He sees opportunity in his father's impending death. He sees it in the fact that you are so damned loyal to Rocco. Anthony knows that you won't clip Rocco's only son!"
"You benefit from that loyalty as well!!" Joseph interrupted. "I am sure that's why you are still standing before us now. Rocco would no more let Anthony harm you than I would you him."
"Don't you see that he's doing just that?!?" Jason threw his hands up in the air, frustrated by his father's tunnel vision. "Are you telling me that Anthony's attempts on the lives of this family are sanctioned by Rocco?"
"NO!" Joseph shot back.
"So, then my thoughts are right. Anthony is looking for his opening and if he can't find it, well, it appears he's willing to make his own."
Joseph leaned into the stiff plastic chair and covered his face with his hands in the hopes that when he removed them this would all be just a bad dream. He had so many jumbled emotions running rampant through him that Joseph couldn't differentiate what was possible fact from what was pure fiction.
"I will take my part in all of this but you have to accept yours as well, Papa. None of that matters now anyhow. What does matter is that Anthony is careless. Careless so much so that he has cost this family a child. I know you, Papa. I know the codes. Women and children are always protected. They are virtually off limes. Anthony has ignored that on both accounts. He is a menace. A menace who needs to be stopped dead in his tracks!" Jason said matter of fact.
Joseph rested his hand gently on AJ's knee. His eldest son had lost a possible son today through no fault of his own. Joseph had gone out of his way to insulate AJ from all aspects of the business. Everyone in his circle knew that AJ and his family were never to be touched. Today, Anthony Malucci had changed all of that. Retribution was necessary. Going about exacting that retribution would be a delicate matter, however it was one that Joseph needed to sort out on his own.
"Does that mean that you will stop pursuing Anthony's wife?" Joseph asked calmly.
"You expect me to leave her unprotected?" Jason asked incredulously. "WE all know what Anthony is capable of. I certainly can't leave Elizabeth whipping in the wind."
"Oh – but you can do that to your own flesh and blood?!" AJ growled.
"AJ," Jason cried, "I am truly sorry... ..."
"SORRY!?! SORRY – that's all you can say? Courtney lost a baby today and all you can think about is what might happen to your precious goomah."
"Elizabeth's not ... ..."
"ENOUGH!" Joseph barked. "Both of you, that's enough. Jason, I think it would be best if you left AJ and I alone for a while."
"What about Anthony?" Jason asked.
"Trust me Jason. I will handle what needs to be done," Joseph asserted.
Jason eyed his father carefully. "Trust you?" he thought to himself. Not more than thirty seconds earlier the man he called father had wanted his head on a chopping block and now that same man was telling him to trust him. Jason wasn't so sure he could do that.