As Jason walked away from his heated conversation with Johnny, he was unable to shake the foreboding feeling that hung over him. With a quick glance, he looked back to where he had just been expecting to see some menacing force nipping at his heels.
"Emily," he said as he caught sight of his sister.
"Jason?" Her confusion about his presence at the hospital was apparent. "What are you doing here?" she questioned.
"Johnny called me."
"Johnny?" Emily stared at Jason curiously. "Why would Johnny call you?" How could he have known... ..."
"Never mind that," he brushed off her inquiries. "How are you?" He reached out to gently touch her arm that was wrapped in an ace bandage.
"I'm fine. Nothing is broken. It's merely a sprain. I jammed my wrist on impact, but the doctor says I should be good as new in a few days. How's Elizabeth? I couldn't get anyone to tell me anything about her condition."
"How did the accident happen?" Jason asked avoiding any conversation that even remotely included Elizabeth Malucci.
"How does any accident happen?" Emily countered.
"I want to know every detail of what went on before you were forced to slam your car into the fire hydrant."
"Jason, what's going on?" Emily asked. Her brother's insistence had peaked her curiosity.
"Emily please," he sighed. The events of the previous days had worn his nerves to a frazzle.
"Okay," she relented for the moment. "There's really not much to tell. The brakes on the car weren't working. I tried a few tricks that Papa taught me, but they didn't help much either. So, I decided that taking the car up onto the curb and into that hydrant was a better alternative."
"Better than what?"
"It was better than rear ending the line of cars that were already stopped on the street."
"Cars stopped on the street?" Jason asked.
"Yes," she winced. As much as Emily hated to admit it, the pain in her wrist was beginning to get the better of her and Jason's rapid questions weren't making things any easier.
"Why were they stopped in front of you?"
"Like I know, Jason!" Emily shot back angrily. "What's going on with you? It was nothing more than an accident."
"You mean like that accident the claimed the life of AJ's child, or how about the near miss that Mama and Papa had the night they went to the theater? You don't find it just a little strange that in the span of about a week, three members of this family had met with some unfortunate accident?" Jason scoffed at how naïve his sister was suddenly being. "Let's not forget also that all of our cars are serviced on a regular basis. If there had been something wrong with your brakes, then that problem would have been taken care of right away." Jason covered his face with his hands and collected his ragged thoughts. He had divulged more about this situation than he had intended to, but the barrage of actions that had been predicated against his family had Jason dizzy.
Emily closed her eyes and expelled a labored sigh. She didn't want to believe what Jason was suggesting but in her heart she knew it to be the truth. "So, what do you think is really going on?"
"I believe that we are being attacked."
"What are you and Papa planning on doing about it?" Emily asked bluntly more like the intuitive sister Jason knew her to be.
"I have no idea what Papa has in mind – but as for me, I plan on lopping off the head of the beast before he comes after us again!"
"Just who is the beast you are talking about?" Emily asked knowing full well the answer to her question.
"You don't need to be concerned with that," Jason countered as he looked down the long corridor. His mind suddenly focused on what Anthony's demise would mean, both for Elizabeth and himself. Jason knew the rules of the game well. He knew that in the eyes of the other families, the crimes against the Morgan family would appear to be warranted given the fact that Jason was sleeping with Anthony's wife. He would still come out the loser, even in the victory of ridding himself of his rival and he would lose Elizabeth as well. Jason clenched his jaw as he attempted to hold back the fury that filled him.
"Jason?" Emily touched his shoulder.
"Yes?"
"How is Elizabeth? I know that she was unconscious in the ambulance. Is she all right?" Emily asked.
"I believe so."
"Then you have seen her?" Jason looked away from his sister's all knowing eyes. "Jason?" she prodded again.
"Yes, I've seen Elizabeth," he said as he let out an exasperated sigh.
"I knew you still were in love with her. You weren't about to fool me with that act of yours." Emily almost gloated.
"Of course I care about her. For god sakes look at the monster she is married to," Jason argued. He was unable to admit the love he held for Elizabeth into the open spaces that surrounded him.
"Jason," Emily stroked his face softly. "it's okay to love her." He nearly snorted at that thought. It was far from okay but love Elizabeth he did. No matter how hard he tried, there wasn't a damn thing he could do to squash his feelings for her. "I have to go to the hospital pharmacy to get this prescription filled. Why don't you go check on her for me while I am gone, please?" Emily knew that her request would give Jason the opening he needed to see Elizabeth again.
"I don't think... ..."
"Please, I was the one driving the car. I need to be sure that she is all right."
"Emily,"
Jason," she returned his irritated tone with one of her own.
"Fine," he grumbled as he made his way back to Elizabeth's room.
Anthony stood in the hallway and watched his wife through the thin glass strip in the door. His body was filled with a myriad of emotions that he hadn't expected to feel. While Elizabeth had always been a means to an end for him, he couldn't deny that he loved her in the deepest recesses of his soul. The instant that he had received the call that she had been involved in some sort of accident, his heart nearly had leapt out of his chest. There was a panic that had raced through his body and the sensation was so foreign to him that he had needed to sit back and catch his breath. As he now stood outside of her room watching her resting comfortably he tried to reconcile his rush of emotions toward her as more anger than love. It angered him that if something had happened to her he would have lost the leverage he had over her. That leverage would provide Anthony with all the ammunition he needed to irradiate his enemy.
"I see you have learned the consequences of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, my dear," Anthony sneered as he pushed open the swinging door that stood between them.
"What are you doing here?" Elizabeth tried to hide the panic that crept into her voice. She knew that Jason was wandering around the halls of the Emergency Department. The last thing any of them needed right now was a confrontation.
"My wife has been in a car accident. Where else would you expect me to be but by her side?" he said with mock concern.
"YEAH RIGHT!" she barked. "Are you sure that you just aren't here to see the fruits of your labor?"
"Excuse me?"
"I know that you were behind this," Elizabeth said without a trace of fear in her voice. It was as if Jason's admission of his love for her had brought her strength from within.
"I think that bump on your head has scrambled your brain, Elizabeth."
Jason stopped dead in his tracks as his eyes rested on the sight of Anthony's form towering over Elizabeth. He clenched his fists at his sides and gathered his senses. Jason's first reaction was to burst into the room, scoop Elizabeth up in his arms and whisk her as far away from Anthony as he could get her. However, he knew that scenario wasn't an option at all, as he assembled what little control he still wielded over his emotions and stepped into the room. "Oh excuse me," Jason feigned surprise at not finding Elizabeth alone. Anthony's gaze was drawn to the sound of Jason's voice. He cocked his head and gave Jason a quizzical look. "I'm sorry," Jason swallowed hard around those words as they choked him. "Emily asked that I check on Elizabeth and make sure she was all right."
"She's fine!" Anthony answered gruffly. "No thanks to your sister's inability to drive." Anthony had just baited the hook.
"It wasn't Emily's fault," Elizabeth interjected sensing where her husband and his snide remarks were headed.
"Well then, I will let Emily know that you are fine," Jason answered. He couldn't exit the room fast enough. He wasn't about to let Anthony draw him into an inevitable confrontation.
"Seems like the Morgans are having a run of bad luck wouldn't you say?" Anthony smiled as his remark stopped Jason dead.
"Bad luck?" he echoed.
"Yes, bad luck."
"You know as well as I do that bad luck has nothing to do with it!" Jason growled.
"What could it be then? I certainly know how respected and revered the Morgan family is within the organization. No one would ever think to cross you or Joseph for that matter."" Anthony's ego was getting the better of him at the moment. He needed recognition for the pain he had inflicted on Jason and his family.
"You don't think?" Jason cocked his brow never once taking his eyes off his adversary.
"My father asked that I offer my family's condolences for AJ's loss. It was such a tragedy," Anthony jeered.
"Anthony... ..." Elizabeth reached out and grabbed for her husband. She could see the fury building within Jason. He was about to blow at any second.
"What?" He turned to look at her.
"I am sure that Jason doesn't care to relive the incident."
Anthony was amused by Elizabeth's need to come to her lover's defense. "Maybe you are right, Elizabeth. I am sorry though."
"Sorry that you killed AJ's child instead of killing AJ!?!" Jason's anger now erupted from the volcano that he could no longer contain.
"WHAT??"
"Do you really think that I am as stupid as my father? Do you really think that some backward concept of loyalty is going to stop me from seeing what's really going on here?!?" Jason knew he was tipping his hand but the smug arrogance that Anthony was displaying caused Jason to take leave of his senses. "It's been you! All of this! Everything! You have been responsible for it all!!"
"Why would I put my own wife in danger? Please tell me why would I hurt her?" Anthony shot back at Jason's well founded accusations.
"WHY!?!" Jason let loose with his own sadistic laugh. "The answer is simple. In the pursuit of what you want, everyone and everything is expendable!"
"Well my my...and here I thought you and I had learned from a different set of books. I see you are capable of ruthless thinking. What a surprise," Anthony cackled as he enjoyed watching Jason Morgan coming apart at the seams.
"I am NOTHING like you!" Jason shot back. "I would never use those people closest to me as pawns. I would never endanger an unborn child for some dream of vengeance... ..."
"I didn't do any of those things either, Jason." Anthony stood with a smug smile on his face. It was a smile that Jason would have given anything to remove right then. He didn't give a damn about what Joseph wanted. All Jason wanted, all he needed at the moment was to be able to commit his own act of vengeance. Suddenly like a lighting bolt hitting the ground, Jason saw Anthony in himself. The bloodlust and the desire for revenge that he felt coursing through his veins were the very same emotions that were propelling Anthony through his own agenda. That thought sickened Jason. "I will let Emily know that Elizabeth is fine," he said as though he had turned off his anger by simply flipping a switch.
"NO wait!" Elizabeth called. The thought of Jason walking away leaving her alone to fend for herself against Anthony had her terrified.
"You want him to wait?" Anthony questioned shocked by her boldness.
"Yes. I would like to see Emily. I thought that Jason could take me to her." Jason's eyes widened at Elizabeth's words. He had already crossed over the line and didn't need her to be doing the same thing.
"I will take you to see Emily – if you really must see her," Anthony added sarcastically. Elizabeth's expression pleaded with Jason for him to rescue her but he did nothing except stand there in silence. "Fine let's go then."
Elizabeth pushed her body from the bed. The room spun beneath her as her feet touched the ground and Jason found himself watching her sway back and forth. He reached for her without a single thought and his hands crashed with Anthony's fingers as Elizabeth's husband also made a dash for his wife. The two men then backed away from each other as if their skin had been seared by a branding iron. "Elizabeth?" Jason did not even attempt to cover the concern in his voice.
"I'm fine," she offered as Anthony's hands steadied her. "I would like to go see Emily now." Elizabeth seemed to give little thought to the idea that she had nearly fainted. It was as though it was merely something to be ignored.
"I don't think that's such a good idea." Anthony quickly donned the cloak of concerned husband. "Are you sure that everything is fine with your head?"
"She has a concussion," Jason blurted out without thinking.
"Oh really? And how might you know that?" Anthony questioned. He was curious to see how Jason intended on navigating this slip up.
"I overheard one of the doctors while I was waiting to see Emily. He wanted to schedule a CT scan for Elizabeth."
'Nice save Morgan,' Vincent thought to himself. What did he care? In a day or so, it wouldn't matter what Jason Morgan did or didn't know about his wife. "You most definitely aren't going anywhere then," Anthony said with fake worry.
"I want to see Emily!" Elizabeth stressed trying to stand again.
"You aren't going anywhere until the doctors have assured me that you aren't in any danger," Anthony stated.
Jason did all he could not to roll his eyes at that statement. "Anthony's right." Jason couldn't believe he heard those words coming from his mouth, but they came none the less. "You need to take care of yourself first. The Coronary Care Benefit is tomorrow and you and Emily are in charge, so maybe it's better that you get some rest." Jason suppressed a smile that threatened to expose his inner feelings for Elizabeth.
"I will be sure that my wife," Anthony stressed the word as if Elizabeth was a possession, "gets everything that she needs."
Jason bit his tongue hard enough to taste his own blood. He sensed the double meaning that Anthony's statement held and he tried to reign in his own fears so that he would be able to leave Elizabeth's exam room.
"I will see you tomorrow evening," Jason finally said.
"Maybe, maybe not," Anthony answered cryptically.
"What?" Jason turned around.
"Our attendance at the benefit will depend on how Elizabeth is feeling."
"Of course," Jason concurred, all the while feeling that there was more to Anthony's words than met the eye.