Carly was packing up to leave for the day when she noticed Faith walking down the hallway. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she was dressed in jeans and a casual shirt. She strode purposefully down the hallway to Carly's desk, her arms crossed.
Carly smiled. "Hi, Faith," she said softly as the blonde approached her.
Faith's eyes were red and slightly swollen. She'd obviously been crying. "Can we talk someplace private? Please?"
Carly led her into Andrew's office and closed the door behind them. "Listen Faith..."
The Texan cut her off. "I'm sorry for the way I've behaved. None of this is your fault and I shouldn't have taken it out on you. You just caught me off guard."
"No, it's okay, Faith."
"I never thought I'd ever run into you anywhere, much less here." She rubbed the back of her neck. Her head fell back as she laughed humorlessly. "World Security Bureau. God, I'd love to see Sonny's face when he finds out who you're working for."
"Yeah, tell me about it," Carly scoffed. "Not sure the barware could handle it."
"He does have quite the temper."
"Listen, I'm sorry for bringing him up at all. You were trying to confide in me and I just dumped that in your lap. I should've just kept my mouth shut."
"I'm glad you told me, Carly."
"Caroline," she told her flatly. "I'm not Carly anymore."
"Fair enough," Faith replied uneasily. "But I think I should come clean with you, too."
Carly looked at the other woman in confusion, no idea what she could be talking about. "About what?"
"Sonny," the blonde said with a sigh. She sat at the small meeting table at the opposite end of the room. "Actually he's the reason I met Joe. I was working for Sonny in New York."
That was information Carly already knew, but chose to let Faith tell the story. "That's how you knew who I was."
"Yes and no." She took a deep breath before continuing. "I slept with Sonny."
It didn't sink in what Faith had just told her. "What?" she asked in disbelief, sure that she didn't hear that correctly. Sonny couldn't have cheated on her, not again.
"I thought that we were having an affair, that he actually cared about me. Stupid, huh?" Faith asked, laughing bitterly. She continued, taking no notice of the shock in her friend's face. "You know what Sonny's like, the whole Madonna/whore complex. I slept with a married man, so what does that make me, you know? He treated me like poor white trailer trash." She smiled wistfully. "Joe always told me I was better than that. He was always real sweet to me, treated me like I was something special." She wiped away a stray tear. "Anyway, the feds were sniffing around and Sonny found out that they were questioning me, got it in his head that I was singing like a canary. Not that he had any evidence that I was and he wasn't about to change his mind. He blew up anyway, accused me of selling him out and threatened to kill me. Joe told me he was actually an undercover agent and got me out of there. He risked his life to protect me. When Sonny sent him to Miami, I went too. He got me the job with the WSB there, we got married, we were happy for awhile. Then Joe's cover got blown and..."
"Sonny put out the hit out on him," Carly finished for her.
"Yeah. That guy, diLucca, found out I was there and started following me around everywhere." She rubbed her forehead anxiously, trying to get through the story. "Sonny had actually put out a hit on me. I never even knew. My boss told me I was being transferred and immediately had me escorted to a plane, already had my personal stuff loaded. Didn't even tell me where I was going."
"Just get the hell out as fast as possible, leave everything behind, start all over again. I know how that goes."
Faith wiped away another tear from her cheek. "I'm sorry, Caroline. I knew it was stupid to be sleeping with another woman's husband and I shouldn't have done it. Hell, I shouldn't have been working for the mob in the first place. My momma taught me better than that."
"It's okay, Faith. You weren't the one that was supposed to be faithful." Carly snorted, feeling the bitterness towards her ex-husband uncontrollably rising up in her. She plopped down in one of chairs near Andrew's desk. "You weren't the only one he had."
They were silent for a few minutes, neither sure of what to say. Carly just tried to wrap her mind around what Faith had confessed to her. No wonder the woman had stayed away. So much pain mixed with a guilty conscience, all because of Sonny. That lying, two-timing, hypocritical bastard…
"He treated me like trash, too," Carly told her quietly. "He told me I was a whore, called me every name in the book. He slept with me just to prove to Jason how much of a slut I was."
"Jason Morgan?"
She nodded. "He and I were sort of together for awhile. But the night I slept with Sonny killed any chance I had with him. I ended up pregnant, but I miscarried. Without going into all the dirty details, Sonny and I got married. The four years we were together, I don't think he ever respected me. I couldn't hardly speak to another man without him getting insanely jealous. Everything I did, it seem like he was screaming that I'd betrayed him." She grimaced. She was partly responsible for Faith's situation. " I was the one that turned him over to the feds. I made the deal with the FBI and wore the wire for him. I thought if I could get him out of the mob, I could save him and we'd be safe. We could finally be a happy little family. Sonny didn't see it that way, of course."
"Betrayal, betrayal, betrayal. I heard that song and dance, too."
Carly laughed. She couldn't help herself. It wasn't really funny, but something about that particular phrase just struck her as hilarious. "Song and dance! That's a great way to put it!"
Faith joined her. "I bet he practices it!" she joked.
"You betrayed me!" Carly said mockingly, arms flailing dramatically as if she were throwing a glass, copying her ex-husband. Faith keeled over, laughing so hard she was crying.
The two women finally calmed down, still smiling. It felt good to be able to laugh again, especially at something that had caused both of them so much pain.
"Andy's the only one that's been able to make me laugh that hard," Faith said, giggling.
Carly giggled at the mention of his name. "He does have a wicked sense of humor."
"You'd have to to live his life," the blonde said, sighing. "I love him dearly, but he's nuts."
Carly's expression turned serious. "Are we still cool?" she asked apprehensively. "I'll understand if you don't want…"
Faith cut her off, smiling. "I think you and me are just fine, darlin'. I'm not going to walk away from a friend because of someone who deserves to be roadkill."
Carly stood up and accepted the Texan's comforting hug, smiling deviously. The gears were already turning in her mind, starting to form a plan. This scheme couldn't be half-assed or rushed, this was something that would take meticulous planning and execution. She had resources at her disposal that she'd never had before, resources to do the job right and not get caught.
Sonny was not going to get away with selfishly hurting people yet again. It was time he paid for his crimes and Carly was going to make damn sure he didn't escape this time.