Elizabeth drummed her fingernails against the leather armrest in the limo. They were pulling up to the front of Maoni's, the plush Italian restaurant that was in the heart of southern Chicago. It was an eatery that was open to the public, but very few had the courage to step over the threshold of a place that was owned and designed specifically for the mid-west Mafia.
It was exactly why Elizabeth chose this place to have a meeting with her deceased husband's lawyer and a few of his questionable cohorts. She had set it up before Sonny's private jet even landed in the city and she was ready to go before the limo had arrived to pick them up. The problem lie with the man who was still fuming beside her.
Why she didn't have someone check his luggage beforehand was beyond her but Jason had it in his head that things were run the same all over and they weren't. You simply could not walk into a Mafia restaurant dressed in casual wear and the Borg beside her packed nothing but tee shirts and jeans.
"We're here," he said as he reached for his door handle, "Let's try and get this done all in one seating okay? I'd like to get back to Port Charles as fast as we can."
"And I'd like to make sure that I have a secure life for myself," she snapped, "I don't want to have to depend on the charity of others for the rest of my life. It's bad enough you talked me into allowing some of your friends out here to provide us with this limo and extra guards."
"Come on now Elizabeth, even you have to admit that it would have been very idiotic to walk into this city with no one behind your back except me and a single weapon."
That was true, it would have been, but she wasn't about to admit anything to him. She just simply smirked and smiled at the driver who held her door open for her. She allowed him to take her hand and her brand new black leather pumps clicked quietly against the asphalt. She straightened her black suit jacket and smoothed a wrinkle from her matching pants, turning as Jason came around from the other side of the limousine. She had a red silk blouse underneath, making sure that her fingernails and lip color matched perfectly.
Red was Luis' favorite color on her and she was here to honor him after all.
Slipping her bright red clutch purse under her arm she led the way into the restaurant and smiled at the hostess who was familiar with the petite brunette. Elizabeth followed the woman into the back of the restaurant, far away from prying eyes and busy ears, to an alcove where a long rectangular table was set up. There were two guards poised at the alcove, hers was added as the third, and she stopped, nodding her thanks to the hostess and giving her sweetest smile to the gentlemen around her as Jason pulled out her chair.
"I do apologize for being late, I'm afraid I was held up," she said as she pulled out her napkin and laid it across her pants, "I fear that I've heard some rather disturbing news when I reached town. I've been locked out of my own home. Care to explain that, Mr. Johansson?"
The wiry lawyer who sat across from her tugged at his tie and shifted in his chair, moving uncomfortably closer to one of Luis' businessmen. She never understood what he saw in the slick attorney. He was too nervous for his own good and that wasn't something that would bode well when dealing with the enemy.
When she turned to motion for a waiter she realized that the lawyer's eyes weren't on her but on Jason who was glaring daggers at the man.
"Mr. Johansson, I'm over here, if you please," Elizabeth smiled and then turned her brilliant charm on the waiter, "Glass of merlot and bottle of Yuengling please."
The waiter cleared his throat, "May I see your identification ma'am?"
Jason didn't hide a chuckle, one of the bulky business men, Myers, slammed his fist on the table, causing the silverware and the waiter to jump before nervous Mr. Johansson jumped in.
"This is the widow of Mr. Luis Alcazar, please bring her what she requests and place it on my tab."
"Yes sir," the young man nodded and hurried off quickly.
"Well I must say that was something that hasn't happened to me in a very long time," she smirked, "Someone questioning my age. Lord knows none of the men at this table gave a damn about how old I was when I was tricked into marrying the bastard who is now burning in hell."
"Mrs. Alcazar…"
"It's Ms. Webber now Mr. Johansson and I suggest you present me with the key to my home this instant before I fly my own lawyer out here and have a judge woken up in the middle of the night due to your incompetence," she snarled as she tried to prevent her hands from curling into tiny fists on her lap, "Furthermore I am aware, as are all of the men sitting here at this table, that Luis' had no will, he was an ass that way, and therefore everything, and I mean everything, reverts to me. Get me the paperwork, I want it signed and I want the deeds handed over before the sun disappears from the sky tomorrow," she cooed when the glass of merlot was placed in front of her and smiled up at the waiter. "So prompt."
Jason twisted the cap off of his beer with his bare hand and look a long swig, hoping this wouldn't take much longer.
"You see Mrs.…Ms. Webber, the gentlemen here, Mr. Myers, Mr. Richards and Mr. Peterman aren't really sure that a young woman like yourself will be able to properly handle running Mr. Alcazar's empire on your own," Mr. Johansson said as he reached into his briefcase for something and started to slide a silver key towards Elizabeth only to have it snapped up by Jason who then held it out to the young woman, "To the house, ma'am."
"Thank you," she smiled and gave it back to Jason, "Please, keep close watch on that for me dear." She then turned her fiery blue eyes on the men in front of her, "I'm afraid that I don't care what Myers, Richards or Peterman say about who runs what. This is my empire now and if you have a problem with how things are being handled than you could go work elsewhere."
"It's not that," Myers smiled from across the table as he reached out and took Elizabeth's hand. He then leaned up and bent over, placing a wet kiss on it and she resisted the urge from taking her delicate hand and using it to slap him across the face, "We just feel Ms. Webber that you would best be suited with the aide of one of us."
"Why, Mr. Myers," she smiled pressing that very hand to her chest, "Are you insinuating that you'd like to help me run my empire, that you'd show me how to run things, that you'd teach me everything, simply everything, that I need to know," she picked up her glass and took a small sip as she watched Jason down another swig out of the corner of her eye.
"I'm willing, ready and able to teach you everything that you need to know," Myers said, "The boys are allowing me the opportunity to work with you."
"Mmm, wonder if they worked out a little deal on the side," she murmured looking over Richards and Peterman before her eyes fell back on Myers who's foot was now trying to slide up her pant leg. "And tell me, Mr. Myers, what is in it for me? I mean, you are offering to show me, everything," she took another sip of her glass, "I'm assuming that means you want a bigger percentage in the businesses."
"Of course," Myers replied smoothly, "I would think of it as a partnership, one in which we would both be benefiting. I will share my knowledgeable skills with you and you in return can teach me a few things that I have yet to learn."
Elizabeth had a sharp retort on the tip of her tongue but the click of a trigger left it stuck there.
"I suggest you remove your foot from between Ms. Webber's thighs before I see that it is removed permanently," Jason said as he made his silver Glock clearly visible for the rest of the patrons at the table, "Ms. Webber has made her terms clear and I expect them to be adhered to." He watched out of the corner of his eye when Peterman started to reach inside of his jacket, "We're not alone here in this city and we plan on staying at Alcazar's tonight where I'm assured that his home is a virtual fortress. I advise that you don't try anything stupid."
"I brought Mr. Morgan here because he has a habit of shooting first and asking questions later," Elizabeth said throwing her napkin back on the table and standing up, picking up her glass and quickly downing the rest of her merlot, "If you don't believe me, ask Luis. The paperwork by sundown tomorrow, you can meet me at my home. As for you three, you're fired. Jason, I think we're done here."
Jason finished off his beer with one long gulp and slammed the bottle back down on the table so hard that it shattered. He smirked as all four men who was sitting across from them jumped back.
"Agreed sweetheart," Jason then took her by the elbow and led the way out of the alcove with the bodyguard following behind them. Elizabeth tried to pull away but he had a firm grip and didn't have any intention of letting go.
"You couldn't have held off on pulling that gun out?" she seethed as they quickly approached the limo in the parking lot.
"You never had a problem with me pulling my gun before, Elizabeth."
She turned around to snap at him, to tell him to take his sexual innuendos and shove them up his ass because he was the one pushing her away, but she halted when she saw the look in his blue eyes; the look of concern.
"For what it's worth, thank you," she said quietly.
He nodded as he helped her into the limo, "You're welcome."
Elizabeth stood in the long second floor hallway of the Alcazar estate. She was staring at two large white wooden doors with shiny brass handles that had a key dangling from one of them. This was the master suite, the room where she had lived for nearly a year of her life as the wife of the mob boss of Chicago.
She could easily sleep in a guest room, hell one of the velvet couches downstairs would probably be more comfortable then climbing into the silk sheets that covered a king size bed where she performed intimate acts for a man she could barely stand, let alone love.
And just down the hall, only a few doors away, lay a man that she did love, that she did want and he was doing nothing but putting a brick wall between them, all because she was born one year too late.
Sighing she reached out for the door knob and turned it, yanking the key and throwing it behind her. Luis has a lock put in to make sure that she stayed put at night when he had to leave to do other things. He didn't realize that she was still a teenager and they did crazy stunts like tie bed sheets together and climb out the window. Once she was caught doing that locks went on the windows as well.
It was different being in here without him. She had spent time alone in this room but knowing that he wasn't going to come in and demand sexual gratification or simply disturb the solace she sometimes found behind the large wooden doors made it a little bit easier to breath.
But everything was still the same, the large bed in the middle of the room, the his and her dresser sets and closet spaces, his black slippers under his side of the bed, her prim white ones under hers. It looked like a bedroom fit for a king and queen, better yet, she thought with a smirk, for a lord and his moll.
Elizabeth stepped further into the room and made her way to the armoire that Luis' had flown in from Italy. Beautiful things did come from Italy; she just wished they didn't come from him. Opening it with her tiny fingers she found the three shelves just as he had left them, lace teddy's on the top, baby doll pieces in the middle, and all other lingerie on the bottom. The attire she was deemed to where every night for a man who barely loved her properly.
She pulled out a red silk nightie and ran it between her fingers, remembering when Luis' presented it to her on their wedding night, asking her to wear it for him. She was able to hide the tears until she had reached the bathroom to change. She had always dreamed of wearing white on her wedding night for her husband but no, Luis wanted red, and Luis always got what he had wanted. He had loved her tenderly that night, surprising her with his gentleness and that made his promise of loving her and only her forever even more believable.
The next night was different, everything was signed, sealed and consummated and Luis no longer had to pretend to be a decent human being. He took her on the floor and then once more when she had finally found the strength to climb back into bed.
Never again had she known a man's loving touch until she had met Jason Morgan.
And Jason would never touch her again because she was too young, because she was robbed of her innocence and he didn't want to partake in that. It was Luis' fault, and her father's and Sly's and the entire organization, and the world for allowing this to happen.
Elizabeth started grabbing the flimsy pieces that were bought at places like Victoria's Secret and Fredericks of Hollywood and threw them over her shoulder, back onto the silk covered bed. It wasn't fair that this happened to her, she never asked for this lot in life. Was it too much to want some perky breasts and meat on her bones before she reached the age of fifteen?
"Careful what you wish for, Lizzie." She chided herself as she slammed the doors shut to the armoire and made her way over to her dresser, the one the came from England.
Her hidden stash of cigarettes had to be still in there. Luis' never searched this dresser; this was the one that held things he thought were unheard of for a wife of a mob boss; jeans and sweatpants. She started throwing those clothes over her shoulder as well, searching until she reached the bottom of a drawer where she found a still sealed pack of cigarettes and a pack of matches.
She was grateful that she had run out the door when she left Luis and didn't have time to pack her much craved cigarettes. She grabbed the pack, slammed it against her palm and then ripped it open, pulling a slim stick from the package before she slipped it between her lips and flicked a match, lighting it.
Inhaling a long drag she then exhaled it with a smirk. Luis hated smoking, he called it a disgusting habit, and that gave her all the more reason to have a smoke or two in their bedroom and watch his face curl in disgust when he found she had been partaking in the horrid activity.
She walked towards the bed, puffing away, eyeing it with distaste as she flicked some of the ash on her pretty nightgowns. She loathed them, she loathed this multi-million dollar home and suddenly she loathed everything that she had become.
Elizabeth Webber, mob queen.
Dropping the cigarette on the bed Elizabeth plucked out another match and flicked the top of the pack over, sliding the match through the back and yanking it out, her eyes gleaming as the fire burned so close to her fingertips. She licked her lips and tossed it on the bed. Then she light another, then another, then another until the entire pack was gone and a small fire was starting to roar in the center of the mattresses where she was treated like a whore.
"Burn," she whispered as the flames started to leap, "Burn in hell Luis, burn in hell."
Jason jumped out of bed startled, reaching for his gun underneath the pillowcase that lay beside him on the bed. Something was off, he felt it, his gut was twisted in knots as his heart started to race.
There was something wrong with Elizabeth.
He jumped out of bed and threw on a pair of sweatpants, checking his gun to make sure that it was cocked before he quietly made his way to his door and opened it slowly. The hallway was brightly light but completely empty and it smelled as if something was burning.
Sticking his head further out Jason looked right and then left and he noticed a small cloud of smoke filtering from the room that Elizabeth said she would be staying in this evening. He threw the door open the rest of the way and ran down the hall in his bare feet, gun at his side as he called out her name.
He came to an abrupt stop at the sight before him.
She was standing just a few feet from the door in her bedroom, watching as a hole was being burned into a mattress. A pack of cigarettes were clutched in her hand, the cellophane still clinging to them as the fire started to slowly die out, pieces of shiny material still visible from its wake.
He made one step into the room when she rounded on him.
"I don't want to talk about it," she said brushing past him, heading out into the hall and going heaven knows where.
"Elizabeth, Elizabeth, hang on," he said hurrying after her and placing the safety on his gun, "Is there a fire extinguisher or something around here? We need to take care of that. What the hell happened?" he looked down at the red mark on her hand, "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine!" she snapped, "Let it burn, let the whole fucking house burn. I don't care anymore. This was wrong, it was stupid, I don't want any of this and yet I have to take it. I have to make something out of this horrible mess."
"No you don't." Jason said shaking his head, "Elizabeth, Sonny and Lily, they want to help take care of you. They want you to be a part of your family; they want to see you become something wonderful. You don't have to do any of this, not for them."
"And what about you, Jas?" she asked quietly as she reached out and pressed her burned hand against his naked chest, "Don't you want to help me?"
"You know that I can't," he said looking away from her, "You know that it's impossible for us to…"
She growled as she scrapped her nails down his chest, causing him to cry out and leaving a trail of bright red marks, "If you ever mention my age again I swear to you I will hit you Jason Morgan!" she screamed and started walking away from him, back down the ridiculously long hallway, "You should understand better than anyone else why I have to do this. You yourself had to get away."
"You have nothing to prove," Jason said trying to keep up with her, "Just trying to show everyone that you're an adult is…"
"Oh I am done doing that," she snapped again as she rounded on him, "Because me trying to prove myself to you has done nothing but give me grief. It doesn't matter to you that I've been a stripper, it doesn't matter to you that I've been married, it doesn't matter to you that I've seen more violent things in my short lifetime than cops have seen in their whole career and it certainly doesn't matter to you that I lost a baby because to you Jason Morgan age is simply a number and since I'm not eighteen well than I'm still a fucking child."
"Do not bring our child into this," he said through gritted teeth as those blue eyes blazed, "I am hurting just as much as…"
"I know," she whispered as she looked away from him, as those familiar tears crept up in her eyes, "I know you're hurting and I'm trying not to make it worse but there's so much I have to do, so much that has to be done and I have to make sure that I do it all, me, no one else and with very little help."
"Elizabeth…"
"I have no high school diploma, I have no college experience," she said as she wiped at her eyes, "I'm going on what I've heard in the back offices and the books I was allowed to play around with. I have a couple of weeks of managing experience and I know how to run payroll. I'm going to make something of myself or else I'm going to die trying, Jason."
"But you don't have to…"
She laughed, sadly and shook her head before she turned her back on him and started down the hallway again, towards the stairs where she would seek some rest on one of those plush velvet couches.
"Yes I do Jason and I thought you of all people would understand that," she looked back at him while her red hand gripped the staircase banister, "My mistake."
Then she slowly started down the stairs, disappearing into the darkness, and wishing for the first time since it happened that Luis' bullet had taken her life.