Two days prior…

The gun was a heavy weight in her pocket. Her gloved fingers tapped the side of the barrel for strength. The last time she'd held a gun on Manny Ruiz, she'd found herself recuperating for weeks. This time, she didn't think there would be any healing time needed. If she pulled the gun and didn't pull the trigger, she would be dead. End of story.

Maybe she should have just told Jason. He would have taken care of this. That's what he did. He cleaned up other people's messes, and if this weren't a mess, Sam didn't know what to call it. But, he wasn't supposed to have to clean up her messes. At least, she wasn't supposed to ask him to do it. He took it upon himself to keep her as clean as possible. She wasn't going to go to him and ask him.

Standing in a dark alley, though, waiting for a real life boogeyman to come, Sam was starting to think that maybe she'd picked the wrong time to be independent. Manny wasn't someone to trifle with. He wasn't someone who forgave easily, and he sure as hell wasn't someone who could be expected to do what was expected of him. She'd probably liken him to Luis Alcazar, strong and willful and demanding, but a sadistic version of him. Lorenzo couldn't talk Luis out of something anymore than Javier could talk Manny out of things.

"Hola, chica." At his voice, Sam jumped. Her back was to the alley wall, so she knew he wasn't behind her, but his voice came from all around her. It bounced off of the walls and slammed into her body. "Seems like I'm following you, again."

Yeah, that had been a great idea. Leave a note that actually encouraged him to walk behind her. That was probably her first mistake. With as distracted and nervous as Sam was, Manny could have run up and grabbed her from behind. What would she have done then? Probably cried.

"You've got me here to talk, so talk. What do you want from me, Manny? Just to play games?"

For weeks, he'd been sending her special little gifts. A picture of the two of them aboard the S.S. Manuela. A replica of the ring that he'd given her a few months into the relationship, the same ring that she had tossed into the ocean as she sailed away from him. A picture of Jason with the eyes shot out. A picture of herself covered in red stains, strategically placed to show her that they represented blood. A note that read, "You were mine before, and you'll be mine again." Yeah, gifts from Manny had grown progressively more heartwarming and vomit-inducing.

"Do you know how long it took me to find you, Samantha?" Manny moved into the lights that shone down from high above the alley streets, bouncing off of his bald head. She could see every tattoo and the light made the rings in his ears shine. His eyes seemed darker in the pale flourescent glow. "Who knew that I'd find you with my old business partners?"

"If I'd have known that you had anything to do with Port Charles, I wouldn't have come here."

"Do you really think that?" He moved closer still. Sam wrapped her hand around the barrel of the gun, then moved it back to wrap around the butt. "Oh, you may not have known when you arrived, but you knew the name Alcazar."

"I never paid that much attention to your business, Manny. And obviously they didn't pay much attention to your personal life. But, then again, you were pretty good at hiding me away. I guess you had to with what you did to me. Couldn't let anyone but Javier see the evidence."

She had more strength and conviction than she thought she would have had. Sam figured it was because of the gun. She had a weapon with her, and it was solid against her hand. It was something to rally around, because without it, she didn't have much of anything. Well, she had an image of Jason in her mind, but she was pretty sure that it wasn't going to suddenly materialize into the real thing and save her ass.

"Oh, chica, you know me better than that." He was only a few feet away from her. Manny stretched out his hand and Sam backed up until her back collided with the wall. "Not even Javier knew exactly how much fun we had."

"I- I don't do that kinda f-fun anymore." He was too close for her strength to last much longer. Manny laughed at the stuttering of her words and Sam gulped hard. She wanted to close her eyes, breathe deeply and control herself, but she couldn't stop looking at him. If she gave him even the slightest bit of leverage, she was done for. "Go away, Manny. Just, leave Port Charles and act like you never knew I was here."

"You know I can't do that, Samantha. My sweet little toy. You know I can't leave you here. You have to come with me."

"Jason will never let you take me."

"Do you think I'm afraid of Morgan?" There was that laugh again and it made Sam's skin crawl. It also made her stomach twist into painful knots. "I'm willing to bet that he doesn't even know about us. You wouldn't tell him this, would you, chica? Don't want your precious Jason to know what a dirty little flower you are."

"I'm not dirty." Even to her own ears, it sounded weak and unconvincing. Because it was weak and unconvincing. With Manny talking to her, trying to get closer to her, she felt disgusting. She felt unworthy. It didn't matter that Jason had spent most of the last ten years as a mob enforcer. It didn't matter that he killed people when ordered to do so. He was still too good for her. She was still nothing more than Manny's dirty, whore of a slave. "I'm not dirty," she said again, just as weakly.

"Listen to yourself. You don't believe it anymore than he would. And even if he did believe it, what do you think he would do? Come after me? Who do you think would win? He may be fighting for love, but I'm fighting for possession and sheer pleasure. Who do you really think would win?"

Jason would be distracted. He would be so angry about what Manny had done to her, that he'd spoiled her and turned her into nothing, that he wouldn't concentrate. Then she would be left to explain to the Alcazars, including Carly and her children, why Jason was gone. Why Jason was laying dead in the same harbor that he had earlier dumped Sonny Corinthos into.

Gritting her teeth, Sam pulled the gun from her pocket. She gripped the butt of the gun with both hands. Manny laughed at her, and she held the gun tighter. "Get away from me, Manny, or I swear to God, I'll kill you."

"You know what I think? I think we've played this game before, and you may not have enjoyed it, but I thought it was really fun."

There it was. That look of Satan that appeared on Manny's face before he did something that would hurt. A look of pure evil, excitement over the idea of torturing her. Would he cut a whole in her thigh and stick his finger in it like before? Or would he just cut her and put salt on it? He wanted to hear her scream, and maybe, with that look of evil in his glazed eyes, he was already hearing it.

Sam pulled the hammer back on the gun. Unnecessary yes, but good for effect. "It ends different this time, Manny."

"I don't think so." He moved forward so fast that Sam didn't even see him. From light to the shadows. He grabbed the silencer on the gun and pulled it in until it touched his throat. The gun vibrated with his words. "I think that I'll take this pretty little gun and play. And then I'll make you lick the tip before I cut out your spiteful tongue."

Sam gulped hard. "I'll pull the trigger, Manny. I swear." Her voice shook. Her body trembled. But she didn't loosen her grip on the gun. "I'll kill you, Manny."

"No, you won't."

Sam took in a deep breath and held it as Manny reached out with his other hand. He was coming too close to her face. All it would take was one hard slap to rattle her and the gun would be gone from her hands. She couldn't let that happen. She couldn't let him put that gun—

Sam pulled the trigger twice, a double tap of the loose trigger that brought blood splattering against her face. Manny stumbled backwards, gurgling and sputtering. He wouldn't fall. Sam rose the gun slightly higher and fired again. The bullet took him in the face, in his cheek. She was off center.

Manny fell, though, and Sam rushed to stand over him. With three bullets in him, he was still trying to talk, still trying to reach for her. She looked down at him, and it had to be finished. Manny was too good at escaping death. He would find some way to survive this, and then he'd hurt her worse than he'd ever done before. And he was sadistic enough to make Jason watch it all before killing her.

Sam knelt over him, pressed the gun to his forehead and pulled the trigger.

Manny was still. He wasn't going to get up, like something out of a horror movie. His brains were splattered all over the alley. His blood covered her face, coat and gloves. This was a mess that she had neither expected nor wanted, and it was a mess that she had to clean up. She had to get rid of his body before someone found him. Before someone stumbled upon them.

But first, she went to the corner and threw up.