A/N – Thanks for the comments. kikimoo – Nope, Sam didn't leak the story. It was in all the papers in Sicily. It wasn't like it was hidden. ghfan51184 – I've read a ton of Liason fanfiction and a lot is anti-Jason where either they wipe Liz's past away but keep Jason's choice for Sam or make it Jason who has to grovel because they were mad about Sam and make everything his fault while Liz's bad decisions were a blip. They rarely acknowledge the effect that Liz's actions had on Jason or just gloss over it. It's hard to be a Jason FF in the Liason fanfiction world especially older fics. Lol. I want them both to fight and own up. Their obstacles have been removed in this fic because of dealing with the past or them being on another continent, so it will be an easier battle. Guest re: Rambo lol – Valentini's wife wanted that couple. It's on her.

I had changed my question about chronic cheating because I had quickly read a bio online that Liz was married to Ric and they had a fight and she turned to Zander. I should have double-checked but my hubby was rushing me out the door and I was already late posting. There was no cheating with Ric. They hadn't reunited yet, but he was trying to get back together with her when she turned to Zander. I know we all agree she isn't a chronic cheater. I was just curious what you thought about the word chronic etc.

Chapter 35

The next day, Alice sat at the table across from Tracy. With everyone gone, Alice is keeping her company. Cook had already given Tracy the financial section, so Alice was handed the rest. She took a sip of her coffee as she read the headline and then promptly started choking.

Tracy eyed her. "What is wrong with you?"

Alice practically threw the paper at her like it offended her.

Tracy started reading it and cackled. "Elizabeth Webber a mob boss—Max Giambetti? This is the funniest thing I have read in ages. Somewhere, Lucky Spencer is having a coronary."

She couldn't stop laughing at the picture in her head.

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Across town, a frantic Maxie calls Lulu.

"Did you see the paper?"

Lulu frowned. "No."

"I'm freaking out right now and Sam isn't answering her phone."

Lulu opened her door and grabbed the paper and went back inside. Putting Maxie on speaker, she quickly unraveled it and then gasped. "No freaking way."

"I think I need to wash my eyeballs out. There is no way that Elizabitch Webber is running a mob organization. That wus couldn't even man up and tell the truth and be with Jason, so there is no way she has the balls to be involved with the mob."

"Wow. Lucky is going to freak."

"It says that Jake is an enforcer too."

Lulu spits out her coffee. "What the hell is she thinking?"

"She always was a horrible mother."

"I have to call Lucky. I'll call you back." She frantically dialed the phone.

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Carly sat at her table as she sipped her morning cup of coffee. They had made her stay inside and she is itching to go shopping.

"Here is the paper, Mrs. Corinthos."

"Thank you, Paulie."

He pretended to leave, but he paused just out of the way and waited so he can snap a picture.

She popped a grape into her mouth and chewed. "Wait, what?" Her eyes widened as read about Elizabeth and Jake. She gasped when she read about the nuptials and pending annulment. "That slut!" But nothing had prepared her for the part about her being by Jason's side.

"That bitch!" She screamed as Drew's words threw her in a tizzy. Paulie snapped a picture and quickly sent it to Francis.

Paulie moved back inside. "Are you okay?"

Carly is beside herself. "Elizabeth Webber is going to die!"

Paulie frowned. "Isn't she missing?"

"No! She is in Italy playing mob princess with Jason. I knew she would try to throw herself at him when he is at his lowest. This says she has barely left his side." She stood abruptly and grabbed her purse. "I need to get to Italy. Take me to the airport."

"I'm afraid I can't do that. It's too dangerous."

"Fuck the danger! Jason needs me to save him from that slut."

Another guard came in. "Package for Mrs. Corinthos."

She eyed the small box warily and then grabbed it before slamming her purse onto the counter so she could grab a pair of scissors. Once she had opened the lid, she pulled out the small card. It said, "Greetings from hell."

"What the…"

She pulled the box out and opened it and then let out a blood-curdling scream as the finger and Sonny's ring came into view. It dropped to the floor and Paulie watched it roll a few times before it finally stopped.

"Oh, my God! What did they do to him?"

"Mrs. Corinthos…"

"Are they coming for me next? Where is Michael?"

"Michael is safe."

"I need to see him with my own eyes."

"Mrs. Corinthos!" Paulie yelled. "Sit down!"

She plopped onto a chair. "He's probably in pain. I just—I need Jason."

"Jason called."

She perked up.

"He wants you in a safe house. You must leave your phone here. They might be able to track you."

"Okay, I just need to pack my things."

"Everything you need is in the safe house already. We need to go."

Her gaze went to the finger. "Could Elizabeth have done this?"

He frowned. "Seriously?"

"She wants Jason to herself. Think about it."

"I will pass on the message. Let's go."

She grabbed her purse and left her phone on the table and then he led her out.

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Elizabeth snorted as she looked at the picture Francis had forwarded. "Priceless…"

"Lulu has been trying to get in touch with Lucky and Maxie has been ranting and raving all over town.

Liz rolled her eyes making Jason chuckle.

Her phone rang. "Hello?"

"Elizabeth, what the hell is going on?"

Liz sighed. "Lucky, it's late. I'll call you tomorrow."

"No! Please…"

"Lucky, I'm truly not in the mood for one of your endless lectures. This is my life and my choices. My sons have choices too. If you don't like it, tough shit," she said before ending the call.

Jason's eyes are wide as Piph almost choked on her tongue.

"What?"

"You—" Piph moved next to her and touched her forehead. "No fever…"

"Brain scan?" Jason said.

Liz rolled her eyes. "I just wasn't in the mood for his judgmental bs. It's late and you need to sleep."

"I think I'm wide-awake now."

"Me too," Piph said.

She shook her head. "Honestly…" Her phone rang and she said answered curtly, "What?"

"Elizabeth…"

"Lucky, what part of I'm not talking to you right now did you not understand? Your opinion doesn't mean anything to me anyway."

"But Aidan…"

"Aidan is perfectly fine and has been for years. Now, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Tell my son I love him."

She hung up again. "Do the Spencers ever listen?"

"I may never sleep again," Jason said.

"Stop it," Liz said chuckling. "You coming?" she asked Piph.

"Yup. I just need a good night's kiss from the patient."

Jason slightly smiled as she leaned toward him pointing to her cheek. He met her half-way.

"That's much better."

"Hussy…" Liz said.

"You know it."

Liz smiled at Jason. "See you in the morning."

"Later."

She blew him a kiss and left.

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As soon as Elizabeth took a sip of coffee the next morning, Lucky called.

"Hello."

Lucky is livid. "Are you in the mood yet?"

"Not for you…"

"What the hell, Elizabeth? Jake is an enforcer and you were running an organization?"

"I did what I had to do."

"You—I can't even fathom this. Aidan is staying with me."

"Over my dead body…"

"It will be if you keep doing what you're doing. My son—"

"Don't even give me that my son crap. You walked away from him for years and from what I know, your fingers weren't broken, so you could have at least called. I'm the one that had to raise three boys by myself while you were off finding yourself. Aidan is almost fifteen, happy, and well adjusted. He will not choose you, Lucky, so get off your high horse."

He plopped onto a chair. "What now?"

"I'm mulling over a few options. I may move eventually. Jason needs to heal, Jake is finally going to get some therapy, and I need to talk to Aidan about how he feels. He might want to finish out school here. I won't leave if he wants that."

Lucky closed his eyes. "Jason…"

"Don't even start. We're friends."

"It always starts that way, doesn't it?"

"Whatever Jason and I do is none of your business. I'm not discussing our relationship. You have a month with your son. Don't worry about me and make the most of it. He has been safe this entire time and will continue to be."

"Whether you want to see it or not, because you were married to Max, there will be a bullseye on you."

"I made the choice I needed to save my family and together we'll deal with anything that comes, but Maximus is not Sonny. If anything, he learned a great deal from this and is making some security upgrades. Sal was the first person that came up against him that viciously due to their past. We've sent a message. Jason will be here to protect us as well."

Lucky rolled his eyes. "Fine."

"May I talk to my son, please?"

Lucky went to Aidan's room and handed him the phone. A big smile grew on Aidan's face and he happily chatted with his mom.

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Michael stormed into his mother's house. "Where's my mother?"

Paulie sighed. "Have a seat."

A confused Michael plopped onto the couch.

"Your mother is away. Mr. Vicari is running the business in your father's absence due to a threat. Maximus sent him."

Michael could care less about the business at this point. "They are okay though, right?"

"Yes. Is there a problem?"

A pained look crossed his face. "I just—there's a girl I'm having a problem with. She says she's pregnant, but she's crazy and I'm not sure if it's mine."

Paulie shook his head. "Is it that Nelle chick?"

"Yes."

"I'll take care of it."

He frowned. "What does that mean?"

"I'll find out if she's really pregnant and then we'll go from there."

Michael wishes Jason was home. "Thank you."

Once he left, Paulie called Johnny and was instructed to abduct Nelle and take her to a clinic for testing and then call back.

Francis eyed him. "What was that about?"

"Michael didn't keep it in his pants and some psycho chick is pregnant and claiming it is his."

"What are you going to do? He needs to grow a pair."

"If she's pregnant, then he's on his own. If not, Paulie will put the fear of God in her. I'm not playing with these bitches. Michael needs to learn to man up."

Two hours later, Johnny's phone rang, and he put it on speaker.

"Well, she's not pregnant."

Johnny sighed. "That's good."

"Then the idiot went and mouthed off and said she was going to get pregnant by Michael if it's the last thing she does. She complained about Carly, which I didn't mind, and then her eyes kind of glazed over and she started talking this crazy woo-woo shit about how this baby is her meal ticket and Michael is going to pay…blah, blah blah."

Johnny's brow lifted. "Why do I feel like you are leaving something out?" He loves Paulie's Italian accent. He feels like he's in an episode of the Sopranos.

"She didn't check out. Turns out the bitch has done this shit about three times before. She did a stint in a mental institution up North, but clearly, it didn't fix what was rattling around in there."

Francis fought a laugh.

"Go on."

"Well, she just wouldn't shut up and my gun accidentally went off when my finger got tired and it lodged a bullet in her brain, so she actually has something in there now. Needless to say, she won't be using her vagina to slay anyone anytime soon."

Francis lost the battle and cracked up.

"Good job. Anything else?"

"Carly keeps asking for her best friend."

The men rolled their eyes.

"What did you tell her?"

"I told her that Jason is recovering and can't wait to see her and she had the biggest shit-eating grin I've ever seen. That one is mental too."

They had put Paulie and Richie with Carly because they would rather die than sleep with or be manipulated by her.

"Good job. Just tell Michael that she wasn't pregnant, and you paid her to leave town."

"Ten-four."

"Later."

Francis dialed Drew's number.

"Hey."

"Yo. We need a favor."

Drew's eyes narrowed. "Is it legal?"

Francis smirked. "Yes."

"Go for it."

"Do you mind pulling Michael aside?"

"What did he do?"

"He dodged a bullet with a psycho chick. I don't know what is wrong with him."

"He's been struggling since Morgan died."

"Well, he needs to snap out of it. This is the last time Jason is bailing him out."

Drew shook his head. "Alright, I'll let him know. Kristina joined some cult, so Sam is off trying to save her."

"Good luck with that."

"I'm not getting involved. I think Michael and Kristina need some tough love." He and Sam had argued before she left, but she was determined to save her sister.

"Very true. Thanks for your help."

"No problem… By the way, let Jason know that Franco is dead."

"Dead…dead, or mostly dead?"

Drew grinned. "As a doornail... His body was burned until he was super crispy. He's not coming back from that."

"Nice. I'll let him know."

"Peter is still here. He did ask me about Jason the other day. I told him that he'd be back soon."

"We'll deal with him then." Peter is the last person who can hurt Jason and he probably won't be breathing for long. No matter what Anna wants, Peter is going to get payback one way or another.

Johnny went into Jason's room and filled him in.

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The doctor went over Jason's test result as Jake and Liz listened.

"You are doing a lot better. You'll be able to leave in a few days. Your liver appears to be healing, so you need to take it easy."

"Can I travel?"

Liz's eyes narrowed.

"I wouldn't recommend that for at least another week. You can talk to me during our follow-up."

"Okay."

"The more you rest, the faster you can get back to normal."

"So, you think his liver will regenerate?" Liz asked.

"Yes, but it will take about a month if no complications arise."

Jason can live with that. He had thought it would be longer.

"The nurse will start to get you on your feet tomorrow. If you do well, we'll take the catheter out."

Jake grimaced.

"Okay."

He left and then Jason waited for Liz to erupt.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

Jake bit his lip, so he didn't smile.

"You know I need to deal with Carly. I was going to drag it out, but I just want it over and done with. Diane took care of everything and I have nothing to do with the business now." He also got a nice chunk of cash delivered to one of his offshore accounts. Vincenzo had informed the five families that Sonny is selling the business to them. Due to the man already making a profit and he snuffed out any threats, they agreed to the arrangement, so the paperwork was submitted. If Jason wants to come into the area, they need to be informed in advance. Leaving the country alleviated a lot of their misgivings. If he poses a threat in the future, then all deals are off.

"What about Michael and the rest of Sonny's kids?"

"They'll be taken care of in the will. Since Sonny bought back the business from me, there won't be a lot left, but it's enough for Michael, Avery, and Dante to live comfortably on." Jason and Vincent had agreed on a fair number. Michael will decide what happens with the island and if he wants, or he can sell it. Jason doesn't want it.

"That's good."

Jake stood. "I have to go."

Liz tilted her head, surprised he was leaving for this conversation.

"Therapy…"

A smile lit up Elizabeth's face so wide, it could have lit up the sky.

Jake grinned. Deep inside, it pleased him that he could make her smile like that. It was certainly better than a scowl. "Love you."

"Love you more."

He left and then she focused on Jason.

"If you rest the next week, then you can go back there, but I better not find out that you do something crazy. Let someone else handle Peter."

"Yes, mom. When did you get so bossy?"

"I'm serious. Jake needs you alive. None of those jerks are worth getting thrown in jail or losing your life over."

"I agree. Is there anything else you want to know?"