In a flash Jason had vigorously removed the iron grip the prince had on Sam, crushing his fingers and pushing him back so hard that he stumbled several feet and before he could steady himself, Jason had rushed him with a mighty body slam, sending him back into the desk where he knocked over several items that scattered to the floor. Recovering fast from his initial shock, the prince reared towards Jason, who it seemed was anticipating that response and delivered a power packed fist to the prince's haughty jaw, seemingly throwing his entire body behind the punch. The force sent Nicholas straight down to the floor with a huge thud.
In that same instant, Hayden had rounded on Elizabeth and both women were engrossed in a brittle catfight with Hayden using both hands to grab fistfuls of Elizabeth's hair, pulling mercilessly as Elizabeth covered both hands that were inflicting severe pain at her roots, trying desperately to free herself. "You bitch, you knew Nicholas tried to have me killed and you kept quiet about it!" Hayden spun her around by her hair, making circle after circle in the room, finally pushing her hard and letting go, watching as she hit the floor with a resounding thump. Elizabeth rested back on her hands and scooted frantically backwards away from the angry woman, hitting a wall then using it to brace her back as she eased herself up onto her feet, eyeing Hayden warily as she advanced upon her again. "Screwing another woman's husband was so vital to you that you didn't care that your prince tried to kill me to keep your nasty little secret, and then you have the nerve to act superior and condescending to people, you pathetic little shrew!"
Elizabeth was frightened but she was adamant. Everyone was attacking her when all she'd wanted was to have her time with the man she loved and raise their family together. Why couldn't anyone seem to get that? Nicholas got it. Laura, and even Lucky got it, so why did everyone else have to act like it was so wrong? "That's not how it happened. None of it was supposed to happen!"
"Really? And just what did you think was going to happen, huh? You expected to ride off into the sunset and sail on through after you'd trashed people's lives for your own selfish gains? Like you're all that matters? What you want is all that counts?"
"I didn't tell anybody to shoot you. It was your own damn fault for sticking your nose into other people's business where it didn't belong. You had no right to tell Jason anything! You brought it on yourself!"
She shrieked as Hayden lunged at her again.
Sam leant back against the desk and surveyed the chaos in the room. In one corner Hayden was beating the blazes out of Elizabeth and in the other, Jason, who had come out of nowhere, was wiping the floor with Nicholas, literally. She watched him straighten up and look down at the prince on the floor, then he shook his strong, toned arms and cracked his neck, preparing for the man to stand up so he could knock him right back down. Sam reached for the phone in her back pocket, typed away on it for a moment, then put two fingers to her lips and let out a blaring whistle. The commotion in the room came to a halt as everyone turned to look towards her. She held up the phone as she said, "this isn't necessary. We have what we came for, so we can go now."
The prince hoisted himself slowly to his feet, touching his mouth gingerly to wipe the blood seeping from his busted lip. "Sam, we can work this out. You don't need to involve the police."
"Don't talk to my wife!" Jason glared at the prince like he was aching to bodyslam him again.
"Jason, Jason, it's okay." Sam was cool as rain. "It sounds like my cousin has an offer…I can't wait to hear this."
The prince straightened up all the way and staggered slowly towards her. "I have something you want, something much more valuable to the Quartermaines than what's on that phone."
Sam reached behind her to grab a sheet of paper from the desk. "You mean…this?" She waved it in the air like a white flag.
The prince's head went up as Jason came to a stop next to Sam and took the paper that she was then holding out to him. He read for a second then looked over to the prince, "ELQ stock? You're trying to use stock that you stole from my family to buy your way out of this?"
"Take it! You can have it all back, just give me that phone."
Jason turned to look at Sam who shrugged her shoulders in deference to it being his decision. Something mischievous in her eyes and the tiny curl at the corners of her mouth told him she had something up her sleeve, so he motioned the prince over to the desk and handed him a pen from it. Nicholas eyed them both with open hatred before he grabbed the pen roughly and bent over the desk to sign the certificates. He finished signing and handed the folder over to Jason, looking him grudgingly in the eye, then held out his hand to Sam for the phone.
Hayden was not pleased. "Wait a minute, you can't let him get away with this!" She scowled at Sam as she came closer to them, "you're not the one he tried to kill, you can't just give that to him!"
Sam handed over the phone to Nicholas' greedy little hands and smiled. "you're absolutely right, Hayden…I am not the one he tried to murder. But you see, Nicholas bargained for the phone and what was on it, he said nothing about what's on my laptop, what's on your laptop, on your phone, and he certainly did not mention the recording that was emailed to my partner during his little brawl." She was looking the prince dead in the eyes as she spoke. As comprehension dawned in them, he made a sudden move to reach for her arm but felt a staggering pain as Jason punched him in the throat before he could touch her. The prince went down gasping for air, landing on his knees in front of Sam, who looked down at him and sneered, "kneeling to me cousin? No need for such formalities between us, I'll be going to the police now, me and my stupid little friend over here." She gestured towards Hayden, then bent over to whisper to him "and we'll just take all the stolen ELQ stock certificates with us for safe keeping." The two ladies then walked purposely from the study, stopping to grab the equipment from the room next door before they made their way out the front and round back towards the speedboat. Jason stopped long enough to glare at the fallen prince who was still clutching his throat in one hand with the other planted on the floor in front of him. "You ever touch my wife again and I swear I'll kill you." Then he looked over to the small woman still crouching in the far corner, her eyes glued to the floor before her, unable to raise them to face him. Jason shook his head at them both and followed his wife out the front door and towards the dock.
An hour later all three were back at the offices of McCall and Jackal, going over the details of the evening. Sam leaned back against her desk and looked over to Jason lounging casually against the window sill, studying her intently. "What were you doing at Windermere? Did you know I was there?" She was curious.
Hayden, who was sitting in the chair in front of Spinelli's desk, recapped the bottle she'd just drunk water from and looked one to the other, curiously eying the simmering heat between them.
Jason smiled at his wife, thinking to himself how fearless and capable she was, remembering how he'd always admired her bravery and loyalty. When she set her mind to something there was no talking her out of it and she would give any mission her undivided attention and mental acuity, usually leaving whoever opposed her regretting it afterwards. She was beautiful, smart, feisty, and full of energy and vitality, and she often left him completely breathless.
"Don't get mad, but I got it out of Spinelli." He raised himself off the window sill and approached her desk slowly. "I called him to ask his help with something and he mentioned he was in the middle of assisting you with a case, so I badgered the details out of him."
Sam wasn't mad but he didn't need to know that. "I had it under control, you know. You didn't need to come to the rescue, Hayden and I could handle those two just fine."
Hayden, who could never resist an opportunity to create a little mischief, piped up, "actually, Jason, you showed up just in time. You're the perfect backup for a situation like the one we were in."
Sam's eyes shot to Hayden suspiciously, knowing from experience that the con was up to something. She'd arrived in town pretending to be married to Jake Doe, and given that she didn't know at the time that he was Jason Morgan and had even gotten shot when she'd found out and tried to warn them, Sam hadn't slammed the door in her face when she turned up looking for help. Of course, the minute she'd mentioned a certain someone's possible involvement it was all Sam could do not to offer to do the job for free. "Hayden, I'm sure Jason has better things to do. We can take care of the rest of this without involving him."
He was standing immediately in front of her, "what is that exactly?" She looked beautiful, clad in his favorite thing to see her in, skinny jeans and t-shirt with a short, black leather jacket open at the front, her signature high heeled stiletto boots making her appear taller than she really was. He never did understand how she moved so easily in those things, and as he openly admired her toned outstretched legs crossed at the ankle in front of her as she perched on the desk, he smiled to himself imagining the knife he knew she had tucked away in them.
He was curious to know her next plan of action, eager to assist in any way she'd let him, "tell me." He couldn't take his eyes off her kissable lips.
When Sam didn't speak, Hayden interjected, "it could get a little tricky, are you sure you want to know?"
"Tricky, how?"
Sam watched him as she said cautiously, "you know that this involves Elizabeth, so there's an obvious conflict of interest for you, given that she's your wife and all."
He looked deep into her chocolate browns and took great pleasure in saying the next words that he had sought her all day to say to her, "she's not my wife. Not anymore." Sam couldn't help notice the nervous energy that tugged at her heart at hearing the words, but she would not let them affect her.
Hayden found the palpitating tension between them quite interesting. She wondered if they even realized how they reacted to each other. It seemed almost instinctive. "Oh, do tell," she prodded.
Neither responded but rather carried on their private conversation with their eyes. Finally, Sam raised a curious eyebrow and broke the torrid, charged silence between them. "You do realize that she could end up in jail when I turn this over? I'm not about to pussyfoot around anything that I uncovered, mother of your child or not, the bitch is going down?" She made sure she was crystal clear.
His immediate response was to question, "do you need my help?"
Sam lifted her chin as she studied his straight face and she knew in that instant that something had indeed shifted between him and the nurse. She never thought she'd live to see the day that Jason Morgan wasn't lining up to protect and defend the sneaky siren who's always had him so completely convinced that she was innocent and defenseless.
Jason smiled to himself at the determination in her eyes. He knew deep down that this was the perfect way to move in on her. He would be there to make sure that nothing happened while she did her thing, using that golden opportunity to remind her how great they worked together, right before he'd break out the moonlit rooftop dinners…she never could say no to those either. He smiled to himself again, listening to her plan of attack on her cousin and his ex, while he secretly planned his own attack on her heart. She wouldn't even see him coming.
"The Fallen Prince and Nurse Nutcase can spend a very restless night worrying about what's coming their way, then tomorrow I send an anonymous email to Detective Falconari, so that he can reopen the case against Sean. I know that he admitted to some other crimes related to Sonny's organization that helped put him in jail, but Hayden's shooting was the golden egg that was used to prosecute and sentence him. His lawyers should have a field day with this new evidence and they should be able use it to at least get him a new trial and hopefully out of jail in the meantime."
Jason's smile grew wider and his eyes gleamed. "Smart, as well as beautiful and talented! He shook his head slowly and asked, "how the hell was my brain ever able to forget you?"
He was up to something, Sam just knew it, but whatever it was would have to wait. She cleared her throat and grabbed her keys and laptop bag from the desk. "As much as I'm enjoying this little…whatever this is, I have to go. Maxie texted me earlier that she needs to see me, so I'm off to tuck Danny in and then meet her for a quick drink." She looked over to Hayden who had risen from her chair and was still watching them curiously. "What are your plans for the evening?"
Hayden flashed her hand, "don't worry about me, I'm meeting Curtis for dinner and then I'm off to get some sleep. See you bright and early tomorrow? We can watch the unravelling together - what do you say?"
Sam chuckled as she led the way towards the door, "whatever you want."
Jason made sure both ladies got to their cars safely and as he watched them drive away he pulled out his phone and sent a quick text: She'll be there. Make sure everything's set.