Part Six

Johnny watched Jason pace back and forth for a minute or two before he took mercy on the enforcer. "Jason, sit down before you fall down and we'll get this sorted through."

He stopped at the edge of the couch and still couldn't make himself sit down. "Your father."

Johnny held up a hand. "Dead, yeah… no need to thank me, I was happy to help." Looking at the clock over the fireplace the younger man shook his head. "But you really have to work on those social skill, Jason. It's a little late for a visi-"

"He's not dead. And he has Elizabeth Webber."

Now it was Johnny's turn to look a little shell shocked. "He's alive?" He turned toward the hallway and then back again. "And he has Elizabeth Webber?" He saw the truth in Jason's eyes but he still couldn't quite grasp it. "Why?"

Jason held out a hand. "I'll tell you later, Johnny… the whole story, but for right now all you have to know is that your father is alive and he has her so I need to find him and get her back."

He saw the startling honesty in the man's words, heard the desperation in his voice and so for once Johnny didn't take the opportunity to mock the enforcer or even bargain with him. He just nodded. "I'm sure the story will be a good one, but I'll take your word at face value. How do we figure this out?"

A single nod from Jason. "Good. I have two of my men coming over, computer guys, research, no guns."

Johnny shrugged. "Your gun is more than enough in this case."

"Now, we need to get some idea where your father would be hiding out… somewhere he could hide Elizabeth too."

"Yeah, okay," Johnny picked up his phone and looked at Jason. "I'll start making some calls."

Elizabeth felt like she was an actress getting ready for a roll in a mob miniseries. Standing in the kitchen with the older woman that had become her shadow she at least had another woman for company. Gaetana had showed up before breakfast and woke Elizabeth up before dawn to get her dressed and in the kitchen. The young woman would be considered plain back home, but there was an earthy spirit that gave her a glow and her smile was bright and cheerful and Elizabeth needed it like the sun.

It was also very very clear to Elizabeth that Gaetana and her 'older companion' didn't speak English. Elizabeth was pretty darn sure they were Italian based on watching the whole trilogy of Godfather films and the words Gaetana had been hammering her with in the kitchen sounded like they worked in the kitchen of an Italian restaurant.

Italy. Elizabeth felt the simple truth of it weigh on her shoulders. She'd finally found herself in Italy and instead of a honeymoon, or even just a vacation, she was the prisoner of a madman. Yep, life sucked.

Gaetana tapped Elizabeth's hand and brought her attention back to the lesson at hand. Apparently, if she understood correctly she was being taught how to make meatballs. She looked at the trays to her left and groaned, she'd made four trays already and if the stack of empties to her right was any indication she was going to be making many many more.

Spinelli gave Johnny a cold look when the mobster tried to touch his router. "Touch and Die, Zacchara-spawn."

Johnny's look was just this side of hysterical laughter.

Jason wasn't quite so forgiving. "Spinelli, shut it."

Stan was already hard at work searching property records in the tri-state area. He looked back over his shoulder. " None of those aliases are showing up with any property records old or new."

Spinelli was only slightly behind him. "Not showing any plane or train tickets with Elizabeth's names anywhere."

Jason pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "If only Sonny hadn't been such an ass with-"

Clapping his hand down on Jason's shoulder, Johnny gave him a companionable sigh. "Hell, Jason, Sonny's just an ass all the time. It's about time you figured it out."

Elizabeth rubbed at one arm and then the other as she and Gaetana took a moment to relax, leaning against the counter. The soft smile on the young woman's face chilled as she looked past Elizabeth at the door. Straightening she looked away and down at her feet. Elizabeth felt the shift of energy and turned to face Anthony Zacchara.

He gave Gaetana a few choice words in Italian and the poor girl was almost quaking with fear.

"Please, Mr. Za-" Elizabeth swallowed the words when she saw the warning in his eyes, "Papa. Please, Gaetana's been working hard this morning."

Anthony narrowed his gaze at them and paced over to the stove, lifting up cover after cover, tasting the food within and alternately nodding and shaking his head. He finally took a long wooden spoon and dipped it into the last pot. He lifted it back out with a meatball in the bowl of the spoon. "Too big, Elizabeth, if you want to do it right you need to pay attention to detail."

She moved closer, her face a mixture of many confused emotions. "I really need to get back to my boys, M- Papa. Are we done with my lessons? If not we can finish them back in Port Charles."

"Oh," he assured her, "we're not going back to Port Charles anytime soon." He cut her off before she could speak. "There's something you need to learn Elizabeth. From now on everything you have it's because I allow you to have it."

"But my boys-"

"Children are a means to an end, Elizabeth."

"What… what do you mean?"

He leaned closer, his voice soft, but the chill that slipped through her body was real enough. "I mean that if I don't get what I want… then I don't see where you should get anything either. Keep that in mind."

He turned and left the room with a resounding click on the lock. Elizabeth saw the worry on Gaetana's face and tried to wave it off but the tears began to fall and then Elizabeth was in the arms of the young Italian woman pouring out all the heartache in a language the girl didn't understand.

Sonny paced alone in the Penthouse, kicking at the remnants of the boxes, waiting.

A knock at the door didn't soothe him at all. "Get in here!"

Max clicked the door open and stepped inside. "You feeling alright, boss?"

"Give me the information, Max."

"I think you should talk to Jason about this."

"Where is he, Max?" The guard hesitated. "Max!"

"Jason's at the Zacchara house with Johnny and he's got Stan and Spinelli with him too."

Sonny went deathly still for a moment before he turned toward Max. Sonny's eyes blazed with anger. "So, he's finally sold me out." His hand started to burrow in his pockets, searching them in vain. "He's gone and sold me out to the Zaccharas… traitor."

Max swallowed hard and wondered what was going on.