Chapter Nineteen

"So, you married the whore after knocking her up huh? You might want a paternity test. She tends to never have children with the man that she is supposedly seeing." Lucky glared as Dante grabbed his arm while Jagger and Francis stepped in front of an irate Johnny. "Oh please, you know that Liz is damaged and doesn't even comprehend what faithful means. She will fit right in to your unethical lifestyle."

"You are a piece of work, Spencer! Didn't you have an affair with your boss's drug addict daughter? Weren't you exchanging sex for drugs? I am positive that makes you a whore! You also slept with her sister while you were with Elizabeth. Oh, and let's not forget that you are an abusive SOB. And from what I understand, you stood a fifteen year old Elizabeth up, factoring into her being in the park the night that Baker got a hold of her. How do you sleep at night knowing that you are partially responsible for her rape?" Johnny smiled coldly as he saw Lucky's face turn red. "Truth too much for you? I know that you aren't real use to it. Must be hard to hear it. Don't worry, Lucky. Elizabeth is extremely happy and satisfied with me. There is no need for her to search for someone else like she had to do while with you."

"Enough!" Dante snapped, jerking Lucky back when he tried to rush Johnny. "We have questions about your father's death."

"Then I will meet you at the station tomorrow with my lawyer. However, Detective Spencer will not be involved. I have already talked with Jordan. She was speaking to Mac today about his biased behaviors. If he is not taken off of the case, I will report it to the state boys and whoever else Jordan says to." Johnny offered the stunned man a smirk. "Have a great day."

Reaching past Dante, Lucky tried to grab Johnny's arm but he missed, further enraging the man. "You are nothing but a criminal! I will make sure that you are in the pen before this is over!"

Jagger snatched Lucky by the shirt and tossed him backward while Johnny ignored the ranting and continued on into the house. "Let me give you both a piece of advise. Stay away from Elizabeth, Cam, and Jake. You signed away all right to those boys, Lucky. You have no reason to even be around them. Detective Falconeri, you need to decide if your partner's unstable behavior and his unreasonable need to control Elizabeth is worth the trouble that will come from it. Elizabeth Zacchara is not your concern. Either of yours."

"We are police officers. We have jobs to perform," Dante protested softly. He knew that having Lucky on this assignment had been a mistake.

"Not when it comes to any cases involving the Zacchara family." Francis looked at them both. "Jordan is filing a restraining order against Spencer here. Be careful or you will be joining him in that reguard."

"This isn't over!" Lucky snarled.

"It is." Mac walked up the sidewalk from where he had parked at Robin's. "After listening for the last several minutes, I have to agree with Mr. Zacchara's attorney. You are not acting rationally, Lucky. You are no longer able to work any cases concerning John and Elizabeth Zacchara. Nor are you allowed near your ex wife and her children."

"This is bullshit!" He spat as Jagger and Francis watched with amusement.

"It is a fact. You break the rules and you will be dealt with," Mac told him evenly. He dismissed his detectives and looked at the two men that were watching the conversation. "Jagger, please tell John and Elizabeth that we will be meeting at nine tomorrow morning. You are required to be there too since you were present when they married."

"Not a problem."

"Mr. Corelli, my neice already told me that you were here with her and the kids when Anthony was killed. However, I still need a statement from you."

"I will be there in the morning too. I will answer your questions then."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~b~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You got married?" Cam looked at her with worry in large brown eyes.

"We did," Elizabeth confirmed slowly. She had not expected the wariness that her oldest son was exhibiting. "I thought that you liked Johnny? Do you not want him to be with us all the time, Cam?"

He shook his head quickly. "I do like him. He is fun and he doesn't yell all the time. But will he stay? They all leave, Mom. No man has stayed and been there for all of us?"

Stunned at the reasoning of her son and how grown up that he sounded, she hid a wince. Elizabeth knew that her bad choices had effected her children, but she had not realized that Cam harbored the idea that men would never stick around or keep their word. Cursing Lucky, she pulled him into a hug. "Oh, Cameron. He isn't going to leave. Johnny is here to stay. He loves you and Jake, and this new baby. I know that Lucky hurt you by never coming around much, but Johnny is not Lucky, honey. You can't judge everyone from his mistakes."

"But I thought that Lucky loved us too?"

Brushing a curl of his forhead, she smiled gently. "Remember when Lucky got sick?" She saw him nod and continued. "Well, he changed after that, baby. Lucky did love you, but his mind got sick and never fully got better. Johnny is not like that. He will always be there for you and Jake, no matter what."

"Are you happy?" he asked, leaning back against her as he sat in her lap. "He won't make you cry all the time like you did after Lucky would scream?"

Heart breaking for the pain that her babies had suffered through, she kissed his cheek. "I am so happy, Cam. But I want you and Jakie happy too."

Standing at the door, Johnny cleared his throat and walked in. He saw that Cam was assessing him and wished that he could kill Spencer for the pain that he had caused the little guy. Having overheard some of the conversation, he knew that it would take awhile to build trust with Cam. He was glad though that they had already a good start from the time that he had spent with both boys.

"And I want you all happy. While I cannot promise that we may never disagree, Cam, I do promise that it will never be screaming and fighting. Adults have little disagreements, just like you do with Jake, but you still love one another and protect each other."

Sensing the truthfulness in those words and the way that he was meeting his eyes, Cam nodded. "Do you love mommy?"

Taking Elizabeth's free hand and clasping it in his, Johnny smiled. "More than I can ever explain. Her and you boys are my family now, Cam. And nothing is more important than family. I will never walk away, buddy."

"Okay," he said after a couple minutes of silence. "Welcome to our family, Johnny." Cam grinned as Johnny scooped him up and tossed him in the air. "Can we tell Jakie when he wakes up?"

"We can," he confirmed, placing the little guy on his feet. "But he may not fully understand, Cam."

"Cause Jakie is a baby still, but he will know that you are here now. We will like that, I think."

Eyes watering, Elizabeth swiped a hand over her eyes. Knowing that her family was happy and starting over on a new path made her heart lighten just a little. The despair that she felt for letting Lucky hold so much power to hurt her eldest still caused to her ache. Although seeing the man that she was now married to tickling her baby and making him laugh and squeal, caused her to believe that not too much damage had been done her son.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~b~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jason and Sam were eating Chinese when Max knocked and entered the penthouse. Looking up, Jason sat his beer down and motioned Max forward. "Hey. Did the plane take off?"

"It did. It left about forty minutes ago."

"Good. Thank you, Max. Was there any problems beforehand?"

"Nothing too bad. I took care of it." The big guard looked at Sam and saw the confusion and curiousity on her face. He wanted out of the penthouse before she started whining. "I will let you guys get back to your meal. I just wanted you to have an update."

Sam waited until he was gone before looking over at Jason. "What is going on?"

"Just some business that I needed to make sure was carried out the way that I requested." He ran a hand through his hair and felt relieved to know that Sonny was now on his way to the island that they owned. He wanted to make sure that his former friend was nowhere near to cause any pain to Elizabeth.

"But I thought that Max was Sonny's man. Why is he reporting to you?"

Turning and looking at Sam, Jason studied her for a minute before responding. Hating the doubts that Jagger and Francis had planted, he inwardly shook his head. "Sonny left for the island. He is no longer in control."

"What?" she yelled. Her mind raced as she thought about how to get rid of Elizabeth now. Sonny had been her fall guy. With him now gone, she had no idea of who to use as her scapegoat. Lowering her voice and trying to even it out, Sam placed a hand on his shoulder and ran her fingertips over his dark shirt. "I mean, why would Sonny leave without any warning? Is there trouble that you have not told me about?"

Mistaking her change in tone for her being worried, Jason smiled reassuringly at her and placed a hand on her growing abdomen. "We are safe, as you will always be. I will never let anyone hurt you, Sam. I just had to take Sonny out of control for now. He was planning on going after Elizabeth to get to Johnny. We don't need a war with the Zacchara's right now."

Grimacing at the reasoning, she barely supressed her snarl. "You took her side of your best friend's?"

"Elizabeth is the mother of my son, Sam. You know that. I thought that you had accepted that I will never let anyone hurt her or Jake. We are still friends. But I am with you now. She is married to Johnny. There is no reason for you to be concerned."

"But, Jason, she is still causing problems," she whined pitifully while inhaling sharply. "You should have not been put in the place to have to do this to Sonny."

Anger starting to build at her unwavering support of Sonny and complete denial of the danger that he was to Elizabeth, he stood and grabbed his leather coat off the back of the desk chair. "You have no idea what you are talking about Sam. I am going for a ride." He stormed out of the penthouse without a backward glance.

Frustrated and worried, she threw her plate across the room and watched it shatter. With Sonny now gone, Sam was still determined to make sure that Elizabeth's life was ruined. It was even worse now. She now had Jason protecting her again and the perfect princess was married to a rival mob family to boot. And with Anthony dead, Johnny was in control of the Zacchara power. There was no way that Sam wanted Elizabeth to have the happiness and power that she would now be gaining by being married to the young man. Sam was determined that Elizabeth would be miserable before she was finished with her. Rubbing her stomach, Sam vowed that she would make sure that her child was the most important thing in Jason's world, no matter what she had to do to accomplish that.