Chapter 4

"I'm surprised you bothered to show up for breakfast," Claudia sneered, raising her eyes from the Metro Court Hotel rrestaurant menu to glare at her little brother.

"You called," he huffed, jerking his chair out and sitting down across from her, too pissed off to care if heads turned and his poor sister was embarrassed. He fucking hated this hotel and any other kind like it, and the only reason he lived there with her for as long as he did was because she begged him, pleaded with him not to leave her alone like everyone else.

Sadly, he thought Claudia had some real motivation behind her desire to keep her brother near, but she'd proven to be like everyone else. So desperate to keep Johnny Zacchara under wraps that she'd sell herself short in the process. He tried to be patient, told himself she was protecting him when really she was smothering him, and finally he packed his bags and found his own place.

"We need to discuss this situation you've gotten yourself into," she said, smiling sweetly at the waiter as he sat down two mimosas. "Keep these coming, pal." She paused and looked over at Johnny. "M Though my little brother here might need something stiffer."

"I don't want anything," he hissed, not bothering to look up at the waiter.

"My, my, you really are bent out of shape over this girl," she clucked, folding her menu closed and holding it out to the waiter. She took a sip of her drink and reached out to grab the waiter before he hurried off. "See if you can get this made just a tad bit stronger too, will ya?" He nodded, and she winked at him as she let go of his arm and settled back in the chair. "Now back to business."

"I'm not discussing Nadine with you," he muttered stiffly, clasping his hands in his lap.

Unfortunately, once his sister became privy to the fact that he had a rather attractive, blonde neighbor who beat on his door, she became nosey. Ty, and that led to her learning that Nadine worked for Nikolas, which caused her to believe the nurse was why Johnny wanted to donate his entire trust fund and father's earnings to Nikolas' clinic.

"Fine, then let's discuss how you're going to blow your entire savings, our entire family's namesakes so you can sleep with some annoying, little twit-"

"She doesn't like the loud music," he cut in, shaking his head.

"You're defending her now, John?" she asked, finishing off mimosa number one in one,ne long gulp, and moving onto number two.

"You don't know her," he muttered, biting his jaws to keep from saying what he really wanted to.

Claudia didn't need to be reminded that his father was a cruel, manipulative business man who made his life earnings by cheating and conniving people out of their money. He ran a dirty, scheming company, and when he died, he left it to Johnny because he believed his beloved son was willing to step up and be as foul and cruel as Anthony was.

If he knew his son in the slightest, he would have realized Johnny was never going to live in that shadow.

"Neither do you," she argued, grinning at the waiter as he set two more mimosas on the table, and grabbed her empty glass. There was clearly just a hint of orange juice in both of them. "You always do this. I swear, when we first moved to Port Charles and you started seeing that one stupid twit-"

"Okay, Lulu was a mistake," he agreed, finally looking at her, "but Nadine isn't like that."

Claudia arched her eyebrows as swayed her half empty champagne flute from side to side. "So you admit you like her?"

"I like her cause," he replied, sighing heavily.

Did she really have to bring up Lulu?

"Oh, right, if I had a number for every man who liked my cause," she snickered, finishing off glass number two and moving onto three.

"You'd what?" he challenged, leaning forward and glaring at her. She just smirked. "I didn't want to run the damn company, and neither did you. And I sure as hell don't want money that came with blood on his hands, so I'm going to do something good with it."

"Good?" she mocked, her face falling. "Oh, John, this girl has you hook, line, and sinker. How did she do it? Because I have got to learn."

"Claudia," he warned, clenching his jaw.

"Did she bat those baby blues? Or did she offer other things?" she laughed, tossing her dark, black hair over her should. "This could be beneficial to me."

"Do you enjoy pissing me off?" he growled, narrowing his eyes at her. "I don't see how any of this is your concern. You got your trust fund from our father. You have plenty of money to buy your designer clothes and fucking stilettos, so why do you care?"

"Because despite what you think, John, I care about Daddy," she answered angrily, slamming her glass down and sloshing champagne onto the fancy tablecloth.

"I asked you if you wanted the company, and you said no," he reminded her, pounding his fist against the table. She cringed as heads turned from all around them, and he knew he was really causing heads to turn. "Trevor ran the company along side our father and he's better suited for the type of business he ran anyway."

"So you're going to take all the money you got in the deal with Trevor and just give it away?" she asked in disbelief. "Explain to me how I'm supposed to understand that."

"It's my money, so you don't have to," he retorted, taking a deep breath as he looked around at the prying eyes in the restaurant.

"You're going to make a mistake. You'll regret giving the money away when you're left with nothing."

"Money doesn't give you everything, Claudia," he said, knowing it wouldn't sink into her superficial way of thinking.

"It's not just that," she defended, shaking her head. "Daddy may have been a bastard, but he gave us the Zacchara name, and that's about the only damn thing he left us with. He built a business empire that you signed over to his lawyers before they lowered his coffin in the ground, and now-"

He scooted his chair back and got up, lowering his voice as he leaned over to say one last thing. "And you may think that our father left us with something because of our name, but all he did really left us with the pile of bloodshed and bankrupt men he left behind. He didn't die with their blood on his hands. He left it for us, and I refuse to be any part of it, but you can do whatever the hell you want."

"John," she whispered, tipping her head back and looking up at him with tear-filled eyes.

"Don't even," he growled, turning away and refusing to feel sorry for her.

**********

"Yeah, this is Nadine Crowell," she murmured, pacing back and forth on the rooftop of the hospital, one arm draped across her middle. "Yes, I know that Jolene's medical bills are overdue, but I can't afford to send the entire payment right now."

She hung her head when the bill collector rambled on about how she signed the agreement stating that Nadine would accept full responsibility and have her payment ready on the first Tuesday of everything month.

"Well, the most I can do is give you a check number, and you can process it this Friday," she begged, pacing nervously, her heart tightening in her chest.

Her sister needed to stay in this facility and if she screwed this up, Aunt Raylene's soul would never forgive her. She'd turn in her grave and come after her beloved niece, desperate to remind her what family was all about.

"Yes, for the full amount," she cringed, silently adding up dollars in her head.

Maybe trading in the tiny furnished apartment for the fancy one with actual heat and electricity that didn't work onlyonly worked when it wanted to hadn't been such a good idea, or maybe she'd have to suck it up and get more hours at the clinic or General Hospital.

Of course, then she'd have to explain to Nikolas why she was working even more than usual, and he was already questioning the hours she did have. She felt guilty when she thought about how Nikolas knew nothing about her sister, Jolene, and how she was locked away in a mental facility after having a nervous breakdown when he was so willing to share things with her. This wasn't the type of thing you shared with a Greek prince that you sometimes thought you were madly in love with, but soon got over that any thoughts of love with because he wanted his dead fiancé back.

And to think, she thought life in Ohio was complicated.

Besides, if she told Nikolas the truth, he would offer to pay for Jolene's medical care, and it seemed wrong to have someone taking care of her sister who didn't know her and never would. She'd all but been sitting in the facility for years like a piece of fruit, molding away to nothing, not even registering her own sister's presence when she actually made it into the city to visit.

She could have committed her to Shadybrook when she moved to upstate New York, but as terrible as it sounded, she wanted to keep her life as separate from Jolene's as possible. She'd be living in her sister's shadow for years, fighting to show that the Crowell name was good, and didn't mean she was a nurse, ready to off patients at a moment's notice.

Finding Port Charles had been an accident as she ran her finger down a list of small towns in New York after finding what was deemed the best care facility on the East Coast in Manhattan, and five minutes in the town, and she fell in love with it. Sure, it had its flaws, like the occasional mob war or explosion on the docks, but at least things were never boring.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here," she sighed, leaning against the ledge of the building and staring down at the ground, watching the cars whiz in and out of traffic. Some people in this town were just too damn impatient to stop at red lights, which was precisely why the ER was always filled with accidents. "Take the payment out on Friday, late fee include."

Too bad she hadn't counted on just how expensive the facility would be.

Nikolas was well overpaying her for her time spent at the clinic, but that money went fast with the new apartment and catching up on her other bills. Her paychecks at General Hospital hadn't come near to covering Jolene's bills, but they were willing to work with her income, which was fantastic as seeing now she made too much.

Why couldn't life just ever give a girl a break?

"Thank you," she murmured, snapping her phone closed and shoving it into her the pocket of her scrubs. "Blasted woman…I bet if her sister was locked up, she'd want someone to be patient with her…stupid, stupid, Jolene, why did you have to go crazy on me?" She braced her hands against the ledge and leaned over, taking a deep breath. "I know it wasn't your fault, but when you kill someone you have to think of those around you. It's just logical."

Closing her eyes, she sucked in a breath, refusing to cry as she often did when she thought about her sister. It was difficult to think about their happy childhood spend in Ohio riding horses and staying up late and sharing secrets.

How did they get herehad they gotten here?

"I'm sorry, Jolene. It's not your fault. I mean, it is, but it's not, and gosh, Aunt Raylene, if you're listening and could give me some strength here, I need-"

"Talking to yourself now, huh?"

"Fuck," she groaned, lifting her head and looking over to see Johnny strolling – oh yeah, he was definitely strolling – onto the roof. She wouldn't be surprised if he started whistling any second. "Are you stalking me now, Jerk Boy?"

He grunted, slipping his hands into his pockets, and rocked back and forth on his feet. "How self-centered." She arched an eyebrow, challenging him. "Actually, my father was a member of the hospital board a while ago. Usually our lawyer's son filled in, but when he died, it was one thing I was interested in."

"You hate sick people," she hissed, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at him.

"I have not once gavegiven that impression," he scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Uh, tThis whole debacle you've started about the clinic," she reminded him, leaning over so that their faces were inches apart. "You don't want to help sick people, but you'll support a hospital that turns them away?"

"You work here, hypocrite," he retorted, stepping up to the ledge and peering over. He stepped back, hesitating briefly before jumping onto the edge.

"What the hell are you doing?" she cried, her eyes widening in horror as he balanced himself on one leg and slowly hopped along the ledge. "Stop it, Johnny! Get down!"

"It's fun," he shrugged, turning around on one foot to face her. He leaned backwards and flashed her a pearly grin that would have normally pissed her off because it was adorably cute, but this was different.

She was just pissed off.

"Get down!" she screamed, clenching her hands in fists at his side. Her throat went dry as he continued to pace, and she wasn't why it was so infuriating. Maybe it was her own personal furies or that she missed Jolene, and here this fucker was just literally dangling his life over the edge of a fifteen story building. "What the hell is the matter with you?"

He stopped and tipped his head in her direction, her tone having caught him off guard. "I do it all the time," he said, jumping down and walking over to her, his eyes softening. "Look, I didn't mean to upset you. I was just screwing around."

"Yeah, that seems to be all you ever do," she spat, backing away from him.

"Whoa, Nadine, is something wrong?" he asked, following after her as she started for the door. "I'm sorry if I upset you. I just had a bad day, and this calms me down."

"Calms you down?" she cried, spinning around on her heels to face him. "I'd say try going for a drive, but you'd go to fast, so maybe you should try walking really slow, or breaking a couple of glasses, or writing a mean letter, but you sure as hell don't jump on building ledges!"

He nodded, stepping slowly away and holding up his hands. "Uh, point taken," he huffed sarcastically.

"God, you're so dumb," she scowled, turning around and jerking the door open.

She stalked inside and left him gaping behind her, not sure if she was more embarrassed that she'd flipped out on him or that she actually cared whether he fell off the roof.