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Chapter 48

On Sunday morning the Port Charles Gazette announced via its front page the marriage of Jason Morgan to Elizabeth Webber. Several pictures were included along with the story. The paper also reported that there was a bit of tension between the groom and one of the guests, a man named Lorenzo Alcazar. Because Jason was a member of the Quartermaine family, as well as an alleged mobster, the story was immediately picked up by several news outlets around the state.

Ric was still in his hotel robe sipping coffee when the annoying blonde on the morning program he was watching reported the nuptials. For a moment he simply sat staring at the television. She had married Jason. How the hell had he not known that they were getting married? He reached for his phone and called Lorenzo.

"Alcazar." Lorenzo had expected this call an hour ago. Lansing must have slept in.

"Why didn't you tell me that she was getting married?" Ric managed to refrain from yelling. The last thing he needed was someone calling security. This weekend he had been very successful in making some important connections.

"I found out at the very last-minute." Lorenzo lied to Ric.

"Yet you still managed to procure an invitation." Ric was pacing around his room. He had to get Elizabeth away from Jason as soon as possible.

"No, I asked a friend of a friend who was going to take me." Lorenzo figured if Ric looked into it he would find out that Skye was his date. In fact it was mentioned in the society gossip column that they had attended the ceremony together. "I did manage to dance with the bride."

Ric stopped pacing. "Oh really?" That was the first thing this morning that he liked hearing. "How did Jason take that?"

"He sent O'Brien to interrupt and he also had Corelli ask me to leave." Lorenzo sent a text to his man in New York to watch for Lansing's departure.

"Good." Ric was thrilled there was no way Lorenzo would be breathing too much longer. Hopefully Alexis would follow quickly after. "I'll be leaving for Port Charles within the hour. Have Elizabeth and Jason left for their honeymoon yet?" It was important that he find a way to keep her from leaving the city.

"No, they are still in the area." Lorenzo told Ric. He knew that the newlyweds were about an hour away. Their exact location was only known to Corelli and O'Brien. Neither one of them would tell anyone else.

"Any word on Luke?" Ric may as well get all the information he could.

"He should be out by the end of next week." Another lie. Luke was looking at a lengthy jail sentence. He would not be helping his son.

Ric was relaxing some. Once Morgan was in prison it wouldn't be hard to talk Elizabeth into a divorce and Alexis should be gone by then. A quick plane trip to the Dominican Republic could make sure that she didn't have time to change her mind. He'd probably just go ahead and marry her while they were down there. That way no one could interfere. Walking over to the closet Ric removed his suitcase. He needed to get back home.

Edward sat in the front parlor and chuckled to himself. He never thought that he would have the opportunity to work with his grandson, but life sometimes threw you a curveball. True what they had done wasn't business related but Edward was happy nonetheless. The large color picture of Jason and Elizabeth sharing their first kiss was proof that they could work together for a common goal.

One of the guards had snapped the pictures and then slipped him the camera. Late last night Edward had gone through the snapshots and picked several to send to his editor. Jason had given him complete freedom as to which pictures to use. Considering they were supposed to irritate the D.A. Edward went for pictures where Elizabeth looked the happiest. She was a Quartermaine now and no one threatened a member of his family. Ric Lansing was about the learn that.

Flipping the paper over he looked at the picture on the lower half of the front page. It made him laugh out right. A large color photo of Ric Lansing kissing his stepdaughter Sam McCall. Apparently yesterday his editor had received a parcel from an unknown source detailing a torrid affair between the acting D.A. and the now dead women. That young computer hacker that worked for Jason did excellent work you couldn't even tell the picture was photo shopped.

Not only did the package contain pictures, there was also a recording of the several of their conversations where the two laughed at how no one suspected they were lovers. Even as Edward sat there sipping his coffee, his editor was launching an investigation into Sam's past. It wouldn't take long to uncover her alias, ex-husbands and numerous cons.

Edward hated Ric the man was entirely too pompous. He also had no respect for his elders. Alexis could do so much better. That poor woman was the only thing that had made Edward hesitate to run the story, but Sonny assured him that Alexis and the girls were well protected. They would not be hearing about Ric's misdeeds.

This was of course the opening salvo. In tomorrow's paper the editor would run a story disclosing Sam's past. One day after that they would drop the bomb about Ric smuggling in pills to Lucky Spencer, his plot to kill his ailing wife and his obsession with his ex-wife. To avoid prosecution Ric would flee the city, or it would look that way. Edward had been assured that Jason had no intention of allowing Ric to go anywhere.

When his phone buzzed Edward checked his messages. Lorenzo was alerting all concerned that Ric was on his way back to Port Charles. Good. Edward was prepared to launch into the next part of his role. He needed to make a phone call to the Mayor demanding that these allegations be looked into immediately. Considering how much money Edward had given his Honor's election campaign he expected there would be no argument.

Dara Jensen would make an outstanding acting D.A. until Alexis returned. If the other woman intended to return at all. California was a wonderful place to raise children, maybe she and her girls would like to stay. Edward heard the running feet of his great-grandson and flipped through the paper until he reached the financial section. He and Cameron had some stocks to check on.

"It's amazing what you can do with a computer these days." Johnny said shaking his head as he looked at the photo of Ric and Sam. "How did you do this again?" He asked the young hacker. Johnny was stopping by the Morgan house to take care of the dogs. Jason wasn't sure Spinelli would remember to feed them.

"I just took a still photo from a movie and superimposed the Dastardly D.A. and Sam onto it." He had been crushed to discover just how involved in the plot Sam had been. She hadn't intended to harm her mother, but she had intended to help harm Elizabeth. Spinelli adored the woman he had at one point called Nurse Hottie.

"It was a mere morning's work, to doctor all the photos Mister Sir wanted. The recording was a bit more work, but nothing the Jackal couldn't handle." No one would be allowed to harm his master's family.

He looked so harmless was all Johnny could think as he watched the kid eat a massive bowl of cereal. He was possibly the scariest person working for Jason and Sonny. "You can do this to anyone?"

"Pretty much." Spinelli said smiling. "Did The Protector of the Maternal One need something done?"

"No, I'm good." He would make sure that he never pissed the kid off. "Jason's pretty lucky to have you. "

"The Jackal is the lucky one. I have not only Stone Cold, but Fair Elizabeth and the Little Dude as well. I didn't have much family growing up." Spinelli said shrugging his shoulders. It had been him and his Grandmother. When Spinelli came to work for Jason, the enforcer made sure that the older woman was well cared for.

"Liz is pretty awesome." Johnny had to agree to that.

"I was very surprised when she fixed up a room just for me." Spinelli loved his room. "When The Godfather asked me to help protect the Maternal One I was most pleased. It feels nice to do something for Mrs. Stone Cold."

Both checked their phones when they buzzed. "Lansing is on his way home." Johnny said to the hacker.

"Which means the fireworks should begin soon." Spinelli hoped Ric got everything he had coming to him.

"I'm going to walk the dogs and then head over to Sonny's house." Johnny got up and grabbed his jacket. "Will you be over?"

"Alas I will not. I have been up all night monitoring some transactions for Stone Cold." The work he had done to help eliminate Ric's threat was not the only thing he had going on. Most often Spinelli worked over night moving money through various channels for his bosses. He needed to write-up a report for Bernie before calling it a night. "After a few more things I will be visiting the land of slumber."

"Sleep well." Johnny said whistling for the dogs who both came running.

Sonny was chopping tomatoes when his phone buzzed. Looking over he saw that Ric was on his way back to Port Charles. No doubt the other man now knew that Elizabeth was Mrs. Jason Morgan. He would have loved to have been there when Ric heard.

For entirely too many years Sonny had protected the man he called brother. It was a wonder that Jason hadn't killed the both of them. Lainey had really opened Sonny's eyes to a great many things. Chief among them was that Sonny didn't owe Ric his protection or loyalty. In keeping the lawyer in his life the mob boss had traded an abusive stepfather for an abusive stepbrother.

It had been Sonny who realized that his mother would not expect him to protect a man who deliberately set out to hurt him. All these years Ric had prayed on Sonny's guilt that their mother had raised him and not Ric. With the help of Lainey, Sonny had come to understand it was a decision that had nothing to do with him. It was a choice his mother had made, just like he had to choose for himself who to call brother.

The choice had been so easy. Jason was Sonny's brother. He was the one that Sonny would protect time and time again. For years Jason had put Sonny and his family ahead of himself not because it was his job but because he protected those he cared for. Now that Jason had Elizabeth it was time for Sonny to step up and protect his brother's family.

Sonny wasn't sure that he could be there when Ric died. But he was now at peace with the fact that Ric's time was almost up. Listening to those recordings had killed any bit of compassion that Sonny might have had. Ric was planning on killing Alexis so that he could have Elizabeth. A woman who didn't even want him.

With the tomatoes chopped Sonny moved on the peppers. Kate had caught the red-eye to Paris last night after the wedding. She would be gone for the next three weeks, which was good. He didn't want her around while they dealt with Ric. Today he was going to talk to Jax about sending Carly and Morgan to the island, he'd also see if they'd take Cam as well.

Sonny wanted Elizabeth to go too but she was needed here. Ric would focus on her the minute he got back, the rest of his plans would fall by the way side as he tried to get to his ex-wife. Her security had been tightened and she was going to be staying on her property as much as possible but things could still go wrong. It was up to them to make sure she walked away unharmed. If Jason lost her it would kill him.

Francis walked into the kitchen and grabbed an apron. "Everything's set." He told his boss.

"Good. When does he touch down?" Sonny asked putting the tomatoes in a sauce pan.

"Forty minutes." Francis told his boss.

"The cabin is secure?" Sonny still didn't know where exactly the cabin was. Nor did he want to. The fewer people who knew the less chance anyone had of finding it.

"Yup." Francis confirmed reaching for an onion. "Jason went over everything on Friday. I know that Jason wants to be the one to kill Ric, but part of me hopes Lansing does something stupid this week and we can deal with him and get it over with."

"That would be best." Sonny added salt and pepper to the tomatoes. "How can we make that happen?" Jason would be pissed but he still had Spencer to pound on.

"Really?" Francis sent a silent apology to Jason, but he wanted Lansing gone before Liz came back.

"Really." Sonny said looking at Francis.

"I think we will need Lorenzo's and Johnny's help." Francis had a plan but he wasn't quite sure how to pull it off.

"Johnny should be here shortly. You can tell me then. After we deal with Ric, we can figure out how to get Elizabeth to keep Jason from killing us." The mob boss laughed. Francis did too.

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