A/N – Thanks for the reviews! Here's another chapter for today. Lvette4 – You might change your mind on me needing to hide after this chapter. Lrobinson01 – totally lol

Chapter 16 - Crushed

The cops frisked Johnny but found no weapon and then went into the bedroom. The girl had awakened and was hysterical. Johnny could hear her tell them that she was Jason's girlfriend and they had been partying and she had passed out. She said she didn't know who the man was.

"Lying whore," Johnny said under his breath.

"What was that?" Officer Dimestico said glaring at Johnny.

"Nothing…"

Liz woke up and she was hysterical.

"Can I please go to her?" Johnny asked.

Tired of hearing her sobbing, Ronnie agreed.

Johnny went to the couch and held Liz. "I think this was a setup. Jason seems like he's drugged."

But Liz really wasn't hearing him. All she could see in her head was that woman lying there in his arms in their bed and it had crushed her. She looked like the woman Liz had seen him with at the Metro Court.

The cops called a doctor to examine Jason and the woman. They brought her down first, she was crying.

Liz looked up and when she saw her, Liz saw red. "Who the hell are you?"

The woman smirked and proudly met her gaze. "I'm Jason's girlfriend, and I'm pregnant."

"Let's go, Ms. McCall."

Liz's knees buckled and Johnny eased her back down on the couch. She wasn't even crying anymore she just stared ahead, not focusing on anything particular. She thought about what her life had become and she was numb. All her dreams of being with Jason had just been trampled on just like her heart.

They practically dragged Jason, who is barely conscious, down the stairs and Liz couldn't even look at him. In fact, she never wanted to see him again.

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Jason had been in jail for three days. They wouldn't let him out on bail, and as much as Diane tried, they wouldn't drop the charges. It was not looking good and because both Jason and the woman remembered nothing, the circumstantial evidence spoke for itself.

Liz had gone back to her mother and father's house right after the police hauled Jason and Johnny downtown and locked the door of her room and refused to come out. Her heart was broken. Johnny had tried to see her several times, but she refused to see him along with everyone else because she was devastated. All her insecurities were rearing their ugly head and her inner dialogue was not pretty. Deep down, she had never felt like she was enough for him and what she had seen just sent her into a depression.

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Dante moved in front of Jason's cell. "What do you want, Morgan?" When he had found out what Jason did, he was sick to his stomach.

"I need you to go to Liz. She needs her friends," he said quietly.

"But you hate me."

"Liz doesn't hate you."

"Why did you do it? Did you ever stop and think how badly this would hurt her?" Dante asked.

Jason glared at him. "I didn't do anything. Do you really think I would just throw everything I had work so hard for with Elizabeth away?"

"You don't know what you did, Jason. You were so wasted you don't even remember anything," Dante said angrily.

"I would never do that to Elizabeth and I don't do drugs, Dante."

After seeing the look in Jason's eyes, Dante realized that the man is falling in love with his wife. "Well if you didn't, then you're in a whole world of trouble."

"Please, Dante, go see her. She needs a friend around her." He had gone over their conversations over and over in his mind and he knew she was suffering.

"You don't want to give her a message?"

Jason shook his head. "No. Just go be a friend please." He is beyond worried about Liz, especially after Johnny told him she wasn't eating. She isn't in a frame of mind to hear anything Jason has to say, so it's best not to send a message. Johnny kept in touch with one of the guards at the Alcazar compound daily to find out how she was for him. "She hasn't been eating, so maybe you can bring her something."

Dante nodded. "Okay." He isn't sure what to think.

"Thank you."

"I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it for her," Dante said before leaving. He got back in his car and drove to the Alcazar estate wondering what he'll find when he gets there.

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They let him through the gate and he parked the car. A guard led him to the door and Skye met him there.

"Thank you for coming. She won't talk to anyone and frankly, she's scaring me."

Dante nodded and then followed her upstairs and he hesitantly stood in front of Liz's door.

Dante knocked. "Liz, it's Dante." He thought he heard a movement, but then there was nothing. "Please open the door."

He heard the knob move and then the door swung open, but he couldn't see her because she was hiding behind it. When he walked inside, she quickly shut it and locked it behind him.

He turned to face her. She is pale and her eyes are red and swollen. She flung herself into his arms and Dante hugged her tightly and then after feeling her body slack, he picked her up and placed her on the bed.

"Everyone's so worried about you."

"I know," she said softly. "I just didn't want to see them." She is embarrassed and just can't stand to see pity in anyone's eyes.

Dante sighed. "Do you want to talk?"

"There's nothing to talk about really. It's over."

Dante held her tighter. "I'm so sorry."

Liz closed her eyes and they just sat quietly for a few minutes.

"Will you do me a favor and please eat something?"

Liz shrugged. Her stomach had been grumbling. "Okay, I guess."

He went into her bathroom and ran her a bath.

"Go take a bath and relax. I'm going to go downstairs and get you some food and water."

Liz nodded and got up and went into the bathroom.

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Dante went downstairs and found his parents in the living room. "She's willing to eat and drink something."

Skye gasped. "Thank you so much."

"I'll bring it up to her. Just help me make something she likes. She's taking a bath."

Lorenzo observed Dante carefully. From all Johnny had told him, he doesn't think Jason is guilty. Hopefully, the truth would come out soon, but his daughter will be devastated either way. She'll feel guilty if it wasn't true and would probably go into another tailspin if it was, but he isn't sure if Dante has any romantic notions about Elizabeth and that is giving him pause.

"So, how do you know my daughter again?" Lorenzo asked.

Dante smiled at the word again. He had never told them how he knew Elizabeth in the first place.

"Let's just say I helped her out of a jam and we've been friends ever since."

Lorenzo led Dante to the kitchen. "Well, the fact that she was willing to let you in her room shows that she considers you to be a good friend."

He grabbed some water from the refrigerator.

"So, how did you find out she was here?" Skye asked as she made Liz's favorite sandwich.

Dante cleared his throat. "I found out from Jason."

Skye stopped what she was doing and glanced at her husband.

"Hear me out," Dante said quickly. "I don't even like Jason and the feeling is mutual. I was summoned to his jail cell and he begged me to come over here and check on her. He said that he didn't do it and he didn't give me any messages for her. He just asked me to come over here and be a friend."

Skye went back to doing what she was doing and Lorenzo made a mental note to have Dante checked out.

"There's one more thing."

They gave him their attention.

"Sonny is my father. We don't speak because we had a falling out about five years ago, but he's been trying to reconcile with me," Dante said waiting for an explosion to follow but was surprised when none came.

Lorenzo knew Sonny had a son, but he didn't know it was Dante.

"I met Liz before she knew who I was and vice versa."

Skye put the two sandwiches on the tray along with two bottles of water. She added a fruit bowl and then handed it to Dante. "Don't mention your visit to Jason. I don't want her upset any more than she already is."

Dante agreed and then went upstairs.

"What do you think?" Lorenzo asked Skye. He always trusts her first impressions.

"I like him. He was honest and he seems to have her best interests at heart."

"What do you think about Jason?"

Skye sighed. "I don't know what to think anymore. Even if he didn't do it, I don't know how Bella is ever going to let him in again. He has been the only man she has ever loved and it will be hard for her to trust him again."

Lorenzo wasn't trying to hear that. He needs Bella and Jason to stay together. The other families will not be happy if their union is severed and he is quite aware that they love each other. What he isn't sure of is what he could do to help Jason out of his predicament. Besides, they had seemed to be very happy together and he wants that for his daughter. If Jason truly cares about Liz, then Lorenzo is convinced that he is the man for her. Only time would tell.