So here is another chapter. This story has been a joy to write, it practically writes itself... Hope you guys enjoy and will continue to share your thoughts, feelings, ideas... Please feel free to PM if you have any questions that you want answered, I can't promise I can answer them, but I will do my best.

Chapter Three

Epiphany gently shook Elizabeth awake. Her not so little girl always did enjoy her sleep and while she would have preferred to let her get more, Mr. Corinthos and his men were waiting. "Come on sweetie, you can sleep when we get to our new home. Important men can be finicky about being made to wait and I have already made us late."

Briefly wondering if she could get away with being a brat, Elizabeth realized, now wasn't the time. "I'm up but please don't expect more than grunts for the first thirty minutes…"

"I wouldn't dream of it sleeping beauty." Epiphany said as she exited the car.

"Ugh…I am no one's princess. Could you just imagine me as a damsel in distress…?" Elizabeth said groggily.

Epiphany laughed softly, no her girl was no one's damsel.

As they made their way into the coffee shop, Epiphany said, "Well, I doubt Mr. Corinthos rides a white stallion or wears a knights garb, we are here looking for…sanctuary I suppose. Little girl, just try not to be…quite so prickly, I know you are tired but they are here to help."

"You should have bribed me with chocolate, that always makes me more pliable and biddable…" Elizabeth said with a sleepy smile.

"I have a thin mint." A male voice said in front of them. Causing both women to jerk their sight forward and both of them to blush, while Epiphany continued further into the shop, Elizabeth stopped dead in her tracks.

Elizabeth watched as three very well built men entered the small dining area and saw the smaller man in behind them, smack the one who spoke, she surmised. "Don't mind him, he has no filter. Would you like a cup of our specialty hot chocolate, it is one of our best sellers?"

Sonny watched as this almost ethereal light widened the blue eyes of the young woman.

"You've said the magic words now Mr. Corinthos. You may have to have her forcefully removed if your stock isn't low. Nothing and I do mean NOTHING comes between her and her sweet treat." Epiphany said with a laugh. Not bothered in the slightest by the dirty look she was given.

Sonny didn't bother waiting for the answer, simply stepped behind the counter and expertly began to make a hot chocolate and five coffees. "Mrs. Johnson, how do you take your coffee?"

"Black…It has been a long night. Thank you Mr. Corinthos, I appreciate the caffeine and your help."

"Would you like to take this back to my office…?" Sonny asked but stopped talking as he saw the young woman flinch.

Before he could try to rectify whatever mistake he made, he heard Epiphany say, "Do you have a conference room or…could we hold the meeting here?"

"Piph, could you guys just go talk. You know as much as I do…" Elizabeth said while trying to avoid everyone's eyes.

"How about…is it that you don't want us to know or is it something else?" Sonny asked cautiously.

"I'm going to go freshen up…" Elizabeth said while giving Epiphany a slight nod before walking to where she surmised the bathroom was. Her heart almost beating out of her chest as she passed near the two larger men, she cursed herself for not thinking just how close she would have to get.

Epiphany knew Elizabeth would take as long as she possibly could. Elizabeth avoided the topic of her childhood with a determination than bordered on fanatical.

"Mr. Corinthos, I'll give you the basics and then ask you to read whatever reports you have. Elizabeth, since she was nine months until shortly after she turned thirteen, spent a lot of time in the hospital. Her parents said she was a clumsy child. I don't know how an infant can be clumsy but that was the story they told. Since I left Port Charles I spent a lot of time working. I left here and went to Colorado, I had been working at the hospital for five years before I started seeing this child show up more and more often…As she got older I also saw as she flinched every time her parents got close, her father most specifically. I don't know if anyone was watching but I saw. Now, I probably shouldn't have taken a child's choices in to consideration but my heart broke every time I saw her in the ER, bruises, broken bones…When I offered to take her away, she jumped at the idea of leaving and since that day, we have never looked back."

"You kidnapped her?" Sonny asked wondering just what he was getting in the middle of. He felt for the plight of the young woman, she had suffered more than anyone deserved but kidnapping was a very sticky slople.

"I did and I won't apologize for that. There is a problem though, I don't know if physical and verbal abuse is all she suffered. I suppose you could say that I have had my head buried in the sand when it comes to whether or not she was sexual assaulted. Since she was three, any time a man got too close; she'd either shut down or start trembling. Call me a coward if you want but I couldn't force her to answer my questions and I couldn't inflict that type of exam on her. She knows she is going to have a male guard or more than one, just…please understand we are coming out of hiding mainly because she is of age and her parents can't take her but also because she needs to see a few doctors at General Hospital to hopefully repair what was done to her. She will be easy to guard, the only time she leaves home is when she goes to the doctor, otherwise she shops from home, works from home…"

"How long have you two been together?" Jason asked.

"Seven years."

Sonny thought about everything he had heard and wondered what type of heat he was potentially going to bring down on his company. "Is there anyone looking for her?"

"To be honest, I don't have a clue. I tried to spend no more than six months in any town and really, I don't even know if the Webber's reported her missing. They are a rich family, embedded in almost everything. Back in Colorado, they say something and those upper echelon idiots fall all over themselves to take what they say as gospel. What I never understood, they sent their other two children to boarding school as soon as they came of age, if you consider six to be of age but Elizabeth was almost frenetically coveted."

Jason was about to ask a question when he saw Elizabeth slowly making her way back. "Sorry for taking so long. Oh, is that my chocolate?"

Sonny smiled, he hadn't met anyone who enjoyed chocolate like her and he'd just met her. "Yes, this is for you and I understand not wanting to rehash everything. Will you truly be comfortable with a male guard? I could look into finding a female guard but I would feel better with one of my men, they have been trained to be the best by the best."

"Do…do you have an idea on who would be guarding me?" Elizabeth asked her voice cracking just slightly.

"I'd like to talk to my men but I have an idea of who I would like to guard you. I'm going to call my personal guard Marco to make a stop at Kelly's for breakfast, if you'll give me an idea of what you would both like, I'll get that taken care of and then over breakfast I'll let you know who." Sonny found himself wanting to tread very carefully around this woman. He'd always held the belief that the fairer sex was to be treated well and it pissed him off when people didn't follow his way of thinking, although it was a personal code, he expected his men to follow it as well, enforced it when it wasn't.

He may be a 'bad' man but he didn't deal in women or drugs and always made sure to donate to women's shelters, rape centers and their like. His ideals were simple, if a woman said no, it meant no, end of story.

"That would be fine Mr. Corinthos and anything with chocolate is always a safe bet for me." Elizabeth said with a small smile.

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