Disclaimer…..I do not own GH or any of the characters….No copy write infringement intended…Entertainment purposes only….
A/N: I've been meaning to include the following but it seems like the closer I get to my due date, the more forgetful I become. Anyways, I want to thank the guests and a few others that I am unable to pm when they take the time to post a review. I really appreciate all the feedback and am thrilled so many readers are enjoying the story! Thank you!
Chapter Forty
"Mom!"
Elizabeth turned and saw Cam flipping a football back in forth in his hands. "What did you need, sweetie?"
Wrinkling his nose at the endearment, he scuffed the toe of his tennis shoe on the kitchen floor. "Dad and OB said that the burgers are done. They wanted to know if we're eating at the picnic table or inside."
Grabbing the potato salad and bags of chips, Sarah pointed at the bottles of condiments already lined up on a try. "Outside. Will you carry those out for us?"
"Sure!" He snatched the tray up and started to dart out the door.
"Then you can round up Jake and tell him you both need to wash up before eating," Elizabeth piped up.
"I can't believe how much they've grown," Sarah stated with a wistful look out the window. Watching as Jake tossed the football back to Cam as they slowly started back to the house she sniffled back a sob. When Elizabeth hugged her and leaned her head on hers, Sarah closed her eyes. "I want kids so badly, Lizzie. And I know Johnny does too even if he doesn't say it. Look at how great he is with the boys, and how he doted on Bay."
Feeling her pain, Elizabeth squeezed her lightly while swallowing. She couldn't imagine the heartache of not being able to have children Sarah lived with. She couldn't even offer encouragement since OB had paid for extensive fertility treatments with no success. "I don't think anything I can say will ease your pain and I know it sounds trite, but everything happens for a reason. We may not understand why, but all you can do try to keep from falling into a bout of depression, Sarah." Stepping back and wiping her own eyes, she handed her a tissue. "Have you guys discussed adoption? There are lots of children who need homes."
Busying herself with gathering the buns and chips, she avoided looking up. "If we stay in Port Charles that won't be an option. Not with Johnny working…"
Even though she trailed off, Elizabeth knew exactly what she didn't want to say. She opened the fridge and grabbed the different cold side dishes while wishing she could say it didn't matter, but it would. Even without proof, the rumors of Jason being a mobster could harm their application for adopting since Johnny worked for him.
"It's okay, Liz," Sarah added. "I knew exactly who Johnny was when I fell in love with him. I have two wonderful nephews and hopefully a niece on the way to spoil. Plus there's Bay."
The conversation ebbed as the boys loudly rushed through the room on their way to get cleaned up.
"The burgers turned out great, Dad."
Jason winked at Jake. "Thanks buddy. Did you get enough to eat?"
"Yep!" He smiled widely before jumping up. "I'm gonna go join Cam."
The four adults watched as he rushed off to play video games.
Jason waited until the door had closed behind his youngest son before looking between Elizabeth and Sarah. There was an air of sadness surrounding the two women from the time they'd joined them to eat. It didn't appear as if they had gotten into an argument. Instead he worried something might have occurred he wasn't aware of. "Are you two okay?"
Sarah looked up sharply before smiling reassuringly. "We're fine, Jason."
Johnny reached for her hand under the table. He had a pretty good idea what was bothering his wife. And as badly as he wanted to watch Spencer pay for all the harm he'd inflicted on Liz and the boys, he knew without doubt Sarah needed him more tonight. "Do you think Francis might want to accompany you tonight?"
"I'm certain he would."
"You're working tonight?"
"I have something to take care of but it won't take long."
Elizabeth relaxed. Jason was too calm for anything to be wrong. Besides, she knew Johnny wouldn't let him and Francis do whatever needed to be done alone if it was dangerous.
Jason sent Francis a text while Elizabeth and Sarah started cleaning up. "Sarah's upset," he stated when they disappeared inside to wash the few dishes and wrap up leftovers.
"I know. My guess is somehow they ended up on the topic of having kids. After the last miscarriage and learning she'll never be able to carry to term, she doesn't handle it well if it comes up."
Jason stopped at the news. Johnny tended to keep personal business quiet but he clearly heard the disappointment lacing his words. "I'm sorry."
"It just wasn't meant to be, I guess. Sorry for dodging out on you tonight…"
"Don't worry about it. Spend some time with Sarah. Francis will be more than happy to take your place."
"Are you gonna tell Liz?"
"No."
"Jason."
"What? What good will it do?"
Johnny snorted. "Oh, I don't know. Except for relieve her that the danger from him is over and prepare her for hearing about it on the news. I'm not saying to tell her what you do, Jason. Just mention he'll no longer be a freakin threat like you did with Sam."
He could see his point. He just didn't want to risk seeing her blame him. The fact she'd chosen Lucky more than once still lurked in the back of his mind.
"Stop!" he commanded and only returned the dark scowl. "The past is the past, Jason. Just like the whore played you, Lucky played on Elizabeth's insecurities for years. You two moved past that already. Don't start falling back into old habits." Johnny chuckled before admitting, "She already yelled at me and Francis both because he wasn't dealt with right after he shot you."
Jason's jaw dropped. Elizabeth out for blood was a rarity. "You're kidding!"
A devilish smirk crossed his face while his eyes held Jason's. "Nope. Lizzie, and I do mean Lizzie, was pissed." He picked his beer up from the table and tapped it to his friends. "Tonight the little bastard pays for every single ounce of pain he's caused. Make it hurt, Morgan."
"Oh, he's going to be begging for death by the time I'm finished. Count on that."
OoOoOoOoOoOo
The urge to throttle the worthless piece of shit steadily gained intensity as the hours dragged by. The more he demanded to be released and to remind him of who he was only made the situation worse. Cody rubbed temples, cursing the splitting headache currently hammering away inside his head. "Fuck! You have to the stupidest man alive, Spencer! Shut the hell up!"
Shawn snickered. His pal was close to the point of losing his legendary cool.
"No! You're nothing but a low level hood. I demand you release me at once," Lucky spouted off while tugging with all his might at the bonds restraining him to the chair.
"Or what?" Cody sneered, completely fed up.
"Just shut your mouth, Spencer," Shawn added. "You aren't in any position to be giving orders."
"Just where is the big bad mobster? Can't Morgan do anything himself? Does he always have to have you thugs do his dirty work for him?" Lucky spat on the floor in contempt. "Figures he's too damn ignorant to take care of business himself. Now release me!"
"Wow, Lucky, the drugs really have scrambled what little brains you had." Francis stepped out the shadows and had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing at the relief on Cody's face. "Just sit back and shut your mouth."
Lucky's eyes narrowed and he attempted to glower. "Come on! It's not like the slut is worth all this trouble. Elizabeth's a whiny bitch who couldn't stay faithful if her life depended on it. We all know she's gonna come crawling back, begging me to forgive her and help raise those bastards of hers. But she's going to learn her lesson this time. Elizabeth owes me! And I'm just the man to teach her place."
Silently moving closer as Spencer continued his rant, Jason felt his jaw tighten painfully. The more he heard the stronger the desire to just place a bullet in the jackass's head became. But that would be too easy of a death. Jason planned on inflicting just as much physical pain as Lucky had caused Elizabeth emotionally. Not to mention the way he was talking about the boys.
"Morgan can't even face me like a man," he snarked sarcastically. "Does he tie all his enemies to chairs? It's no wonder he's so lethal if everyone's restrained."
Jason blocked the incessant bitching out and turned to Cody, arching a brow. "I thought I told you to narcan him. I wanted him sober for this."
The guard grinned. "I did. The arrogant prick is sober."
"Just delusional," Shawn tossed in helpfully.
Squinting, he cracked his knuckles. "You're positive the narcan kicked in?"
"Yep," Cody confirmed. "When Declan brought him in Spencer's respirations were shallow, pulse thready and erratic. If we hadn't interfered I'd lay money he'd have overdoes in that alley, Jason. It took two does of the reversal agent as it was to make him lucid."
It finally dawned on Lucky that no one was paying him any attention. Swiveling his head around he gulped at seeing Jason standing further back in the large room but refused to show the fear now coursing through his veins. "Well, well, well. Look who finally showed up. It's the brain damaged thug that's fucking my wife. Are you having fun playing house with the little slut?"
He was across the room before anyone could blink; only giving a small hint of why he was one of the most feared in the business. One swift punch to the face and satisfaction hummed in his chest when Lucky's scream echoed off the walls. Stepping back and admiring the now odd angle of the dislocated jaw, the smile revealed could only be described as feral. "Elizabeth isn't your wife, Lucky. She's my fiancée and will be my wife before the end of the year. As for playing house as you so eloquently phrased it, it's called being a family in the true sense, not just a sham so you look good to others." Lighting quick he had Lucky's throat in his powerful hand, putting just enough pressure to have his airway cut off. "But most importantly, you little piece of shit, Elizabeth is not a whore!" he hissed between clenched teeth before punching him in the chest and feeling several of the ribs on his right side cave inward.
Gasping for air, Lucky spat blood on the floor from where he'd bit his tongue to keep from screaming. "She slept with you while we were married! When I needed her the most! After all I've done for her, she betrayed me, Morgan! With you! A man I absolutely loath!"
"The feeling's mutual," he lazily drawled. "But Elizabeth came to me the night of blackout because you were in her bed, Lucky, with your barely legal drug supplier. My dream finally came true and it was all because you couldn't be faithful! And she doesn't owe you a damn thing!"
"I saved her!" he thundered, red-faced with indignation. "She was broken when I found her lying in the snow! I helped put her back together again!"
Jason's eyes flashed with unleashed fury at the mention of Elizabeth attack. "She was in that damn park because of you! If you had just done what you were supposed to, promised to, she never would have been in that park, Lucky! What she endured is just as much your fault as it is Tom Baker's!" A solid jab to the left side silenced his protest from being heard. "And then you only helped until you learned your daddy was a sexual predator that violated her own mother. Is that where you got the idea to mold a broken woman into what you considered your perfect mate? From watching your father do the same to your mother? I wish to God anyone else had found her that night! At least then she wouldn't have spent years thinking she owed you for something any decent human being would've done! All you did was hurt her recovery by letting her believe she needed you to be strong!" Forcing himself to take a deep breath, he shook his head. "Elizabeth ended up supporting you, not the other way, Lucky. She's so much stronger than you ever dreamed of being. Bet it just burns that you couldn't permanently break her spirit, that it kept breaking through the shell you wanted her to be."
Francis stepped forward when Jason turned to gather himself. He knew his friend was close was close to the point of snapping and once that happened Lucky would be dead in no time. Jason wanted the man to suffer as much as possible. But when he heard the muttered response from the abusive ass, Francis didn't even try to stop his friend.
"I should've just taken what I wanted like Baker when I found the whore. I didn't spend all that time training her for you to beat me," Lucky muttered softly, unaware of how voices carried in the empty warehouse.
An unnatural growl ripped from Jason's chest as he all restraint fled and started beating Lucky with years on pent up frustration and hatred.
"Jesus!" Shawn whispered as the three stood back and watched the sight of their boss pummeling a screaming Spencer.
Cody winced as the sounds of bones shattering reached his ears. "Couldn't happen to a more deserving excuse of a man. But this isn't going to work with the plan for dumping the body."
"You want to stop Jason and explain that?" Francis remarked while enjoying the show. Unlike the other two, he understood the years in the making to this event. Nothing Jason could deliver would scratch the surface of what Spencer deserved. No amount of pain would be enough.
"Hell no!"
"Good choice." Rapidly thinking and reworking the original plan, Francis laughed as Spencer pissed himself. Jason wasn't even breathing hard yet. O'Brien was missing one hell of a show.
"We could dump him in a car and burn it," Shawn suggested distractedly, his dark eyes noticing that Lucky's chest was now completely caved in. "They may find all the broken bones if the fire isn't hot enough, but there'll be no evidence to link back to us."
"He'll be the first suspect no matter what."
Not even ten minutes later Jason stood back, pissed that Spencer hadn't lasted longer. He still had adrenaline and strength left to go longer but that weak man had taken a last gasping breath before his heart gave out. Kicking the battered and limp body one last time, he strided over to the three men.
"Take the body out to the middle of nowhere, Shawn. Burn it for several hours and then crush the bones to dust. I don't want a trace of that bastard found," he snarled.
"His body never turning up won't stop the PCPD from looking at you for the disappearance."
Unconcerned, he shrugged. "They can look all they want, Francis. I'm going to shower and then head back to the house. Make sure everything goes off without a hitch." Without looking back, Jason quickly headed toward the shower on the second floor.
"I thought he'd be more relaxed after Spencer was taken care of."
"He'll get there. He's pissed he died so fast."
"How can you know that?"
Francis compressed his lips grimly. "Because no matter what he did, it wouldn't have been painful enough to suit him." Motioning to the ends of the saturated tarp, he started toward the body. "I'll help you. I want to make sure nothing goes wrong."
Cody stepped forward also. The three men quickly wrapped the dead body and loaded it into one of the SUVs. No one wanted to give the cops any reason to pin this murder on Jason.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
During the entire short plane ride to Venice Johnny listened to Baylor chatter excitedly about seeing the roads of water. Her enthusiasm for exploring the town was infectious even if he had been there several times before.
Milo coughed to hide his smirk at the look that crossed Johnny's face when Baylor mentioned riding in a gondola. Being from Italy also, he could relate but he resigned himself to probably more than one boat ride. None of the guys were any good at telling Baylor no, especially not with how much the little girl seemed to be anticipating it.
"So we're leaving tomorrow, right?"
Johnny studied her. It was the first sentence she'd spoken since they'd left Milan. It didn't escape his notice she instantly became guarded and distant as soon as she stepped off the plane. "Yeah. I need to get back. There's a lot going on to stick Jason with dealing it alone for any longer."
"That's fine," Georgie responded with a forced smile. "As bad as I hate to, I need to check on Maxie too."
Johnny clenched his teeth but didn't respond. He understood the loyalty she had for her family, and the compassion she possessed was a very large part of the reason he was so drawn to her in the beginning. Her ability to stay so after all she went through fascinated him, but right now it worried him. Maxie's selfishness and tendency to lash out guaranteed she'd use her sister as an outlet for her rage.
"I can handle Maxie's moods," she assured with without turning. She pointed to where Baylor had stopped Milo and Wilson in front of the large fountain. "You better go rescue the guys before she talks their ears off."
"What's bothering ya, doll?" Logan asked after Johnny joined the threesome flipping coins into the spraying water.
"Nothing is bothering me."
"Really? Is that why you're practically crawlin outta your skin?"
"Do me a favor, Logan. Mind your own business."
Following her around the corner of the building they had been standing in front of, Logan watched as she froze suddenly. Her face drained, taking on an ashen color and he could swear she stopped breathing. "Georgie?" Reaching for her arm to bring her back to the present, Logan cursed as she started to crumble to the sidewalk. "Shit!" Lifting her unconscious form into his arms, he whistled, gaining Johnny's and the others attention.
"She hurt?" Johnny demanded after handing Baylor off to Milo and rushing over to where Logan was now surrounded by two of the guards his uncle had following them as a precaution.
"She'll be fine, Mr. Zacchara."
"Then what the hell happened?"
Xavier, one of Rudy's oldest guards grimaced. They had been given very strict orders but he recognized the emotions swirling in Johnny's eyes. Exhaling heavily, he glanced around to make sure no one could hear him besides Johnny and Logan.
"Xavier, if you know something then say it!"
Uncomfortable, he pointed at the small building directly behind Johnny. "Your wife was living in a second floor studio in that building when the WSB caught up with her."
Johnny's eyes closed in pain. "Why didn't she say anything when I mentioned Venice?" he whispered.
"Easy. Because Bay was so excited," Logan answered sadly.