Sonny knocked on the door. He hoped for Ciara's sake that he had the right address: it only made sense that someone of the calibre of Tripp Dalton would live in the most ghetto part of Salem. The last thing Sonny wanted to deal with was some stranger tripping on acid or high on meth.
"Sonny?" The voice belonged to a girl. He recognized her as his cousin Claire, though he didn't know much more about her. Unimportant people tended to stay out of his life if he had any say about it. "What can I do for you?"
"I'm looking for a man named Tripp. Tripp Dalton. Is he here?" Sonny pushed his way past Claire and looked over the loft. It was nicer than he expected, but he had honestly been expecting a crack house.
"Yeah," Claire answered, closing the door. "What do you want with him?"
"We have business to discuss. Private business. If you would just go fetch him for me, that would be great." Sonny looked for the least offensive place to sit, then chose to remain standing. He looked at Claire and clapped until she sought out the man he had come to see.
About a minute later, a very tired Tripp walked into the room. It took everything Sonny had not to crinkle his face in disgust. The man was just as repulsive as he had been that night at the bar. Perhaps even worse given the bruises.
"Tripp, you look awful," Sonny told him, making a point to not offer a handshake. He turned to Claire and nodded. "You can go now."
"I think I'll stay, actually," she said, walking around Tripp and sitting on the sofa.
"Whatever," Sonny said with a dismissive wave, looking to Tripp. "You and I need to talk."
"Who are you?" Tripp asked, looking at Sonny with a tilted head and an inquisitive look. It was clear he recognized him, but didn't know how.
It took everything Sonny had not to roll his eyes. "I'm Sonny Kiriakis."
"And you already know who I am," Tripp observed unnecessarily. The young man nervously pulled at his shirt and Sonny found himself wishing he had been present when Will beat the shit out of him. "What do you want?"
"I want to talk to you about my husband. Will Horton."
"My cousin who attacked you," Claire chimed in, earning a death glare from Sonny. The young woman clearly did not know her place or who her superiors were.
Clearing his throat, Sonny calmed himself and looked to Tripp. "Yes. That's actually why I'm here. As you know, my husband is in a bad place mentally."
Tripp looked away from Sonny and to Claire, who offered a small smile and a supportive nod. Sonny was beginning to understand why Ciara hated these two as much as she did.
"I'm asking you not to press charges," Sonny continued when nobody else tried to interrupt him. "In fact, I've already spoken with my cousin Ciara and she's agreed not to press charges."
"I hadn't planned on pressing charges," Tripp offered. "But why wouldn't Ciara press charges? He put her in the hospital!"
It was finally time for Sonny to make his move; the whole reason he had come to the hovel the degenerates shared. "Because she's going to testify in court that Will is unfit to be on the streets. He's my husband and I'm going to have him committed. It would mean a great deal if you would join her in testifying as to how Will is a danger to himself and others, Tripp."
"What do you think?" Tripp asked, looking over to Claire. It didn't surprise Sonny in the slightest that the idiot was incapable of thinking or deciding for himself.
"It was scary when Will attacked you, and also what he did to Ciara..." Claire mused. "Getting him into treatment is probably a good thing."
"It's most certainly a good thing," Sonny agreed, doing his best to look caring and supportive. "I just want what is best for everyone involved.
Tripp looked at Claire, then to the floor, before finally looking up into Sonny's eyes. "Fine. I'll testify."
"Thank you. I'll get in contact with you when it's time to go to court," Sonny said before excusing himself. He was certain that he would have to burn his clothes lest he bring bedbugs into the mansion.
DOOL
John knew it was coming. The entire flight back to Salem, he had thought about what his best friend Steve Johnson would do. Their sons were... It was all so unfortunate. But John had made his choice when he bailed Paul out of jail and now he would have to live with the consequences.
"You're back, I see," Steve said, closing the door to the Black Patch offices. He didn't look happy, but he also didn't look pissed. Something told John that would soon change.
"I had to come back. The job can wait." John didn't stand up. He stayed sitting behind his desk, observing what his friend was doing. "Are you okay, Patch?"
The last thing John expected was a laugh, but it's what Steve gave him. It wasn't one done out of humour, however. It was a dark and bitter thing.
"No, I'm not okay. Your son raped my son. Not only that, but the man who claims to be my best friend then bailed the rapist out of jail."
"So you know about that," John observed, raising an eyebrow. "He's my son, Patch. I couldn't leave him in there. You wouldn't if the roles were reversed."
"But the roles haven't been reversed, have they? Tripp isn't the one who raped somebody. Paul is. And you chose him." Steve leaned back against the door and crossed his arms. He closed his eye and sighed, before opening it and looking directly at John. "Is he worth it? Is the monster you've only known a handful of years worth your oldest friend?"
It was John's turn to close his eyes. He lowered and slightly shook his head. Then he looked up and met Steve's hardened gaze. And Steve was trembling with anger, just as John had known he would. There was no way this meeting would have ever gone well.
"I may not have known Paul long, but I know him well. My boy is a kind soul. I believe him when he says he didn't rape Tripp."
Steve said nothing more. He just turned his back on John and left.
DOOL
Tripp could tell his dad was on edge. It was their first lunch meeting since everything with Paul happened and Steve wasn't really talking.
"Just a coffee for me. Black," Tripp told the waitress when she took their orders. The brief reprieve from the awkward silence ended as soon as it began, and soon Tripp and Steve were back to avoiding looking at each other.
It was hard to think of what to say. For starters, Tripp and Steve still didn't really know each other. And now there was an even wider distance between them than there had been when Tripp terrorized Kayla.
"What's new?" Tripp asked jokingly, almost chuckling before noticing the disapproval on his father's face. "Sorry."
"You have nothing to apologize for." It was possible Steve was trying to be comforting, but it didn't come across that way. "You can talk to me about anything, Son. If nothing else, know that."
Swallowing his anxiety, Tripp thought back to the last time he and his father had talked like this. How nervous and excited he was about the evening that would follow. How he had misled his father into thinking he was going to be involved with a woman.
"I think I'm bi," Tripp finally blurted out. He couldn't bring himself to look at his dad, so he stared at his hands instead. "I don't know if you read my statement, but I went to Paul's willingly. We were supposed to go on a date before... Well, we were supposed to go on a date."
Reaching across the table, Steve grabbed Tripp's hands in his own. Snapping his head up, Tripp met his dad's eye. There was a calm gentleness in it that had replaced whatever was there before.
"Thank you for telling me," Steve said with a small smile. "I hope the next guy, if there is another one, treats you the way you deserve to be treated. Or gal. Whatever and whoever deserves you."
Breathing deeply, Tripp relaxed for what must have been the first time since he had woken up that awful morning. There was a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.
"That's not everything, Dad. I just want to have a change. A fresh start. I want to change my name. The Daltons were good to me, but I was never really one of them. As soon as they had biological children my relationship with them changed. I was less a child and more an obligation. They never said it out loud but it was obvious my siblings and I weren't the same in their eyes. I haven't even heard back from them after I told them about my...
"I think I want to be a Johnson now, if that's okay."
Steve couldn't help but smile and it made Tripp feel even more relaxed and welcome. Sure, he'd been welcomed into Steve's family, even by a very concerned Kayla, but he was still hopeful the smile was a yes and not a prelude to a no.
"Of course. I would love that. I imagine Joey and Stephanie will, too, when they find out." Steve stood up and walked ove r to Tripp, pulling his son into an awkward hug as Tripp was still sitting. "I'm gonna have to tell Kayla."
DOOL
Ciara slept like a baby. The morphine helped a lot, but she slept the sleep of a child. She woke up in a good mood, a dream of Claire locked in a dungeon eating rats fading away.
Despite her injuries, Claire kept her eyes closed and stretched with a loud yawn. When she opened her eyes, however, she was caught off guard.
"Good morning." Sami Brady was sitting at Ciara's bedside. Her face was unreadable, but Ciara knew there was nothing good to come from her cousin's presence. Sami was a hurricane in human form.
"What do you want?" Ciara snapped, her good mood ebbing as quickly as her dream. "I don't have time for you."
"Really? It seems like you have all the time in the world right now." Sami was holding the remote that would allow Ciara to summon a nurse. "We need to talk about Will."
"I already told Sonny I won't press charges," Ciara said with narrowed eyes. She really should have planned for this woman to be a spoiler. "He wants Will in mental health treatment. I agree with him."
Sami snarled as she leaned forward and grabbed Ciara's forearm, nails digging into the bruised flesh. "That's why I'm here. You and Sonny aren't going to lock my son up. I don't know what you're playing at, but I know Will didn't attack you. You don't matter enough to him to even be worth a second glance."
"I'm in the hospital, dipshit," Ciara pointed out. "He attacked Tripp Dalton and then came after me. Your precious Will is a whackjob and I will be telling the courts he needs to be in a mental insitution for everyone's safety. Especially my own. And there's nothing you can say that will make me change my mind."
"You keep thinking that," Sami replied. "You forget who you're talking to. I'm not afraid to make you cry, little girl. Will isn't going to a mental ward or a prison or anywhere else. He's going to be with me where he'll be safe from lying little sluts."
"We'll see about that." Ciara needed to call Sonny and warn him. "And watch who you call a slut, considering your own twins have different fathers. I know all about the disaster that is Sami Brady. You don't and never will scare me out of telling the truth."
"You don't even know what the truth is. I know my son. He'd never touch you or that Tripp guy. And if he ever did, you would have deserved it. And you can bet your whore ass that I'm going to make you suffer if anything happens to my son. You and Sonny and anyone else who gets in my way."
Sami dropped Ciara's remote to the floor and stood up, leaning over the bed and into Ciara's face. Ciara had to fight the urge to spit. "I told you I'm not scared of your threats."
Sami's nails bit even harder into Ciara's skin before she released her. "Oh, honey, I don't make threats. I simply tell the future."
Then Sami walked out of the room. Ciara scrambled for her phone as soon as the door shut.
DOOL
"Are you sure, Boss?" Theresa asked, questioning if she had really heard correctly.
"Yes, I am. I was content to move in the shadows, to try to take over Titan industries without being seen, but this is personal now. My son is being harassed and abused far too regularly. He was even raped by that Japanese monster!
"It's time I make my appearance back in Salem. We'll still be after Titan, don't get me wrong, but family comes first. I think I need to pay a visit to Paul Narita. Let him know what happens to someone who messes with my child: someone who messes with a Vitali."
And with that, Ava Vitali took a drink of her red wine.