Chapter Eighteen

Marco shoved the handcuffed man back into the holding room with the rest of his coworkers and shut the door before turning around to face his employer. “What do you want to do with them?”

Jason chuckled at the thought of keeping them all in there to piss Sonny off, but he knew the cops would be called if they didn’t return home soon. Corinthos would probably do it himself just to see Jason put in jail for ‘kidnapping’. “We got what we wanted, even though it wasn’t anything that I didn’t already know. So, we’ll just keep them in there for a little while longer, say two hours, and then let them go back to Sonny.” He checked the watch around his wriest for the time. “That guy lasted longer than I thought he would, and all for information that’s just general knowledge to me.”

“How do you know that he’s not lying then? I mean, he could know something else, but is just holding it back.”

The former enforcer shook his head, arms crossed over his broad chest. “You know that it’s not easy to lie to me, and that guy seems to be fairly new to the business, so I doubt he would know how to lie very well. I could tell by the look in his eyes, and my instincts, that that was all he knew.”

~*~

Courtney and Max arrived that the loft after finishing up at the office and the young woman threw the mail down on the coffee table in front of the couch. Max remained outside the door as she shut it and walked back, into the walk in closet. Quickly, she changed into a pair of track pants and a t-shirt, clothes that were more relaxing and walked into the kitchen.

Her mind was on her conversation with Carly, the one they’d had earlier that day while she was at the office. She could hear the boys laughing as they came into the house with Emily and Nikolas and she wanted to see them again, so much. It had been months since they’d last seen them and she hated it. But, it’s what we have to do to keep all of them safe. Mike and Bobbie had been out, so she didn’t get the chance to talk to either of them, but she’d be able to eventually. They would be back in Port Charles soon, unless her brother kept taking the situation further and refused to back off. Sonny, you did the crime, and now you’re going to pay for it. It’s about time you remembered that there are consequences to your actions.

Her brother had lost more than he had ever before, even when Lily died in the car explosion or when Brenda left him, and he blamed her for the majority of it. His wife and children were hidden away in the tropics, his father didn’t speak to him, his former mistress had left town with Jasper Jacks, and his enforcer and brother-in-law had gone back to her after her ‘betrayal’, not to mention Sonny’s own.

The door to the loft opened and her husband walked in as she grabbed a bag of grapes, a carton of strawberries, and a small bowl of cut up watermelon from the refrigerator. She took a bunch of bananas off of the top of the machine and set all the fruits on the counter next to the sink.

“How’d it go at the warehouse?” she asked, taking a strainer from one of the cupboards.

“One of them talked, but it wasn’t anything we don’t already know,” he responded, throwing the keys to the SUV on the couch. “I’m going to take a shower.”

Chapter Nineteen

Jason walked out of the bathroom ten minutes later in a pair of sweat pants to find Courtney standing in the kitchen, popping grapes in her mouth from the fruit salad next to her, reading an interior decorating magazine.

He chuckled to himself, mainly at the memory of she and Carly getting excited over the prospect of decorating Carly’s new house, even if there was a bad situation that had led them to it. It amazed him, still, how so much had changed in one single day, one action by his boss. He’d thought that he would be loyal forever, but he never imagined that his best friend would pay Greg to testify at that trial.

The blond saw her husband chuckle and looked at him carefully. “What are you laughing at?” she asked as he approached.

He shrugged. “When you and Carly went crazy when we went down so she could see the house. The decorating magazine reminded me of it.”

She, too, had to laugh at the memory, one of the few carelessly happy moments they’d had in a long while. Emily had come down a few days later so she could help a bit, and the four women had had a blast. The same couldn’t be said for Jason, Nikolas and the Corinthos boys, since they’d been kicked out of the house most of the time when they tried to enter it.

“Yeah, that was fun.” She picked up another piece of fruit from the bowl and put it in her mouth. “You know, I called Carly today to let her know what happened last night.”

He nodded his head and moved to the cupboard to get a glass He hadn’t had time to eat or drink all day and now his throat felt parched. HE filled the glass with water and gulped the tasteless liquid before sitting it on the counter. “I figured you would get around to it before I did. What did she say?”

“She wasn’t too happy about it, obviously, she’s furious. Sonny’s done so much to her family that she’s reached the point where she doesn’t even love him anymore. She doesn’t see how she could.”

The blue eyed man wasn’t surprised, his former employer and best friend had put all of them through hell and didn’t seem to care. “I honestly don’t blame her. I’ve always believed in their marriage, but once Carly found out what he did and the details of the situation. I saw her love for him begin to die. I’m just surprised that he hasn’t stopped loving her. Maybe he never will.”

Courtney ran her fingers down his arm, a small comforting gesture. “Maybe not.” She looked tentative about what she wanted to bring up next, but decided to just go for it and get it over with. “You know, I think we should go down and see the boys and Carly. And Emily. We haven’t seen them in months and Carly says that she needs to see us. It’s not easy for her.”

Jason sighed deeply and ran a hand over the chiseled features of his face. He knew that Carly would want them to come down sooner or later, and he should have known that their next phone call to her would be accompanied by a request for them to go. And, he wanted to, he needed it, but he had his reservations.

“I don’t know, Courtney. Sonny just shot at us last night and who knows what he’d do if he knew we were gone.”

“Who says that he would have to know? You know how to disappear without a trace, without getting caught. I’m sure you and Marco can come up with something to make it look as if we’re still here. We don’t even have to stay for a long time, it can just be for a day.”

Jason saw the yearning in his wife’s eyes and knew that this was something that she needed as well, they needed it. He missed the boys as much as she did, and he hated that Micheal was continuing to grow up while he was away from them. He was cautious about it, though, because he could not afford having Sonny discover where his wife and children were. He would fight even harder for them, if it was even possible, to the death and Jason didn’t want or need it to come to that. He didn’t want to have to look his nephews in the eye and tell them that their father was dead. They’d ask why, in their child like innocence, and he would have to tell them the truth. He wouldn’t lie to them if that time ever came.

“Okay, we’ll go. But, just for one day. I’ll make the arrangements and work things out with Marco. Don’t say anything to anybody.”

“Jason, I know better than that, give me a little credit. I’m married to the most sneaky, cunning, gentle mobster in the world, how can I not know what to do?” Courtney boosted herself up onto the counter as if she were a teenager talking to a parent and took a bite from another strawberry.

Her husband looked at her skeptically, a small grin on his soft lips. “Since when are sneaky and cunning good qualities?” he asked.

“Well, since they describe you, they are. You’re wonderful, to me.”

“No, I’m anything but.”

Courtney shook her head and ran her fingers across his lips before kissing them softly. “Let me believe what I want.”