She’d
married him. Alexis had gone off to marry Sonny.
One day, he would write an autobiography and title it, The Anatomy
of Ric Lansing. And he would center the plot on the defining moments
of his life. Unfortunately, they would all be moments like these:
moments when a woman he cared for and trusted shoved a knife’s
blade between his shoulders and walked away from his broken and
bleeding form without so much as a backward glance.
Certainly, the first one he’d write about would be his mother.
Well, Sonny’s mother, actually, for that was how Ric
had thought of her since she’d chosen a life with her elder
son rather than to stay and raise him, her baby. She’d followed
her emotional tie to her disturbed six-year-old son and had died
broken and alone years later. But Ric would forever indict her for
her crime: she hadn’t stayed.
Featured just as prominently in his book would be Elizabeth. Ric
had loved her with all of himself. And he had done all he knew how
to make their life perfect. From the ring he’d chosen, to the
honeymoon, to the house he’d bought for her. It all would have
worked…would have lasted forever…if their baby hadn’t
died. That, too, had come at Sonny’s hands-- a fact, he conceded
now, that had driven him over the edge for a while. Once again,
his brother’s evil had interfered in his life and had taken
it over. After that, no matter what Ric had done, Elizabeth had
not been happy. Like his mother, she hadn’t stayed.
Now there was Alexis.
She’d married Sonny to save his life. That was how much she
still cared for the brother Ric despised.
Admittedly, this thing with her had begun as a way to get to his
brother, a means of revenge. That was all. Oh, the fact that she
was beautiful and sexy and smart as hell made Ric’s duel with
her compelling, but he had been determined to keep her away from
his heart and out of his head so that he could strategize. So that
he could use her and not be used in return.
Yet slowly, by inches and increments, Alexis was becoming far more
than that. And Ric was hard pressed to pinpoint the moment when
things had spiraled out of his control. All he knew was that his
feelings had come to a head about two weeks before.
He and Alexis had been having a drink in a restaurant after work,
doing their usual sparring thing. And then Sonny had come in with
his ex-wife, Ric reflected lips twisting. They had gotten a table
clear across the room, but Alexis had noticed her former lover at
once. And then as if he’d felt her watching, Sonny had raised
his head and met her gaze.
They’d frozen for a long moment, looking at each other. At
first with the disdain they usually displayed. But then her eyes
had changed. Ric had watched it happen. They’d deepened…darkened
with some emotion he couldn't name. And Sonny had seen it, too.
His own expression had softened. He’d lifted his head in an
almost imperceptible greeting. Alexis had done the same.
Ric could still see in his mind’s eye the look on Carly’s
face at that moment. There was this resigned expression…a sort
of sad acceptance. Sonny and Alexis were fooling no one except themselves.
It had never ended, this dance they danced. Whether fighting, estranged,
or on separate desert islands on opposite poles of the earth, they
would always have that current of energy…that insidious connection
that leapt between them.
Ric knew he couldn’t allow that to continue.
The means had fallen right into his lap as if by the hands of the
Fates: a murder-for-hire case with Sonny cast as the culprit. And
the DA had known exactly what he had to do. He would pressure Alexis
to turn on Sonny. And he would work hard to put his brother away
for Alexis’ own good. And once she had involuntarily helped
to slam the prison doors on Sonny Corinthos, her connection with
Sonny would be destroyed. For good this time.
She shouldn’t have married him, Ric mused. It would
only make things harder on her when her plan collapsed and Sonny
was inevitably brought down.
Ric would be obligated to extricate her from this mess. That he
would do. But when all was said and done, Alexis would forsake Sonny
and stay with him. That was the point. That was all that mattered.
He’d defeat his brother in this final game, and then Alexis
would stay.
