The Convenient Wife
by Kelly

chapter 48

Jason's voice was inflexible steel. The negotiation had gone on for
far too long. Though they were meeting in the back room of a "family"
restaurant in a dark corner of the City…and though he was pretty sure
no one had followed him from Port Charles…if he had indeed slipped up
and picked up a tail or some errant Fed, Sonny was through. Because
the burly man who sat across from him was well known, infamous for
his mob ties…and it wouldn't take Mac or Grayson long to figure out
what this little meeting was about.

"There's no compromise here," Jason stated flatly. "We spoke on the
phone. You agreed to the terms. My employer wants this over, and
you're gonna make that happen or there will be grave consequences…
very grave."

A pair of eyebrows rose over small darting eyes. The voice was
laconic, challenging; the expression set and unfazed. "And how
precisely would Mr. Corinthos propose to deal out consequences from
behind Statesville's high stone walls? It seems to me that I hold all
the cards here."

Jason's ice blue gaze pinned the man in his place. "Do you think his
reach ends at prison bars?" he asked, his voice dangerously
low. "Should my employer go to prison because of your lack of
assistance, you will feel the repercussions. They will be swift. They
will be devastating. They will be personal. And they will be
delivered by the man sitting across from you now."

Jason felt more than saw the man tense as he gauged the sincerity of
the Corinthos enforcer. For seemingly endless moments, he weighed his
response. His answer came to his eyes before spilling from his lips.
And Jason knew he'd won.

"What do you expect me to do?"

"The man in question was a member of your `family'. He's now in jail
on a murder charge totally unrelated to my employer. All I ask is
that you convince him that talking about Sonny would not be in his
best interest. He got his money two years ago for a job he didn't
even have to do. Tell him to shut up and take his punishment like a
man. Or else tell him goodbye. Cuz he'll never live to get a gig in
the prison laundry room. And you'll never live see the light of a new
day."

Assured that he'd won, Jason didn't even wait for a verbal reply. He
simply stood and walked out of the establishment, flanked by two of
Sonny's most trusted guards. He smirked to himself, feeling more like
an under boss than an enforcer. Sonny had trusted him to deliver this
critical message, to achieve this goal. And he'd done it. It felt
good…damn good. He'd removed the last challenge to Sonny's freedom.

***

"This has become a circus, you know, a real embarrassment to the
city. I've no more patience for it."

Judge Marion Long leaned forward in her chair hunched over a cup of
soup that steamed fragrantly under her nose. Justus' stomach growled
in protest. He had rushed from bed with his lover to the law library
after seeing AJ's impromptu news conference. Then it had been
straight here to Judge Long's chambers for a hastily scheduled
appointment with her and Grayson. Justus was gritty eyed from lack of
sleep and he was starving. But this case wouldn't wait.

"I understand your frustration," he told the judge now. "The media
attention paid to this case is ridiculous. So let's save the tax
payers of Port Charles some money and end this now."

The judge sipped a little soup and eyed him across the desk with
serious eyes. "On what grounds?"

"AJ Quartermaine has made it impossible for my client t get a fair
trial—"

"Bull!" Grayson exploded from the chair next to Justus'. "AJ simply
said what the populace of PC has been thinking of Corinthos for
years!"

"Your Honor, it's not just AJ. The prosecution's case is crumbling.
They've lost their major witness and a hit man is the best thing they
have going for them. I move we throw this out. It's over."

Marion eyed the legal motion Justus slapped on her desk. "Looks to be
in order, Jack," she noted. "We'll slip it into the docket tomorrow
and hash this out."

Her eyes lifted to Justus. "But just for the record, Counselor: I'll
be the one to decide when this is over."

Grayson sighed noisily and stood to his feet. "Are we done?" he asked
huffily and the judge nodded. He left on a cloud of discontent and
Justus beamed.

"Don't get too jubilant, Mr. Ward," the judge warned. "Your client
may be winning this battle, but odds are he won't win the war. He's
charming and as sexy as sin, but those things aren't going to keep
him out of prison forever. He's got children and a wife. Tell him to
change his life or next time he may not be so damn lucky."

Justus met her gaze solemnly, nodded, and left her to her solitude
and her soup.

***

They had eaten a light dinner with their daughter and had put her
down for the night by reading her a favorite story twice through.
Then they'd smothered her round cheeks with kisses till she'd
practically pushed them both away. Now, hours later, they sat in an
easy companionable quiet in front of the television, each of them
clad comfortably in their pajamas. Alexis was sprawled across the
couch, her satin robe outlining every delicate curve of her long,
lithe body. Sonny sat in an armchair nearby, his legs stretched in
front of him, feet crossed at the ankle. His eyelids were lowered as
he pretended to watch the news with her; actually he was stealing
glimpses of her beautiful form.

She was stunning, he mused. Just stunning. And all the more so
because she refused to believe it of herself.

Because she wasn't paying attention to him, he felt free to let his
eyes peruse her…from the classic angles of her lovely face and the
elegant column of her neck to the feminine flare of her hips and the
endlessly long line of her legs. He had found heaven when their
bodies became one, when the silk and satin of her skin was pressed
against his, when those legs wrapped round him and enveloped him in a
sacred heat. He'd felt his world shake and alter each and every time,
felt a bit of himself break off and become hers.

Truth be told, he was no longer his own.

Why didn't that scare him? He had never yielded so much of himself to
a woman. Never trusted so much that he'd shared his secret self…his
fears…his soul with any female. He'd thought that no woman could ever
face the man he really was inside.

Brenda had tried; she had tried with all her sweet gentle heart, but
she'd broken. He'd actually driven her into insanity for a time. He'd
hated himself for that. Still did. He loved her and did not wish her
one millisecond of pain on his behalf. When he'd looked into her
vacant eyes the countless times he'd damaged her, he had known. He
had known that a creature of such fragile beauty could not ever face
the ugliness of his soul.

And then there had been Carly, whose past had been dimmed by angst
and doubt and pain long before she had ever met him. She had seemed
so tough and strong, a whirlwind of energy and fortitude. But she was
actually a whirlwind of need. He'd thought her able to face his
demons with him; he'd thought wrong. She, too, had broken. First,
she'd turned him in to the Feds. Next, she'd turned to another man
and had driven Sonny increasingly into his darkness. Her jealous
insecure nature had eaten away at their union like so many carpenter
ants on a succulent slab of wood.

But Alexis…Alexis was different.

She didn't have Brenda's outrageous boldness…that saucy exterior that
in Ms. Barrett concealed a fractured core. She didn't have Carly's
brashness, that outward show of strength that hid an inner
inferiority and selfishness. No, Alexis had something unique…
something entirely her own.

She had the heart of a survivor. She had known darkness, the same
kind that had plagued Sonny. And she had stood up to it in her own
quiet inimitable way. She had known suffering and she had toughed it
out…had made decisions a child shouldn't have to make. Ever. But she
had done it, like he had, because it was necessary. And the result
hadn't always been sweetness and light. It hadn't always been
something that others could readily accept or understand…as evidenced
by the number of people who had walked away from each of them.

But Alexis could look at Sonny and understand because she'd faced the
same losses; and he could do the same for her. That understanding was
worth more than gold. More than the explosive passion with a wounded
bird like Brenda…More than the volatile relationship he'd shared with
his flighty ex-wife. More than anything.

He and Alexis were in many ways as different as two people could be,
yet at the same time twin spirits who seemed to have known each other
for all time.

He smiled at the almost mystic nature of his thoughts, and noted that
if they had met in a past life, he would still have been a pauper and
she a regal princess whose beauty and wit would stun the hell out of
him. And he would have watched her relentlessly until the time was
right…and then he'd have stolen off with her to some dungeon to have
his wicked way with her for an entire night. And afterwards she would
have never been able to meet his dark eyes without remembering and
longing for him. He, too, would feel the same.

Suddenly Alexis shot upright. "Dear God, Sonny, it's AJ!"

Her startled declaration forced his eyes from her and shifted them to
the TV. It was indeed AJ onscreen, the little idiot who'd started
this whole fiasco of a federal case. Looking as pompous and spoilt as
ever, he stood before the cameras in a shot from earlier today.

"Mr. Quartermaine asked for the help of the public to get the
attempted murder case against reputed mobster, Sonny Corinthos, into
court," a reporter intoned in a voice over.

AJ's insipid voice became audible. "Do you want to live in a town
where a man like Sonny Corinthos can decide he doesn't like you and
plot to take your life…with no punishment?" he queried. "I urge you
to call the prosecutor and the DA today and compel them to take on
this case. Believe me, you won't be safe unless Corinthos goes to
trial and then to jail!"

Sonny muttered a vicious curse in Spanish that was absolutely
unmentionable. Alexis frowned at him. "Watch it, that one had a Latin
root and I understood it," she quipped. "Be quiet and let's see what
the little weasel is up to."

Properly chastised, Sonny subsided into silence and was surprised to
see Justus come onto the scene. "Tonight, Mr. Corinthos' attorney,
Justus Ward, issued a response. Ironically Mr. Ward is a cousin of
the alleged victim in this case."

"AJ Quartermaine is a liar at best and an embezzler who stole from
his own family at worst," Justus declared. "I have to question his
intentions. Is he really after justice? Then
why would he attempt to poison the minds of potential jurors in this
case and deny my client due process? Is he really seeking to avenge a
crime, or is the object actually to punish my client for LEGALLY
adopting Mr. Quartermaine's son with the complete approval of the
court, I might add? Is this about the case at hand, or is this about
the personal agenda of an alcoholic father who lost his son?

"Before this case, my client had never been legally accused of
harming Mr. Quartermaine or his family. However, Mr. Quartermaine was
investigated by police after a rather questionable altercation with
my client's ex-wife. The altercation resulted in her falling down a
staircase and losing her unborn child…nearly losing her own life as
well. So who is the real aggressor here?"

Justus looked directly into the camera. "Actually, in light of all
that AJ Quartemaine has done to my client, I think Sonny's a pretty
big man NOT to have retaliated. I doubt that I could have shown such
restraint."

Then Justus walked through the crowd of reporters and out of the
courthouse doors. A journalist remarked, "Mr. Ward reportedly met
with Judge Marion Long today to ask that the charges against Sonny
Corinthos be thrown out due to lack of evidence."

As the story shifted, Sonny triumphantly shut off the TV by remote
and laughed out loud. "Ah, Justus. My man!"

Alexis slanted a sly glance his way. "He practically painted a halo
over your head."

"Mm-hmm. And rightfully so."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Seriously, he was brilliant," she told
him. "He just might get you out of this mess."

"Justus is a damn good lawyer—almost as good as you."

"So whatever you're paying him, triple it."

"No way. You're the only attorney I allow to triple bill me."

His eyes moved slowly over her satin encased curves. "And there have
been obvious benefits to that arrangement."

Their eyes caught and held for a moment fraught with tension that was
decidedly sexual. Soundlessly, he slid from the armchair to a spot
beside her on the sofa.