The Convenient Wife
by Kelly

chapter 55

Gently, he pulled the blanket up around his son's ears, assured by
the deep, regular fall of the child's chest that he was tucked in for
a long nap. Michael didn't usually take them anymore, but he'd been
so emotionally drained after their talk that his little body had just
given out on him.

Sonny sighed. Truth be told, he was exhausted, too. From the hearing
this morning, his fight with Ned, this ordeal with his son…his
argument with Alexis…and of course from the effort it had taken not
to strangle Carly when she'd opened the door to him earlier.

Now it would take that same superhuman effort to leave the penthouse
without doing her bodily harm. He knew he'd have to talk to her about
what she'd said to Michael, but right now his emotions ran far too
high and his tolerance far too low. He didn't trust himself to keep
his hands from her throat.

So he shrugged on his suit jacket wearily and slipped quietly down
the stairs and was nearly to the front door when she caught him.

"Leaving without saying goodbye?"

He whirled to face her, fury instantly ablaze in his eyes. "Oh, I got
a few more choice words for you than just goodbye, Carly."

She sauntered down the stairs and across the living room, planting
herself in front of him and folding her arms challengingly. "Say what
you need to, Sonny. No one's stopping you."

"The presence of my sons upstairs asleep in their beds is stopping
me."

"Worried they'll hear you abusing their mother?" she sneered, one
eyebrow raised. "I don't think we should protect them from reality
anymore."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he demanded, stepping
dangerously close to her. "That you feel free to tell my son I don't
want him anymore? That I love his sister more than I love him?"

She met his gaze unflinchingly. "Truth hurts, huh?"

"It's NOT the truth!" he erupted. "It's your own warped version of
payback for me being with the woman I love. But you don't realize
you're not just hurting me; you're hurting your children!"

Carly's hands found her slender hips as her stance turned
combative. "YOU are the one who's hurting your kids. You walked out
on them."

"I have not abandoned my boys…"

"You WALKED OUT on them. You chose your whore's child over them. You
think you can do no wrong? You're some fabulous father? Well, right
about now, I think you're no better than Mike!"

He tasted the acrid flavor of bile in his throat. She had used his
most secret fear like a knife's blow to his gut, slashing him deep,
and she had done it without hesitation. He looked at her with a
scathing disgust he couldn't even contain. How could he ever have
loved her? How could he ever have had respect for her? How could he
ever have called her strong or brave? She was a coward…afraid of
being alone…afraid of facing the end of their relationship…afraid to
admit they'd made a colossal mistake.

He had to step back from her to preserve a safe distance because his
hands itched to slap the smug expression off her face.

"I'm outta here," he said. "I'll have my lawyer contact you about
visitation for the boys."

He'd turned and gotten some six steps away when she said it. "What
makes you think you can see my children?"

He turned, hands on his hips. "What the hell did you say?"

"You heard me," she said. "I have custody. What makes you think I'll
allow visitation? I told you when this thing first started that if
you married her you'd never see them. Clearly from what I overheard
you telling Michael, you're not going to give up this farce with
Alexis. You're going to stick it out. Fine; choose her. But you're
also choosing not to be with your kids."

Sonny felt his chest constrict and struggled to rasp oxygen into his
lungs. "You cannot keep me from my children, Carly."

"I can't?" she simpered. "I repeat: I have custody. You gave it up
when a BOMB blew up your car. You admitted in open court that your
life is too dangerous for your children. It's public record. Do you
really think any judge will force me to share my boys with you?"

There was absolutely nothing to say to that. She was right of course.
He was Sonny Corinthos; reputed mob boss; a man whose warehouses had
blown sky high more times than anyone could count. The courts would
think twice…maybe three times…before granting him rights to two
minors.

He eyed her coldly, knowing there was an offer afoot. She was never
without an offer.

"So what the hell do you want from me?"

"What do you mean?" she asked facetiously.

"Cut the crap. You always have a bottom line. What is it?"

The smile that lit her face was feral, carnivorous, as if she were a
predator who scented the blood of her prey. "It's simple, really,"
she replied. "Leave her."

He swept a dismissive hand her way. "You're out of you're freakin'
mind!"

She smirked. "Maybe. Hell, Sonny, I don't know why, but I still want
you. I still think you belong with me. You shamed me publicly by
taking up with that bitch, Alexis, again. Now you need to make up for
that. You need to leave her and come back to me. Immediately. Or I'll
never let you see your kids."

Carly spread her hands theatrically in front of her and she shrugged
magnanimously. "You can still have Kristina. I won't forbid it. After
all, I'm not heartless. The boys can even get to know her. But you'll
live here with me. SHE'LL be the kid who visits on the weekend, not
MY boys."

Amazingly, somewhere deep in his soul, he was able to scrape out a
humorless smile. He stared at her stunned expression, bemused.

"What exactly is funny about that?" she fired.

"The line about you not being heartless," he replied. "That was a
classic. I mean, you're NOT heartless but you'd keep a dad from his
kids as some kind of emotional blackmail. You're NOT heartless but
you'll tell a little boy that his father doesn't love him anymore.
That is the DEFINITION of heartless! Look it up!"

"Actually, I never told him that," she replied calmly. "I told him
you had a new daughter; that's the truth. I told him you lived with
her not him; that's true, too."

"But you knew what he was feeling! You knew that it was tearing him
up inside and you let him suffer. All to get at me. That's sick,
Carly. SICK. It's not love. It sure as hell isn't being a good
mother. It's obsession. And you know what? I'm not gonna play into
it. I'm not gonna give in to your games just to see my children. Cuz
they'll see through me in a second. They'll know that I'm miserable
living with a heartless shrew like you."

He strode to the door, opened it, and looked back. "You won this
battle," he said, his voice breaking. "I'm sure you'll be able to
keep the boys from me for a time. And it'll kill me to be without
them. But I won't give up. Don't think for a moment that I will. I
love them and I'll NEVER stop fighting for them."

She was seething as he prepared to walk out on her; her face radiated
disbelief. Clearly she'd thought he would cave in. "So what, Sonny, I
can tell your sons you chose your bastard over them, is that it?"

"No, Carly," he stated flatly. "You can tell them I fell in love with
a real woman and chose HER over YOU."

The door slammed in her face.

chapter 56