Written in 49 minutes. Did a spell check but not a reread.

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Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

“How the hell do you just lose a prisoner?” Brenda demanded as Jason tried to absorb what Mac had just told him.

Elizabeth was missing. She was gone.

“He’s bluffing!” Scott declared to Mac. “You know it—”

Mac narrowed his eyes at the district attorney. “If he was bluffing,” the man began, “then why the hell is he here and not with her?”

“We drag him into the PCPD, he won’t be able to join her—we let him on the loose—” Scott continued.

“No one answered my damn question! How the hell does someone waltz into lock up and take a prisoner away?” Brenda stepped in front of Jason. “Until you give us some answers, you should get out—”

“Which brunette did you marry or is this one of those sister-wives things?” Scott snarled. Brenda hissed and started for the district attorney, but Jason grabbed her arm and dragged her back.

“She’s right,” Jason said flatly. “You locked my wife up without any damn evidence and now she’s missing. Go find her. I’ve got nothing else to say to you. Get out.”

“Let’s go before he changes his mind and lets Brenda loose—” Mac sent Brenda a surly look. “And she bites—”

“Damn right—”

As soon as the elevator doors had closed on the law enforcement officers, Jason and Brenda were across the hall, Jason not even letting Max announce them.

Carly, Sonny, and Michael were sitting at the table, eating, but Sonny surged to his feet as Jason and Brenda came in. “What’s going on?” he demanded. He looked to Carly who hurried to grab Michael and hand him off to Leticia. The nanny went upstairs.

“Elizabeth disappeared from lock up last night,” Jason said and now the words were really sinking in. There was only one person who’d go after her this way. He knew he hadn’t arranged for it—even he didn’t have the connections to get her out under the PCPD’s nose. Neither did Sonny.

That left one option.

“Damn it—” Sonny growled. “Do they think you did it?”

“Scott does,” Brenda said, “but Mac didn’t seem convinced. Sonny—Jason—” She looked at the enforcer. “Luis could have done this—”

“There’s no could have—”

The landline across the room rang. The four of them looked at it for a minute before Jason stalked over to snatch up the receiver. “What?”

“Did you enjoy your visit from the DA and Commissioner?”

The cool, unaffected tone had Jason’s blood boiling but he knew how to handle this. He had to turn it off. He couldn’t do what he’d done this summer—when he’d lost his temper in a fit of rage and fear and killed the man who knew Elizabeth was in that crypt.

“Not really.”

“I didn’t think you would. Your wife is quite lovely, Mr. Morgan. And very smart. Did you know she didn’t even fight?”

His mouth was so dry he could barely force out the words. “Where is she?”

“Oh, she’s fine. Still alive anyway. I’m enjoying the sight. She looks like my Brenda, you know. All that lovely dark hair, big eyes—they’re the wrong color, but I could tolerate it. There’s not much to her, is there? Delicate. Fragile. Just my type.”

His knuckles ached as he tightened his fingers around the receiver. “I want proof of life.”

“You’re a cold one, aren’t you? That’s why I’m negotiating with you. Mr. Corinthos is more hot-headed—”

“Proof of life,” Jason cut in. “Or I hang up.” He waited, hearing the rustle, hearing something in the background, hushed tones.

Finally — “Jason?”

He closed his eyes. “Elizabeth. Are you all right?”

“Yes. He didn’t—he didn’t hurt me. They drugged me and I woke up wherever I am. Jason, he wants to trade—don’t do it—”

Her voice disappeared as Jason imagined someone yanking it away and Alcazar’s voice came over the line. “Brave girl, trying to ruin my surprise. But I’m sure you saw this coming. I thought about forcing Sonny to trade his wife, but I’m not so sure he wouldn’t leave the harpy with me for punishment and keep what’s mine. I want Brenda.”

“I don’t control her—”

“I didn’t say she had to be willing. You know how to get the job done. If you want your wife back, you’ll make the deal.” There was a pause. “You might need some time to think it over. I’ll call back in ten minutes.”

The line went dead and Jason slowly set it back down on the hook, trying to order his thoughts. He wanted to go to the yacht, kill everyone in sight until he found her and bring her home—but that clearly wasn’t an option.

“Jason?” Sonny asked. “You talked to her?”

“She’s alive. He wants a trade.”

“For me.” Brenda folded her arms tightly across her chest. Her cheeks were pale as she spoke, “He wants me.”

“Yes.” Jason met her eyes. “That’s not on the table, Brenda. Even if I wanted to, Elizabeth would never agree to it.”

Brenda took that in, then looked at Carly who had remained quiet, almost frozen. “It’d be an easy choice for you, huh?” she said, her tone light but laced with fear.

“No.” Carly’s eyes were direct. “No. It wouldn’t be.” She turned her attention to Jason. “What can I do?”

“Michael is probably scared,” Jason told her. “Go upstairs. Sit with him. If I think of something else—”

“Okay. Okay.” Carly dragged her hands through her hair, took another deep breath, and started for the stairs — but stopped at the knock on the door and the raised voices outside.

Max opened the door as Audrey Hardy pushed her way in.

“I just had a call from Mac Scorpio,” Elizabeth’s grandmother said, her voice hard and tight. “My granddaughter is missing. Either you sent her out of the country or one of your enemies kidnapped her. Which is it?”

“Mrs. Hardy,” Sonny began but Audrey silenced him with one hot glare.

“I was going to approve of this,” Audrey began, shaking a finger at Jason. “I had my reservations, but I didn’t want to fight with my granddaughter anymore. But I was right! You’ll be death of her—”

“Uh, weren’t you championing my idiot cousin like eight seconds ago?” Carly snapped, stepping in front of the older woman and her friend. “Didn’t you give Elizabeth a lot of grief for leaving him at the altar? Didn’t Lucky almost get her killed like eight times because of Helena Cassadine?”

Audrey narrowed her eyes. “That’s different—”

“Yeah, because Helena is certifiably insane. But Elizabeth knew that. She’s a big girl who puts her panties on one leg at a time. She knows who Jason is. What he does. So why the hell do you respect her choices when she takes on super villains but not a guy who’d literally walk through fire for her?”

Audrey stared at Carly for a long moment before swallowing hard and meeting Jason’s eyes. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know, Mrs. Hardy,” Jason said honestly. “But I’m going to get her back. I promise you that.”

Alcazar’s Yacht

Elizabeth was getting very tired of being kidnapped. The first time, she’d been dragged out of her studio kicking and screaming but this time she’d been drugged and hadn’t known what was going on. She couldn’t decide which was worse.

She really didn’t like the ropes and gag—but at least she was being held in a room with port-holes that received sunlight. It wasn’t dark.

“You have the strangest look on your face,” Luis Alcazar murmured as he sauntered across the room. He removed the gag from her mouth. “What’s going through that head of yours?”

“Honestly? Trying to decide which kidnapping I liked better.” Elizabeth rolled her shoulders. “The ropes are chafing my wrist,” she said, “but the last time, I was shoved in a crypt and held in the dark for days.”

“So I’m preferable?”

“I didn’t enjoy the drugging or waking up somewhere strange. I don’t know. We’ll see what happens when I get kidnapped a third time. I’ll need a tie breaker.”

“Fair enough.” The man lowered himself into a chair across from her. “You expect to be kidnapped again?”

“You never know in Port Charles.” Elizabeth waited a beat. “This isn’t going to work.”

“You’re going to tell me Morgan won’t sacrifice Brenda for you, and I know that.” Luis lifted an elegant shoulder in a dismissive shrug. “She’ll offer herself, and he’ll tell her now, and they’ll come up with another plan.”

“So why bother if it won’t work—” She stopped. “Because Jason won’t get near this boat without Brenda.”

“Once she’s on board, I have a chance. Right now, I don’t have many options.”

“But she doesn’t want you—you’re rich and you’re not hideous,” she admitted. “You could have almost anyone—”

“Could I have you?” Luis asked coolly. When she scowled at him. “I can have anyone I want. I want Brenda. She was perfectly happy for a long time—”

“Until she wasn’t. What are you going to do? Lock her up? Even if you win this time,” Elizabeth said, “she’ll just try to leave again. Are you going to spend the rest of your life chasing after her, kidnapping and killing to keep her?”

“If I have to.”

Elizabeth cleared her throat. “What if Jason refuses to bring Brenda to the boat?”

“Oh, he won’t. Excuse me, dear. I have a call to make.”

Luis slid the cell phone out of his jacket pocket. “Morgan? Hello. I just wanted to make the terms of my deal crystal clear. You either bring Brenda to the yacht tonight at eleven to make the trade or I’ll sail away with the beautiful Mrs. Morgan to keep me company on the dark, cold nights. You can ask Brenda how that might go.” His lips curled into a smile. “Yes, I thought you’d see it my way.”

He closed the phone and placed it back in his jacket as Elizabeth just stared at him. “Questions?”

Corinthos Penthouse: Living Room

“What are you going to do?”

Jason turned to Carly who hadn’t gone upstairs even after Audrey had gone. They’d only heard his side of the conversation, making the appointment.

“I don’t know yet, but if he doesn’t see you by eleven tonight—” he looked at Brenda whose dark eyes were somber, “he said he’d leave and keep Elizabeth to keep him company. The way you did.”

Brenda cleared her throat, stared down at the ground. “Okay. Okay. Well, we have to keep that from happening at all costs.”

“Brenda—” Sonny began, but Brenda jerked her head up to stare at her former lover.

“No. You don’t get to ask that question. No one gets to ask that question.”

“But—”

“She said no,” Carly said, surprising Sonny and Brenda. “Whatever she doesn’t want to talk about sounds like it’s bad enough we don’t want it for Elizabeth. Do you need the damned details, Sonny?”

“No. No, I’m sorry,” Sonny said, startled by his wife’s defense, but no more so than Brenda who stared at the blonde with wide eyes.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Carly muttered. “I’m a selfish, narcissistic bitch. There’s no rule that says I can’t occasionally be a good person when I feel like it.”

“Brenda—” Jason began.

“I’ll go with you,” Brenda said. “Because Luis doesn’t make idle threats. He’ll leave. And you’ll be chasing him for the rest of your life. It’s her or me.”

“No. It’s neither of you. You’ll go only because he won’t let me on the boat without you. But we’ll go in with a plan. You and Elizabeth, you’re both getting off that damn boat.”

It was only later that Brenda realized that Jason hadn’t said anything about making sure they all came home.

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