Harborview Towers: Corinthos Penthouse

Elizabeth Webber shifted from one foot to the other as she waited for Max Giambetti to announce her to his boss before allowing her inside the penthouse.

“You can go ahead,” the dark-haired man nodded to her and propped the door open more widely. “Nice to see you, Ms. Webber.”

“You, too, Max,” she murmured as she pressed past him to find Sonny Corinthos standing by his mini bar, a tumbler of dark-colored liquid—probably bourbon—in his hand. “Sonny.”

“Hey.” He set the tumbler down and closed the distance between them, reaching for her hands. “How are you doing?”

“I’m here to ask you the same thing.” Elizabeth squeezed his hands before releasing them. “It’s been…” She exhaled slowly. “It’s been a rough week.”

“Yeah…yeah.” Sonny rubbed his forehead with his thumb. “Ah, how is Bobbie? Michael? I can’t—” He paused. “I mean, I’ve lost a child, but not—”

Elizabeth nodded. “Yeah, Bobbie is mostly…you know her, nothing much stops her. She’s—” Elizabeth stopped and looked away. “Did…did the police call you? I wasn’t—I don’t know whether they’re keeping you in the loop.”

“Not since the initial visit to question me.” He frowned. “Did—” He swallowed hard. “Did they find her?”

“No, no…” She bit her lip. “It’s—it’s the opposite. They’re calling off the search.” Elizabeth dropped her bag on an armchair. “It’s been a week, and the Coast Guard thinks the currents that night dragged her car deep into the lake—I mean, they offered to keep looking, but between the currents and the depth—”

“Yeah.” Sonny lowered himself onto the sofa and bowed his head. “Yeah. No, I can’t—I mean, if it was a matter of money, but—” He exhaled slowly and looked away. “I just—”

“I know.” Elizabeth perched on the edge of the armchair. “I—I read in the papers it was the same road as Brenda’s accident. I can’t imagine…” She twisted her fingers together. “Are you okay with that?”

“It’s hard,” he admitted. “Losing both the same way, you know? But I guess…I always figured Carly would turn up somewhere. In a hospital. On a shore. She’s a…” He cleared his throat. “She was a survivor.”

“I know.” Elizabeth paused. “We weren’t really all that close—I’m not even sure I knew her all that well until I moved into the Brownstone in January. She was doing so well, you know. With the new club, with Michael.” She sighed. “I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem fair.”

“Yeah.” Sonny sighed. “Bobbie’s okay?”

“As okay as she can be after the last week. I mean, she went back to work yesterday, and you know, she’s already trying to schedule the memorial. As if…” She hesitated. “It’s like if she keeps moving, keeps taking the next step, she’ll wake up and be past the worst of it.”

“Yeah, I know what that’s like.”

“Anyway,” Elizabeth continued after a moment. “I wasn’t sure how much you knew about the search, and I wanted to stop by.” She rose to her feet. “I’m on my way to work.”

“Elizabeth—”

She turned to see Sonny on his feet as well. “Yeah?”

“Ah, you should know I put a call into Jason as soon as Carly went missing.”

Her expression blank, Elizabeth met Sonny’s eyes. “That’s good. I’ll, ah, let Bobbie know to expect him—”

“He’ll be in town tomorrow.” Sonny stepped forward. “It took a few days for him to check in, and another couple of days for him to get back here. Elizabeth, ah, he hasn’t asked about you since…since I told him you and Lucky were engaged last year.”

“Oh.” She bit her lip. “Oh. Well, yeah, I mean, that makes sense. He didn’t—” She frowned. “You didn’t tell him what happened at New Year’s?”

“Never a good time,” Sonny told her. “He only calls in once, maybe twice a month. And I thought—well, maybe, he’s not living here. Maybe it doesn’t matter. I don’t know. Anyway, he’s coming home tomorrow, and he’ll be stopping by here first. Should I tell him then?”

She hoped the dark interior of the penthouse hid the flush in her burning cheeks. “Um. I don’t know. I mean, I’m renting an apartment from Bobbie. Maybe—maybe you should tell him I’m there. So if he doesn’t want to see me, he can find a way to avoid me.” She bit her lip. “I mean, Sonny, we didn’t—I—we didn’t part on good terms. I was an idiot and just awful to him—”

“Elizabeth—” Sonny set a hand on his arm. “That was last year. And you and I both know that you are light years away from that girl. Tell you what. I’ll tell Jason you’re living with Gia at the Brownstone and things didn’t work out with Lucky. Anything else he wants to know, he’ll have to ask.”

“Fair enough.” She twisted her fingers together. “I should get to work. Sonny—call me if you need anything.”

“You do the same.” He kissed her cheek. “Take care of yourself. And Bobbie and Michael.”

“I will.”

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