JOHN PAUL

The sound of Charlotte's voice is becoming unbearably grating as more time goes on and this function just began. 

I've been trying to appease her ridiculous negotiations to buy her out of the shares of the company's and the hospital, but her constant presence is leading me to want to do something I never thought I'd do and seriously consider taking her out. 

Permanently and quietly, of course.

I know Enzo or whoever I have do it can make it clean, however, my conscious keeps me from doing it, but she's fucking pushing me to the edge tonight.

I glance over at Adonis and he shrugs at me. I told him to wait ten minutes before grabbing me, but then other high end donors came to talk to me so now I'm stuck between hearing her annoying voice and being sucked up to by some millionaire prick. 

"So, with stocks going up and value increasing, I think it's a no brainer, don't you, Santiago?" I catch the last part of his droning.

"I'm not a gambling man, Jones. I don't like the instability of stocks." 

"Well, you know the saying you want big rewards, you gotta take big risks." The old man attempts to encourage me.

"When it comes to my money, I don't take risks." I look over at Adonis again but he's not looking at me; his brows are creased together and I follow his gaze towards the entrance of the hall. 

I clench my jaw as I see what got his attention. Stella is here flanked by her two idiots, Enzo and Tej. I didn't want Stella hear for fear of what happened the last time we were at a gala, but it looks like Enzo figured out a way to be here.

I see Nicky is off to the side and nods when I catch his eye.

I move my gaze back to the trio and take in Stella's appearance. She straightened her hair and it looks good with the red satin dress she's wearing. My eyes travel down the plunging neckline, that is too low for my liking as is the high slit on the front of her dress. 

Our eyes lock and for a moment it feels like it's just us in the room and then her eyes move to my left and I remember Charlotte is standing next to me.

Stella looks away as if I mean nothing to her and the reality of that sits in the pit of my stomach like a rock. I wonder if she saw the note and other items I left in my--her room.

There's no denying her presence is commanding as most of the guests have stopped to watch her as she walks further into the room. She gives several people a dazzling smile as Enzo leads her to the dance floor and he guides her across the floor. 

"Johnny, it's time for your speech." One of the benefit coordinators tells me. I excuse myself as I head up to the stage and the podium. Adonis follows closely behind me; he talks into his ear piece letting our security detail know I'm on the move. 

I stand on the outskirts of the stage waiting as the Emcee of the benefit introduces me and I make my way across the stage as the room erupts into clapping. 

I give a short speech thanking everyone for attending. I explain why the benefit is important to me after losing my mother to cancer and a close friend recently. I encourage everyone to be generous in their donations and start off the donation by pledging my own contribution, which receives a standing ovation. 

When I finish I make my way through the crowd shaking several hands and kissing several faces as I'm stopped and thanked and told what a good person I am. 

If only they knew the truth.

I grind my teeth when I see Charlotte making her way over to me again. And know I won't have an option but to have her follow me back to the table. She smiles at me as if she's proud of me but I know all she cares about is the appearance and the fact that it seems we are together to several important people in the room, even though I make it I point to make sure everyone knows we are business partners only.

As I walk up to the table, the sound of Stella's voice reaches my ears and as much as I love the sound it eats at me to know she's laughing at something Tej said. They both look at me as I approach. " I guess I shouldn't be surprised you found a way to be here, tonight," I address Enzo.

He laughs. "You're right, you've known me long enough to know I'm resourceful, whether Annalisa would have helped or not, I would have found a way in." 

I pull out Charlotte's chair out of habit and I sit next to her. "You clean up nice, Stella," Charlotte comments as she sits down.

Stella sets her drink down and genuinely smiles at her. "Thank you." She turns her attention back to Annalisa and the woman who is here with Tej. 

"Johnny tells me you're a graduate of Columbia and got your degree in Business," Charlotte grabs her attention. Stella's jaw clenches before she briefly glances at me and then sets her eyes on Charlotte. 

"Yes, that's right." 

"That's very interesting," Charlotte circles the top of her wine glass with one of her fingers. "I'm curious why a college graduate would lower herself to stripping." 

"She wasn't a stripper, she was a performer, a dancer," The woman with Tej speaks up. "Several of us dance because it pays well and gives us an opportunity to pay off debt quicker. I danced my way through medical school and I am debt free." 

"Oh, I'm sure there are noble reasons to do it, but I'm curious why Stella did it," Charlotte responds.

"I like giving men raging hard-ons," Stella states nonchalantly. With the exception of Enzo, the guys at the table and even Adonis who's sitting at the bar behind us, choke on their drinks.  

Charlotte laughs, but there's no humor in it. "You're jack of all trades it seems. You're smart, you can dance, and I hear you're quite the mother to kids who aren't even yours."

Stella doesn't respond as she watches Charlotte sip her drink, waiting for her to continue. "But there's more to that saying isn't there?" Charlotte sighs. "Jack of all trades but master of none." 

"You sound quite obsessed with Stella," The woman next to Tej points out.

Charlotte cackles. "No, not at all; I just like learning about people, what makes them tick."

Tej leans in. "The saying actually goes, Jack of all trades, master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one. So it describes, Stella perfectly. She is not confined to just being good at one thing, but many." 

Charlotte remains quiet, thankfully for the next little while. Until I hear her once again, address Stella. "How many tattoos do you have, Stella?" 

Stella turns to her attention back to Charlotte to respond. "Eleven." 

I try to remember how many I've seen from our moments together, but don't remember seeing that many.

"Aren't you worried, they're gonna look awful as you get older?" Charlotte asks Stella and I want to fucking drive a knife through her neck or better yet, mine.

Stella laughs. "No. I doubt I will care; not when gravity will undoubtedly affect other parts of my body." 

"I could never do it, I mean, you wouldn't put a bumper sticker on a Mercedes, would you?" Charlotte grins at me as I glare back at her. 

"Did you just compare yourself to car?" The girl with Tej questions chuckling, who I've learned her name is Michelle when Stella introduced her to Joey and Annalisa.

"I think she's trying to say she get's ridden a lot," Annalisa states as she eats some of Joey's cake.

Charlotte, glares over at Annalisa. "You know, I'd lay off eating so much sugar, that's your second helping and I can see it's already going straight to your stomach." 

"Shut the fuck up, Charlotte!" I hiss at her. 

"I don't know what your end game is Charlotte," Stella says quietly, but I can see the raging fire behind her eyes. "You're obviously one of those insecure women who likes to point out what you consider flaws in other women to make yourself feel superior. I will only warn you once tonight; keep your ignorant, double standard, narrow-minded comments to yourself or you'll find out the real reason I worked as a dancer to hide what I'm really capable of." 

Charlotte looks at back at Stella giving her a smile and shrugs. "I didn't mean anything by it, but if you chose to get offended that's your choice." 

"You know exactly what you meant behind what you're saying." 

"Sometimes, word are just words," Charlotte replies. "I mean, not everything has a meaning to it. Like I'm sure some of your tattoos are just for decoration, right?" 

"No. They're all symbolic; each one means something to me." Stella tells her and then shows the inside of her right wrist that says, Keep me wild  "This was the first one I got. I got it with my best friend, hers says keep me safe. We got them to mark a milestone after we both survived being kidnapped, beaten, tortured and raped." 

Charlotte looks around the table, clearly feeling uneasy now that she's unleashed something she can't control.

She shows her the one behind her left ear of two small raves, representing her parents Dominic and Serena who were both murdered. The one behind her right ear of lady justice to remind her to be as fair to people as much as she can despite not always receiving the same in return. 

The stars wrapping around her neck remind her to chase after the best things in life. The word survivor on her inner right arm, because of what she's overcome. The word warrior on her inner left arm because she fights for and protects those she loves. The word Ohana to represent the chosen family she has with Kai, Miles and Lucy. 

Live in the moment running down her outer left thigh from her hip, she glances at me briefly to as she says it helps her not take life too seriously. She describes the small phoenix on her upper right abdomen to represent her death, rebirth after the beating she endured and losing the baby. And then describes a small snake tattoo on her left inner hip bone that represents the start of a new life or new beginning.

"That's ten," Charlotte states, dumbly. 

"What?"

"You said you have eleven but you only talked about ten," Charlotte says. 

 Stella looks down at her finger, with my initials. 

"This represents my first love," She says. "So there you have it. Anything else you want to know?" Stella asks Charlotte, then downs the rest of her drink. 

"Enzo, I'm ready for another dance, you coming?" She stands as she talks to Enzo. She walks away from the table and Enzo scrambles out of his chair stumbling to catch up to her.

I finish the rest of my drink and excuse myself from the table. 

"Where are you going, Johnny?" Charlotte stands.

"Home. Goodnight," I tell her, but she clamps down on my arm to keep me from leaving. 

"Don't go, we still have a few hours, Johnny."

"Take your fucking claws off of me or I will make you wish you not only never met me but heard of me before," I look at her with all the hatred and disgust I can and she immediately lets go of my arm. 

I make my way out of the overcrowded room. Adonis follows closely behind me and I grit my teeth as several people stop me, delaying my leaving keeping in the overwhelmingly suffocating room. When we finally manage to make it out of the room and into the hallway, I take in a few deep breaths.

"Capo, are you alright?" Adonis asks, putting a hand on my shoulder as I lean against a wall. I shrug him off.

"Just get the damn car ready," I order and he walks away talking into his ear piece.

I start to make my way to the exit when a hand holds on to me and I immediately think it's Charlotte; I yank my arm out her grip, but when I turn around it's not Charlotte.

"Where are you going?" Stella asks me, worry on her face and I turn away from her and keep walking. 

"I'm leaving." 

"Why? Aren't you in charge of this whole thing?" She questions as she follows me.

"Yes, and that's the beauty of it. I can leave if I want to, when I want to." 

"Okay, but why are you leaving?"

"Because I can."

Stella holds on my arm again to stop me. "Talk to me, John Paul." 

"I---I need to go, I can't be here with you...I can't be around you when all I want to do is..." I turn away from her. 

"I don't know what you're saying," She responds a frown crossing her face.

My eyes meet hers. "Did you not get my note? I fucked up Stella. Over and over and over again. I screwed everything up and it's my fault. I know that. And I can't...and that means..." I struggle to say it out loud; that I know I won't get another chance and that I can't watch her be happy with someone else because I'm fucking weak. 

My eyes burn as I fight to hold in my damn emotions and tears, watching her look back at me; her eyes move back and forth between mine.

"Capo," Adonis calls over to me. I turn away from her and head towards Adonis.

"John Paul, it's always been you." 

I stop in my tracks, but I'm not sure I heard right, there's a lot of chatter going on in the corridor. I turn around slowly as she walks up to me. 

"Don't leave," She closes the distances as she reaches her hands to my face. "I love you, John Paul, stay with me." Her beautiful eyes move down to my lips and she kisses me softly. 

Her hands move to my neck and shoulders and she pulls me in closer to her as she deepens the kiss. My arms come around her; the feeling of pure bliss and happiness coursing through me as I hold her. And in the moment, the world around us fades away and it's just the two of us, pouring our love into each other.

When we pull away, we are both breathless. Stella leans her head against my head, and she chuckles. "I've always loved how kissing you takes me somewhere far away, John Paul," She wraps her arms around me in one of her amazing hugs that I've missed, where I can literally feel the love she has for me. 

"I never stopped loving you, JP. Even when I wanted to or tried to because of how hurt or angry I was, I couldn't. You're a part of me."

She leans away to look at me; her green hazel eyes are vibrant as they shine with unshed tears. Her lips are slightly swollen from our recent kiss and I'm mesmerized at how beautiful she is and always has been. 

"You're my life, Stella, and I will spend every day earning your love."

But our sweet reunion is cut short by an eruption of gunfire. People scream and begin running for exits, I hold on to Stella, but we're ripped apart as people rush by us and bump and push us with the sheer panic that's overtaking the crowd. 

"JP!" I hear her shouting out for me and I look around desperately for her, but I can't find her in the massive crowd.

I breath a sigh of relief when I finally find her; Nicky and Enzo shield her with their guns drawn. Enzo hands her a gun as he pulls out another. 

"Capo, this way!" Adonis pulls me off to the edge of the hall. 

"I need to get to Stella," I tell him over all the shouting and screaming going on, but dread over comes me as masked men start coming in from all different directions.

"She's safe, she's with Nicky and Enzo," I watch as Stella and Enzo fight off masked men alongside each other as if they've fought together for years.

Nicky fights off any of the men who try to get closer to Stella, from behind her. I snap out of my trance of watching when Adonis shoves me out of the way and shoots down someone I hadn't seen coming towards me. 

I start engaging myself with some of the fighting and then it seems like the fight is over, but then more shots ring out. 

"Capo, we sealed off the doors, but we need to get you out of the open," Adonis states as he runs to me. 

"No, we need to draw them out," I tell him. "Get as many of the civilians out of here and hopefully we'll weed them out, cops will be swarming the place soon." 

We move towards Stella and she runs towards me, holding on to me tightly. "Get Stella and Annalisa out of here," I tell Enzo and he heads back to the table, to get Annalisa but Stella stands there, looking at me; Nicky stays next to her looking around.

"JP, you can't take them on alone."

" I need you to be safe at home, Stella." 

"JP, you need us here," She argues, but I give Nicky a look and he knows I need him to take her away from here; I have to keep her safe. 

"Capo, I need you to see this," Adonis pulls me away but I still hear her calling out for me while also yelling at Nicky to let her go as he pulls her away.

As long as she safe, she can be mad at me as long as she wants to be in this moment.