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Chapter One-
Johnny tapped his fingers on the table, his other hand was cuffed to the table in the interrogation room. Johnny cast a glance over at Ethan, both men annoyed but not surprised.
“I see we’re making this a priority.” Ethan drawled, already bored of all Dante’s pointless questions. The door to the interrogation room opened, slamming shut. Lucky Spencer slowly walked towards Dante, a steely glare on his face, looking like he was trying to keep himself from punching Dante.
“Are we about to see Luck whip Dante’s ass?” Ethan raised an eyebrow.
“Well, Spencer looks like he wants to knock out Falconeri’s lights.” Johnny wondered why Lucky looked so pissed.
“Lucky, I’m in the middle of something here.” Dante glanced at him, gesturing to Ethan and Johnny.
“Go ahead, we’re not in a rush.” Ethan smirked, meeting his brother’s eyes.
“It’s actually good that you’re here, you need to hear this too.” Lucky briefly broke eye contact with Dante to look at Ethan, all teasing gone from Ethan’s face after that.
“I’m a fair person Dante, I really am. You and my sister do what you want, it’s Lulu’s life.” Lucky started, trying to remain calm.
“It becomes my problem when I hear whispers around town. It becomes my business when Maxie comes to my apartment and tells me that my sister hasn’t left her apartment in a week. Lulu told you about Logan. Didn’t she?” Lucky remained focused, that name felt like a punch in the gut, Johnny’s face immediately changed.
“Is she okay? I mean, that’s a stupid question. Sorry.” Johnny cleared his throat, Lucky seemed to forget about Dante for a moment, turning to face Johnny.
“No, she isn’t. It’s- it’s fine. Really. I’d be concerned if you didn’t ask.” Lucky cleared his throat, facing Dante again.
“She did. You’ve gotta understand Lucky-“ Dante started but, Lucky shook his head.
“You didn’t grow up with siblings so, I guess you wouldn’t understand. No, YOU need to understand. I knew from the moment that I first held Lulu in my arms that I would do anything, hurt anyone who ever tried to hurt her. You don’t understand until you’ve seen your little sister being sedated over and over and over again, because she can’t stop hallucinating about the asshole that did this, about the guilt she feels. My sister isn’t a bad person for stabbing someone who would have killed her. It was too difficult for dad to even be around so, he wasn’t. Me and Nikolas could barely handle it.” Lucky forced a breath through his mouth, blinking his eyes. Hard.
“Why didn’t you try to go about it the legal way?” Dante crossed his arms.
“Do you think I didn’t fucking try? It’s pretty goddamn hard when his fathers the DA. Nothing stuck! Whenever I did, somehow Johnny got drug in here instead! I knew Logan was bad. Okay? But, I didn’t know this would happen! Nobody knew he was this far gone until that night! Jesus Christ, do you honestly think I would have fed Lulu to the wolves? She’s my baby sister. Lulu isn’t perfect, none of us are but, this isn’t her fault. Now, all you and your cop buddies are calling her a murderer. I don’t even want to WORK here anymore, I can’t stand the look of ANY of you- other than Mac.You know what? I know that I don’t care for Johnny but, he took care of my sister which is more than I can say for you.” Lucky finally lost his composure, nothing but anger showing across his face.
“I’m going to jail.” Ethan announced, a tight grimace on his face, wanting so badly to break free from the cuff and beat Dante’s ass.
“Not many people would confess to a murder they didn’t commit, or stay by someone’s side while they were losing their mind- my sister had a mental breakdown. Personally, I thought there was no way Johnny Zacchara was going to stick around. Nobody was more shocked than me. But, he’s the only person Lulu ever wanted to see or talk to. I can not care for Johnny and still respect what he did for my sister.” After that, Johnny and Ethan were released, Johnny convinced Ethan just to come home to the penthouse. Dante could get his ass handed to him tomorrow.
“Trust me Lovett, nobody wants to beat Falconeri’s ass more than me…but, we’re both tired. Better not to spend the night in a cell.” Johnny gave his best friend a look.
“That would be unfortunate.” Ethan agreed as they walked down the hallway, finding the front door of the penthouse open. Johnny and Ethan looked at each other, they wouldn’t have just left the door wide open.
“Ethan? Is that you?” A voice called out.
“Sis? What the- HOW?” Ethan walked into the penthouse, with Johnny on his heels.
“Did you break into our apartment?” Ethan did a double take, Lulu stood behind the kitchen counter, with a paper towel and Lysol beside her.
“Define break in.” Lulu glanced at Ethan as Johnny shut the door.
“The fact that I have to define it answers my question.” Ethan softly chuckled.
“Well, Maxie is out of town with Matt and I didn’t want to be alone! I hear that it’s not socially acceptable to spend a week in your bedroom.” Lulu lightly smiled, like this was normal.
“It’s good to see you, Lu.” A small smile tugged at Johnny’s lips.
“I figured Lucky was going to say something soon, I can read the both of you like a book. Also in breaking news, I’m starving. Someone give me food before I die of starvation.” Lulu seemed like her usual bubbly self but Johnny sensed a sadness behind her quirkiness.
“I’ll order a pizza.” Ethan already had his phone in his hand, walking into the living room.
“You broke into our apartment to clean?” Johnny raised an eyebrow, leaning against the counter, leaving a three feet gap to give her space.
“What’s wrong with that?” Lulu was offended.
“I mean, nothing is necessarily wrong…if I didn’t know that you hate cleaning. I’ve never seen you willingly clean a day in your life.” Johnny looked at her.
“Ughhh, fine! Can’t get anything past you, can I? Maxie left, and I wasn’t going to stay by myself. I know I’ve been in my room for a week but it's different. I knew Maxie was there, I wasn’t alone. I know you and Ethan are always home and I needed something to take my mind off of…everything.” Lulu finally admitted, her eyes tired.
“Falconeri was interrogating Lovett and I and Lucky slammed the door to the interrogation room and started going off on Dante and…told Dante about what he’d done. I asked Spencer if you were okay and we kind of shared a look…I think he actually respects me. I just…I’m so sorry.” Johnny explained, dark brown eyes raking over her.
“He does. Lucky isn’t a bad guy…he just is a cop. Lucky understands that sometimes there are gray areas. I thought telling Dante about Logan was the right thing, a healthy relationship isn’t based on secrets. So, I told him…I wasn’t expecting him to call me a murderer but…Dante showed me his true colors and I'm done with him. I feel like I just ruined everything that you did for me, because now? Everyone knows. I wasn’t trying to do all this shit.” Lulu was visibly upset, wiping her face.
“Hey, you didn’t ruin anything. You thought you were doing the right thing by being honest with Falconeri, don’t apologize. You’re not a murderer Lu, he wanted to kill both you and Maxie. You saved Maxie’s life, and then you saved yours. You didn’t ask Hayes to do all the fucked up shit he did, you didn’t stab him for no reason. It was either going to be Hayes or You that was going to make it out alive and, I don’t know what I would have done if you had died in my apartment. It’s over, they can’t reopen the case because it’s already been ruled on. If they try, I’ll call Lansing and he will shut it down. There’s no evidence, it’s hearsay. There’s no evidence that you actually committed any crime, my prints are on the knife. They can’t touch you.” Johnny gripped her hand.
“Okay. You’re right, I know you are. I just hate thinking about him or Shadybrooke and what happened. Dante will shield his mobster daddy from the law but, I stab my ex boyfriend in self defense and I’m the bad person.” Lulu bit her lip.
“Yeah, doesn't make sense. I’m glad you’re here, I was worried about you.” Johnny squeezed her hand.
“I know.” Lulu gave him a tiny smile.