I can’t believe they’re doing this to you
Jerry: I missed you.
Alexis: You didn’t have time. I just left you a few minutes ago. You’ve got sixty seconds. Make it good.
Claudia: Yeah, go ahead. No, really. I can wait.
Alexis: Why are you here?
Claudia: Justice would be nice. My brother spent the entire night in lockup for defending himself.
Alexis: The special prosecutor was there.
Claudia: The special prosecutor is Logan’s father. One could almost understand him subverting the law, abusing the power of his office to protect his son. What’s your excuse?
Alexis: We’re done here.
Claudia: Being frisky, Ms. Davis, because you’re getting some?
Jerry: Excuse me. You’re forgetting yourself, Ms. Zacchara.
Claudia: No, I don’t forget anything, Mr. Jacks. Logan Hayes is walking around free, and my brother spent the night in lockup for no other reason than his name is Zacchara.
Alexis: Assault is assault. It has nothing to do with his name.
Claudia: If that was true, then you wouldn’t be getting so cozy with a man here who has committed a number of assaults himself.
Alexis: Out.
Alexis: You better tell me what’s going on between the two of you, because if you don’t, I’m sure Claudia will be more than happy to.
Johnny: Hi, just missed the old man.
Claudia: Think that was an accident? I’m worried about you, Johnny. I can’t deal with his mind games right now.
Johnny: Fine.
Claudia: I can’t believe they’re doing this to you.
Johnny: Look, compared to being locked up in a padded cell and kicked around all day by Sonny and his band of merry men, this is nothing. Besides, they got nothing on me. The people at the hotel saw it was a fair fight.
Claudia: John, listen. Logan Hayes’ father is the special prosecutor.
Johnny: Okay, and our father is Anthony Zacchara. He sees an attack on me as an attack on him. He takes it personally.
Claudia: Yeah, I hate that old man, but I’ll tell you what. I’m happy right now that he’s in your corner. Maybe that’ll make her think twice before she tries to do this to you again.
Johnny: She?
Claudia: Alexis Davis. She’s the one who’s keeping you in lockdown while she’s up there having a quickie in her office with Jerry Jacks.
Johnny: Nice.
Claudia: What is it about the opposite sex that makes normal, intelligent people like yourself turn into mental defectives? They throw everything out the window. I don’t — I don’t get it.
Johnny: Clearly.
Claudia: Okay, look, we’re animals, Johnny. We have animal instincts and urges, and we act on them or we don’t, period. You know, there is a way, though, we can make this whole situation go away. If you broke up with Lulu, then she would go running back to Logan Hayes, and everybody would be happy.
Johnny: Yeah, not funny.
Claudia: I’m only half kidding, Johnny. That girl’s trouble.
Johnny: I know you don’t like her.
Claudia: I don’t like what she’s doing to you. Okay, you were ready to step up, John. You were going to take over the business, and –
Johnny: Hey, our father was bedridden, incapacitated, and out of sound mind.
Claudia: Yeah.
Johnny: Now he’s back.
Claudia: Yeah, he’s back now, and he’s using Lulu to keep you in line.
Johnny: That’s what I want him to think.
Claudia: You don’t even see it, Johnny. You are too wrapped up in that whiny, immature little thing and her high school drama. I mean, come on. Her ex-boyfriend attacks you, starts a fight in a public place. Johnny, I could see it — I really could, if she was a woman that was up to your standards, if she was a woman who was fiery and passionate and had a brain on her, for God’s sakes. But I don’t get it, Johnny. I really don’t get it. Why is that girl worth the trouble? Please tell me, because I — I want to know.
Johnny: It’s not even worth explaining. You think love kills.
Claudia: I think love could be really dangerous for you. I think getting all wrapped up in some girl could push you right over the edge, could take you and — look, it could turn you from a really decent, normal guy with a couple of wild impulses into a guy like our father, who gets what he wants and kills what he loves.
Johnny: I know, you’re just trying to look out for me.
Claudia: You’re our father’s son. Some things are already decided for you.
Johnny: Living alone, cut off, it may be the safe choice.
Claudia: You’re not alone.
Johnny: Lulu makes me happy. That’s not a concept we’re familiar with.
Claudia: She hates me, Johnny.
Johnny: Now, why would you think that? After the warm reception you’ve given her?
Claudia: Well, maybe I’m afraid that she’s going to make you hate me, too.
Johnny: Come on.
[Door opens]
Tracy: I need a word with your brother, please, in private.
Claudia: Really? Well, I would like for you to deliver a message to the other vultures.
Johnny: It’s fine, Claudia. I’ll talk to her.
Claudia: Ric.
Ric: Hi.
Claudia: Hi. Get my brother released. My family will show its gratitude. The quicker you do it, the more grateful I, personally, will be.
Ric: Really?
Claudia: Mm-hmm.
Ric: Have you thought this all the way through?
Claudia: What?
Ric: Well, how much better it would be for you if your brother stayed in jail.
Claudia: Careful, Mr. Lansing. If my father even suspected you’re willing to leave John locked up, he’d have you drawn and quartered.
Ric: No, no, no, Claudia, I am well aware of Anthony’s obsession with his son, okay? It makes sense. John is his chance at immortality, the personification of his power. It really has nothing to do with John at all. It’s all about Anthony’s legacy. See, if John were to go away — if he were to go away to prison, should we say, that chance at immortality, i.e., his favorite child, would be you.
Claudia: You’re a smart man, but you have completely misread the situation.
Ric: Really? How so?
Claudia: If my brother were to disappear off the face of the earth tomorrow, I’d be dead the next day. My father would never low anyone to profit from my brother’s death. John’s all that matters to my dad. He’s all that ever will. That’s the one truth you need to grasp if you’re going to survive –
Ric: You don’t think very highly of yourself, do you, Ms. Zacchara? Where does this all leave you?
Claudia: I love my brother.
Ric: Oh, of course.
Claudia: Whatever John inherits, whatever he controls, whatever he runs, I do it with him.
Ric: Right. All for him?
Claudia: So I’ll tell you something. It’s a really poor strategy indeed to try to turn me against my brother.
Ric: You’re missing the point.
Claudia: Yeah, well, so far, I’m not impressed.
