Jax’s booming pleasantry only made Brenda feel more nauseated. "Mr. Corinthos! After all this time, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person." He extended a hand to Sonny. "My brother has been singing your praises so loudly for the past few weeks that I thought he was going to disown me and adopt *you* as his younger brother!"

Sonny’s broad grin and display of sparkling white teeth reminded Brenda of a Steinway baby grand piano. "Mr. Jacks, the pleasure is all mine," he crooned, shaking Jax’s hand firmly. "And believe me – Jerry has been telling me a lot about you, too……" He paused a few seconds and then winked at Jerry. "……..Jaaaaaaasper." He drawled out the short "a" sound until Brenda’s teeth ached, but the three men just laughed all the more loudly.

{Well, God, I’ve gotta hand You this – You’ve got some sense of humor. Of all the people in Port Charles that I could have run into tonight, Sonny was the last one I was expecting. And the one that could cause me the most trouble.} Brenda tried to shrink back away from the three men to observe Sonny more furtively. He looked happy – and healthy. He certainly wasn’t losing any weight or spending any sleepless nights missing her. {Of course, if it’s true that he tampered with the brakes on the car, then of COURSE he wouldn’t be missing me!!}

Suddenly she was brought out of her reverie when Jax put his hand under her elbow, drawing her into their group. "Mr. Corinthos, this is my wife, Brenda." He smiled down at Brenda, who was trying valiantly to keep from breathing like a racehorse just after the Kentucky Derby. "Brenda, this is the man who managed to cut through a lot of the garbage that was keeping the docks project from getting off the ground – Sonny Corinthos."

She was afraid that Sonny would make a comment about the coldness of her hand, but apparently he just attributed it to nerves or the strong air conditioning in the private dining room. "Mrs. Jacks, it’s a pleasure to meet you." He winked at Jax. "Of course, it’s *always* a pleasure to meet a beautiful woman, if you ask me!"

{You haven’t changed a bit, you dirtbag. You always were a shameless flirt.} Brenda managed a weak smile. "Mr. Corinthos," she nodded. "You certainly know how to boost a new mother’s ego with your compliments."

"Sonny……please," Sonny drawled in reply. His eyes traveled up and down Brenda’s body in a way that used to excite her, but now just turned her stomach. "And you look better than any other new mother I’ve seen lately." Jax cleared his throat audibly, reminding Sonny that his enthusiasm was getting a little inappropriate. "So……I understand that you two just had a son a few months ago?"

"That’s right." Jax slipped his arm protectively around Brenda’s waist and she was glad for his support. "We had to leave the baby at home since he’s really still too young to travel."

Suddenly, Jerry put his hand to Jax’s elbow. "Jax – that banker I wanted you to meet is at the bar alone. Why don’t we seize the opportunity to make our pitch?"

Brenda’s breath caught in her throat at the thought of being left alone with Sonny, but Jax was in an "all-business" mode. "Great!" he replied to Jerry, then looked down at Brenda. "You’ll be OK here with Mr. Corinthos for a few minutes, won’t you, sweetie?"

"She’ll be fine," Sonny interrupted before Brenda could answer. "I’ll take good care of her." Brenda smiled her agreement as Jerry pulled Jax in the direction of the bar. When Brenda turned back to him, Sonny moved closer and turned on the charm that she recognized from their time together. "So……have you had a chance to see much of our fair city, Mrs. Jacks?"

"Not really. Jax and I just got in earlier today and we spent most of the time in our room – after all, this IS the first time we’ve had to ourselves since Jon was born," Brenda replied with a smug smile. {There. Don’t come on to me, you louse. Now you know I have a strong marriage and I love my husband.}

"Well, since I understand that you’ll be here for a few days, perhaps you’ll let me give you a tour of Port Charles…….Brenda," Sonny oozed. He looked intently at her face, waiting for an objection to his intimate use of her first name. But Brenda was so appalled at his flirting that she couldn’t gather her wits about her enough to register a complaint. {What a slimeball!! No wonder he’s not missing me! He’s probably hitting on every other attractive woman in Port Charles!! He’s probably……}

Brenda’s speculation was interrupted with a petite brunette came up behind Sonny. She put her hand on his shoulder and Sonny instantly backed away from Brenda. "Honey, they don’t seem to have my favorite white wine at the bar. Would you mind asking them to go get ……." When the brunette moved into Sonny’s open arm and got a good look at Brenda, she smiled in apology. "Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize you were in the middle of something……"

"No problem," Sonny replied smoothly, giving the brunette an oily smile. He gestured towards Brenda while putting an arm around the brunette’s shoulders. "Mrs. Jacks, I’d like you to meet my fiancée, Miss Lily Rivera."

{Fiancée?}

If Brenda thought she had entered some kind of amusement park fun house with distorted mirror images before, now she KNEW she must have lost her mind. But Sonny just went on, oblivious to Brenda’s slight pallor. "Honey," he crooned to the brunette, "this is Mrs. Brenda Jacks. She’s married to one of the general partners in the docks project – Jerry’s brother, Jaaaaaaaasper." He drawled the short "a" sound again until Brenda actually felt nauseated.

Lily extended a hand to Brenda with a warm smile. "I’m so pleased to meet you, Mrs. Jacks." She gazed lovingly at Sonny. "I seldom get a chance to meet any of Sonny’s business associates or their wives."

{No kidding, honey. Been there, done that.}

Brenda couldn’t believe the words coming out of Lily’s mouth, but she just hid her shock bravely with a broad smile. "I’m pleased to meet you too, Lily." She leaned towards the brunette and noted how much she resembled Brenda *Barrett*. "And it’s Brenda – please."

Thankfully someone came up to Sonny – one of his nameless go-fers that Brenda recognized from their time together – and then Sonny excused himself to handle "a small business problem." As Brenda found herself alone with Lily, she decided to satisfy her curiosity. "So….." she smiled, drawing Lily’s attention, "……I don’t think that Jerry ever mentioned that Sonny was engaged." She arched an eyebrow as she saw Sonny over Lily’s shoulder, totally engrossed in a conversation with another short, swarthy man. "Have you known each other long?"

"Oh, we’ve been together off and on for over a year. But we didn’t actually get engaged until about six weeks ago."

{Over a year!!!! That……that…….that @sshole!!!! That means he was seeing her while he was planning to marry me!!} Brenda found herself mightily wishing she had something alcoholic to drink but then almost passed out when Jax appeared at her side. "I’m sorry that took so long, sweetie," he said quietly, "but I stopped and brought you something from the bar." She turned to find him holding out a glass of tomato juice sporting a large stalk of celery. "A virgin bloody bull, right?"

Brenda tried to smile while she covered her nervousness. {I should have never come on this trip with Jax. This is only getting me in more trouble than I ever imagined. At least while we were at home, I didn’t have to worry if I was ordering the same drink that Brenda Jacks used to – or running into old lovers and their new, trashy significant others…..} "Yes, honey," she replied smoothly, accepting the glass. "That’ll be great."

Jax stared at Lily for a few minutes before Brenda realized her social blunder. "Oh, I’m so sorry," she laughed. She slipped her free hand around Jax’s waist, as much for support as to keep the others from seeing the hand tremble. "Lily, this is my husband, Jasper Jacks." After a snort of indignation from Jax, she quickly amended, "He prefers to just be called by his nickname, Jax." Then she looked up into his twinkling, completely unaware blue eyes. "Honey, this is Mr. Corinthos’ fiancée, Lily Rivera."

Jax shook Lily’s hand firmly. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Rivera, and best wishes to you both." He took a sip of his own drink and then gestured towards Jerry. "My brother never mentioned that Mr. Corinthos had decided to join the rest of poor married slobs." Jax looked around the room for Sonny and then back at Lily. "Have you two set a date as yet?"

"Not really." Sonny seemed to materialize out of thin air with a glass of white wine in his hand for Lily and handed it to her. She accepted it with a grateful smile and kissed him lightly on the lips before continuing. "We’re having some problems finding a date that’s agreeable to both Sonny and my father since they’re both very busy men."

{Her father. What’s her last name? Rivera? Why does that sound familiar?} Brenda took a long sip of her drink and then almost had a coughing fit when she swallowed and the realization hit her at the same time. {That’s one of the names I saw that time Sonny got so mad! On that same list that had that other guy’s name – Benny! Maybe Lily’s father is some kind of mob criminal, too!}

Mercifully, everyone was summoned to dinner before Brenda had to make any more small talk with Sonny and his lady-love. She thanked God when she and Jax were seated far across the private dining room from Sonny, but that didn’t stop her from watching her former fiancé nuzzle Lily’s neck and occasionally place a torrid kiss on her shoulder. {He didn’t even mention me……I mean, Brenda Barrett……He acted like I didn’t even exist.} As she sipped her coffee after dinner and tuned out the boring speakers, her mind wandered even farther. {If he was having an affair with Lily while we were engaged, maybe that’s why he had to get rid of me. But did he have to murder me? Why didn’t he just tell me the engagement was off? I would have been upset, but I would have gotten over it…..}

When Brenda and Jax returned to their suite after the reception was over, it didn’t take him long to notice her silence. "Brenda?" he asked, coming up behind her as she sat and brushed her hair before bed. "Is something wrong?"

She froze, brush in mid-air. "Why would you think something was wrong?"

"I don’t know." Jax gently massaged her shoulders, watching their reflection in the mirror of the dressing table. "You’ve just been so quiet ever since dinner tonight." He took her by the shoulders and turned Brenda to face him. "Are you feeling OK?"

She smiled and cupped the side of his face. "I’m feeling fine, honey," she whispered on a sigh. Then she turned back to face the mirror and started brushing her hair again. "I’m just tired and I miss Jon, that’s all."

Jax caught her hand mid-stroke, forcing her to stop her actions. His grip was like a manacle around her wrist as he stared into the reflection of her eyes. "Brenda -- I thought we said no more lies."

Brenda slowly put the brush back down on the dressing table after Jax let go of her arm. She took a deep breath and turned to him as he took a seat next to her on the brocade-covered bench. "Jax," she started slowly, taking his hands in hers, "exactly how deeply are you and Jerry involved in this project with that man – that Corinthos man?"

Jax frowned. "I’m not really sure. Mr. Corinthos isn’t one of the original investors in the project. Not like Ned’s grandfather."

"Edward Quartermaine." Brenda supplied the name that didn’t come immediately to Jax’s lips.

"Yes." It was Jax’s turn to sigh. "But with all the money we had sunk into this thing, it would have just turned out to be an expensive mistake if it hadn’t been for Mr. Corinthos. He’s been instrumental in working with the unions to keep construction on schedule."

"But now that things are going smoothly, you’re finished with him, right? I mean, if he’s not one of the investors……"

"I’m afraid not, sweetie. According to Jerry, he’s our ace in the hole for ever getting this thing finished on time." Jax lifted Brenda’s chin with his knuckle and gave her a puzzled look. "Why is this so important to you?"

"I don’t like him, Jax – Sonny Corinthos." Brenda took Jax’s hand in hers again and squeezed them for emphasis. "He’s not a nice man – I just know it."

"Women’s intuition?"

Brenda nodded sheepishly. "Something like that." She shivered slightly. "But didn’t you get a kind of slimy feeling when we were talking to him tonight? Like he’s too smooth to be true – like he’s hiding something?"

Jax grimaced slightly. "Well, I agree he wouldn’t exactly be my choice if I had to pick someone to be stranded with on a desert island, but this is only a one-shot deal, Brenda. After the construction is finished on the docks project, we won’t need to deal with him any longer."

{There’s no such thing as a one-shot deal with Sonny Corinthos.} Jax started to rise from the bench but Brenda held his hand fast. "Jax, get rid of him now, please?" She stroked his hand lovingly. "I’m just worried about you and Jerry. I would die if anything ever happened to you…….."

Jax pulled her to her feet into his embrace. "Brenda, I told you before, I’m not planning on going anywhere. I won’t leave you……nobody leaves, don’t you know that?" He tapped her lightly on the nose with his finger. "But I’m sure Jerry will be flattered to hear that you were worried about him."

"Jax……" Brenda inhaled to try to change his mind again but Jax lay a finger across her lips.

"Brenda, this is silly. If you had some kind of concrete proof that Mr. Corinthos is crooked, I would drop him in a New York second. But to tell Jerry that we have to break off the deal just because you had a gut feeling.….." She stared down at her feet but Jax lifted her chin to look into his smiling face. "I’ve got an idea. Maybe this is all coming over you because you miss Jon, like you said. After all, it’s the first time you’ve ever been away from him since he was born." He broke the embrace and walked over to the nightstand. "Why don’t we give Thomas a call and maybe he can let Jon burp over the telephone and make you feel better?"

Brenda laughed in spite of her worries. "Burp?" She walked over to where Jax stood and ran her hands up his chest. "You’re right. I’m probably just missing my baby." She nodded towards the phone. "Make the call and let’s see if Jon can cut loose with one of those really chunky ones!"

Jax dialed the number and after speaking with Thomas for a few minutes, handed the receiver to Brenda. She spoke to Thomas and was updated on all of Jon’s whimpers, groans, grunts, and twitches since they had left the house. Jax finally just shook his head and walked towards the bathroom, loosening his tie and closing the door behind him. Once Brenda heard the water running, she turned away from the bathroom door and spoke quietly into the telephone. "Thomas? There’s one more thing I need you to do. I need a telephone number…….."

*******

Almost a week later, Brenda waited anxiously at the window of the Malibu house. She kept pushing the curtains to the side and peeking outside until finally she heard the low roar of a car’s engine coming up the driveway. The doorbell had barely rung when Brenda called out, "I’ll get it, Thomas!"

She opened the door to reveal a tall brunette dressed in a smart red pantsuit. "Mrs. Jacks?" Her voice bore a distinct clipped British accent.

Brenda nodded quickly. "You must be Anna Devane." The brunette nodded. "Please – come in." She quickly ushered Anna into the foyer of the house, pushing her down the hall towards Jax’s study. "It was for me, Thomas. I’m going to be in Jax’s study for a little while."

Thomas came out of the kitchen to appear at the other end of the hallway. "You OK, Mrs. Brenda? Mr. Jax told me to take care of you while he was gone to that meetin’ in Los Angeles."

"I’m fine, Thomas – really!" Brenda laughed. "I’m just going to spend some time reading and I don’t want to be disturbed, OK?"

Thomas looked skeptical but then smiled broadly. "You got it, Mrs. Brenda! I’ll be quiet as a mouse!"

Brenda returned his smile but then quickly ran down the hall to Jax’s office and shut the door behind her. Anna Devane was already removing papers from her briefcase and putting them on the conference table in the corner of the room. "I really appreciate you getting this information together for me on such short notice, Miss Devane."

Anna gestured that Brenda should sit down and smiled. "No problem, Mrs. Jacks. And the name is Anna." Brenda nodded. "Stefan Cassidine spoke very highly of you."

"Brenda, please." Anna acknowledged the change of title with a nod of her head and settled herself in her chair. "Stefan also assured me that you would keep all of this in strictest confidence, Anna." Brenda pulled her chair forward, anxious to see what was written on the stack of papers Anna had in front of her.

"Any private investigator who doesn’t know how to keep her mouth shut doesn’t stay in this business very long, Brenda." She grimaced at the papers. "And from the information I’ve been gathering for you, I can see why you would want it kept confidential."

Brenda took a shaky breath. "What were you able to find out about Sonny?"

Anna’s lips formed a thin line. "The only thing I can show you about one Michael Corinthos, Jr. on paper is that he’s clean as the driven snow."

"That’s ridiculous!" Brenda modulated her voice when the first word almost came out as a shout. She looked around guiltily and then leaned confidentially towards Anna. "There must be *something*, *somewhere*, that’s enough to convince my husband not to deal with him!"

Anna reached for another stack of papers. "Now his future father-in-law, Hernando Rivera – that’s a different story." She sorted the papers and then pointed to a paragraph on one. "Mr. Rivera has only eluded the long arm of the law this long because he calls Puerto Rico his home." Her face was grim. "The man has major ties to the Organization."

"The……organization?"

Anna grimaced. "Organized crime, Brenda – the Mob. I think that, based on this information, it’s safe to assume that Hernando Rivera is probably the head of the Puerto Rican branch of La Cosa Nostra."

"So then that’s it!" Brenda slapped her hands down on the table victoriously. "That proves that Sonny is part of the mob!"

"Unfortunately, the only thing it proves is that Mr. Corinthos has extremely poor taste in future father-in-laws, Brenda." Brenda’s breath left her lungs on a long sigh and the sympathy showed on Anna’s face. "If your husband is half the businessman I expect him to be, he’ll require more concrete proof than that of Mr. Corinthos’s guilt."

Brenda kept telling herself that her goal in this endeavor was to keep Jax safe – that personal feelings had nothing to do with it. But try as she may, she couldn’t keep the green monster of jealousy from rearing his ugly head. "What were you able to find out about Mr. Corinthos’s engagement to Lily? How long have they actually known each other?"

Anna flipped through some of the papers. "Apparently Mr. Corinthos traveled to Puerto Rico about two years ago and met Miss Rivera at that time. She was still living with her father." A very faint blush stained her cheeks. "A social relationship was established, and when Mr. Corinthos returned to Port Charles a few weeks later, Miss Rivera accompanied him and took up residence there."

Brenda felt like she had been punched in the solar plexus. "So he was having an affair with her for ……." She swallowed hard. "…….almost two years?" {Even when he was flirting with me and taking me to bed for the first time?}

"The relationship between Mr. Corinthos and Miss Rivera was a very volatile one, Brenda. There were some very nasty, very public estrangements." She picked up a paper and pointed to a paragraph with a pencil. "I would characterize their "affair," as you called it, as very on-again, off-again."

{So maybe it was "off" when Sonny proposed to me.} Brenda frowned. "But then, why the sudden engagement now? If they had problems staying together before, what would make them think they could have a successful marriage?"

"Now THAT’S where we may have our strongest proof of Mr. Corinthos’s ties to Mr. Rivera," Anna announced proudly. She shuffled the papers again and pointed to another paragraph. "There’s a lot of information in certain confidential FBI files….." Anna dropped her voice, indicating to Brenda that the data she had collected was to be kept under strictest wraps. "……that Rivera’s power base in Puerto Rico is evaporating." Brenda frowned in confusion. "He needs fresh blood, Brenda. New territory to pillage. New soldiers to re-stock his dwindling private army." Anna shifted the papers again and pointed to a different page. "On the other hand, the minimal information the FBI had on Mr. Corinthos had does seem to indicate that if he IS a mob chieftain, he’s got some pretty heavy competition on his hands at the moment."

"Someone else is trying to take over his territory?"

"Exactly." Anna squinted at the papers. "Someone named…….Anthony Sorel. FBI informers have been telling stories about power struggles within the Port Charles organization. Apparently Mr. Corinthos has been coming out on the losing end of most of those confrontations."

"So, Mr. Rivera needs a new base of operations and Sonny can’t seem to stay on top of ……." Brenda stopped herself and looked at Anna from beneath lowered eyelids. "…….on top of whatever he’s doing in Port Charles."

"Precisely."

"But I still don’t see what that has to do with Sonny marrying Rivera’s daughter."

Anna finally sat back in her chair, pushing the papers farther towards the center of the small conference table. "From everything I’ve read about the relationship between Mr. Corinthos and Miss Rivera, the one over-riding theme is that Lily’s feelings for Sonny probably run very deep." She narrowed one eye at Brenda. "I’m not sure exactly how deeply you’re involved with all of this, Mrs. Jacks, but it’s pretty clear that Lily loves Sonny. Very much so." She raised her eyebrows and folded her hands in her lap. "Unfortunately for Lily, Sonny doesn’t feel the same way about her."

"But then I STILL don’t get why they would get engaged!" Brenda’s eyes suddenly widened. "Unless……."

Anna sat up again and flipped open another file folder, referring to one of the pages. "Mr. Corinthos made an abrupt trip to Puerto Rico about five months ago. He wasn’t there long, but FBI surveillance puts him in a private conference with Rivera for several hours." She closed the file and sat back. "My hunch is that Rivera made Sonny a deal. He offered to support Sonny against Sorel. That would solidify Sonny’s control yet give Rivera a foot in the door in the state of New York. In return, he probably demanded that Sonny marry his daughter."

{Five months ago. Not that long before I…….died.}

Anna stared down at her papers and frowned. "Of course, there was a delay between that trip and the actual announcement of the engagement, which was six weeks ago. I’m not really sure what the reason was."

{*I* was the reason.}

"Brenda?" Brenda’s mind was still whirling with the implications when Anna gently lay a hand on hers. "Are you alright?"

Brenda blinked and shook her head with a smile. "Yes, of course." She cleared her throat and started gathering the papers strewn on the conference table into one envelope. "I really appreciate all of your prompt work on this, Anna." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a check. "I’ll be eternally gratefully to Stefan for recommending you."

Anna shrugged as she gathered up her own briefcase. "I’m just sorry that I couldn’t come up with something more concrete for you, Brenda." She sighed. "I seriously doubt that any of this will be strong enough evidence to convince your husband to sever his ties with Mr. Corinthos." The two women rose and suddenly Anna reached out to take Brenda’s hand. "But if I were you, Brenda – I’d try my best to talk him into getting as far away from Sonny Corinthos as possible, even with this flimsy proof." She looked Brenda in the eye. "From what I can see, people who deal with Sonny Corinthos and Hernando Rivera either end up as part of the mob, or end up…..dead."

Brenda stifled her gasp. {You’re absolutely right, Anna. I’m LIVING proof of that.}

********

"So Jon’s OK? He hasn’t started walking or recited the Gettysburg Address or learned to drive since I’ve been gone?"

Brenda laughed softly and sat back in her chair. She was at her desk in the master bedroom when Jax had called. "No, honey, he won’t be doing any of those things until WELL after you get home, even if this does take a few more days than you expected."

Jax sighed loudly. "Well, when Thao called me in Los Angeles and said there was an emergency in Gstaad, I never thought it would take this long to resolve."

"How much longer do you think you’ll be?" Brenda sat up straight at the desk and chewed on her lower lip after asking the question.

"Probably another week – ten days, tops. I’m really sorry about this, sweetie, but I promise I’ll make it up to you when I get home."

"I’ll hold you to that one, mister," Brenda smirked, twirling the phone cord. "I love you, Jax," she whispered, her voice suddenly husky with emotion. "You know that, don’t you?"

"Of course I do, sweetie. And I love you, too!" She could almost hear his frown over the telephone. "What brings all this on?"

"Oh, I don’t know – probably hormones, I guess. I just miss you."

"I miss you, too." Another sigh. "I don’t know if I’ll be able to call you every day since we’re going to be locked up with these bankers and they’re pretty intense once they get started……"

Brenda quickly cut him off. "You know what, honey? Why don’t I just try calling you? I’ve got the hotel number, and you’re already under enough pressure as it is." She glanced towards Jon, who was sleeping soundly in his crib. "We’re all fine, and Thomas is here if we have any problems."

"OK. I miss you, Brenda."

"I miss you too, Jax. Good night."

She hung up the phone slowly and then let out a long breath through pursed lips. Brenda stared out at the waves gently lapping at the beach for a few minutes before looking down again at the computer printouts she had retrieved from the shoe box in the back of the closet.

{You …… you……..murderer!!} Brenda punctuated her thoughts with red ink, circling Sonny’s name in the article fiercely. {I used to think that you really loved me. That was before I knew what love really was…….before Jax.} Tears burned at her eyes but Brenda wiped them away quickly. {Why did you really kill me, Sonny? Because I saw too much when I found those papers about Benny that night? Because I had the proof in my hands that could send you to prison for a long time? Because you had to get rid of your current fiancée so you could marry the godfather’s daughter? Or maybe a little bit of both? Eliminate two problems with one hit?}

Brenda angrily looked down at the article again and picked up her red pen. She drew a big arrow from Sonny’s name up to the blank space at the top of the page and then, in capital letters, wrote "MURDERER" with five exclamation points following it. Tears ran down her cheeks – not of regret or of a love lost, but at her own foolish belief that what she had with Sonny was love. She cast her eyes upward and chewed on her lower lip. {I should be thanking You, though. You gave me so much that day…..when You gave me that second chance. It was really true what You told me. In helping Jax find his heart, I found my own.}

When Brenda heard Trouble’s soft bark from somewhere else in the house, she quickly wiped away her tears. She folded up the piece of paper and hurried back to the closet to hide it in the same shoe box in the rear corner. As she came out of the closet, she could hear Thomas’s booming voice scolding Trouble for making noise when Master Jon was sleeping.

That crisis averted, Brenda walked silently to the French doors and stared at the ocean in the moonlight. Suddenly, everything seemed so clear. {There’s only one solution to this, Brenda. Jax and Jon are your life. I can’t let anything happen to them. I WON’T let anything happen to them. The information Anna gave me isn’t enough to put Sonny away, but I’ve seen the real proof. I held it in my hands. It cost me my life…..}

Jon stirred in his sleep and Brenda quickly returned to stand by his crib. He wriggled, trying to find a more comfortable sleeping position, and Brenda lay her hand gently on his back. At her touch, Jon quieted and fell back into a peaceful sleep. But Brenda couldn’t take her hand away – not yet. {This is what Jax would call a "window of opportunity," Brenda. You just have to go to Port Charles, get the proof, and bring it back and show Jax. Then he’ll break all ties with Sonny. Maybe you can even take the proof to the FBI and get Sonny put in jail, where he’ll never both you or your loved ones again.} She took a shaky breath. {Jax can’t find out. He wouldn’t understand. How could you ever possibly explain to him how you know about the proof and where it’s hidden? Even if he understood, he would insist on coming along to make sure you’re not in danger. And Sonny would never buy Jax coming over to his penthouse. But Sonny flirted with me…….if I seemed to be interested in his overtures, maybe he would invite me over for dinner……}

Brenda went to her own bed and crawled in under the covers, a sense of peace finally in her heart. {That’s it, Brenda. You’ve got 7 days. Seven days to go back to Port Charles and get the proof that’ll put Sonny away and guarantee you’ll never have to worry about anything again.}

To be continued……