"Brenda, PLEASE!!!" Jax reached out to her with one hand while massaging his smarting cheek with the other. "I can explain, if you’ll just give me a chance!!"

"EXPLAIN???!!!" Her voice was coarse with sarcasm. "Oh, YEAH………why don’t you go ahead and EXPLAIN!!!" She moved away from him, pointing to the printout that she still held. "Why don’t you EXPLAIN how you’ve got an EXACT copy of all of the research that I spent HOURS doing on Elanco!!" The paper in her hand trembled with the force of her rage.

"Brenda……..if you’ll just calm down, we can sit down and talk and I’ll explain everything." Jax ran his fingers through his hair, exasperated and disgusted with himself. If he had only been truthful with her sooner, things wouldn’t all be blowing up in his face, just like Thomas had warned him……

"OK………." She nodded and pressed her lips together, firming her chin to a distinct point. "OK………" As she ran her finger down the page, her eyes got even wider, and Jax knew her agreeable tone was the just the opposite of what she was feeling. She finally looked up at him again, her lips one tight, thin line, her eyes seething with contempt. "For starters, you can EXPLAIN what this red word on the printout means!" She held the papers out to him, pointing to a caption that frequently interrupted the flow of the data. "Why don’t you tell me what the H*LL the word "BLOCK" means, huh??!"

Heat rushed to Jax’s face, turning it bright crimson. He chewed on his lower lip, then turned away from her, mortified. "D*mnit……."

Her lips moved as she silently read the printout, her face growing more flushed with each word. "I remember now……." Brenda pointed to the places on the printout where the red word appeared. "This is the research I was doing the night Dara gave me just two more weeks on the Brighton case. The funny thing was that every time I was making some headway, something happened, and I just seemed to hit a dead end." Her voice dripped with venom as she leaned closer to Jax. "Sort of like a BLOCK, you know?" When she slammed the printout down on the desk next to Jax, he jumped every so slightly. "You wanna explain to me just exactly WHY the word "block" appears every time I hit the proverbial wall that night, huh? On YOUR printout??!!

Jax took a deep breath, held it a few minutes, and then it out in a quick whoosh. "Sure…….I’ll explain it." He stepped away from her and circled around the bank of computers to stand behind it. "I’m sure you must realize that in order for Kismet to maintain the upper hand with crime in this city, I’ve got to have a pretty sophisticated monitoring system……"

Brenda chewed on the inside of her cheek and folded her arms across her chest. "Go on."

Jax looked back and forth at the deck of hardware in front of him. "Well, let’s just say that if your pockets are deep enough, you can buy a computer that will do just about everything except tie your shoes for you."

Her eyes narrowed and she tipped her head to the side. "And we all KNOW just how deep your pockets are, don’t we, Mister Jacks?"

Jax’s head drooped forward despondently as he sighed. "My mainframe computer is linked to the terminal in your office, Brenda." He raised pain-filled eyes to meet hers. "I’ve been monitoring your transactions ever since the night you were almost killed in the explosion at Beds and Beyond."

Her chest rose with a quickly in-drawn breath. "And?"

"And……." Jax muttered an expletive under his breath, braced his hands on the bank of computers, and stared down at them in chagrin. "Whenever you’ve been getting too close to something that could put you in danger, I’ve been deliberately blocking your progress. Putting up cyber-walls, if you will, between you and the data you were searching for."

She began tapping her toe as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. "You’ve been spying on me? SABOTAGING my investigation??!!" She looked away for a minute, then quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Ohhh, that’s REALLY rich!" she snorted sarcastically. "The great, almighty crime-fighter KISMET has been committing obstruction of justice!"

"I’m not protecting the CRIMINALS, for God’s sake, Brenda!" Jax shot back. He gripped the computer bank so tightly his knuckles turned white. "I’m protecting YOU from them!!"

"Well, thank you SO VERY MUCH!!" she shouted back, leaning forward at the waist. They glared at each other for a few seconds in silence, then she paced a small circle where she stood, shaking her hands at her side to try to relieve some of the tension.

Suddenly, she froze in place and looked up at him, anguish replacing the anger in her eyes. "Was that why you made love to me tonight?"

Jax flinched, almost as though she had slapped him again. "What?"

She blinked rapidly to try to banish the tears that spilled out of her eyes and onto her cheeks. "Did you make me……." Brenda stopped abruptly, her cheeks flaring with embarrassed agony. "Were you so ……ENERGETIC and POTENT ……. tonight because you wanted to wear me out?"

Jax reeled with agony. "God, Brenda, how can you even THINK that I would……"

She poked at the corners of her eyes with her thumbs, angrily trying to erase the tears that betrayed her hurt. "Just so I would be so exhausted that I would fall asleep, and wouldn’t wake up anytime soon? So that I wouldn’t miss you, and maybe find my way down here and discover all of your little electronic gadgets??!!"

"H*LL, NO!!!!" The force of Jax’s explosion even made Brenda startle slightly. He raised his eyes to the ceiling, willing away the tears that swelled there before looking back at her. "Everything I did upstairs tonight," he said softly, "I did because I LOVE you, Brenda – more than I’ve ever loved anyone else in my entire life!!"

"Didn’t we just go through this all thirty-six hours ago??!!" She clenched her teeth even tighter, if that was possible. "LOVING someone means TRUSTING that person, Jax!" She pressed the heels of both hands against her forehead in exasperation before sighing and looking at him again. "If you really LOVED me, you’d have TRUSTED me enough to tell me the truth about this lab of yours!" She glanced down at the printout. "And how you were tapping into my computer and undermining my investigation!"

"The truth……..oh, yeah, you want the TRUTH!!" Jax’s face was still flushed with anger as he clenched his hands into fists on the computer console. "Did it ever occur to you that you might not be able to HANDLE the complete truth, Brenda??!!"

A tic at the corner of her eye betrayed her simmering annoyance. "That’s the second time you’ve said that to me, Jax," she growled, shaking her head. "But this isn’t a movie, I’m not Tom Cruise, and you’re not Jacks Nicholson, so CUT THE CR@P!!!"

"OK – you want the truth – I’ll GIVE you the truth!!" Jax hissed. He stood back from the console, looking at her with a mixture of pain and anger in his eyes – and then vanished into thin air.

"Jax?" Brenda stepped back in astonishment. She blinked her eyes twice, rapidly, then turned a complete circle. "Where……..what’s going on?"

"I told you……." She jumped visibly when he re-appeared two feet behind her and spoke softly. When she whirled to face him, sadness was etched on his handsome face. "THIS is my truth."

Brenda’s eyes darted back and forth rapidly before she finally spoke. "OK – I get it." She crossed her arms across her chest and looked around the room. "You’re testing some kind of special camouflage for the CIA, right?" She waved a hand in the air. "Or maybe the FBI, or some other alphabet soup government agency?"

He sighed heavily. "I wish it was that simple, love." And then, he was gone. Again.

Brenda’s chin firmed as anger grew anew. "OK, you can call off Siegfried and Roy now, Jax!" She looked around tensely. "Cause I’m sure as H*LL not in the mood to see some white tiger appear out of nowhere!"

"It’s not magic, Brenda….." When Jax materialized again at her side, touching her left arm gently, she couldn’t suppress the shudder of surprise that coursed through her body. "It’s just……..me."

The hum of the computers accompanied the full minute of silence that followed. "You." She bobbed her head, trying to understand, when he nodded. "You mean you can………" Brenda waved a hand from his shoulders to his feet. "……somehow you just…….."

"Disappear." Jax hung his head. "It wasn’t always like this." He walked away from her towards a chair and desk at the far end of the computer banks. "It happened for the first time while I was doing my physical therapy here at home – after I came out of the coma." He sank into the chair, not even noticing that she had followed behind him. "If Thomas hadn’t been here to help me through it, I would have sworn I had lost my mind."

Brenda hitched her hip up onto the desk next to him. "So it was like one minute you were here and the next you weren’t?"

"At first…….." Jax pressed his lips together into a thin line of self-disgust. "But then gradually I learned to control it." He raised mournful blue eyes to meet her gaze. "And use it – as Kismet." He sighed. "I guess God figured if I was going to spend my second chance at life doing good, I’d need some extra special tools in my bag of tricks."

"Well, it sure explains a lot ……." The sound of Brenda’s soft laugh stabbed at Jax’s heart, only reminding him of how empty his life would be without her. There was no way she would stay with him now that she knew the entire truth. "Like how Kismet was always able to sneak up on me. That was driving me nuts!"

Jax smiled wryly, sighed, and then sat up straighter in the chair, turning to his desk towards the telephone. "I’ll tell Thomas to bring the car around so he can take you to the airport."

Brenda’s face fell. "The airport?"

"Um-hmm." He nodded, his finger poised above the intercom button. "I’ll have one of my private jets take you to Cape d’Antibes so you can meet up with your sister until things settle down……"

"STOP IT!!!"

Brenda’s grip on his arm was so tight it actually made Jax wince. "What?"

"I said, would you PLEASE stop organizing my life for me and ordering me around??!!" Brenda pulled Jax’s hand away from the intercom buzzer and then propped her hands on her hips. "GEEZ, Jax, are you going to try to protect me all the time after we’re married, too?"

He swallowed hard, praying more fervently than he probably had since that awful night he’d been shot. "What did you just say?"

The slightest hint of a smile played at the corners of her lips, only to disappear as quickly as the object of her affections had moments earlier. "Because if our daughters turn out to be anything like me, they WON’T respond well to direction, you know….."

"Brenda……" Jax’s voice broke with the emotion he was choking back. "Married…….children……." He rose slowly from his chair, shaking his head in disbelief. "You’ve GOT to be kidding!"

She crossed her arms with a scolding look in her eyes. "Jasper Jacks, do you REALLY think I’d kid around about something that involves morning sickness, swollen ankles, stretch marks, and the always-popular sagging bladder?"

He stood in stunned silence for ten seconds before he came to her, placing his hands tenderly on her forearms. "Look, Brenda, I appreciate you being so understanding about my "gift," but if you think we can have a normal relationship ……. or any hopes for a future together, especially after what I just showed you, you’re sticking your head in the sand."

"You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you?" She sighed, her lips thrusting forward in a pretty pout. "Well, if you insist on playing this little game, I guess I’ll just have to go along with it….."

Before he could take a breath to voice an objection, Brenda pulled away from him. Her hands moved like lightning to the belt of his black jeans. When she jerked them open, sending a few buttons clattering across the floor in the process, he gasped loudly.

"BRENDA!! What……." His voice broke as she slipped her petite hand inside his jeans to find tender game. "What do you think you’re doing?" he finally choked.

"I’m proving a point, honey," she whispered huskily, her eyes glittering with sensuous fire. She paused long enough to rip open the belt on the robe she wore, then pressed her bare breasts against Jax’s chest. When the beaded points of her nipples brushed against his own beneath the t-shirt, a groan rumbled up from deep inside him.

"Brenda……" Jax’s head rolled back when she slipped her hands inside his jeans again, cuddling him tenderly where he was soft and then gripping him tightly where he wasn’t. "You can’t……" He wasn’t even aware of the fact that she had pushed him towards the desk until he felt the edge against the back of his thighs.

"Yes, I can…….." She lifted her head and smiled at him with feline pleasure as she grasped the hem of his t-shirt and whipped it over his head. "And apparently," she purred, boldly stroking the proof of his desire for her, "so can YOU!!"

He cursed, feeling himself sinking, out of control, into an erotic abyss. She pressed baby kisses down his chest, the ebony silk of her hair swirling around his nipples. She slowly traced his treasure trail of blonde hair with her tongue, dipping inside his navel to nearly draw a shout of pleasure/pain from him. When he felt her delicate fingers toying with the small bead of moisture at the tip of his manhood, Jax drew a shuddering breath and tried to grasp her hands.

"BRENDA!!" She ignored Jax’s pleas, nearly driving him to distraction as her thumb curled over the end of him with each long stroke. "The household staff……." He struggled for breath like a runner near the end of a 10K race. "……and Thomas…….some of them know about my lab…….they clean up down here……."

With cunning delight, she ran her fingers through the blonde hair that shadowed his thighs. "So?"

"So……." He gasped again, sighing her name as her tongue explored him from hilt to tip. "Somebody…….while we’re doing this…….they might come…….."

His moans quickly became her favorite kind of music. "But honey," she whispered seductively, "THAT’S the whole point, isn’t it?"

Feeling Brenda’s love for him in every stroke, Jax’s heart swelled almost as profoundly as his manhood. He tightly gripped the edge of the desk as she continued her ministrations. When he felt himself nearing the breaking point, his eyes suddenly fluttered open.

Brenda surprised squeal echoed off the walls of the cavernous lab as he shifted his weight, catching her under the arms to lift her off her feet. "I need you NOW, Brenda!" he growled huskily, settling his hips between her legs to make them one.

"And you’ve GOT me, Jax……." She purred his name, folding her arms around his neck for balance while she wrapped her legs around his waist. "For the rest of our lives."

As Jax braced his feet firmly on the ground to support them, Brenda slowly descended his length. Her eyes flared slightly, betraying the fact that her muscles were still slightly tender from their lovemaking only hours earlier. She soon forgot any discomfort, using her own strength to withdraw and sink again, cradling him in her velvet heat. Loving him all the way to his soul.

His excitement flared each time she moved; every time her body caressed his in a circular motion. When she sighed what sounded like his name and her breathing suddenly shallowed, Jax knew Brenda was going over the edge. He reached for completion himself, driving upwards and deeper one last time. As she tossed her head back, digging her fingernails into his shoulders, his world exploded around him, rocking his body with seemingly endless waves of pure bliss.

When they could both take a breath again without coming apart, Jax sank to the floor. Cradled against his lap, still joined in the most intimate of ways, Brenda heard a chuckle rumble through his chest. "Wow……."

She slowly lifted her head to gaze into his crystal blue eyes. "What?"

His breath came out on a short puff of disbelief. "That was a first for me……."

"What?" she repeated, stroking the side of his face with one graceful finger. "Having the woman who loves you more than anything else in the world attack you?" She glanced down at the black jeans puddled around his feet. "Or making love without taking your pants off?"

His eyes crinkled in a tired smile. "A little bit of both, I think….." Jax lifted his hand to cup the side of her face lovingly. "H*ll, if I had known how much it turned you on, I would have told you about the disappearing thing sooner!" She joined him in a soft laugh, but then his face grew somber. "Seriously though, Brenda," he murmured, "I’m *still* not exactly sure I understand how we went from fighting like cats and dogs one minute to making love the next."

"Ahhhh…….." She smiled at her own wisdom, then traced the cleft in his chin playfully with her finger. "Well, you see…..I wasn’t angry with you anymore because I understood."

"Understood?" Jax frowned. "That I could disappear into thin air?"

"Nooooo….." Brenda let the word trail off as she nodded her head. "I understood that the reason you didn’t tell me the whole truth before *wasn’t* because you didn’t trust me." She settled against his bare chest, resting the side of her face directly over his heart as she slipped her arms around him beneath his armpits. "It was because you didn’t trust in US."

"Us?" Jax’s continued confusion echoed in his voice. "But I told you that I loved you….."

"Mmm-hmmmm. You did. Several times. And showed me…… most enthusiastically." Brenda raised her head to smile at him. "But you didn’t trust me to love you back. ESPECIALLY," she added, placing a finger against his lips when he took a breath to speak, " to love you enough to STAY with you after I knew the whole truth about your …… gift."

His eyelids slowly lowered. "How COULD you still love me?" he whispered, his breath catching in his throat. "I’m a freak."

"You’re NOT a freak!" Brenda straightened again, pulling out of their embrace to cup his face in both of her hands. "You’re a wonderful, caring, compassionate man whom I happen to love more than anything else in the world." She moved her thumb t wipe away the tear that rolled from his eye to his cheek. "A special man, who’s using his brains and his wealth and his…..special talents…….to make the world a safer place." Her sweet smile made his heart flutter in his chest. "You’re my hero, Jax…….." She suddenly laughed a little. "Although you ARE going to have to work on that bossy thing……especially after we’re married……"

His eyes suddenly grew wide. "Brenda – when you talked about our daughters before – were you trying to tell me that you’re…….pregnant?"

She laughed softly. "No, Jax. I’m not pregnant. Yet." She rubbed his lower lip with her thumb. "I just wanted you to know that I’m in this with you for the long haul – the I do’s, the children……even growing old and lumpy together." Another smile graced her lips. "But we *should* remember that since you don’t keep any condoms down here in the batcave, there’s a possibility that a little Jacks could be growing inside……"

He swallowed hard. "So you were serious about that before?"

She placed a tender kiss on his lips, then drew back to wink at him seductively. "Want me to prove it to you again?"

"I think……." He sighed loudly, then pulled her against him again for a long hug as he stroked her hair. "…that I’m just about the luckiest man in the world."

*~*~*~*

"Ooops……"

Thomas paused in the doorway to Wyndemere’s kitchen, his cheeks red with embarrassment. Brenda and Jax were sitting across the kitchen table from each other, holding hands and smiling as though they shared some private joke. A frosted glass of orange juice sat in front of each of them, although neither beverage showed any signs of being tasted yet.

"I…..uh….." Thomas pointed over his shoulder, flustered and fumbling for words. "You didn’t tell me last night what time you wanted breakfast this morning, boss." He shuffled sheepishly over to the refrigerator, reaching inside for a carton of eggs and the milk. "I didn’t hear anything, so I didn’t know you two were up."

Brenda ran her finger playfully up and down the side of Jax’s arm. "Oh, he’s been UP for quite some time, haven’t you, honey?"

"Don’t pay any attention to her, Thomas." Jax shook a scolding finger at Brenda when Thomas turned his back momentarily to go to the stove, but she just giggled merrily like a mischievous child. "We just decided to come out to the kitchen for some juice and get an early start on the day."

"Really?" Thomas glanced over his shoulder at the lovers while the kitchen filled with the heavenly scent of browning onions and mushrooms. "After all the hullaballoo last night, I thought you two would sleep in till at least noon." He cracked an egg into a small mixing bowl, then stirred it briskly with a whisk. "Did you sleep OK, Miss Barrett?"

A feline smile lifted the corners of her mouth. "Like an angel, Thomas." She leaned towards Jax to add privately, "At least, the fifteen minutes that I DID sleep!" When she straightened again, she cleared her throat, trying to keep from sounding like a complete love-struck fool. "And please, Thomas – call me Brenda."

"Will do." The swarthy man smiled jovially. "Soooo……I’ll ask the question now so I won’t get caught unprepared again." He moved to a built-in coffee maker, pressing the buttons until a dark, fragrant brew started to drip into a carafe. "When should I plan on dinner? Do you two have anything specific planned for today?"

"Well, the first thing on MY to-do list is to go by my apartment and get a change of clothes." Brenda grimaced at Jax’s robe as Thomas slid a perfect omelette onto the plate in front of her. "I sure as heck can’t go into the office wearing THIS!"

"You WON’T be going into the office." When Brenda’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened at his announcement, Jax arched an eyebrow at her. "Do you have any court hearings you have to attend today?"

Her lips thinned disgustedly. "Noooooo……."

"Then there’s NO reason why you can’t do whatever it is you were going to do at the office from here." Jax nodded his approval when Thomas served his omelette, hot and steaming. "I’m sure that you’ll find the equipment downstairs *more* than adequate for your research."

"She ……um……." Thomas’s gaze bounced back and forth between Jax and Brenda in confusion. "Does she……"

"She *knows*, Thomas," Jax said, winking at Brenda. "About EVERYTHING."

"EVERYTHING?"

"Everything," Jax nodded.

"Even the whole……." Thomas lowered his voice, narrowing an eye at his employer. "……the whole *thin air* thing?"

"The WHOLE thing," Brenda reiterated before Jax could answer.

"Well, it’s about D*MN time!" Thomas chuckled. He shook a spatula at Jax. "Glad you finally came to your senses!"

The only sound for the next few minutes were appreciative sighs of approval for Thomas’s omelettes. Brenda took a sip of juice, then set the cup down firmly. "Well, I suppose I *could* do most of my research on your computers, Jax, but I really DO need some fresh clothes and some of my other …… stuff."

Jax thought for a minute, took a sip of juice, and then stabbed another forkful of omelette. "Thomas can go by your place today and pick up anything you need."

Dishes clattered behind them as Thomas filled the sink. "Yeah," he chuckled, "I’m REAL good at findin’ STUFF!"

Brenda’s face fell. "I……uh……." Suddenly, pink stains of embarrassment bloomed in her cheeks. "I’m not quite sure how to say this…."

Thomas’s eyebrows lifted in understanding. "Ohhhh, you don’t have to worry about me, Brenda!" He wrung the moisture from his hands, then reached for a towel to dry them as he turned towards her. "I was a pickpocket and con man for a long time, but ever since I started workin’ for the boss, I been on the straight and narrow." He smiled broadly. "Your STUFF is perfectly safe with me!"

"I’m sure it IS, Thomas," Brenda replied self-consciously. She looked to Jax for assistance, but he was still clueless. "It’s just that some of the things……well, you might not feel……..it might……."

Thomas’s face paled as realization hit. "Ohhhhh, you mean like……..female-type stuff?" He shook his head briskly at Jax, pointing a finger for emphasis. "Maybe she’s got a point, boss! Remember how I used to nearly pass out when your ma visited and I had to buy her that monthly hy-gee-en-nic stuff?"

"Hmmmm….." Jax placed his fingers against his lips, stifling a smile of amusement. "I suppose you’re right, Thomas. We can’t very well have you passing out in Brenda’s apartment." His eyes suddenly lit with inspiration. "Wait a minute……what about the red garter belt lady?"

"Red garter belt lady?" Thomas grimaced. "I think you’re goin’ from the fryin’ pan to the fire here, boss."

"No……I know what he means!" Brenda danced in her chair, trembling with excitement. "He’s talking about my neighbor across the hall, Lois!" She leaned over to cup Jax’s face as she bestowed a kiss on his lips. "And you’re BRILLIANT!"

Thomas folded his arms across his ample chest. "I still don’t get it," he grumped.

Brenda slid from the chair, her feet barely touching the ground as she bounced over to the wall phone. "Lois is my neighbor across the hall and best friend in the whole world!" she explained to Thomas. "I’ll just call her and tell her what I need! She’s got a spare key to my apartment, so she can just let herself in and pack a bag for me……"

"And then I’ll go by and pick it up!" Thomas finished, throwing his hands up. "I LOVE it when a plan comes together!!"

*~*~*~*

"You know – you may have won this morning – but you can’t keep me here forever."

Jax looked up from the printout he was studying. They had been working together for nearly an hour in his computer lab, sorting through the data she had already gleaned and adding bits and pieces he had found through his "special connections." Brenda’s face was grim, her hands poised above the keyboard.

"No……" He grinned, a combination of overbearing male chauvinism and endearing, boundless affection. "But I can try, can’t I?"

"Jax, be *serious*!" She sighed and rose to her feet, cinching the belt of his robe more tightly around her waist. "I’m the assistance district attorney! I have commitments – appointments, and hearings to attend, and criminals to put behind bars!" She paced back and forth, barefoot, in front of the console. "I can’t just call in sick, or send Thomas to deliver my arguments to the judge in my place!"

"Maybe not," Jax chuckled, "but he’d sure as h*ll make a lasting impression on a jury!"

When her eyes lit with fire and she propped her hands on her hips, he straightened up in his chair, his mood sobering. "I’m sorry, love, and I know this is hard for you, but Sorel isn’t a man to be taken lightly." He rubbed his chest absently. "I know that better than anyone."

"And I know that, TOO, Jax!" She walked over to where he sat, sinking to her knees on the ground next to him. "Do you think I can forget about it? When he almost took you away from me, and my sister and her family had to be smuggled out under cover of darkness to some distant hiding place?" She placed her hands on his knees, squeezing them for emphasis. "I want my LIFE back, Jax – the way it was before." A slight smile tipped up the corners of her mouth. "Well, ALMOST the way it was before," she whispered, lifting her face for his kiss.

He drew back after brushing his lips against hers, creating sparks of a different kind in the static-free environment. "Then there’s just one solution, isn’t there?" Jax rose from his chair and walked over to another computer console. "We’ll just have to use every trick in the book to find out where Sorel is hiding, and then figure out a way to flush him out. Fast."

Brenda nodded and got to her feet, following him. "And find out what his connection to Elanco is." She shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe he’s using it for some other illegal activities we can pick up on."

Just as Jax turned towards the monitor, a phone nearby rang shrilly. He took the few steps to reach it, then picked up the receiver. "Jax, here."

Brenda felt a chill run down her spine when she saw the color drain from his face. She came to where he stood, looking up at him, her eyes wide with concern. "What is it?"

Jax held up a finger, not speaking as he listened to whoever was on the other end. He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly and said, "We’ll be there in ten minutes."

"What is it?" Brenda, her face pale with fright as she grabbed his arm when he hung up the phone. "Is something wrong with Julia or the kids?"

"No. It’s not your sister." Jax put a hand to the small of her back, ushering her towards the elevator leading to Wyndemere’s ground level. "That was Thomas."

"Thomas?" She frowned as they got inside the elevator. "But what’s….."

Jax punched the button on the elevator control panel, his hand shaking with barely-controlled rage. "Apparently Sorel paid a little visit to your apartment himself this morning."

Brenda’s hand flew to her mouth. "Oh, my God……."

Jax’s face was grim, his mouth set with fierce anger. "Thomas is OK, but he says we need to get over there right away." He gathered Brenda into his arms. "Sorel wrecked your apartment, and some of his men roughed up Lois."

To be continued…….