Chapter One

onny tried to still the doubts in his head about Carly as he finished getting ready to walk down the aisle and remarry her. Ever since Jason had returned to Port Charles, he'd been urging Sonny not to go through with this. In some weird twist of fate, it was Jason declaring Carly was poison for him, while Sonny had taken up her defense. When Carly had returned from the dead, Sonny had vowed to put the past behind them and begin their lives together anew. But most of the things Jason was saying, were things the voice at the back of his head was whispering to him, as well.

Things just didn't add up. How could the body in the morgue have a DNA match when it wasn't Carly. Carly had passed it all off as some kind of huge mistake. But at the back of his mind he couldn't still the doubts that this was yet another one of her plans to manipulate him, only this time it had worked. She had pushed all the right buttons with him in regards to people dying and him blaming himself. When Carly had came back to him alive, he vowed he would accept it as a miracle and not question it. As long as he didn't know for sure she had set this whole thing up to get him back, he could start a new life with her. But if he ever found out she had done this to him, he didn't think he could ever let her come near him, again.

This time, they had decided to have a big church wedding in Port Charles. Practically the entire town had turned out for it. The gossip columnists were touting it as one of the most romantic things to happen in this town in years. A modern day fairy tale where true love finally triumphed in the end. But was there love really true? the insidious voice in the back of his head whispered again.

Sonny turned to the door as Jason entered. He had a glum expression on his face, but then he'd been wearing that same expression since Sonny had announced he and Carly were getting remarried. As hard a time as Sonny had getting past Carly's betrayal of him, Jason was having an even worse time of it. When he learned of what Carly had done to him, he'd turned against her completely and urged Sonny to get Carly out of his life for good.

"I hate doing this to you." Jason suddenly announced. "But I can't let you remarry Carly." He went on to explain. "You know I've suspected the whole thing of Carly being presumed dead was another of her scams. Well, now I have proof of it." He handed Sonny a tape recorder. "She had help. Play it."

Sonny sat down and turned the tape recorder on. Two voices filled the room. One was Carly and the other one was Jax. He could hear the anger in Jax's voice. "You double-crossed me." Jax spat. "When you came to me to ask me to help you fake your death, you never said it was all a plan to get Corinthos back. You lead me to believe that faking your death was the only way you could be free of him and that's what you wanted to be."

"If I had told you the truth." Carly replied. "You would have never helped me. But it worked. I got Sonny back, and more importantly I got that bitch Alexis out of his life for good."

Sonny shut the tape recorder off. "I've heard enough."

"Sonny, she's a monster." Jason declared. "You can't go through with marrying her."

"What about Michael." Sonny looked up at him. "What's going to happen to Michael if I let him be raised by her alone."

"Sonny, you can't sacrifice your life for Michael." Jason declared. "If you don't get away from her, she's going to eat you alive until there's nothing left to you." He added passionately. "Look at what she's done to you already."

"I love Michael." Sonny replied. "I couldn't love him more if he were my own."

"Sonny." Jason gasped in horror. "Please tell me you're not thinking of going through with this wedding for Michael's sake. You can't. Not after what she did to you."

Before Sonny could answer Jason Mike stuck his head in the door and told him it was time. The wedding was starting.

eople couldn't help staring at the woman who entered the back of the church and took a seat. Instead of being dressed for a wedding, she looked like she had come for a funeral. Her black ensemble came complete with a black funeral veil that covered her face from view. But as far as the woman was concerned, if Sonny were to marry another woman, then she was going to a funeral. And if she had anything to say about it, this wedding would never take place.

Her hands clenched into fists when she saw Jax sitting a few rows ahead of her. She never thought she could hate anyone as much as she hated him. He had known where Sonny was all along but he hadn't told her, and when she had rejected him he had had the ultimate revenge on her. But he wasn't important. No, the only important person was Sonny. Her eyes focused on him as he took his place at the altar.

As much as she loved him, seeing him standing at the altar in his morning suit stirred an old anger within her. She'd heard talk this was the third time he was going to marry that bitch, Carly Roberts. God, how could have even went through with marrying her one time, let alone three.

Then she took a look at his face and her anger disappeared. Even from where she was sitting she could see something was wrong with him. She suddenly had a feeling she wouldn't have to do anything to stop this wedding. She had a feeling there wasn't going to be a wedding.

Sonny couldn't bear to look at Carly as she came marching down the aisle on Mike's arm. If he looked at her he'd explode. Maybe if he could manage not to look at her he could actually get through the wedding ceremony. If he could just get through this wedding without exploding, then he, Carly and Michael could be the family they once were. He wanted that so badly. It was the only thing he'd ever wanted in his life. To have a family. And he loved Michael so much.

As Carly arrived at the altar and took his hand in hers he had to restrain himself to stop himself from yanking his hand out of hers. He tried to block it out when Jason hissed in his ear. "Don't go through with this." He tried to focus all his attention on the priest conducting the wedding ceremony to make it through the ceremony.

But as the priest continued to drone on, Sonny began remembering things. He remembered going to the morgue to identify the body Jax's drivers had found. Her face had been unrecognizable. He had declared that that wasn't Carly, but then the coroner said the DNA matched, and he had to accept she was dead. That the woman lying on the slab in the morgue with the mangled face was the woman he'd loved and been married to.

After he left the morgue, he had to go to Mikey and tell him his mother was dead. He was too young that he didn't understand, and he kept saying he kept seeing his mother. Then there was the funeral, of course. He had held Michael on his lap throughout the entire thing. Followed by Carly's great resurrection and everyone so happy she was really alive.

He suddenly felt a tugging on his sleeve. "Sonny." Carly hissed to him. "The priest is waiting for you to answer."

He looked at her beautiful in her white wedding gown. Beautiful and treacherous. The living embodiment of pretty poison. And he just couldn't do it, not even for Michael's sake. "What kind of monster are you?" He snarled, finally able to hold it in no longer.

"What!" Carly couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"I asked you what kind of monster you are." Sonny repeated.

"What did you say to him." Carly snarled at Jason. She knew he was against their relationship and had made no secret over wanting her out of Sonny's life for good.

"I know the truth, Carly." Sonny spat. "How could you do it? How could you make my worse nightmare come true just to manipulate me into taking you back."

"What's going on here." Bobbie stepped up.

"She faked the entire thing, Bobbie." Sonny told her. He was still holding the tape recorder in his hand, gripped in his palm with a death grip. He hit the play button and the entire church listened in horror as Jax and Carly's voices filled the church.

"How could you do this?" Sonny looked at her like she was a monster. "I can understand you doing this to me, but do you have any idea what you do to your mother and Michael?"

"I had no choice." She told him. "I had to get that bitch out of your life. I had to make you remember how much you love me. And it worked." She added, showing she had no regrets over what she had done. "It was worth it."

"For you maybe." Sonny spat. "But what about the rest of us. I had to go to the morgue and identify your body. I still see that woman's mangled face everytime I close my eyes. I thought that woman was you. Your mother went through the hell of losing one child, and you put her through that nightmare, again. We lost a child together. We know what it's like. How could you do that to your own mother." He added. "And what about Michael. I had to tell him you were dead. He had to sit through your funeral not even understanding what was going on. And you coming to see him whenever you could only confused him more. What kind of a monster are you."

"I did what I had to do." Carly declared unrepentantly. "That bitch was trying to steal you away from me, She got you in bed with her, and I had to get her out of it for good." She added. "And if I had it to do all over again, I would do exactly the same thing, because it got us here today. It got us both back where we belong."

"I don't belong with you." Sonny shook his head in denial. "I don't belong with a woman who would use the death of the woman I loved and how guilty I felt over it against me." He added. "It was no coincidence you chose to set you death up in the exact way Brenda died, was it? You wanted me to relive Brenda's death and to feel all the guilt I felt over it, again."

His eyes suddenly focused on Jax. "Or was it your idea." Sonny asked. "Was it your revenge on me because Brenda loved me and chose me over you."

Before Jax could answer, Bobbie stormed over to him and slapped him. "How could you do this to me." She demanded to know. "You comforted me over Carly's death and all along you knew she was alive." She added. "If Carly's a monster, then so are you."

Sonny looked around in disgust as Luke and Jason rounded on Carly and told her what they thought of her, then looked back at Jax in time to see Scotty Baldwin rush up and punch him in the jaw. He had to get out of here, Sonny decided. He had to get as far away from here as possible. He rushed out of the church not even paying notice to the woman in black, who quickly followed him out of the church as he left.

Sonny ended up at a table at Jake's Pool Hall where he sat down at a table by himself and ordered himself a straight vodka. He was downing his drink when he suddenly felt a weird awareness come over him. He glanced at the door and saw a strange woman dressed in black funeral garb standing over there and looking in his direction. He shook the feeling off and signalled the bartender for another drink.

Sonny didn't notice the woman stop the bartender as he was coming over to Sonny's table with his drink and offer to take it over there for him. He also didn't see her slip something into his drink before she stood by his table holding his drink out for him to take.

"Your drink, sir." She spoke in fluent Spanish. Then she sat down in the chair opposite his.

"Who are you?" Sonny asked, as he downed his drink. "And what do you want from me?" He knew in that moment she had come here because of him. That she had come here because of him and she had some kind of plans for him.

"I want everything you have to give." She told him. "And I'll accept nothing less."

That was the last thing Sonny heard or saw as the drugs in his drink took effect and he fell to the floor unconscious.