Chapter Thirteen

onny hadn't been entirely honest with Brenda for the reason he wanted to come out here. Yeah, he had a case of cabin fever and because of his claustrophobia he couldn't stand to be cooped up someplace for too long. But the real reason he needed to come out her and be by himself was to come to terms with the life he'd now be leading.

He loved Brenda. He always had and he always would. But he had also loved the life he had been leading before she came back to him. And he didn't know if he wanted to give it up to be with her. Unfortunately, he had no choice in the matter. She'd taken that choice from him and now he was stuck in this new life with no way out. It was the same tug-of-war that had been going on since he first met Brenda. He loved Brenda but he also loved the mob. While Brenda made him happy, the mob made him feel secure and in control. But he couldn't have them both.

Well, he tried to make the best of things, he'd fallen into the mob and now he'd fallen into this new life. He'd just have to do the best with it that he could. On the upside, he had Brenda back, and he did love her like he would never love anyone else. Life was never perfect. There was always something wrong with it. You just had to pick what made you happy and try to make the best of everything else. And Brenda did make him happy.

Somewhat at peace with the life he would now be leading and the choice Brenda had made for him, Sonny stuck his fishing line in the water and tried to get down to what he came down there for. As his serene surrounding began to seep into his consciousness, Sonny felt at peace with himself. Maybe Brenda was right. He'd been trying to fight his destiny when he left her standing at the altar when she was who he was supposed to be with.

He had thought he was doing the best for Brenda by setting her free, but look at what happened. She'd had a mental breakdown because he'd left her, then she'd been shot because of Jax, next she almost died because of her crazy mother, and through it all she still loved him. And now they were right back to where they were just before they were about to get married and he had cut and run.

He suddenly looked up at the heavens and couldn't help thinking someone up there was trying to tell him something. Then he began to fill with a certainty that this was the life he was always meant to lead. He was suddenly filled with a lightness like a big weight had been lifted off his shoulder. Deciding to forget about fishing, he headed back to the house to his destiny...Brenda.

The closer he got to the house, the more he began to feel a feeling of overwhelming dread overcome him. It was then he spotted two men hiding in the bushes watching the house. They had to be Carlos Montoya's men and he'd left Brenda all alone. He knocked both the men out then rushed back to the house. When he entered the house his worst nightmare was standing before his eyes. A man who looked similar to him was choking the life out of Brenda.

Sonny grabbed a lamp off a table and smashed it over the back of Montoya's head. He fell to the floor unconscious and Sonny rushed over to Brenda who fell to her knees gasping for air. "Sweetheart, are you all right?"

"I'm fine." She coughed.

"I should have never left you alone." He rained kisses all over her face. "If you had died, I would have never forgiven myself. From now on we can't let each other out of our sights. What happens to one of us, happens to both of us." He added as he kissed her passionately. "Whether alive or dead, we'll be together no matter what."

"It's not your fault." She rasped. "It's mine."

It was then he noticed all the money scattered all over the floor. "Brenda, where did all this money come from."

"Sonny, there was a little something I neglected to tell you." Brenda said evasively.

"Like what?" He asked with an edge to his voice.

"When I left Carlos." She began. "I took a little something with me. A suitcase full of drug money he'd been contracted to launder."

"Are you insane!" Sonny exploded. "No wonder he came after you. Do you have a death wish or something?"

"Yes." She spat. "His. I knew if he lost that money they'd kill him and I'd be free of him." She added. "Sonny, how do you think I could afford to have our dream house built."

"You used Montoya's money to build it." He just couldn't believe her gall.

"He didn't take too kindly to me telling him it was all gone." She added. "Except for what's scattered all over the floor."

Sonny suddenly began to gather it all up and stuff it back in the suitcase. "Baby, what are you doing?"

"Montoya came with reinforcements." He told her. "I knocked them out, but there's no telling how long they'll be out for." He looked down at Montoya. "The same goes for him." He looked at her. "When they do wake up we need to be long gone. Stick whatever you want to take with us in that suitcase, then we're out of here."

"So this is how it begins?" She asked, as she started taking her things out of the dresser and stuffing them into the suitcase.

"It's the life you chose for both of us." He reminded her. "Now there's no going back for either of us. We have only two choices open to us. Keep moving forward or stay where we are and die."

"I'm not sorry." She declared. "I don't regret it. If this is the only way I can have you, then this is the only life I want to lead." She sighed. "I just wish you could say the same. This wasn't you choice. I forced you into this."

He held her face in her hands and kissed her hard. "This is the life I'm supposed to lead." He told her with utter confidence. "I put it off by leaving you and going into exile without you, but from the moment I met you on the docks and my life changed forever, it's all been leading to this moment."

"Do you really mean that?" She smiled.

"I have no regrets, either." He told her. "I'm at peace with it. This is my destiny. I can't runaway from it or fight it anymore."

She caressed his cheek. "I love you." She smiled at him with her heart in her eyes. "I've loved you from the moment I met you and I'll love you until the day I die. I'll probably even love you more after death. I've tried so hard so many times to stop loving you, but my love for you just keeps growing stronger and stronger. You're my destiny and I'm just glad you've finally realized that I'm yours, too, and you've finally decided to stop running away from it and me."

"What good would it do me?." He asked her with tears in his eyes. "I ran from it when I left you standing at the altar and we're right back to where we were before I left you. No matter how far I try to run, I always end back with you. All I succeed in doing by trying to run from it is to make us both miserable and the end results are always the same. I always end up back with you in the end. If that isn't destiny I don't know what is." He sighed. "So are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be." She told him. "Let's go out there and face whatever the future holds for us." She added. "Together."

"Together, forever." He replied. "In life and in death."

They walked out of the house hand-in-hand without looking back once. They walked into their future with their heads held high. Neither knew what it held for them, all they knew is whatever it was they would face it together for however long they had together. All they knew was nothing, not even death, would ever separate them again.