Chapter Twenty-Two

AFTERWARDS SONNY AND Brenda laid on their sides facing each other nose-to-nose body-to-body. "I think we did it, baby." She smiled. She placed his hand against her stomach. "I can already feel our baby growing inside me."

"It's too soon to tell." He told her as he laid on his back and looked up at the ceiling. "My god, what am I doing." He looked over at her. "I'm married to someone else and I just tried to get a woman whose also married to someone else pregnant with my child."

"Legally we may be married to other people." She told him as she climbed on top of him wanting to make love again. "But in our hearts and souls we're married to each other." She rubbed her pelvis against him to make him hard for her again. "And in your heart and soul you know you're not cursed. The only reason you haven't been able to have a child with another woman is because you know the only woman you're destined to have children with is me."

"I don't think when I'm around you." He declared as he tried to fight the way she was making him feel. "All I do is feel." Then he suddenly remember and looked over at the clock. "Oh, my god! I'm supposed to be at a meeting right now." He shoved her off of him and jumped out of the bed.

She followed right after him and yanked his pants from him as he tried to put them on. "You can't go, Sonny." She shrieked in fear. "If you do you'll be killed."

Then he knew the truth. "You did it to me again, didn't you." He spat. "You miserable bitch! All of this..." He motioned to the rumpled bedsheets and their clothing scattered all over the floor. "It was all just a scam to keep me away from that meeting." He added bitterly as he yanked his pants out of her hands and stepped into them. "You did it to me again."

"Sonny." She grabbed at him, trying to stop him from zipping up his pants. "I had no choice. Alcazar told me if I didn't keep you away from that meeting he'd kill you. That he has a trained marksmen just waiting to kill you if you show up."

"Just like he was going to kill us both when he came home, right." He snapped as he rammed his arms into his shirt and began to button his up. "You don't really expect me to believe the same lie twice, do you?"

"But it's true." She cried as he stormed out of the room. "If you go to that meeting, you're going to die."

~ ~ ~

"ALL RIGHT," Dembrowski from the New York territory asked impatiently. "Where is he? We've been waiting for almost an hour and he still hasn't shown. Where is he."

"I'm sure Sonny will be here at any minute." Jason assured him. "Sonny knows how important this meeting is. He wouldn't miss it for anything, unless something extremely important came up."

"He has people who can handle anything that comes up for him." Schnieder from the Chicago territory replied. "You for instance. There's no good reason for him not showing up. I think him not showing up is the height of disrespect to all of us." He added. "And I don't like it. I don't like it one bit."

"And I don't like your attitude." Jason spat back. "Sonny makes a lot of money for all of you. I think that entitles him the right to be late to one meeting."

"But how much longer does he intend to keep us here waiting for him." Kelsey from the Detroit territory wanted to know. "We're all busy men and we can't afford to sit around here all day just waiting for him to finally show up."

"I'm sure Sonny will be here at any moment." Jason assured them again. "He knows about this meeting and nothing could keep him away from it."

"Nothing but crawling in bed with my wife." Alcazar entered the room. "I'm sure he'll finally manage to show up when he can finally manage to crawl back out of my wife's bed."

"Who are you?" Jason spat. "You have no business being here. This is a private meeting."

"I'm Alcazar Santiago." Introduced himself to the room. "I'm sure you've all heard of me." He looked to Jason. "And I have every right to be here, since the reason Corinthos isn't here at the moment, is because he's screwing my wife as we speak."

"I don't believe it." Kelsey from Detroit spoke up in Sonny's defense. "I may be a little ticked off at Sonny for not being here, yet, but he doesn't screw other men's wives. It goes against his code." He added. "He also doesn't believe in cheating on his own wife. He would never dishonor his own marriage vows that way."

"Well." Alcazar retorted. "I guess in the case of my wife, he decided to throw his code away." He added. "Perhaps you know her. I understand she and Corinthos share quite a past together. Her name is Brenda Barrett."

"Brenda Barrett!" Schnieder from Chicago spat. "But the Barrett woman is dead."

"Reports of her death have been greatly exaggerated." Alcazar informed them. "She, in fact, is very much alive and married to me. Unfortunately the moment Corinthos learned she was alive, it wasn't long before he was crawling in bed with her." He added. "The week he disappeared from Port Charles he was with her."

"That's a lie." Jason spat. "The reason Sonny vanished was because you kidnapped him."

"Is that what he told you?" Santiago asked, then he chuckled. "The man is a very inventive liar. I could help tipping my hat to him over the lie he constructed that the week he was missing he'd been unconscious in the hospital from a concussion from a car accident." He added. "I wonder what lie he'll come up with to explain why he's so late for this meeting."

"You're the one behind that scam." Jason exploded. "You tried to convince Sonny he'd dreamed his own kidnapping, so we wouldn't send men after you and seek retaliation against you."

"I applaud your loyalty, Mr. Morgan." Alcazar smiled at him in a patronizing manner. "But you're being loyal to the wrong person." He turned to the men in the room. "You all are. And that's why I'm here. I'm here to offer you a deal. I want to merge my operation with yours. We can be the biggest and most powerful organization in the world. What do you say." He added. "And all you have to do is get rid of Corinthos and put me in charge."

"Don't you see what's going on here." Jason exploded. "He's done something to Sonny to make sure he didn't show up." He grabbed Alcazar by the throat and demanded answers. "You tell me what you did to Sonny, this time."

"All I did." He spat back. "Was wave my wife under his nose and he couldn't resist." He looked to the men in the room. "Is that really the kind of man you want to lead you. One who has so little control over his cock that he lets it lead him around by the nose and causes him to miss important meetings such as this."

"Sonny has been a brilliant leader." Kelsey of Detroit began. "He's made us a lot of money. But when he's anywhere near the Barrett woman he stops thinking with his head and starts thinking with his other head."

"He always lets her mess with his head." Schnieder of Chicago added. "And he starts making stupid mistakes that he wouldn't normally make." He motioned to the room around them. "Like this."

"If he's back with the Barrett woman." Dembrosky of New York declared. "Then we have to kick him to the curb before he can take us all down with him."

Suddenly there was the sound of gunshots from outside. They all rushed out of the building and stared in horror when they saw Sonny laying on the ground bleeding from a gun shot wound.