Chapter Twenty-Four

SONNY WAITED AROUND in the lobby of the Port Charles Hotel until he saw Alcazar step off of the elevator and walk out of the hotel. Then he headed to the elevator and went up to Brenda's room. Sonny decided a sneak attack was best for what he had in mind, so instead of knocking at the door and waiting for Brenda to answer, he simply picked the locked. Because of his previous encounter with Brenda in her bedroom, he knew exactly where to head.

She was laying on her bed with her back to him when he entered. "Brenda." He called to her, wondering if she were asleep or awake.

"Go away, Sonny." Brenda replied in a mumbled tone. "I don't want to see you."

"Brenda." Sonny stayed right where he was. He had no intention of leaving until he finally knew the truth. "You're were right. Alcazar had someone waiting to kill me if I showed up at that meeting." He added. "If you hadn't warned me, he would have killed me."

"Sonny." She repeated a little bit louder this time. "Just go away. I don't want to see you."

He noticed her voice sounded strange. He walked over to the bed and sat down on it next to her. "Brenda, turn around and look at me." He got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, knowing what he would see when she turned to look at him. "I want to see your face."

She shook her head violently. "No." She refused. "I don't want to see you, Sonny. Just go away."

He forced her to turn to him so he could see her. She tried to hide her face beneath her hair, but he wouldn't let her. He gently slid her hair away from her face and closed his eyes in pain over what he saw. The whole side of her face was swollen up and her lip had been split open. "That bastard is going to pay for this." He declared violently. "He dies for this."

Brenda grabbed him by the shirt to prevent him from flying off the bed and hunting Alcazar down. "No, Sonny!" She shrieked. "That's what he wants. That's why he did this. He wants you to come after him so he can make it look like he killed you in self defense." She added. "And when you do, then he can take over your mob from you."

"I'm not going to let him get away with this." He motioned to her face. "I'm not going to let him get away with abusing you like this."

"It's my own fault." She sighed. "I made the mistake of telling him how you reacted when you saw the bruises he made on my arm. He thought doing this," she motioned to her face, "would be the perfect way to get to you. He said every day he's going to give me a new bruise until you can't take it anymore and come after him."

"Fine." He tried to control his temper. "If I go after him, I'm giving him what he wants. But you can't stay here. Get your things packed. You're coming away with me."

"Sonny, I can't." She explained. "He's having both of us watched. If I leave him and go anywhere with you, he'll kill us both."

"Brenda, I can't leave you here letting him abuse you like this." He exploded. "I'm not a child anymore. I will never just sit by when someone I love is being abused. I can't. I won't."

"Baby." She held Sonny's face in her hands. "You're so smart. I can handle whatever Alcazar dishes out until you can think of a way to free us both of him for good." She added. "The only thing I can't handle is him killing you."

"Brenda." He suddenly asked. "Why did you drug me when we were in Spain together?"

"To save you." She caressed his face. "One day simply wasn't enough to be with you after all the years we'd been kept apart. So I came up with this plan to con Alcazar into thinking I'd only slept with you for him. He saw through it the minute I told him it, but he decided to go along with it anyway. It was my idea to make you think everything that happened was a dream. Alcazar wanted to kill you because he was afraid your associates would seek retribution against him for kidnapping you. I told him if you only thought you'd dreamed you were kidnapped, then no one would come after him. And I told him I could be a useful tool in helping him take over your operation in a bloodless coup." She added. "Since then I've been his virtual prisoner. After he had you taken back to Port Charles, he locked me down in the dungeon. He only let me out when he decided it was time for us to come to Port Charles and enact his plan to take the mob away from you."

"So everything you've done since coming to Port Charles has been on his orders." Sonny replied.

"Not everything." Brenda answered. "Going to Carly and telling her about us was on Alcazar's orders and trying to keep you away from that meeting. He told me if I didn't you would die. But I really though I might be pregnant when I told you I thought I was and everything I said to you about wanting to have your baby growing inside me was true."

"Brenda." He sighed wearily as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Why are we going to do?"

She wrapped herself around him and snuggled close to him. "I don't know." She sighed in return. "But I know if anyone can find a way out of this mess for it so we can finally be together, it's you."