Chapter Three

BRENDA WAITED UNTIL she was sure Alcazar was fast asleep before slipping out of bed. She opened the French doors and walked out on the terrace. She couldn't believe it. She and Sonny were finally under the same roof again after all these years.

When she had awoken in the hospital after the accident, his face had been the first thing she remembered. Then as her memory began to return, she had taken a good look at everything she had done since Sonny had left her standing at the altar. She had convinced herself she no longer loved Sonny and was in love with Jax. The night of the fire she had purposely ran to Jax and acted like Sonny didn't even exist to hurt him the way he had hurt her. But when all was said and done she still loved him, only she had no clue where he was. So that left her with one alternative. To find him.

From her years with Sonny, she knew the places the mob hung out in. That was how she began her search. She began to hang out in places she knew would be a mob hang-out. That was where she met Alcazar. He had all the right connections. If she hung around him long enough, she was sure she'd be able to find out where Sonny was. It wasn't long before they became lovers. Then Jax showed up and threw a spanner in the works.

She had foolishly told Jax what she was doing with Alcazar so he wouldn't ruin everything for her and just go away, and he had turned around and told Alcazar everything. Brenda had no choice but to declare Jax was lying because he was obsessed with her and that she had had to let him think she was dead to get free of him. Still, Alcazar was suspicioius of her and her subtle inquiries about Sonny to him and his associates. She had no choice but to admit that she was looking for Sonny, but not because she loved him. It was because she hated him. Then she told him how Sonny had left her standing at the altar and everything that had happened to her because of that. It was at that point Alcazar offered to find Sonny for her and help her get revenge on him, but he demanded a price in return. She had to marry him.

Alcazar was not a man who took kindly to being used, so she feared what he might do to her if he found out the truth. So she had married him. Not long after that he'd tracked down Sonny. When Alcazar told her about Sonny being married to Carly Roberts, not to mention that he was living back in Port Charles, something snapped inside of Brenda and suddenly the lie she told became the truth. She wanted revenge on Sonny for marrying Carly Roberts, but cutting and running when it came to marrying her. Now, she wasn't sure what she wanted.

The moment she saw him she'd wanted to run into his arms and kiss him silly, but at the same moment she wanted to rake her nails down that beautiful face of his and rip it to shreds so no woman could ever gaze upon it again. It just wasn't fair. While he had no problem getting on with his life and forgetting she ever existed, there hadn't been a moment in her life since she'd first met him that he hadn't been haunted by the memory of him.

She felt her rage and anger intensifying towards him, while she continued to long for the feel of his arms around her and to be held in his arms once more. To feel their bodies fit together like they were made for each other. To feel their hearts beating in unison. To feel his mouth devouring hers and to feel his body inside of hers.

She wondered how he was handling being locked up. Were his fingers bloody from trying to claw his way out of there? Was his voice raw from screaming to be let out? The thought of him suffering didn't bring her pleasure, it only brought her pain. His pain was her pain. She glanced at a blanket sitting at the bottom of her bed. It was awfully cold and damp down there and Sonny didn't have anything to cover up with to keep him warm. If he had no way to keep himself warm he could get sick and die.

Oh, great, she scorned herself, you've locked a man who is claustrophobic up and you're worried if he's going to get pneumonia from the cold and damp? I doubt Sonny is even thinking about keeping warm. All he wants right now is to be let out of there. You are so transparent. You want to use that as an excuse to go down and see him. Lie to your husband, but please don't lie to yourself. You're not worried if he's cold or not. You want to go down there because you want him, and you're just using that as an excuse. If you want to go down there, just go and get it over with. You know you're not going to be able to fall asleep until you go down there and assure yourself he's really here.

Making up her mind, she grabbed up the blanket and headed down to the dungeon. When Alcazar was preparing to bring Sonny here, he told her the place had been used for centuries by his family for just such a purpose. The castle they were in was located in the countryside not far from Madrid, Spain. It had been in his family for centuries. At one time in Spain, the Santiagos had been the richest family around, but over the years they had fallen on hard times. To refill the family's empty coffers the Santiagos turned to crime and over the years they had become one of the most powerful mob families in Spain.

There was a guard standing duty at the door when Brenda arrived outside of the cell Sonny was being kept in. "Mr. Santiago sent me down." She lied. "He says he doesn't want our prisoner getting sick and dying on us, so he sent me down to bring him a blanket to keep himself warm." She added coldly. "We wouldn't want him to die on us before we can kill him, would we?"

"No, Mrs. Santiago." He opened the door for her. "Would you like me to go in with you."
"No," Brenda assured him. "I'm fully capable of handling Mr. Corinthos all on my own."

Down in the pit, Sonny heard the door to his cell being opened and he quickly laid down on the cot and feigned sleep. Sonny had no idea what they had planned for him next, but he thought it better if they thought he was passive and weak, instead of looking for a way to escape.

Brenda didn't know what she'd find when she entered his cell, but Sonny sleeping peacefully on the cot wasn't it. She was slightly disappointed. She looked down at his hands. No bloody fingers. He probably hadn't been screaming to be let out, either. That thought vexed her. She wanted him to suffer the way she had, not be sleeping peacefully in captivity. She glared hatefully at the gold wedding band gleaming on Sonny's finger declaring him the property of another woman. Why couldn't have Alcazar removed it from his finger and thrown it in the garbage where it belonged.

Shaking off her turbulent thoughts, she draped the blanket over Sonny carefully so as not to wake him up. Then unable to stop herself, she sat down on the floor by his cot and just stared at him. She still couldn't believe he was really here. That they were finally together again after all this time. She needed to touch him to make sure he was really real. She ran her fingers through his black-as-night hair. Then she ran her index finger lightly over his face. Over his eyebrows, down the bridge of his nose and around the contour of his lips.

She wanted so badly for him to open his eyes and kiss her the way he used to do. To feel his tongue in her mouth as he devoured her whole. She ached to be possessed by him, to feel his skin against her own and for their bodies to be entwined together as one with nothing to ever separate them again. Would they ever have that again or would this be all they ever had.

She sighed sadly and got to her feet. It was time she returned to her husband before he woke-up and found her gone. Sonny opened his eyes and watched her leave, feeling as confused and conflicted as she did. Wanting what he knew he had no right to want.