Chapter Eighteen: Backed into a Corner

Courtney looked at the woman suspiciously in front of her. Sizing her up, she was about five-seven give or take an inch with blonde-white hair, and rather thin. Squinting her eyes, she asked, "How do you know who I am?"

The older woman shrugged and walked closer to Courtney, "Sister to Sonny Corinthos, love Luke almost like he was a father, and Jason Morgan. oh Jason Morgan. you're in love with him. But poor little Elizabeth Webber is upset and so is your ex, AJ Quartermaine." The woman smirked making Courtney even more nervous.

"Have you been stalking me or something?" Courtney asked, looking around her for cameras.

The woman followed her eyes, "There's nothing in this room but you, me, and this light."

Courtney rolled her eyes and pushed her hair behind her ears. Standing up, she brushed herself off and asked, "You got a name, or are you going to stand around trying to scare me all day?"

The woman was taken back by the younger girl's obvious spunk. Quickly recovering, she said, "Well, you sure do have the mouth of the slut that married your brother, not to mention Luke's sense of humor. Well, Courtney, my name is Helena Cassidine. I'm one of the most powerful women in the world," walking really close to Courtney, she stopped inches away from her face and whispered threateningly, "and dangerous, very dangerous." Helena smirked.

Courtney squinted her eyes in anger, not phased by the words just spoken. Angrily, Courtney spit in Helena's face before backing away.

"BITCH!" Helena screamed, wiping the mucus off of her eye.

Courtney wiped her mouth and smiled, "That's what you get when you mess with Courtney Matthews, Helena. You want something with me, then tell me about it, and stop chewing my ear off with this bullshit, because frankly, I'm getting tired of your little mind games 'cause they aren't working. What the hell do you want with me?"

Helena was obviously taken aback by the fierceness and spunk of the younger blonde in front of her. Sonny Corinthos's sister wasn't as easy a target as she thought. Regaining her composure, she made sure that she was looking Courtney dead in the eye. Quietly, she stated, "You want to know what I want with you? I want to annihilate Luke and dismantle every part of the Spencer clan."

"Why me? I'm not a Spencer! Why would any of the Spencer's give a %@#& about me?" Courtney was lost in a state of confusion. If anything, they should go for Laura, Courtney thought, not saying it out loud for the sake of Luke's wife.

"See, that's where I come in," said a female's voice coming out from the shadows.

Courtney turned her head and sneered at the familiar blonde, "Faith Roscoe."

The blonde's eyes flashed and she smirked, "Hello Blondie."

Courtney gestured her head like she was going to take off at Faith and then laughed when Faith jumped back, "What's a matter Faith? All bark and no bite! I'm not afraid of you, or your psycho friend over here!" Truth be told, Courtney was terrified. She was backed into a corner. What was she going to do and how was she going to get out?

Faith laughed hollowly and suddenly took out a hand-held knife from her pocket. Surveying the blade, she looked up at Courtney menacingly, "Look here, Matthews, right now, you're the only link between the Corinthos- Spencer take down. Luke loves you like you were his daughter and Sonny and Jason love you more than anyone could have thought possible. So how to you exactly dismantle all great empires? That's right. work from the inside out, taking them piece by piece apart. breaking them until there's nothing left. What we do is kill you and then dump your body where everyone can see it. And the best part about it is that no one knows about this. So your lover boy Jason and your big brother, Sonny Corinthos, can't save you." Faith chuckled maliciously.

Courtney was silent. She was terrified for her life and her family's. What was she going to do? She watched as Faith and Helena exchanged glances and walked out of the room, bolting the door behind them. Courtney let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and sank to the floor. Oh God! What the hell was she going to do? No one knew that she was gone, and soon she'd end up in town dead. Letting her first tear seep out her, she brought her knees to her face and cried.

~*~

"Brenda?" Sonny barely breathed out. He couldn't believe it. Brenda Barrett was standing in front of him, alive and well, and certainly not dead.

Brenda smiled meekly with tears in her eyes. Nodding her head, she whispered, "Yeah, it's me."

Sonny felt his breath catch in his throat, "But. but I thought."

Brenda shook her head, "No. I came back to show everyone that I'm not. I'll explain everything later, because I really don't want to get into right now, and I think Jax has the right to know first."

Sonny nodded, regaining his composure, "Then what is it?"

Brenda looked at Jason, "Maybe we should talk about this inside."

Sonny nodded and all proceeded to go inside Jason's penthouse when Carly came out of PH 4.

"What the hell is going." Carly's voice trailed off as she saw Brenda standing in between Sonny and Jason. "What's she doing here? I thought she was dead."

Brenda rolled her eyes, "I guess you thought wrong, Carly."

Carly laughed sarcastically, "I guess I did. But what the hell are you doing here? With my husband about to go inside my best friend's penthouse?"

Brenda looked at Carly dumbfounded and turned back to Sonny, "You married her?"

Sonny nodded, "Yeah, and I love her with all my heart."

Carly smiled, "Yeah, and I'm pregnant."

Brenda pushed back her pride and forced a grin, "Congratulations."

Carly smiled smugly, "Yeah and keep your filthy body away from him, you got that?"

Brenda lunged at Carly, but Jason stopped her by grabbing her waist. "Carly! Brenda! We don't have time to do this!" Jason yelled, looking the two in the eye.

Brenda pulled herself away from Jason and straightened her clothes. Pushing her hair back, she pointed at Carly threateningly, "You better be glad someone was holding me back."

Carly laughed, "Like Jason said, we don't have time to do this right now." Looking at Jason, she asked, "What's up?"

Jason nodded, "I guess you gotta hear this too. C'mon, let's go into my penthouse," Jason waved everyone into PH 2 and slammed the door behind him. Rubbing his forehead, he leaned against his desk and said, "Brenda came to me with some interesting news just now."

"Besides the fact that she's alive?" Carly sneered under her breath.

Sonny looked at her and shook his head, mouthing, 'Carly, don't start.'

Carly shrugged and looked at Brenda, "What kind of information?"

Brenda turned her eyes away from Carly and said to Sonny, "To make a long story short, Elizabeth Webber, Helena Cassidine, and Faith Roscoe are ganging up to take you and Luke down through your little sister, Courtney Matthews."

Sonny's eyes darkened in anger. Rubbing his temple, he asked fiercely, "How do you know?"

Brenda shrugged, "I overheard them on the docks."

Sonny took a deep breath and rested his hands lazily on his hips, "What exactly did they say they were going to do to Courtney?"

Brenda shook her head and racked her brain to see if she could remember anything that they had said. Drawing a blank, she looked at Sonny, "I don't know. I don't remember them saying anything."

Sonny nodded, "Thanks." Turning to Jason, he asked, "Where's Courtney right now?"

Jason avoided Sonny's eyes and said, "Courtney went out for a walk two hours ago and hasn't shown up since."

Sonny's jaw dropped, "What? Jason, you're supposed to be protecting her. Did you send a guard with her?"

Jason shook his head and felt a headache coming on, "She wanted to be alone! She was acting weird and pulling away from me because we had run into Elizabeth earlier and I guess something hit a nerve. She wouldn't let me touch her and she needed to be alone, so she went for a walk. I didn't send anyone with her because I knew she would just get even more upset anyway."

Sonny shook his head in fury, "It was part of the plan. It was part of Elizabeth's plan to make her doubt you."

Brenda jumped in, "Actually, it wasn't. I saw Elizabeth go to Faith and ask her to be partners. Elizabeth joined the union right before I came to Jason."

Sonny closed his eyes. Something wasn't right, he could feel it. He looked over at Carly, who had suddenly become quiet. He was just about to ask her what was wrong when Marco bust through the door.

"Mr. Morgan, Mr. Corinthos, we tracked Miss Matthews. She went to Luke's and then left about an hour ago. The last she was seen was walking out of Luke's office. It's like she dropped off the charts," Marco told the two men in a rush.

Carly's hand hit the table and she steadied herself before saying: "I knew it! I had a bad feeling about this!"