When Brenda came off the elevator, Sonny Corinthos was walking out of Jason's penthouse. She wasn't sure if he'd actually gotten her message, or if it were just perfect timing. Either way, she could get this taken care of. The fact that he'd come out of the penthouse told her that, at the very least, Jason was at home. Possibly Sam, as well. Her safeguard was around, as well as her eyewitnesses.

Brenda figured she had about an hour to get this done. Anything more than that, and she ran the risk of Luis coming back home. Honestly, though, she wasn't even sure she had that long. Without a doubt, there wouldn't actually be a shareholders meeting at the Quartermaine mansion. Luis would only sit and listen to their screaming and browbeating for so long before he gave up and went home. She just hoped that he didn't come home until it was too late.

"So, you moved Alcazar into my home." Sonny wasted no time getting to the point and Brenda groaned. "Into my home!"

Brenda shook her head and turned away from him. She felt him coming closer behind her. She opened the door and walked into the penthouse. "I'm not doing this out in the hallway," she said as she moved inside. "I don't really feel like arguing with you, at all."

"Then why'd you leave me a message to meet you here?" He stormed in behind her, slamming the door once he was inside. Brenda jumped at the sound and whirled around. Sonny stared at her, glaring, his hands on his hips pushing his black jacket back. "I get here, and… You've got Jason keeping secrets from me! Jesus, Brenda!"

"Oh, don't give me that." She dropped her purse and keys to the table, then walked towards the fireplace. "All I did was ask Jason not to say anything, to let me tell you." She turned around and started to remove her suit jacket. "Besides, this isn't your home, anymore, Sonny. It hasn't been your home in months."

"This was Stone's home! This is where I…"

"Where you raised your family, right? Where you married different woman, and where you brought your flings? Yeah, Sonny, I know all of that, already. I don't need you to remind me…"

"Shut up!" He screamed and she jumped again. Her Armani jacket fell from her hands to crumple on the floor. Sonny stalked towards her, radiating fury. "What is this, huh? You never got to live here, so you're going to do it now, with my enemy? You sleep in my bed…"

"I sleep in Stone's room," she said, her voice wavering.

Sonny stopped moving and Brenda waited, holding her breath. In theory, this was a wonderful idea, the perfect plan to screw Sonny over and have him put away. Or, at the very least, lose his children. With him raging on her, though, she was starting to think that maybe Luis had been right. Maybe she should have just let him see how far up the federal line he could go. Maybe she should have just taunted Sonny in daylight, with Luis at her side, and avoided being alone with him.

He turned quickly and kicked over the table. Brenda yelped and jumped. The table crashed to the floor, all of the glass on it breaking and shattering. She wanted to be sarcastic and tell him that she hoped he broke his foot, but she couldn't say a word. She could only think that they were very close to one another, the door was closed, and they were alone in the penthouse.

Alone…

There was a time, not too long ago, when she thought that her only trouble being alone with Sonny would be her libido. Up until the moment he kicked over the table, her biggest fear had been that he would touch her, hold her, kiss her… That he would work his magic on her and convince her to change her mind. Or worse… convince her to turn her back on Luis again. Now, she just feared the moment that she knew was coming… because she had planned it.

"Sonny…" Brenda shook herself loose and walked around. She took the long way to the door, opting to move around the back of the sofa. Her feet moved quickly. "You gave this place to Robin, and she gave it to us. Don't believe me? Call her and ask her. And you can do that on the other side of this door."

Brenda jerked the door open and instantly felt better. Her moment of paranoia and claustrophobia were gone with the conditioned air that came bursting in from the hallway. She knew Sonny wouldn't leave, anyway, and she was better equipped to handle that with the door open. She was stronger and more confident knowing that the noise would reach into the hallway.

Sonny spun and stalked towards her. He grabbed her arm, but she held tight enough to the door to stop him from closing it. He squeezed and she winced. "Let me go," she said through clenched teeth. She jerked away, and he held on. "Let me go!"

He jerked her further inside, practically dragging her to the center of the room. Brenda twisted and turned until she could pull her arm free. She looked down at her wrist and the skin was red, but not bruised. She rubbed her aching wrist and glared at Sonny. "You like to think you can run everybody's lives, but you can't do it, Sonny. You don't have a right to run anybody's life, anymore!"

"Alcazar!" He shook his head. "Of all the people in the world…" Sonny put one hand back on his hip. The other ran over his head, then back down his face. "With everything that he's done, you come back here with Alcazar and live in my home… My… Home!"

"It's not your home, and I'd rather be with Luis than you, anyday!" She took a step back, careful not to trip over the raised legs of the coffee table. "He knows how to love, not just how to own, and that's all you know how to do. But, you should be used to it, Sonny. Losing your woman to Alcazars. It's amazing that you haven't learned yet that their just better men than you could ever be."

"Don't, Brenda."

"Don't what?" She took another step back, then paused. She watched his shoulders rise and fall with each laborous breath. She took another three steps back. "Don't remind you of everything you've lost? Or everything that you've screwed up? I can keep going all day, and ya know what? It's MY house, now, and I can say whatever the hell I want to in my home."

"Brenda…"

"You're a horrible human being, Sonny. You pull the Deke card and you pull the Lily card, and when those don't get you what you want, you use your children. Luis may have done some horrible things, but he never used Sage the way you use your kids. You steal your children from their mother."

"Shut up, Brenda."

"You talk about how Deke did this to you and you'll never hurt your kids like that. You'll never hurt the woman you love like that. So, do you not love anyone, Sonny? What do you think it does to a woman when you take her kids, Sonny?"

"Stop, before you go too far."

"Stop what? Telling the truth? It's about damned time somebody told you the truth." She backed up two more steps, but didn't stop talking. "You don't love children, Sonny, you use them. Alexis tried to protect her daughter from you, the same daughter that you got kidnapped, and what did you do? You took her away from her."

"I'm warning you, Brenda."

"Carly realized that Lorenzo is a better man than you'll ever be, so what did you do? You took her sons. Hell, Sonny, Michael isn't even your son! You stole him from Jason, then you stole him from AJ, and now, you're stealing him from his mother! You're not better than Deke."

"Brenda…"

"You may not have beaten the shit out of Carly or Alexis, but you abused them all the same. You abused all of us, and it's only a matter of time before you do it to your kids. You ARE Deke, Sonny! I don't care how many times you remember that you had him rubbed out. I don't care how many times you swear that you're oh so damned sensitive because of what Deke did to you. YOU … ARE … DEKE!"

"Shut up!" Before the last word was cut off, he was on her, his hands around her neck. He pushed her backwards and her head hit the fireplace mantle. He was screaming at her, something that she couldn't decipher. The world was tinged with fuzziness and the center was a fading light.

Brenda reached up and tried weakly to pry his fingers from around her neck. She felt herself falling to the floor, and wished that she could hold herself up. Her back hit the floor, and he was still holding on, still squeezing. Even as she started to lose consciousness, she thought about the bruises that would be on her neck. There was no way he would get away with this one. She had the marks to prove exactly what he'd done. Though… witnesses…

And suddenly, she was coughing. Her throat was sore and each cough burned. Brenda rolled onto her hands and knees, forcing breaths in and out, trying to bring reality back around. There was screaming around her and she could recognize Jason's voice, screaming at Sonny, demanding to know what the hell he was doing. Feminine hands touched her arms and she looked up to see Sam, only to watch her being jerked away.

There was Luis, holding her with one arm, the other raised and pointing a gun. He screamed, but she couldn't really hear him. All she could hear was the blood rushing in her own head. She couldn't talk to tell him to stop, she couldn't beg him not to do this. She had him dead to rights, as long as he didn't do anything to him.

Brenda dragged her hands along his arms, his chest. "Luis…" She finally managed to croak out his name. "Don't…" He looked down at her, but kept the gun up. Brenda looked across the room and saw Jason, his own gun out and pointing at Luis. "Don't," she said again, shaking her head. Brenda reached inside Luis's jacket and weakly pulled out his cellphone. She pushed the phone up to him and said, "Call…"

Luis looked at her for a minute, and his eyes were filled with anger, rage, and pain. Brenda didn't know why he had come back so early, or even if she cared. She was just glad that he had come back early enough to make the call and late enough for a call to actually be necessary.

With a sigh, Luis put down his gun and took the phone from her. He dialed, waited, then said with a smug smirk. "I would like to report an assault."