*Letting Go* Chapter 22

by Shani

Jax went through the contract Justus had faxed him last night. He was determined to get back to as normal a life as possible. He had Brenda, he was thisclose to closing the deal with Latimer Enterprises; life was a lot better than it could be. Everything else he was just going to let go. It wasn't important.
There was a knock on the door. Jax finished his coffee and went to the door. He opened it and sighed. "What are you doing here?"
"You knew I'd get out sooner or later."
"Get out or I'll have you arrested for tresspassing." Jax said calmly and started to close the door.
Sonny pushed it back open. "I don't know what you and Brenda tried to pull yesterday, pretending you didn't know I was with Katherine."
Jax pushed Sonny into the hallway and followed, closing the door behind him.
"What do you want? Make it quick."
"Retribution."
Jax had to laugh. "*YOU* want retribution? That's pretty good." he said with a smile. "Anything else?"
"So, did you off Miranda?"
Jax's smile faded.
"Oooh. Touchy subject. I told Brenda you were never really over her."
"Leave Brenda out of this."
"I have to hand it to you, I didn't think you had the guts to do it. Was it as bloddy as I heard. She must have really suffered."
"How's Jason?"
"What?"
"Jason. He has a trial coming up, I heard. I guess that leaves you in the running to regain control of your mob."
"Regain?" Sonny said softly.
"You didn't think *you* ran it, did you? Jason wasn't going to stay your mouthpiece forever. In fact," Jax looked up at the ceiling as if he just had a revelation, "I bet that *he* knows what happened to Miranda. But I would never have guessed that he would let you take the fall for it. I mean, I know Jason hates me and he hates Brenda and he had no connections to Miranda whatsoever. Wow. What a perfect crime. I mean, he won't get arrested because he's already in jail. Of course we both know that you can control the mob from virtually anywhere. So Jason kills Miranda, probably as a warning to me, to let me know what he's capable of. And then he lets *you* take the fall for it. Pretty smart." Jax laughed. "I have to hand it to him."
"I'm getting sick of you!"
"Then why don't you leave. I live here."
"I suggest you watch your back" Sonny said as he headed towards the elevator.
"And I suggest you make sure you actually kill me when you try. Because you'll only get one chance. Unless, of course, something happens to you. " Jax stated simply and went back into the penthouse.
"Where were you?" Brenda asked as Jax walked in.
"Talking to Sonny."
"Sonny? What did he want?"
"To bother and threaten me. You know, the usual."
"Jax, that's not funny." Brenda said with a worried look.
Jax came over and kissed Brenda on her cheek. "Sonny's not going to do anything to me. He has Jason to deal with."

Jax looked over at his clock. Midnight. And Brenda still wasn't home from her dinner with Ned. Jax got out of bed and went to Brenda's room, just in case she was in there. But she wasn't so he headed downstairs and looked out the window, waiting for her to come home. It wasn't unusual for Brenda to stay out really late with Ned. But still, he'd feel better when she was home. Besides, he slept better when she was wrapped in his arms. There was a knock on his door. He walked over and opened it.
"Jax."
"What?"
"Can I come in?"
"No."
"It's about Miranda."
"Don't you mean Mishka? I don't want to know."
"We didn't kill her."
"Yes, you did. Basically we all did." Jax stated, that guilty feeling hitting him hard in his stomach.
"Alexis..." Alexis turned around at the sound of her name as Ned and Brenda walked down the hall. "What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Jax's ex-wife left this." She turned back around and handed Jax a medallion. "We thought it was the one we were looking for but we were wrong. I wanted to give it to him."
"After midnight?"
Alexis looked back at Ned and then over to Jax. "Take it."
Jax slowly took the medallion from her hands. Brenda walked over and stood next to Jax.
"Come on. I'll drive you home." Ned said to Alexis.
"We're very sorry that all of this happened." Alexis stated to Jax. "Hopefully there is no ill-will between us."
"No." he said softly as he played with the chain of the medallion. Brenda watched Jax as he walked over to the couch and then she looked over at Alexis.
She didn't trust her. And Alexis knew it.
Brenda closed the door and sat down next to Jax. "What was that about?"
"I don't know. And I'm not going to find out." he tossed the medallion on the table in front of him. "So how was dinner."
"Jax." Brenda knew she'd regret it, but "Maybe you need to find out."

Shani