When
Sonny agreed to marry Lily, he knew three things: That he still loved
Brenda, but didn't trust her; that he didn't love Lily, but she knew
how to live “the life”; and, that his alliance with Hernando
Rivera would make him more powerful than he ever thought he could be.
He also made sure that Lily knew he still had strong feelings for Brenda.
Lily knew, but figured she could make Sonny fall in love with her eventually.
Brenda was devastated when Sonny told her they could never be together
again...but she didn't exactly take “no” for an answer. She
kept chasing after Sonny, knowing that he still loved her and hoping
he'd change his mind. When Sonny took Lily on a ski trip, Brenda arranged
to go to the same resort with her new friend Jasper Jax. Jax had come
to town to help Lois get L&B Records back. When Sonny got wind that
he was going to be arrested, he sold his shares in L&B to Edward
Quartermaine, and his portion of Luke's club to Lucy Coe, to avoid taking
Lois, Brenda & Luke down with him. Edward then got control of Brenda's
L&B stock by taking advantage of her lack of business experience.
Jax bested Edward, and Lois & Brenda got their company back. But
Jax had already begun to fall for Brenda (after initially wanting Lois),
even though he knew her heart still belonged to Sonny. Brenda arranged
to get herself lost in an avalanche just so Sonny would come and rescue
her. He did, and they held each other and kissed in an abandoned cabin.
Upon
returning to Port Charles, Sonny found it harder and harder to stay
away from Brenda, and Lily knew it. Lily's father also knew, and he
sent Brenda a warning in the form of a hit and run accident. But it
was all to no avail...Sonny and Brenda couldn't deny their feelings.
Brenda even offered to be Sonny's mistress, but he refused to let her
humiliate herself for him. Finally, Sonny decided he had to leave Lily,
and that he and Brenda would run off together to stay alive. He shared
his decision with Brenda, who was overjoyed. But when he went to tell
Lily, she surprised him with the news that she was pregnant. Being abandoned
as a child by Mike was the most defining event in Sonny's life. And
he had promised himself that he would never do that to his own child.
So he told Brenda that he was going to stay married to Lily, and Brenda's
heart was crushed once again. Lily had already figured out that Sonny
went to Brenda, and assumed he was going to leave her. She boarded a
plane for Puerto Rico. In the meantime, Sonny's employee Harry Silver
had phoned Lily's father and informed him that Sonny was planning to
take off with Brenda. Sonny tracked Lily down, and pleaded with her
to come home with him and be a family. She tearfully agreed. But the
next night, when the happy couple went to Luke's to celebrate and announce
that they were expecting a child, Rivera's hit man made his move. When
they left Luke's, Lily went to get the car, (since Sonny had celebrated
a bit too much). And when she turned the key...Sonny's whole world exploded.
Lily
and his child were dead, and Sonny was beside himself with grief. At
the same time, Brenda had run off with Jax and married him. Robin was
afraid Sonny would do himself in, and asked her new boyfriend, Jason
Morgan, to look after him. Jason had recently started working for Sonny
as a courier. Formerly Jason Quartermaine, a car accident and brain
injury left him a new person. He didn't fit into his old life, but he
fit right into Sonny's world. He took care of Sonny for months after
Lily's death, even accompanying him to Puerto Rico where Sonny went
to get his revenge. Sonny found Lily's father in bed...he'd had a stroke
when he heard the news that it was his own daughter who was killed.
Sonny handed Rivera a gun, and told him to finish himself off. When
Sonny left the room, a gun shot was heard, and one of Rivera's men rushed
in to see what had happened. When he emerged, he kissed Sonny's ring...Sonny
was now the big boss.