"Please, not again. Not Vanessa, too." He begged.

Slowly opening his eyes, Joe lifted his head and saw his car completely engulfed in flames, knowing Vanessa was trapped inside, because of him. He had ordered her to stay in the car no matter what and she had followed his instructions to the letter. And now she was dead because of it.

Joe dragged himself to his knees, unable to tear his eyes away from the burning hulk. Yellow-orange flames danced in front of him as thick black smoke billowed out over the trees.

"Why couldn’t you take me this time?!" Joe screamed into the brilliant blue sky. "WHY did you have to take her?! WHY?!"

"Why?" A voice taunted him. "Because dating you is like the kiss of death. Tell me, has any woman you loved ever lived through the experience?"

Very slowly, Joe got to his feet and turned to face his tormenter, his hands instinctively balling into fists.

"Nice to see you again, Joe." Nash smirked. "How’s your brother? And his fiancée?"

Joe stared at the man who had become his family’s worst nightmare, not saying a word.

"I’d ask how your pretty girlfriend is but…I don’t like to be cruel." Nash laughed evilly.

Joe took one step forward, then another.

"Ah, ah, ah." Nash waved the gun in his hand. "Stay right where you are."

Ignoring the warning, Joe took another step, his heart now cold as ice and shattered into a million pieces. Another step and Joe could feel all his emotions shutting down, one by one, until he felt nothing at all.

"I said stop." Nash ordered, leveling the gun on Joe.

Joe continued moving forward, as if in a trance. His eyes showed no fear, no anger, no grief and for the first time in his life Nash was afraid. The look on Joe’s face was that of a man who had lost everything. A man who had nothing left to lose and had only one thing to gain – revenge.

As Nash started to squeeze the trigger, something sailed through the air landing near his feet. Instinctively, he looked up assuming whatever it was had fallen from the tree branches above him. Joe needed no invitation to take advantage of Nash’s momentary distraction. With stunning swiftness, Joe threw himself at Nash. Caught off guard, the gun flew from Nash’s hand and he quickly went down.

Totally unprepared for Joe’s vicious assault, Nash found it was all he could do to try and defend himself from the blur of punches, knees and kicks Joe was throwing at him. Attempting to mount any kind of offense was out of the question.

Despite Nash’s upraised arms, several of Joe’s punches connected, leaving Nash dazed. As Joe’s relentless assault continued Nash’s arms fell, leaving his head and face unprotected and Joe took full advantage landing punch after punch. It was several minutes later when Joe finally stopped, leaving Nash bloody and bruised. His right eye was swollen shut with the left eye quickly following suit. Blood dripped steadily from a broken nose and his breathing was harsh and ragged, courtesy of several broken ribs. Now barely conscious, Nash felt Joe grab the front of his shirt, lifting his upper body off the ground. As he dangled from Joe’s grasp like a rag doll, Nash saw the knockout punch coming and was powerless to stop it. His now limp body fell to the ground.

Breathing heavily, Joe slowly got to his feet and stared at the man who had cost him everything. The silver metal of the gun Nash had dropped, which was now lying amidst the trampled grass and crushed leaves, caught Joe’s eye. Moving on autopilot, feeling nothing, Joe reached down and picked it up, staring at it as if mesmerized. Placing both hands over the barrel of the gun, Joe extended his arms forward. Holding the gun steady, Joe aimed it at Nash, sighting dead center on his forehead.

"You tried to kill me. You turned Frank against me. You tore Frank and Callie apart. You killed their baby. Frank could still die because of you. And Vanessa…" Joe choked on a sob as his vision blurred with tears. "Oh, God… Vanessa..."

Trying to still his badly shaking hands, Joe made the decision that would change his life forever.