Suits & Aces (#3)

100 // Burying Secrets

She barely made it out the front door when a loud scream pierced through the night like a wounded beast on a full moon, pained, angry, and desperate.

Her feet were like jelly as she leaned on the door, gathering her breath as her chest rose up and down laggardly.

She stood up straight and exhaled, switching on her phone before striding to her car, where two of Logan's guards were standing.

"Will you be able to drive home by yourself, Miss?" One of them asked.

MJ gave him a small smile. "I'll manage, thank you," she said, accepting her car keys from the second guard.

"Drive safely, Miss," He said with a slight bow before they both walked away.

MJ got into the car and released a deep breath, leaning back in her seat. Her phone vibrated on her lap, but she ignored it.

She could not believe she confessed all that to him without falling apart, especially when that was the first time she ever shared her experience out loud with another person in years, not even her therapist.

She was relieved and apprehensive at once, relieved that she had finally told Logan the truth, and apprehensive that he might not look at her the same way. What if to him, all he would ever see from now was the woman who was raped by her own father when she was still young?

She had to carry that burden for nearly fourteen years, she had to live with the scars of being called a liar when she cried out for help, she had to bear that not only had Victor Billings failed to be a father to her, but he had also chosen to steal her dignity from her.

She hated him, and for the longest time before today, he made her loathe being alive. He scarred her with fear, fear to be seeing, the fear to be loved, the fear of being touched, the fear of men. He ruined her in so many ways.

If it had not been for him, she would never have run away from home, she would have followed her passion for dance and music, she would have been married with kids. If it was not for him, she would never have ended up in the streets of London, pregnant and alone. If it was not for him, her baby would have lived.

Had she never thought of moving on from Logan and gotten involved with someone else before? No, every time a man glanced her way, she remembered the unsettling stare her father used to give her whenever he stopped by from his months-long business trips. It made her stomach churn, it made her feel worthless.

Her father robbed her of her happily-ever-after. The incident at the yacht still haunted her, she came face to face with her demons when she realised that she was scared of being intimate with a man, the moment she realised where things were going between herself and Logan, images of the night she was assaulted came flooding back and it was as if she was back in that house again, on the cold floor and... for a moment she thought he was there, but then it was just Logan, and coming to that realisation only made matters worse. She was repulsed by the idea of sleeping with Logan because she feared that he could smell him on her just like she did whenever those memories came knocking. She was scared he would see that she was damaged goods.

The worst betrayal for her was Jorge not believing her and turning his back on her, the brother who swore to protect her with his life, turned against her and he was acting as if nothing happened. She harboured so much anger towards him, and there was no telling if that was something she was ever willing to forgive him or forget his betrayal.

MJ was all alone in this world, she already lost her brother, if Logan also rejected her, she would be shattered.

Her hands shook as she tried to insert the key into the ignition, the keys falling out of her hands, and she fumbled for them, a waterfall of tears cascading from her eyes as she leaned her head on the steering wheel, her shoulders trembling from the action. The more she cried, the harder it became to stop, it felt like she inhaling thrice the usual amount of air to breathe with each passing second.

It felt like hours had passed before she began to calm down, her river of tears had run dry and she was exhausted, and now hiccups had set in as she started to dose off. However, she was startled by a knock on her window, and she lifted her head and caught Mrs Dos Santos through the tiny space the hair covering her face allowed her to see.

MJ wiped her tears off with her palms and bent down to pick up her keys, and then she started the car and rolled down the window. She did not even want to know how she looked right now.

"The guards informed me that you were still here," Antonina said, "Here." She handed MJ bottled water and a handkerchief.

MJ cleared her throat, refusing to meet the old lady's eyes. "Thank you," she said in a quiet voice and blew her nose, and then gulped down the water as if trying to fill up her tears.

She was not surprised that Logan did not come out, she was curious to know how he was doing, but she did not have the strength to ask.

"You don't need to worry about him, I gave him some sleeping pills, so he is out like a baby right now." MJ truly wished she had someone to comfort her like that, she wished she had a mother figure in her life, but that was the one thing she lacked and longed for the most. "Are you okay?" She nodded even though she knew she was not. "Is there someone I can call to come and get you?"

MJ almost laughed at that question, who exactly was she going to call? She gave Antonina a bleak smile and shook her head. "I'll be fine, Mrs Dos Santos. I should get going before it gets dark.”
“Don’t you want to stay for a while? I could ask one of the guards to drive you home later.”
She could tell that Antonina Dos Santos was asking her out of pity, MJ had no doubt that the woman had heard her conversation with Logan earlier and she was not ready to repeat that talk or have a follow-up session, she just wanted to put everything behind her before the waterworks broke loose again.
“I appreciate your concern, I really do. But I really want to be alone right now.”
Antonina nodded. “I understand. Drive safely then.”
“Thank you. Please take good care of him.” MJ started the car and drove off, stopping at a petrol station on the way to fill up and check the tyres.
Her phone vibrated and she waited until she was done with everything, and then parked on the side to check it. She had even forgotten she owned a phone.
There were messages and missed calls from different numbers, the most recent one was from Cameron and he was telling her that they had landed safely in Australia.
There were also a bunch of messages from Kyle and Shannon, as well as Nox.
As if on cue, she sent another text, followed by many more.
‘Are you okay?’
‘Do you want me to take action against them?’
‘ARGHHH! I can’t believe my sister did this, I knew she was a bitch, but I didn’t think she would go this far.’
MJ quickly sat up straight. What was Nox talking about? And why was everyone texting her?
She opened a voicemail from Kyle and she nearly peed on herself upon listening. ‘MJ, I’ve been trying to reach you all day, where are you? Have you seen today’s paper?’
They are probably covering more on the Jackson and the mayor issue. MJ thought.
‘... there’s a four-page article covering Jorge’s shooting and his affair with Caroline Becker, and their sex tape has been leaked.’
NO.
MJ felt the blood drain from her face as she played the next voicemail.
‘Miss Billings, Detective Zoe Botha here. I’m sorry to inform you, but Mr Jackson Stanley has passed away. He was murdered in his holding cell this afternoon.’
There was a second voicemail from Kyle, and MJ already knew it could not be good. ‘There’s something else you need to know. Jorge has gone missing from the hospital. We suspect that he might have been kidnapped…’ She did not hear the rest of the message, the phone slipped out of her hand and fell on her lap.

"This can't be happening right now," she chanted, reaching for her phone again. She fumbled on the keyboard, until she dialled Kyle's number, but it sent her straight to voicemail.

Where was she supposed to start looking? She could not even call Logan for help because he was fast asleep, and she doubted he would help her even if he was fully awake after everything she just told him, he probably wanted to rip Jorge into pieces.

Her phone rang, and her heart skipped in trepidation, thinking it was Kyle calling back, but it was an unknown number, and that did not make her feel any less anxious. Unknown numbers usually meant bad news.

She accepted the call and lifted the phone to her ear without saying a word.

It was silent for a minute as if the caller was baiting her, and just when she was thinking of hanging up, his voice filled up the speakers, chilling her to the bones.

"I take it you have heard the news by now, Miss Billings. Not so nice being on the other side of the gun now, is it?" Javier Mendoza taunted.

She had completely forgotten about him. "Javier."

She could hear him sucking in a deep breath. "Have I ever told you that I like it when you call my name, Miss Billings?"

"What do you want?"

There was no doubt that he was the one behind Jorge’s disappearance.

"I'm here to fulfill my end of the deal. Meet us at the address I just sent to you." Just as he said that, her phone beeped, signalling a new message. "Come alone. No tricks. I swear, if you try anything, I will become your worst nightmare, and that's a promise."

Before MJ could say anything, the line died. She did not waste time getting out of there. She used the GPS to find the place, and she was spooked when she found herself pulling up outside Sonya’s apartment building.

A messaged clocked on her phone, and it was from the same unknown number.

'Rooftop.' It read.

She opened the glove compartment and took out her gun, double-checking if it was loaded before shoving it into her purse. A huge disadvantage of wearing a dress was that there was nowhere to keep a gun.

The building was spooky as ever, especially with everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. It was so lifeless, the tenants had probably feared for their lives and moved out.

MJ passed Sonya’s apartment, but did not dare to look enter, she went straight to the rooftop where only a dim light on the wall provided lighting, but it was enough for her to make out the two siblings standing at the far end.

"What is she doing here?" Samantha snarled, turning to Danielle Mendoza in question.

"I should be asking you that, Samantha." MJ called, keeping her distance from them while clutching the gun in her bag. "Where's my brother?" The question was directed at Danielle.

It was safe to say that this was not the same Danielle MJ saw at the party in Ireland or before that, she looked more confident and free, like she was exactly where she belonged.

"They will be here in a second," she said, nodding into the dark and starry night.

The steel door behind MJ rattled, and MJ twisted her neck in time to see someone wheeling out a vacant wheelchair.

"What's going on here?" Samantha voiced out before MJ could, but the guy did not answer.

It felt like that moment where one received a call to come and identify a body of a deceased relative.

A few minutes later, sound of a chopper filled the night, and they all stepped towards the entrance to give the helicopter space to land, and MJ hugged herself as a gust of cold wind hit her body.

The air felt thick as they all waited with baited breaths, to see who was on the helicopter. And judging by the tension that followed, it was nothing either of them expected, the only person that came out was a woman who looked ready to kill, the chopper was empty.

Danielle was the first to step forward. "Foxxie, where's Javier?" She asked.

The woman grimaced. "The boss said he had something to take care of."

"And Naira? What about the dude?" The guy asked.

"Well... Naira went with him, and the hostage is with them."

What? Why did he bring her out here then? MJ wondered.

"Mrs Mendoza, we have orders to get you and your sister out of here."

Eyes moved between Danielle and Samantha, and in a split second, the latter snapped while Danielle stared in horror as Samantha pointed a gun at her, prompting the others to take out their guns and point them at Samantha, while MJ took out hers secretly, just in case.

"Sam, what are you doing?" Danielle shrieked, raising her hands up.

"I knew your sister act was too good to be true. You had your husband kidnap my Jorge, so that you could bring me here and take me home against my will!"

"Sam, that's not true! We are just trying to protect you!"

"Protect me from what?" MJ clutched her gun tightly as silence sliced through the night, the wheels were turning in Samantha's face, and as soon as they snapped into place, her hand swiftly turned to MJ. "You. You did this, didn't you?"

MJ snarled, feeling her heart soak with bitterness. She hated the fact that Samantha felt entitled to ruining people's lives, she knew her resort was selfish, but someone had to stop Samantha from killing again and revealing secrets she should not.

"What did you expect me to do? You left me with no choice, ever since you got here, you have been on a killing spree, killing innocent people and turning lives upside down. And now you want to get your claws into my brother."

"Innocent lives?" Samantha snorted. "There are no casualties in war, Miss Billings," she spat. "You should know that by now. I won't let you or anyone take Jorge away from me, he is mine."

"Sam, forget about these people. Let's just go home, mom and dad are waiting for you. Just... forget about him, please."

"NO!" Samantha was waving the gun dangerously. "I'm not going anywhere without Jorge, and you, my dear sister, are going to take me to him."

"Samantha, if you keep waving your gun like that, you will end up doing something you might regret." MJ said, diverting the attention from Danielle; she knew that if something happened to Danielle Mendoza, Javier Mendoza would not stop coming after her.

"The only thing I will regret is not killing you, bitch!"

The next few seconds happened too quickly for MJ to grasp, one moment MJ saw her life flash in Samantha's eyes as she pulled the trigger, multiple gunshots went off, and there was screaming and crying, but MJ never felt the impact.

She slowly pried her eyes open to find herself still in one piece and she could not understand why as she felt her body for any injuries, but there was nothing. She finally looked up and her eyes fell on Samantha's lifeless body on the ground, where Danielle was crying while covered in her sister's blood.

"Police, drop your weapons!" Someone shouted.

"Mrs Mendoza, we need to go!" The woman who arrived on the helicopter pried Danielle away from Samantha and dragged her to the chopper.

"Sam, no!" Danielle wailed as the chopper took off with the two strangers.

MJ was frozen on the spot and caught a figure walking into the open, and it was none other than Zoe Botha.

She walked over to Samantha's body and stared down at her. "How's that for doing my job, Miss Billings?" Zoe asked, not taking her eyes off the corpse. "You should probably get your brother out of here."

MJ finally snapped back to life, and for a second she thought she was hearing things. "My... brother?" She breathed.

Zoe looked up, putting her gun away. "Yes, isn't that fancy car parked out front yours? If I were you, I'd keep a good eye on him, Eric Becker may be dead, but you shouldn't relax too quickly—"

MJ did not wait to hear the rest, she picked up her pistol and bag on the floor and dashed back into the building, feeling like the stairwell was not coming to an end as she hurried downstairs and out of the building.

She let out a huge rush of air as she spotted her brother breathing softly in the passenger seat, with his head laid against the window.

She thought Javier had turned the tables on her for what she did to his ex wife, but he was only using Jorge to lure Samantha. However, considering how everything else went down, this was far from over, Zoe Botha just killed Samantha, and if Danielle did not come after her, Zoe was most likely going to go after the Mendoza's.

That was not MJ's problem, however, her only goal was to get rid of Samantha, and now that she was gone, MJ did not have to worry about her secrets surfacing. No one could ever find out what happened, especially Jorge.

Some secrets deserved to stay buried, one in particular, her father - Victor Billings.