Mahogany Desires

Chapter 33

          MACHAYLA INHALED A big breath and let it out through her nose. It was going to be ok as long as she took the initiative to at least have some faith in these people… in Jason. “Mason’s working under someone,” she started, “someone who has more power in this city than he does.”

“There’s more,” Drake stated, his eyes followed her every movement.

She scoffed. “Oh, there’s plenty more. All of this,” she got up and started pacing in front of her seat “is much more than you think it is,” she paused and glanced at Jason who occupied the seat next to her, “much more.”

“Alright, so spill it. Who’s this person he’s working under?” Drake asked impatiently.

She stared him dead in the eye and closed in on him till nothing but the desk was in between them. With her new found bravery, she leaned over the desk with both hands plastered on the surface and narrowed her eyes “You’ve got one more time to interrupt me.”

“Or what?” Drake challenged with his signature death glare in place.

Machayla’s shifted to the left of the room where her empty seat awaited her and sat down. “Or you don’t get the information you so badly want.” Feeling the most confident she’s felt in a long time she crossed her legs and waited for Drake’s answer.

Seconds ticked by before he finally broke down. “Fine. I won’t interrupt.”

An amused chuckle came from her right where Jason sent his brother a look that said no more or less than "ha-ha". She smiled at his playful banter but on the inside a stab of jealousy hit her as she wished for the hundredth time that she at least had one sibling to make fun of. 'Oh well, I've been an only child for this long...' 

Drake ignored his brother and gave her his undivided attention. “Go on.”

“If you insist.” She got up again, unable to sit due to her nerves, and started to slowly pace the small office. “As I was saying, this goes deeper than anyone of us, thought, myself included. The night I found out about Mason’s… or should I say Lieutenant Aiden Parks’ plan, it was an accident.”

She paused as a string of curses were emanated from her audience. They obviously weren’t expecting a police officer to be behind this whole ordeal. It was why the option to go to the police was eliminated from day one.

The feeling of helplessness suddenly tried to claw its way back up to the surface but she pushed it down and continued. “I wasn’t supposed to know. No one but his allies was supposed to know that Lieut. Parks was playing both sides of the law. I guess I walked into my own death trap that day because that was when things suddenly became…bad, to put it lightly.”

"Was that when he started hitting you?" Carter asked her.

She nodded.

“Wait a minute, maybe I'm a bit slow but how’d you end up with Mason of all people for god sakes? Forgive me but you don’t seem like the type that would willingly get involved in our world.” This came from Victor.

With her voice full of malice, she answered. “I was dragged into it. Without any warning bells or signs I found myself trapped.”

“Did you know what he was like before you decided to be with him?” Sierra questioned.

“If I did, I wouldn’t have touched the son of a bitch with a ten foot pole,” she bit out. “He came into my life when I was in the most vulnerable state of my life. When my father was killed. I had no one and he was there.” Silence filled the room as she once again battled to push the emotions, that were threatening to come up, down.