Suits & Aces (#3)

21 // Old Flames

Hours had gone by, a moment of anticipation not missed, her heartbeat in sync with the ticking of the clock on the wall.

She breathed in and out, in and out, her feet parading the room as her mind buzzed. She was trying to stay calm, but her thoughts tormented her.

Had she made a mistake by going through with this without thinking it through? She thought, but again she knew she would have never stood her ground if she thought twice.

"Ah!" She growled, pulling at her hair.

Her team watched her, waiting for her to come to a decision. "Brianna, what could be so hard about calling the woman and asking her for day off?" Maritza asked.

Brianna took in a deep breath. "Because, Rita, we did not land this job on merit," she said. Javier and Samantha were the reason she was in this mess.

"So what?" Joey asked, bewildered. "Are we basically her prisoners?"

We might as well be, Brianna thought. "You guys go ahead, I'll be with you in a minute." She took her phone and went to her new cellphone booth, and sat there for close to fifteen minutes, her fingers hovering over the screen as she contemplated on dialling the phone, and by the time did, her finger slipped and dialled the number by mistake.

She cursed herself when the call went through and the phone rang.

"MJ Billings speaking."

She felt as though she was trapped inside an empty water tank without oxygen, it was suddenly extremely hot and she could not breathe, her body felt sticky with sweat. How did she go about this?

"Hi, Miss Billings," she started with a shaky voice. "This is Brianna."

There was a cold silence on the phone before MJ spoke again. "Ah, Brianna! How can I help you?"

She sighed loudly and rubbed her eyes. "It is my brother, Javier. "

"Oh, what has he done this time?"

"He's trying to disrupt my life, he has been trying to get closer to me through his wife by asking her to organize a family dinner, but he had to go to Ireland. Now, he is back, and I'm afraid he's going to have me followed and soon he will figure out that I work for you," she rambled.

"So, what do you have in mind?" MJ asked.

"I know exactly how to deal with him, I invited him and his wife over for dinner."

"Okay, Brianna. I trust you, do what you have to do."

Brianna did a little victory dance, this was much easier than she expected. "Thank you, Miss Billings."

"One last thing. I'm gonna need you to take a day off later this week to have a look at my house."

"Your house?"

There was a pause before MJ responded. "Yes, I'm selling it." This time it was Brianna who went quiet. Was she seriously selling her house? Was she moving to South Africa permanently? "I will communicate further details later."

"I'll hear from you." The line went dead, and Brianna did not waste another minute in the building, she left and went home to prepare the dinner. Javier and Danielle had already confirmed that they were coming, so did Sienna, but Brianna had to go and get her from the hotel.

She made sure that everything was in order before she left. The drive to the hotel was approximately thirty minutes, but it took her twice the time due to the traffic.

She arrived at the hotel and waited at the reception where they'd agreed to meet. Brianna was so nervous because she knew that at the end of this dinner, things would be extremely tense. She would not do this if she did not need to.

Her phone rang and she hung up, it was probably her husband calling to ask where she was even though she told him she would be a while. Her attention was drawn from the ringing phone when a familiar woman stepped out of the elevator.

The woman was as tall as a tree, she referred to Brianna as the Mexican Barbie, but she was the one with the long legs and a tiny waist, whereas Brianna was super short and tiny. Sienna's beauty and sexiness made the world around her stop, Brianna felt inadequately dressed even though Sienna was simply wearing high-waisted jeans with a crop top and a fleece coat, taking her height up a notch with a pair of nude heels.

Her warm beige skin was radiant, and her usually long hair was trimmed down to her shoulders, she looked amazing.

"Brianna!" She squealed and rushed towards her, pulling Brianna into a bone-crushing hug. "Oh my word, look at you!" She pulled away, she was literally holding her by the shoulders while staring down at her.

Brianna smiled at her. "Sienna, you look amazing!"

Sienna laughed and waved her off. "Oh, come on, you know me!" She said in her deep, alluring voice. "Look at you, you are as tiny and sexy as ever!"

Brianna's phone rang for the third time, she checked the screen and looked at Sienna. "We'd better get going, my husband has been calling me nonstop," she said, her cheeks burning up when Sienna made funny faces, she would never let her forget that she was single and afraid of boys when they met.

"Okay, girl, let's go then!" They left the hotel, and Brianna sent her husband a text, letting him know that they were on their way. They got home just in time to see everyone piling up into the house; Mr and Mrs Grayson, the twins, and Danielle and Javier. "Nice place you got here, Barbiana." Brianna cringed at one of the few nicknames she was given.

"Well, you can't be a real estate agent and live in a matchbox."

"Cheers to that!" Sienna raised her purse in the air. "Girl, I think I'm gonna need the bathroom before sitting down," Sienna said in a quiet whisper just as they entered the house.

Brianna directed her to the nearest bathroom, and then joined everyone in the dining room where they were settled down at the table. "Good evening, everyone. Sorry we are late." She pulled a chair next to her husband, Adam.

"Where is your friend?" He asked.

"Oh, she's coming, she just went to the bathroom." She looked up in panic, the only chair left was next to Javier. She could feel his eyes on me, and that made me a whole lot uneasy.

"Mexican cuisine? Great!" Javier said with a bright smile.

Against her better self, Brianna cooked his favourite meals, but she did it to also accommodate Sienna.

Her husband laughed. "Well, yeah. My wife cooks Mexican food only on special occasions," he said.

Javier raised his eyebrows. "Oh, really?" He asked, eyeing her suspiciously. "I wonder what's so special about tonight?"

"Are we expecting someone else?" Her mother-in-law, Meryl, asked.

Just before she could answer, Sienna appeared. "I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting," she said and settled on the chair next to Javier, and Javier went tense.

"Wow, I love your accent!" One of the twins, Tiffany, commented.

"Honey, aren't you going to introduce your friend?" Adam asked.

Brianna cleared her throat. "Oh, uhm... this is my friend, Sienna. Sienna, this is my husband, Adam. To your right is my mother-in-law and father-in-law, then next to me, we have my twin sister-in-laws, Rachel and Tiffany, and then Danielle. There's a fourth sister, her name is Samantha, but she's not here." She left her brother out on purpose.

Danielle cleared her throat, giving her a tight grin. "Brianna, aren't you forgetting someone?" She asked sweetly.

"Oh!" She said in mock shock. "Where are my manners? Forgive me, Sienna. Seated next to you is Danielle's husband, Javier."

Sienna did not seem to mind until Danielle added, "Mr Javier Mendoza."

This time it was Sienna who went still, and then she slowly lifted her head to look at the man next to her. Javier pretended not to see her, but she could see his jaw ticking profusely.

Brianna was surprised by how quickly Sienna pulled herself together. "Pleased to meet you all! But I'm furnished," she joked in a booming voice, and everyone laughed before digging in.

Javier was having a difficult time swallowing his food and he kept throwing sharp looks in Brianna's direction, on the other hand, Sienna did not seem affected at all.

"So, Sienna, where are you from?" Her father-in-law, Paul, asked.

Sienna smiled at Brianna before turning to him. "I'm from Mexico, sir, but I'm based in the US."

"Really?" Rachel asked.

"Yes, but I'm moving back to Mexico soon," Sienna said, and Javier's hand twitched.

Ha! Guess he did not know about that one, did he? Brianna thought.

"So, how did you guys meet?" Adam asked.

Sienna nodded at Brianna to tell them. "Sienna and I met in Mexico before I moved here. She's the one who introduced me into the Real Estate business," she said.

"Yeah, I taught her a thing or two," Sienna said, and they all laughed, everyone except for Javier. "But I was hoping that she would have ventured into something else by now, real estate was not really her calling."

Brianna's eyes widened in horror at the realisation of where this conversation was headed, and Javier dropped his fork on the floor simultaneously, but nobody paid them any attention, they were all listening to Sienna.

"Oh, really? And what exactly was her calling?" Adam prompted.

Sienna's eyes lit up in excitement, and she did not even catch Brianna's warnings. "Oh, yes! Brianna was–" she suddenly went quiet, her eyes widening just as her body tensed. Just then, Javier resurfaced from under the table.

"Sienna, are you okay?" Tiffany asked.

Sienna nodded even though her face was telling a different story. "Yeah, I'm okay. I just..." she took in a shaky breath. "I'm not used to being this far from my children," she said sadly.

Javier tensed beside her and threw Brianna a warning look. She could not believe he actually saved her life, Sienna knew she was good with computers, if she told the family that she was encouraging her to start her own IT company, one way or the other, every other truth would come to light.

"Children? How many?" Meryl quipped, "are you married?"

Sienna gave a brittle smile even though nobody picked it up. "I have two, a boy and a girl."

"Wow, that is amazing! How old are they?" Rachel asked.

"The eldest is fifteen, and the last born is thirteen, " Sienna said.

"Is their father still in the picture?" Danielle spoke for the first time since the dinner started. "Are you married?"

Sienna laughed, bitterness laced in her voice, and Brianna could see the family exchange worried and confused glances. "He..." she gulped, her eyes a fuse of unshed tears and hatred. "He is dead," she said, burying her face in the glass as she gulped her red wine.

The table fell silent and no one knew what to say, Javier looked ready to pounce on Brianna while Sienna did not look like she wanted to be there anymore.

Brianna cleared her throat and stood up. "Sienna, I'm sure you are exhausted from the long trip. I'll just clear the table, bring the dessert, then we can go," she said hastily.

"We can take care of that!" Tiffany chirped in.

Brianna gave her a weak smile. "Tiffany, you guys are my guests and neither of you will step foot into the kitchen."

Javier stood up, and all eyes turned to him. "Honey, what are you doing?" Danielle asked, holding his left hand.

He gave a small smile. "Don't mind me, people. I'm just going to help Mrs... I'm sorry, I think I got it wrong the last time. Is it Mrs Anderson or Grayson?" He jabbed.

"Just call me Brianna."

"Of course," he said with a tight smile. "Brianna, please allow to help you clear the table. It's the least I can do to thank you for this warm invitation, not to mention this homely meal."

"I guess some things change after all," Sienna muttered under her breath, and Javier pursed his lips.

"As you wish!" Brianna said to steer him away from her.

They cleared the table while everyone moved on to the next topic. She carried her load of dishes and took them to the kitchen, and Javier followed with the rest.

He placed the plates in the sink roughly and then turned to her in anger, grabbing her wrist into a tight grip. Luckily, the kitchen was well-hidden, no one could see what was happening.

"Javier, have you lost your mind? Someone could walk in!" She said in a hushed tone, trying to keep her voice as quiet as possible.

"Have I lost my mind?" He repeated sharply. "What the hell do you think you are doing? Why the f**k did you invite Sienna here?"

"She is not here for you. I invited her to London because I have a business opportunity for her, I heard her company was shutting down."

"b***h, stop lying to me. I'm your brother and I know you very well, you invited her here to get to me, that's why you were so eager to host this dinner."

"Fine!" Brianna pulled her hand out of his hold. "I did it! You left me with no choice, I'm tired of having to look over my shoulder every second because of you."

"What has my-" he bit his tongue.

She smirked and folded her arms. "Your what? You can say it... It's just you and me here, no one is going to hear you." He clenched his fists. "Your constant presence in my life is putting me and my children in danger."

"So, you thought it better to risk Sienna's and my children's lives?" He sneered. His phone beeped in his pocket, and he took it out. "Sienna wants us to meet after this," he said and slipped the phone back into the pocket. "This isn't over yet, Brianna. And for your own sake, you'd better pray that nothing happens to Sienna and my kids." He clicked his tongue and strode out of the kitchen