Suits & Aces (#3)

47 // Lonely Nights

It was no secret to the world that Antonina was always the last person to leave La Cafe, and that sometimes she stayed up until late.

Robberies and burglaries were highly common and frequent around the area, but every player knew that Antonina Dos Santos was off limits, she could be the last person still open after 10p.m., and no one would dare come near her. She was used to it, and until the shootout, she had always closed late, but now she called it a night by 7p.m. and she remained there until 8p.m. before going home.

Logan stayed in the car for a while just watching her. He knew it was creepy, but he could not help it. He could not help pondering over the fact that things would have been different had Montana not interfered. Antonina had been of great help to him, and he wanted to do the same for her, he wanted to be there for her and support her during her dark times like she supported him. But he went about it the wrong way.

He had thought about stopping by to check on her a few times, but he could not bring himself to forget the painful look in her eyes the last time she saw him. What if he hated her? It should not bother him because many people hated him, but with her it was different.

He finally decided to get over his insecurities for a minute and face her.

She was putting up the chairs on the tables when he arrived, and to his surprise, she welcomed him with a bright smile and a tight hug.

"I was starting to think you had forgotten about me." She held his face, inspecting him. "How are you? Have you been eating well? Have you been getting enough sleep?" She bombarded, dragging him to one of the corner booths.

A small smile tugged at his lips as he plopped down opposite her. She was treating her better than he had expected, way more than he deserved, she looked so happy.

"I'm okay, Antonina. How are you?" He asked, ignoring the rest of her questions. She knew very well that he had not been eating nor sleeping well in the last few weeks.

"I'm okay." She shrugged, her cheeks slightly pink. "I am going to therapy."

Logan smirked. "By the looks of it, your therapist is quite the charmer."

She cleared her throat, keeping her eyes on the table. "I went to my doctor before that and explained everything, and then he referred me to a specialist, and they also discovered that I'd been taking the wrong medication all these years, which I don't understand because my doctor has always prescribed the correct medication."

When she looked up, her eyes were brimming with tears, and Logan had already summed up her situation. "Ants, who was responsible for your medication?" He asked, hoping it was not who he had in mind.

"It was Reina and Jameson," she confirmed, making his blood boil. "The doctor says the medication I was taking led to the slow degeneration of my mental health. They were messing with my brain, thankfully, there was no permanent damage, but it could have been worse."

"You claim that this is your territory, but you are not even aware of what is happening right under your nose," he spat, and Logan did not have the slightest skin to be offended. "The details around MJ Billings' k********g are a bit sketchy. The case might not have been real due to obvious reasons, but we were conducting our own investigations and we found some interesting stuff along the way."

"What has any of this got anything to do with the Petersons?"

"The moment you start looking at them as the Petersons, that's where you lose sight of what's real and what is not. That's Reina Dos Santos, remember that name very well." There was warning and menace in his voice, and although he was looking at him, it seemed at though he was looking past him. "That car was not dumped at the train station by the kidnappers, it was left there by Jameson Peterson himself."

He caught bits and pieces of her words, his mind was running wild, trying to understand why Jameson and Reina would put her health at risk, but then he remembered Jackson's words, and everything started to fall into place. What if her husband was involved in this? After all, Antonina had always been a prisoner in this family.

"I'm so sorry, Ants."

"It's not your fault. In a way, I'm grateful. It is better than not knowing what is wrong. My memory is still messed up, but my therapist says it will improve after a few sessions."

He smiled tightly, thinking about how he had blackmailed Kyle into sending Jameson and his mother away, now he had to ask him to bring him back. He was going to get to the bottom of this, why were they messing with Antonina's mind?

His phone beeped in his pocket, and he tool it out, annoyed thinking it was one of those spam messages, but his heart beat wildly when he read the message.

'Please meet me at the harbour at 9p.m., we need to talk, it's important.

-MJ'

Why would MJ want to see him? What if she found out that he snitched on her brother and that he was the reason Jorge was on his deathbed?

"It everything okay?" Antonina asked.

Logan looked up, unable to hide the panic in his eyes. "It's MJ. She wants to see me."

Antonina gave him a knowing look. "She still doesn't know, does she?" He shook his head. "Remember what I told you the last time? You know, I wonder if you will ever take anything I say to you seriously. Tell me, Logan, is this how you want things to be between you? Going back and forth, lying..."

"No." He shook his head. "I want to fix things, there's a lot of bad blood between us, but on top of that there are years of unresolved issues. I don't know where to start or if she will ever let me in."

"Is that the only thing bothering you?" He refused to answer, choosing to look away from her prying eyes. "I see. What is stopping you?"

"I don't want to get hurt. I've been... broken beyond repair before, and I don't trust that she won't do it again, MJ has only ever known how to run away when things get too much, she's used to doing things alone. Sometimes I ask myself if we would be still together if things had turned out differently."

Antonia placed her hands on his and gave him a comforting squeeze. "Love is patient, hopeful, kind, and selfless."

Logan scoffed. "But it is also selfish, jealous, helpless, and especially, blind. I just picked all that from a Miley Cyrus song by the way." He winked at her and stood up. "I have to go. Listen, why don't you come to my place for dinner some time this week?" He asked, he really missed her and wanted to fix things between them.

She smiled at him and nodded eagerly. "Of course! Uhm... I'd really like that." She stood up, and they shared a tight hug that left Logan feeling nostalgic.

He left the restaurant and could not help speeding into the night, he just wanted to get to her, but he had no idea what to expect. He could not help wondering why she wanted to see him, he was even tempted to call and ask her, but the call did not go through, it was unavailable.

Logan hoped she was not tricking him, for some reason, he was dying to see her. He missed her.