Suits & Aces (#3)

40 // Bait

She knew the journalist was provocative, vindictive, and spiteful throughout her career, but mostly, she was ambitious. She was driven by her need to break the story first, and she knew which stories would sell, that was what made her the most sought-after journalist. But it was the very same trait that made media companies not want to work with her.

MJ had underestimated Sasha-Lee Van der Merwe, it appeared that the woman was resourceful and cunning. The laptop and phone she got for her were in the car, she was even thinking of not giving the items to her.

MJ was forced to drive back to Beaufort West, after releasing her hostage from the basement, she was not planning on going back anytime soon since Sasha would be taken good care of. But now she had to rush back to turn off the fire the crazy woman had started.

She arrived at the house around 9p.m. and found Sasha pacing around the sitting room.

Sasha's face was a mixture of panic and relief when she saw MJ. "Hey, I'm so glad you are here! There's something I need to tell you," she said hastily.

"And what could that possibly be? The article you wrote and posted without my permission?" MJ asked, folding her arms.

Sasha grimaced. "Well, yes and no. I– Ah!" She screamed as MJ pulled a gun at her.

"Simple instructions, Sasha, very simple instructions. Why did you defy me? What shall I do with you, Sasha?"

"Please don't kill me."

MJ tilted her head, watching her intently. "I think I should. Maybe I should just decorate your body with bullets and then wait for the killer to find you. Or maybe I should just put the gun in your hand and pull the trigger, and then make it look like a suicide. What do you think about that?" She mused, her finger playing at the tip of the trigger, and then she pulled, but nothing happened.

Sasha shut her eyes as MJ attempted pulling the trigger again, she did not realise that MJ was only messing with her.

MJ moved away and sat down on the couch. "If you are so afraid to die, then why do you keep poking at death?" She asked.

Sasha opened her eyes and spun around at the realisation that MJ's voice was no longer coming from the other side.

"I hope you deleted your emails and websites from the phone you used, the last thing I need is to put the girl's life in danger or to have everything traced back to this house."

Sasha sat as far away from MJ as she could possibly get. "So, do you also think these murders are related?" She asked.

"Deaths. For now, let's refer to them as deaths. We work with facts, Ms Van der Merwe, not speculation."

"But what if... Demi sent me an email just before I deleted my account, whe was urging me to delete the article."

MJ raised her eyebrows. "That's strange."

"That's what I thought too! I've written worse articles than this one, and Demi has never ever told me to delete my articles. Ms Billings..."

Before she could even finish her sentence, MJ had already concluded. "Either your sister is involved or she's literally under the same roof as the murderer."

She had learnt her lesson when it came to Samantha Grayson, she was not to be underestimated. She was capable of more than just murder, she always got what she wanted. But if Sasha was right about the two deaths being related to each other and being a murder caused by the sme person, what was their motive? As far she heard, the victims were not that important.

"I think someone killed them to cover their tracks," Samantha said.

MJ nodded. "Tying up loose ends," she agreed. "The killer is diverting the attention away from their real intentions. Listen, is there a way you can get your sister out of that place?"

"Actually, there is. But I'll need a phone."

"Fine. I'll give you a phone and a laptop. There's a also a router with unlimited WiFi access. For now, I want you to keep that article on your site, I want to see something. Also, don't write anymore articles or publish anything without my approval. Do you understand?"

Sasha nodded. "I understand. Thank you." She fiddled with her fingers, not making eye contact.

MJ narrowed her eyes at her. "Is there a problem?" She asked.

Sasha shook her head. "No, not at all. It's just..."

"What?"

"You never asked me."

MJ raised a questioning eyebrow. "Asked for what?"

"You never asked me why I'm going after Logan Parker and Kyle Davids." MJ frowned in response, but did not say anything, and Sasha took that as an invitation to continue. "A few months after you left; Logan, Jorge, and Kyle were involved in drug dealing. And my father was the detective in charge of their case."

MJ felt her ears ring like someone was knocking a church bell in her ears. She shook her head in question. "What?"

Sasha's eyes widened in realisation. "You didn't know?" She asked. "I'm sorry, I thought you knew... they were involved in some shady dealings and then they got arrested. Their fathers got them out, Jorge and Kyle were saved, but Caleb Parker couldn't convince Logan to leave the crime life behind. My father had been going after the drug dealers for some time, but he couldn't get to them. So, he enlisted the help of the three of them, and they had to work undercover in order to gather evidence. Things got a bit complicated though; Logan started using and got involved in illegal underground fighting. Something went wrong, and they were discovered, and basically, their lives were endangered. But Kyle Davids was the the who suffered the most, and then my dad was killed after they found out that he had enough evidence to bring them down."

It sounded like something straight out out of a movie scene. MJ knew that something happened after she left, but she never imagined it was something so serious. She could not believe her brother and his friends were involved with drug dealers, she was even scared to ask what happened after they were discovered.

Now she understood why they went their separate ways and why there was this unspoken tension between them. It made perfect sense why Logan hated her, she ruined his life and left without a word.

She felt as if she was trapped inside a closed bottle with no air coming in or escaping the space; the more she tried to breathe, the harder the process became, her own breathing was suffocating her, and slowly, her eyes became blurry as if someone was pulling a veil over her eyes, until everything went dark.