Machayla wanted to cry. She wanted to cry so bad but for whatever reason her tear ducks chose that moment to dry up. She should be grateful for not being able to cry in front of these people who obviously saw her as nothing but an inconvenient victim but damn it she wanted to cry.
“I’m so sorry sweetie.”
She looked over her shoulders to find Sierra staring down at her with sympathy in her eyes. Sympathy that she didn’t want nor needed. “I need some air.” She rose from her seat and navigated her way through the maze of a house till she found the front door they’d came through.
Stepping into the now early afternoon sun, she squint her eyes and took a deep breath. Alas the fresh air didn’t do her any good. In fact, the only thing it achieved was cause a burning rage in pit of her stomach for her father.
The bastard!
He’d lie to her her whole life. Every time he’d put on a suit in the morning or came home in the ass crack of dawn, she’d thought that he was working hard… at his office!
How the hell did a stock broker become a fucking drug lord?! One that was slick enough to never get caught by the DEA or anyone else for that matter. Too bad anyone didn’t include Aiden. How did her sweet, dependable and caring father end up working against the law? Did he kill anybody? Tortured someone until they spilled their guts? And what about her mother, did she know about this when she married him or did he become this person after her death?
She felt lost, confused and hurt. But most of all, she felt betrayed by her own father. Walking down the long drive way, she stopped in front of Jason’s Lexus and leaned against it, her arms cradling her head in her hands.
“Want a punching bag?”
It was Jason. Of course it would be him to check up on her. He’d shown how much he really cared since she met him. Bringing her head up to look at him, she gave him a wry smile, “are you offering to be one?”
Shrugging, he smiled. “Maybe. If it’ll help get that tortured look off your face.” Walking closer to where she stood, he looked into her eyes, “How are you?”
“I’m pissed.”
“Understandable. What else?”
“What else? What do you mean what else?”
“You’re pissed but there’s more to it. Let me in Kayla. Tell me what else.”
“You never stop being pushy, do you?” She questioned.
“Nah, not when it comes to you.” When she didn’t say anything else to him, he stepped into her personal space and wrapped his arms around her waist.
Machayla’s body melted into him and she buried her face in the crook of his neck. “It hurts so much,” she confessed. “How could he do this to me Jason? How could he betray me like this?” The tears that she wanted out so badly eventually found their way out of her eyes and flowed down her mahogany skin.
“It’ll get better baby. We’ll fix this.” He rubbed her back soothingly and kissed the side of her neck. A shiver ran down her spine.
She ignored the tingling feeling in the pit of her stomach when Jason called her the pet name. “How? These people want us dead Jason.”
“Too bad for them, it’s not going to happen.” He lifted her head up and touched his lips to her forehead. “I won’t let it.”
She sighed and stepped out of his embrace. “It’s a good thing I found out about this after he died because I would’ve killed myself!” The rage she’d felt earlier rose back up to the surface.
“No you wouldn’t have,” Jason retorted.
“I would!” She snapped back.
“You don’t have it in you. From what I could tell,” he started towards her “you loved your old man very much and even though he was living a secret life that you knew nothing of, you’d be angry but you wouldn’t love him any less.”
Machayla stared him down and scoffed. “Oh, shut up Jason!” The romance between the two withered and died for the moment as she took her frustrations out on him again. “What do you know anyways? Your father didn’t betray your trust.” She didn’t want, didn’t need him to tell her what she would’ve or wouldn’t have done because even she didn’t know what she would’ve done if her father was alive and she’d found out he was the biggest drug lord this part of the country have had in at least a decade.
The space between his brows wrinkled as he scowled. “No, my dad didn’t but if you had any brothers or sisters, you’d know that the feeling is all the same.” He turned on his heels and started towards the front door.
She bit out a curse under her breath but didn’t move a muscle to follow him inside and question him about how Drake could’ve betrayed him. She honestly didn’t want to at the moment. She needed time to think, time to let the fact that her dad was a criminal sink in.
Machayla couldn’t believe what her life had become and all because of Malcolm Daniels stupid decision to give her a freaking deed to inherit. What the hell was the deed for anyways? She wondered. And why did Aiden want it so bad that he’d go that far to get it?
‘Daddy, what did you do?!’
She wanted to know how he’d done it. How he’d spend so many years doing these drug smugglings that he was never caught. Not only that but she wanted to know why her father was set up and killed by Lieutenant Aiden Parks. What was the deed for? Where did the money, that Sabrina Gaynor told them over the phone less than ten minutes ago, come from?
After Drake instructed Dennis to do a background check up on her father they’d found nothing, at first. She was quite satisfied about finding nothing. Unfortunately, Drake and the others weren’t and decided to hack the DEA’s system where records of all investigations were being held but they came up short. It wasn’t up until Victor, suggested that they do a name search instead of a crime search that they started seeing piles and piles of investigations with no leads that were forced to close that they’d found what they –excluding Machayla—was looking for.
Malcolm Daniels was a suspected in tons of crimes that went on in not only South Florida was majority of the Eastern states. His name was conspicuously popping up in almost every high stake drug cases that went on around this neck of America. Unfortunately for the investigators, her father was always two steps ahead of them and threw dirt on where he shitted.
“Do you think that he was Chris Gaynor’s supplier?” Tabitha had asked.
“No,” Dennis answered. “He was too smart to have let his consumers know who their provider was. If Chris was a consumer, then the only way he would’ve known about Malcolm is if he researched it or was told and from what I’ve read about Chris, he wasn’t all that smart…” Dennis trailed off and he faced Machayla with uncertainty. “I could be wrong about this but I think your father was set up.”
By then, Machayla was beyond being sad and quickly on her way to being pissed off but she held it all in. “Look up Sabrina Gaynor. Try a number or an address but find her.” It took less than five minutes for Dennis to find Sabrina who now resided in Daytona.
“Did you find a number?” She asked Dennis.
“Two actually.”
Machayla’s breath caught in her throat. ‘What now?’ She didn’t think that she had enough guts to call the wife of her father’s killer. Would she cry, yell or even threaten the woman? She didn’t know. All she wanted was to have all this behind her so she could move on with her life, with Jason – if he wanted her.
Looking to the left of the room, she spotted him with nothing but worry, worry for her, etched on his face. He was staring so intensely at her that her skin started to prick with goose bumps, her core started to tingle and heart rate sped up. God, how she wished that they didn’t meet under these horrible circumstances. Like regular people they could’ve met, dated and be with one another if it was meant to be.
With a shake of her head and an exhausted sigh, she turned back to the huge monitor where the two numbers were practically blinking at her. “Call them both,” she responded quickly before she could chicken out, her voice more confident than she felt.
Dennis slid his chair to the right of the monitor and pressed a button on its side which caused a key pad to suddenly appear.
“Wow, this place really is a bat cave. What else do you have in here, a shrinking ray, a batman utility belt?” Tabitha chimed.
Shrugging, Dennis said, “Maybe” and started to dial the first set of numbers on the screen. The sound of a phone ringing blasted through the surround sound speakers in the room and caused all three women plus Victor to jump in surprise. Tabitha gave him an exasperated look and went to stand next to Drake who looked down at her with apprehension which contradicted the look that he gave her earlier back in the office.
‘What’s going on between those three?’ She wondered.
“Hello?”
Machayla froze as the familiar voice sounded through the speakers. She knew the voice very well; she’d heard that voice retell the story of what happened the day her father was killed a hundred times. She looked around the room and sent them all a pleading look to answer but unfortunately for her, they ignored her.
“Fine,” she whispered to them and squared her shoulders. “Yes, may I speak to Sabrina Gaynor please?” Though she knew it was her, it was customary to always ask anyways when calling a stranger’s home.
“This is her. Who’s speaking?”
Machayla took a few seconds to clear her jumbled thoughts and steel herself for the conversation to come. “This is Machayla, Machayla Daniels.”
The line was silent for a moment before Sabrina answered. “You were always a smart girl. It was only a matter of time till you found out.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” Machayla snapped.
“Actually, I do. Your father, though not exactly a saint, was a great man who loved his daughter very much. When he wasn’t giving out orders and cutting deals, he was talking about you. His devotion to you was undeniable and everything he did was to protect you.”
Closing her eyes, Machayla sighed. “Tell me something, if my dad was such a decent person then why’d y’all kill him? He was the only family I had left.”
“Two years ago, I might’ve probably hang up on you but I’m a better person now and you deserve to know that yes, your father was set up… by Lieut. Aiden Parks.”
She nodded her head. “Of course he did.”
“Ah, so you’ve finally met the snake,” Sabrina sneered.
“Not intentionally but yes, I’ve stumbled on him and my fiancé talking.”
“And who, if you don’t mind me asking, is your fiancé?” Her voice was weary and suddenly filled with tension.
“Mason Carter.”
“Shit! Machayla, are you anywhere around him now?!” Sabrina’s voice held nothing but panic.
“No, I’m not. Do you know him?”
“I do and if he’s your fiancé then I suggest that you leave, now! They are going to kill you Machayla. When they killed your father it was because he had something that Aiden wanted. After your father died, he raided your father’s house for it and figured out that it wasn’t there, he used his power as a law-man to get what he needed and found out that you actually had the deed that he needed and the money.”
“How can I have it?” She questioned with a frown.
“It was in Malcolm’s safe box at the bank and the money became yours when he took his last breath. It was all in his will.”
Machayla heart was in her throat. She did remember the safe box. She’d never open it and had placed it in her own safe box at the bank. The money on the other hand was only touched once; when she’d run away from Mason the first time. “But what does that have to do with Mason wanting to marry me?”
“The only way for Aiden to get that deed now is if someone marries you and gives him the deed and money, after they get rid of you.”
Anger flared through her. “I’ve got to go. Thanks for telling me what I needed to know,” Machayla absently muttered.
“Wait, I need to tell you why-”
“I don’t care why you decided to agree to set my father up. You did it, he’s dead, good bye.” The conviction in her voice was enough for Dennis to understand that she wanted nothing to do with the woman anymore.
Reaching over, he pressed a button and the line went dead.
“Thank you,” she mumbled.
It was too early in the day for her to be dealing with Lieutenant Parks but agent Leah Hassan was persistent in her pursue in trapping Mason Scott. She’d stayed up all night reading over her notes and once again, she’d connect Mason to the murder of another victim shot dead in his car in Miami Gardens.
Her only problem was that she couldn’t prove that he’d been involved. At least not without much solid proof.
“Look agent Hassan,” the lieutenant started with a frown, “we’ve gone over this more than enough times already. Maybe we should terminate the case and close it up as petty crimes.”
Agent Leah jumped out of her seat so fast that the chair tumbled over. “Since when was murder categorized as petty crimes lieutenant Parks?”
“All of the victims were drugged out street rats. They served no purpose in their community anyways. I say good riddance. Less work for our department,” he shrugged.
“Those streets rats are still human beings! How can you –a police man— say that?” She bit out in fury. Leah didn’t understand where his carelessness and doubt of catching a perpetrator come from but she didn’t like it; hasn’t since she met him. A life, no matter what someone chose to do with their own, should not be taken lightly.
“Watch your tone and stand your ground agent.” The lieutenant rose from his seat opposite to hers and stood his full height of 6’2.
“No, you stand your ground lieutenant Parks. I may be working with your department but my ranking oversteps yours, I am not one of your officers. Don’t piss me off!”
The lieutenant gave her a menacing look but seconds later it was gone, replaced with the attractive, easy going man that she knew him to be and he gave her a nod. She didn’t know what had gotten into him but she couldn’t afford to be at odds with him. He seemed to have a lot of connects with the same druggies and street vendors he’d just spoken so ill about.
It was suspicious.
“So,” Parks started as Leah took the time to fix her chair “you have any more evidence on our main suspect?”
“No but I have a source that told me that his girlfriend left him.”
Lieut. Parks’ was suddenly sitting up in his chair looking every bit of alert as she’d ever seen him. “Did this source happen to know where the little bi… I mean, where the little lady is? You know, so we can question her,” he added when Leah gave him a weird look.
“No, they didn’t,” she clipped as she eyed him one more time. “But I did find it weird that her boyfriend was the main suspect in a federal case as great as this but there is no record of her ever being interrogated or questioned about Mason.”
Leah’s eyes zeroed onto Park’s face as she studied every movement he made with his body and face. He looked very relaxed and confident to the untrained eyes but she noticed the small things that a naked eye would overlook. Like how his fingers had been twitching non-stop since she’d challenged his earlier remark on street rats… and it hadn’t stop moving since then or how his jaw twitched every so often.
He was either very angry, very impatient or very guilty of something. Maybe even all three.
“That’s impossible,” he said with a furious frown. “I questioned her myself.”
‘Liar!’ “Really?”
“Yes,” he bit out tightly as the tick in his jaw became worst, “now if you’d excuse me, I’ve some things to take care of.” Abruptly, he rose to his feet with a mask of irritation glued to face and marched out of her temporary office.
From the moment she met Parks, almost three months ago, she’d learned that he was indeed quick tempered. But this was more than him having a temper; he was edgy and defensive all of a sudden about the case. Could it be possible that he was hiding vital information?
Leah’s bells began to go off. Maybe she’d been looking at the right cases but in the wrong way. She’d hate for her conscious to be right but it’s happened before, crooked cops. Her best bet at the moment was to find Machayla Daniels and the Jason Mills whom, he mentioned yesterday, but first she needed to do a bit of research on a certain lieutenant’s off duty hobbies.
*
Lieutenant Parks stepped into his office and slammed the door shut with all of his might. He couldn’t stand that bitch of a woman. She was too nosey for her own good. He disliked the idea of having her put down like a rabid dog but she was getting too involved. Too bad thought, she was one hell of an agent and damn it if he didn’t want to throw her onto his desk, rip off her clothes and screw her brains out… actually it wasn’t a bad idea. Maybe he would do just that before he wiped his hands of her.
Pulling out a cell phone from his pocket, he punched in a number. In no more than two rings, his call was answered. “Did you find her yet?” He ground out.
“No.”
Parks gnashed his teeth together and slammed his unoccupied fist on top of his desk. “Find her you worthless piece of shit! You have less than forty-eight hours to have her ass in that house or you will watch as I slit that slut of your sister’s throat! Do whatever you have to do but find her!” With that he hung up and stormed out of the office.
He couldn’t afford for this plan to not go according to plan. He’d waited long enough for this. After years of plotting he was finally going to get his hands on the deed that was stolen from him by Malcolm Daniels. After all, Parks did promise the man that whether dead or alive, he’d get back what was rightfully his.
Too bad it had to end with him having Malcolm killed. And soon enough his precious daughter would join him.
If only he didn’t have someone as arrogant as Mason working for him, this all would’ve been over a long time ago. By the time he’d realize that Mason was the wrong person for the job, it was already too late, and their plan was already set in motion. Good thing he couldn’t stand the fucker because when this was over, he was putting a bullet through his brains. Never mind that Mason was one of his best men; he’d find a new one to replace him, one less demanding idiot who didn’t challenge his every command.
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Two updates in a week? Can i keep it up? Maybe. Idk sitting on my laptop all day isnt appealing when thats what you do at work anyways. Sometimes i try to have a life outside of work and school so on the real, I be busy :) Hope you like it and forgive my absents, and my errors. It's 2 am! I Love and appreciate you all. THANK YOU!!