07 // Problems

"She was admitted at the same hospital as Mr Billings."

She sat there for a second, waiting for someone to tell her something else, something that did not need for her to solve.

But the prolonged silence killed her hopes. Her mouth suddenly filled with too much saliva, and she felt her stomach twisting and turning strangely, and then she retched. She pushed her chair back and ran past Cameron and Jackson, and barged into the nearest bathroom, immediately falling to her knees and bending over the toilet. Her throat burned as all the contents she just had spewed out through her mouth.

She choked and gagged until nothing was left. Her body shivered as if she had not had anything to eat, she felt weak to her bone as she leaned over the basin and rinsed her mouth.

She stayed in the room for a minute, thinking about what Jackson just said to her.

She could not believe that Samantha Grayson was in the same hospital as Jorge, whoever put her there thought they were punishing her, but they actually did her a huge favour, they brought her closer to Jorge more than she ever was in years.

They endangered her brother's life

Samantha was obsessed with her brother, and that made her more dangerous.

If anyone tried to interfere with whatever plans she had, she was going to go after them, and it was not going to end well.

Whoever did this to Samantha had just started another war, Samantha was like a wounded bear, she had no limits.

"Miss Billings."

She was not surprised when Jackson was the one that came to check up on her, Cameron did not want her to get involved in whatever situation was happening with Samantha, but he had no idea how deep she already was in.

"I'll be out in a second!" She splashed water to her face and then left the bathroom. Cameron was nowhere in sight. She went upstairs and changed into formal clothes and then went back downstairs, and they left together with Jackson.

She had no other choice but to visit Samantha, if she did not, Samantha would still make sure that MJ came to see her.

They arrived at the hospital and stayed in the hospital parking for a few minutes. MJ felt guilty that she was here to see the worst person possible but she could not spare a second to visit her own brother, and now his life was in danger.

"Jackson."

"Yes, Miss Billings."

"Before I go in there, I need to ask you something, and I want you be honest with me."

Jackson's words took her by surprise, leaving her wondering why she was even in the same car as him. "Miss Billings, the last thing I could offer you in this world is honesty. I cannot guarantee tell you the truth. Trust me when I tell you that it is for your own good."

MJ turned in her seat. "You tell me that you cannot be honest with me, and yet you expect me to trust you." It sounded absurd even in her own ears. "Tell me something, do you work for me or are you shadowing me?"

Jackson remained unmoved. "Like I said before, I can't answer that."

MJ grounded her teeth. "If you can't answer a simple question as this or tell me the truth, what good are you, of what use are you to me?"

The guard turned to her, warning in his eyes. "My job is to protect you, who I work for is of no importance."

But it was. Was she perhaps overlooking her own safety under the guise of protection? "I see," she stated and got out of the car.

Cameron was right, the problems just kept piling up. But he was wrong about one thing, she was not going to crack, not yet.

Not now.

She was going to face everything head-on, she was not going to fail now.

But the situation with Jackson left her feeling just as unsettled as Samantha did, she now knew that she could not trust neither of them.

She walked into the hospital and she was holding her breath all the way to Samantha's ward, silently praying to whoever was listening that she did not run into Sonya on the way. The last thing she wanted was to have an argument with her brother's fiancee.

She had to wait outside the ward to take breathing exercises, she already knew that nothing good would come out of this meeting.

She took one deep breath and opened the door.

"You look almost like an angel in white, but I know this can't be heaven 'cause surely you and I belong in hell," Samantha said gruffly.

"Sam, you look a little roughed up."

"Just minor bruises and scratches, my body on the other hand feels like someone offloaded an entire truck of cement on me." MJ focused her eyes around the room, avoiding looking at the injuries, it reminded her of the time she was kidnapped. What if the same people were responsible for Samantha's accident? As if reading her mind, Samantha poked, "It's bugging you, isn't it? Not having the answers to everything. Aren't you just curious to know who did this to me?"

MJ gulped, meeting Samantha's dark eyes. "I'm sure that the police are going to be able to help you with that."

Samantha scoffed. "The police? I'm beginning to question their competency. The police around here are useless, but I'm not complaining..." She said dreamily and smirked. "It makes things a whole lot easier for me."

"Why are you here?" She asked even though she already knew the reason.

"Come on, MJ! You know why I am here. You seem to have forgotten that you were the one who turned against me and took what was most important to me. I told you this day would come," she mused. "If you came here thinking we are still friends then you are mistaken. You know the saying that: keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer? You and I just can never be apart. We've come a long way to just let everything go to waste. We are practically married. Till death do us apart, my darling."

MJ remained impassive as Samantha laughed. She expected this to happen, the moment she heard that Samantha was in South Africa, she knew that the bough had been broken.

She was just buying herself time when she protected Samantha after the whole identity scandal. She may never have admitted it, but Samantha blamed MJ for what happened because she believed that MJ was supposed to protect her secret just as she protected her own secrets. She saw this coming, and there was no preventing it.

They were bound by their secrets, and the only way to end their relationship was for one of them to die.

Her worst fear was confirmed when Samantha spoke. "I am here for you. But that's not the only reason I came."

MJ nodded in understanding. "You came here for Jorge."

Samantha chortled. "What?" She raised an eyebrow. "Did you real think I was going to forget about him? Honey, don't you know that you never forget your first love? Look at you and Logan Parker, busy playing hide and seek like little children." Right then and there, MJ cursed the day Samantha Grayson was born. "You may not have been his first love, but he was definitely yours. And until I get what is rightfully mine, neither will you," she said in a low chilling voice, "I am personally going to make sure that you and Logan never find your happiness." MJ rolled her eyes, as if that was ever part of the agenda, she thought, but her next words made her heart stop. "Do you think I don't see it? The spark in your eyes at the mention of his name. You should see the look on his face at the mention of your name, I've never seen anyone struggle to choose between love and hate as he does. But... Let me not give you any ideas about him, the last thing I want to do is get your hopes up. What kind of a friend would I be if I ever made you see a possibility for a future with him? I mean, it is only fair that If I can't have Jorge, neither can you have Logan. Either way, I am going to fight for Jorge, and I am going to get him on my own terms, and you are going to help me win him over."

MJ laughed bitterly. "Whatever makes you think that I am going to give my brother to you on a silver platter?"

"My dear MJ, where there is love, there is hope." She knew that Samantha was obsessed with her brother, she just did not know how deep. Samantha was willing to kill in order to be with Jorge, at this point, no one was safe. "Who do you think put me on this bed?" Her heart sank to her gut. No, she thought, not him. "Yes, MJ, it was him. Your boyfriend did this to me, now, I understand that you think that this is beyond him, but when you mess with a snake, it will strike back."

"Why would Logan do this to you?"

"Why do you think? He found out that I helped you to deceive him. And now, here we are. If he could do this to me, what do you think he is going to do to you?"

She could not believe it, Logan was the reason her brother was in jeopardy for the second time. Not only did she have to protect him from the people who shot him, but she had to make sure that Samantha had no access to him, and tightening security around his ward would only raise suspicions.

"I don't think I need to tell you what's going to happen now, do I? Logan Parker is a dead man. And if you dare try to stand in my way or stop me, I will bury you next to him."