The Billionaires Too (#2)

Stranger Too

Logan was anxious about everything, he could not even stay at the hospital to find out how his friend was doing. He could not help but wonder if Jorge would make it, what if he died?
All Logan wanted was to get back at him and punish him for lying to him about MJ.
After what went down with Thuso, Logan knew that he would most likely end up killing someone; he did not want to hurt Jorge himself, that was why he told Caroline Becker's husband that Jorge had slept with his wife.
Logan was not sure about the speculation either, but he knew how his friend operated, and Doctor Becker was not an angel either, she had been trying to get into Jorge's pants for years now, but Jorge had always refused, because her husband was a dangerous politician.
Jorge was a bit tipsy that evening, he probably did not even think about it. Logan remembered how flushed Caroline was when they both returned and how Jorge looked like he had just hit the jackpot. He did not pay much attention then, but he also noticed how MJ seemed to have been reprimanding Jorge, she had looked annoyed and disgusted at the same time.
Caroline's husband was a politician, a corrupt one at that, but he hid it well, if it was not for his friendship with his wife, Logan would still think he was an angel.
He played nice in front of the public, while in the dark, he had his goons do the dirty work for him.
When Logan tipped him anonymously, he was hoping the big guy would send his goons to beat Jorge up just to teach both him and his wife a lesson of what happened to people who treated him like a clown.
Logan did not think he would go guns blazing.
It must have been something big if Caroline ended up quitting her job, she had completely gone AWOL, and her number no longer worked.
Everyone knew Caroline Becker was the best doctor in town, if anyone could save Jorge, it had to be her, her husband definitely wanted him dead.
It was not even lunch yet, and Logan was already drained. Between running his company and sorting out the insurance issues at La Café, and trying to find out who was behind the shooting, he was walking on water.
He parked his car outside his building, and not even a second after he entered, everyone needed something from him.
He hated busy days like this, as if reading his mind, Natalia threw him an apologetic look. "You are probably going to hate me for this, but there are tons of documents that require your signature. It is rush hour," she said hurriedly, turning to attend to one of the employees.
Logan frowned upon arrival, Natalia seemed to be running the desk all by herself again. "Why are you doing all this by yourself? Where's Mosetsana?" He asked.
Natalia shrugged. "I don't know, she's not even answering her phone. She probably has to get the kids to school again since her husband fired their driver."
Logan was not even the slightest bit shocked, Thuso had probably even beaten her up. "And the new girl?"
"Out running errands."
"Find out where Mosetsana is and tell her to get her ass to work if she doesn't want me to put her in charge of finding her own replacement," he said with a scowl on his face. "And gather all the necessary documents and send them up to my office so that I can sign them off." He grabbed his letters and walked towards the elevator.
"Logan!" Natalia ran after him.
He continued walking as if she was not struggling to catch up. "What is it, Natalia?" He had been avoiding her, the last thing he needed was to have a talk, the women in his life were fond of that, and Natalia was the worst.
"There's a man waiting in your office." Logan halted in his steps and turned to face her, causing her to nearly run into him. "What?" He bit off, his voice rising to the max. "Why would you let him in?"
He did not like anyone going to his office in his absence, and Natalia knew better than to let a stranger in.
She grimaced as all eyes turned to them. "Because he is not the type of man you keep waiting around."
"Who the hell is he?" Logan was beyond pissed, at this point, he did not even care that he was shouting.
"I don't know!" Natalia said hastily.
"God dammit, Natalia! No one goes to my office without my clearance, absolutely no one." He cussed and turned on his heels. "You better consider this your second warning, the third one and I'll find somebody who is good at following instructions." He got into the elevator and exited on his floor, and then he marched towards his office like there was a bomb about to go off.
He barged into the office and found a strange guy waiting patiently on his couch.
"I was told you were a busy man, but I didn't think you were the type to be too busy for your own friends," the man said as if they were long time friends.
Logan had never seen him before and he doubted he was even from South Africa. He had a very peculiar accent. He was a black man, tall and buff, he had a built for a gangster or bodyguard. He was dressed in an all-black suit and black leather gloves; everything about him spelled trouble, especially the big scar that cascaded all the way from his ear to his chin.
"Who are you?" Logan asked, closing the door behind him.
"My name is Jackson, but you can call me Jackie, it sounds more friendly." More dangerous, you mean. Logan thought.
He tried to look as calm as he could, but he felt uncomfortable in the company of this man.
He walked around his desk and took a seat. "Jackson, what are you doing in my office?"
That earned his a smirk. "I can see your mind working, you think you have seen me before, don't you?" The man mused, but Logan swore he had never met him before. "I was Alastair Cooper's head bodyguard, but I'm in charge of Ms Billings' security now." Logan gulped, wondering what troubles awaited him now. "I'm certain you are aware about her brother's accident, and you know she will be here soon." Logan remained impassive even though he was freaking out inside. Had MJ sent a bodyguard to kill him? "Relax, she doesn't even know I am here."
That did not make him feel any better. "So, you are doing things behind your boss's back?"
The man chuckled. "MJ Billings is not my boss," he said, and Logan felt a new sense of fear settling in. "I'm going to tell you a story." He placed both his arms on the top of the couch and crossed his legs. "June 27, 2017." Logan's face paled as the events of the day clicked in his mind. "You should put that down, this date will always mean a lot to your girlfriend," he mocked as if reading his mind. "We drove Alastair Cooper to a restaurant where he was to meet up with his adopted daughter. Alastair was obsessed with MJ Billings, he wanted her to remain a mystery even to his security team, but unbeknownst to him, we already knew who she was. You see, he was getting ahead of himself and he was starting to look into things that did not concern him." His eyes watched Logan like a hawk. "Mr Parker, I wasn't hired to guard Alastair Cooper, I was hired to watch him. My boss is a very impartial man and he does not like inconveniences." Jackson turned away and stared at the ceiling, the huge ink covering his chest and neck in display. "My team is the best in the business, if we really wanted to, we could have taken out the entire gang in that bank and made sure that everybody made it out alive." There was a dangerous glint in his eyes as if he was reliving that day. "Alastair had to die."
That was one of the reasons Logan did not trust anyone, especially his staff, because he did not know what else they were doing besides guarding him. "You orchestrated your own boss's death?" He asked.
Jackson chuckled lowly, his dimples playing out on his cheeks. "You still haven't gotten anything I've told you, have you?" He sighed. "We had orders, wait out behind the bank and then rescue the girl after the final gunshot."
A new sense of panic settled at the pits of his bones, and his mind and heart started racing."Are you saying MJ is in danger?"
"From us? No. But she is not safe in this place. There's an envelope on your desk, open it."
There was a huge brown envelope on the desk, he had seen it, but thought it had something to do with work. "What's in it?" He asked, not even attempting to reach for the parcel.
"Not a letter bomb, that much I can promise you."
Logan pulled the envelope towards him and opened it, then he took out a bulk of pictures. The first one showed a familiar warehouse where a man was tied to a chair, and as he kept looking at more images, they showed clearly how injured the man was, his face was battered beyond recognition and he had a bullet in his forehead. The next one after that was a black car with tinted windows, and then there was a picture that was still as clear as daylight in his mind, the day MJ was almost hit by a car while trying to get away from him.
"Mr Parker, I believe you recall all the events from a few months ago." Logan gulped, but did not answer. "I'll take that as a yes. I've been doing a little digging of my own. That guy works for your friend and bodyguard, he said he received orders to take MJ out, but he refused to give a name. He died without giving me a name or contact. Now, the only connections I have to him is you, and your friends, David and Thuso." He took off his gloves and placed them on the side before resuming his sitting position. "The only thing I managed to get from him was his cellphone, which is on its way to our IT Specialists in London as we speak."
At first Logan had suspected that the car was part of an assassination attempt, but then he thought against it and labelled it as just another coincidence. He would never have guessed that there was someone who had put a hit on her.
"Come on now, look at the rest. We don't have all day." He was getting agitated by the second and he kept glancing at his watch.
Logan paged through the rest of the pictures, and with each picture, he was feeling more and more sick; they were shots of MJ when she was kidnapped, and then there was a picture of Jameson Peterson's car, Jameson, and his mother. "Why are you showing me all these?"
The man scoffed, challenge brewing in his eyes. "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' kidnapping 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."
Logan frowned. "What?" How was that even possible? Jameson and MJ were inseparable, he was even starting to be jealous of the prick. "Are you saying that Jameson and his mother were behind MJ's kidnapping?"
Jackson did not answer that question, he moved on to the next issue. "There's a memory stick inside the envelope, there you will find every clue you need." He picked up his gloves and put them on, and then stood up and approached Logan's desk. "I'll keep these." He gathered and picked up all the pictures. Logan took out the memory stick and handed him the empty envelope. "One last thing," he said once he had everything. "I need you to find that journalist friend of yours, she has disappeared and she's also part of this investigation." He put the envelope inside his jacket and then headed for the door without another word.
"Wait!" Logan got up from his seat, and Jackson stopped without bothering to turn around. "Were you behind Antonina's shooting?"
The bodyguard sighed and shook his head. "You give me way too much credit, Mr Parker," he said before walking out of the office.