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𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗜𝗫𝗧𝗬 𝗦𝗜𝗫
𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒆

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・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

Barry scoffed as he looked down at the Cross of Santo Domingo, running his hand across it since it was the first time he'd seen it. Rafe and Tara had come up with the idea to pretend to ship the cross on the train, only to actually keep it for themselves since they didn't want Ward knowing about it. "This shit is straight out of the Pope's vault, brah."

"Well, makes sense as to why it's apparently Pope Heyward's family heirloom," Tara remarked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm gonna pretend I know who that is," Barry replied, not really taking the time to learn any of the Pogues' names by heart. "But you don't think we can get more for it as it is? I mean, this straight out of church, brah."

Rafe came over after drinking straight out of a bottle of alcohol, handing it to Barry. Barry looked down at it and shrugged, taking a sip, as Rafe grabbed a piece of sheet metal. "This is how we turn the cross into untraceable money," Rafe told him.

"Untraceable, huh?" Barry muttered, grabbing another piece of sheet metal to put over the cross.

Before he did so, Rafe reached down into the opening in the cross and found a key. He held it up, examining it. "You think that means anything?" Tara asked, hoping that there maybe was more gold and that key led to it.

Rafe slowly shook his head before he pocketed the key. "You know, I heard some crazy shit that happened last night," he told them.

"Is that right?" Barry spoke.

"You know the fake cross we put in there?"

"Yeah."

"It was stolen," Rafe admitted, which made Tara start to grin. Only one thing came to her mind: the Pogues. And they managed to trick their little asses.

"Does sound like them Pogues, don't it?" Barry pointed out.

"Oh, no doubt," Rafe said as he grabbed the bottle of alcohol again. "I mean, I'd pay half the value of this just to see the look on their faces when they opened the box."

"I'll bet you would," Barry said.

"I'd pay everything I'd have just to kill them," Tara added on to that, sending Rafe a frivolous smile. Rafe looked over at her, licking his lips but not in a seductive away; more in a way that he had been thinking about something. Tara arched her brow at him, waiting for him to say something, but he didn't and looked away instead. Tara swallowed hard, her body tensing in puzzlement, yet also irritation.

Barry glanced in between the couple, sensing some tension between them but he didn't want to mention it to her either of them angry. "You know what the melting point of gold is? 1,948 degrees. Hot enough to melt all three of us."

"Looks like you've payed attention in science class," Tara commented — trying to shake off her annoyance at Rafe — rolling her eyes since she didn't care about the temperature and all that crap; she just wanted to see the cross melt.

"I gotta be honest with you, guys. I don't know if I got this in me, brah," Barry admitted.

"I do," Rafe immediately said and Tara nudged him with her knee. "W-We do," he quickly corrected himself, making her smirk in satisfaction.

Barry laughed. "Yeah, I knew you both did. It's all yours, Country Club and Blondie."

"I just love that nickname," Tara mused before Rafe lit the match, setting the cross on fire and shutting it inside all of the metal so it could remain in the same place.

"There it is," Rafe whispered, watching as the burning hot flames licked at the priceless cross.

"We're going to Hell. That's for sure," Barry voiced, shaking his head lightly.

"Might as well kill the Pogues then if we're at it," Tara said, wanting to see what Rafe's reaction to her would be at the mention at killing the Pogues again.

Rafe didn't look at her as he just kept staring at the cross, a million thoughts just racing through his head. He had thought about what Kyla had told him again, about Tara.

He knew that Kyla wanted what was best for her friends, but he also believed she wanted what was best for him. If she didn't, she would have never said those things to him back at Singh's.

And after what the malicious blonde was saying now...Rafe knew he had to do something about it if he wanted to start living a more normal, chill life.

After the cross had fully melted, Rafe had told Barry and Tara to work on getting it into gold bars while he told them he was going back to Tannyhill to sort some things out.

He was actually lying, deciding to go to Tara's house in hopes of speaking to her mother. He knocked on the door, waiting for someone to answer it.

Mrs. Thornton pulled open the door, not expecting to see Rafe there. "Oh, hi, Rafe. Tara's not home if you're looking for her," she told him, assuming that would be the reason why he had been there.

Mrs. Thornton didn't want to admit to anyone since she was determined to keep up their respectable reputation, but after Midsummers, she had noticed her daughter start to change. She thought that maybe it was because she seemed to be going through some relationship changes, but it was like Tara was barely even at home anymore.

She knew that Tara had started to date her friend's ex boyfriend, not wanting to ask if something had been going on beforehand since she just didn't want to know. But she thought that Rafe had been a good guy, seeing as though he'd been a Cameron. But with everything that had been going on recently, she wasn't 100% sure.

"I'm not here for her," Rafe told her, which made her furrow her brows a bit. "May I, uh, come in?"

"Of course," Mrs. Thornton replied, stepping out of the way so Rafe could walk inside her home.

Rafe walked past her, looking around the neatly organized home. "Is Topper home?" he inquired.

"No. He was going on a small trip, but he said he'd be back today," Mrs. Thornton informed him. "Rafe, why are you here?" she then asked after a moment, seeing the way he had been looking around.

Rafe finally set his eyes on the older woman, knowing that since he had been there he had to go through with what he was saying. "I'm here because of your daughter."

"Why? Did you two break up?"

"No. Not...yet," he slowly said, which made the woman arch a brow. "Look...I think something may be wrong with Tara," he began, pretending as if he didn't know the real reason since he didn't want to expose himself at the same time. "She's been acting really weird lately, almost — almost erratic. It's like she's on—"

"Drugs?" Mrs. Thornton cut him off, knowing what he was trying to say. Rafe slowly nodded, not sure if she already knew about Tara using cocaine. "While you two went to Guadeloupe for a little getaway, I decided to search her room since I'd had a feeling she was hiding something from me."

She then went over to a bookshelf and pulled out a book, reaching her hand in the shelf. She then pulled out a bag full of a white powder which was cocaine, Rafe assumed. "I found this." She held up the bag, her lips cursed in a thin line. "You cannot tell anyone about this, Rafe."

"No, no, Mrs. Thornton, I promise. I came here to tell you so...maybe you could do something about it," he told the woman, acting distraught. "I just want what's best for her, and I don't think that's me right now. I...I think she needs help."

Mrs. Thornton held her head up high, her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "You can leave now, Rafe. I'm glad we had this conversation."

"Are you gonna do something?" Rafe questioned as Mrs. Thornton started towards him, wanting to leave the house before Tara came back.

"I have everything under control," she assured him, opening the front door to let him out. "Just don't tell anyone. Or else we'll have a problem."

"I promise I won't. I...I love her, Mrs. Thornton," he forced out. "I just want to help her."

Mrs. Thornton forced a smile onto her face before she shut the door.

・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

Tara arrived home at the same time Topper had, not even knowing that he had went out to begin with. "Where the hell were you?" Tara asked him, giving him a look. After Rafe had told her Topper had beat him up to save Sarah, their sibling relationship had gotten strained; even more strained then it already was to begin with.

"Uh, you know, somewhere," Topper answered, knowing that if he said he was in Wilmington, his sister would grow suspicious.

Tara blinked at him. "You're so fucking weird," she insulted, not even suspicious since she felt as if Topper was just an idiot.

Topper rolled his eyes, not wanting to argue back with her since he knew what she had apparently been capable of. The two then made their way into their house, seeing their mother sitting on the couch in the living room. "Hey, Mom," Topper greeted.

Mrs. Thornton looked over before she told up from the couch, something in her hand that the twins couldn't see yet. "Topper. How was your trip?"

"It was...fine," he replied, nodding his head.

Mrs. Thornton then looked over at Tara. "Tara. You didn't come back home after you got back from Guadeloupe," she pointed out.

"I went back to Tannyhill with Rafe," Tara told her. "I forgot to tell you."

"Like you forgot to tell me about this?" Mrs. Thornton responded before she raised her hand up, showing the bag with cocaine.

Tara's eyes widened at that, looking over at her brother. "What the fuck, Top?!" she exclaimed angrily, thinking that Topper had snitched on her.

"Tara, I didn't—"

"It wasn't your brother who found it, Tara. I did," their mother cut in, making the both of them look over at her. "I will not allow my daughter to make a fool of herself by using this."

"It's not even a big deal, Mom," Tara began to explain, stepping towards her. "I haven't even used it in a while. And, see, I'm fine."

"I don't think you are," Mrs. Thornton said, which made Tara narrow her eyes. "I've been hearing rumors, Tara. And not good ones."

Tara sucked in an angry breath. "From who? Pogues? You know you can't fucking trust those pieces of shit."

"It's not only them, though. It's from others. I won't say who, but from people who can be trusted," she explained. "I think you need some help, Tara."

"I don't fucking need help," Tara sneered, taking more steps toward her mom.

"Yes, you do. And I won't let you keep going down this hole and ruin our family's reputation. Your grandfather is a judge, for Christ's sake. You cannot ruin our image," Mrs. Thornton went on.

"Oh. Oh, our image, of course!" Tara spoke with false enthusiasm, looking over at Topper. "You didn't seem to care about our image when Topper was dating that slut, Sarah."

"Hey, don't talk about her like that," Topper warned his sister.

"I'll talk about her how I want to, Topper. It's pathetic that you're still even in love with her."

"Keep your brother out of this, Tara. He's not the one that needs help," Mrs. Thornton told her, straightening up.

Tara looked back toward her mother and moved forward again, now only a few feet apart. "I told you...I. Don't. Need. Fucking. Help," she pronounced before she brought her arm up and tried taking the cocaine out of her mother's hand.

"Tara!" her mother yelled.

"Give it to me, you fucking bitch!" Tara shouted before she heard loud footsteps come behind her and somebody grab her torso. "Topper, get off of me!"

"It's not me!" Topper told her as another man pushed past him, going to help the other guy that was pulling Tara away from their mother. "Who the hell are these guys?!"

Tara tried kicking and pushing away from the men, but they were too strong for her. They were able to get her away from her mother, who was still holding onto the bag of cocaine as he pushed a piece of hair out of her face. "These are the ones going to help your sister," she told him, trying to remain unfazed.

"Let go of me!" Tara shrieked as the two men pulled her out of the house, bringing her over to their car. Topper and their mom followed after the men, seeing the whole process go down.

"Where are they gonna take her?" Topper questioned, his eyes wide.

"To a place where she'll learn discipline," she answered, not wanting to give away too many details just in case Topper wanted to help his sister. "I wouldn't worry. You won't be able to contact her there anyway."

Topper looked back at his sister, seeing the men throw her in the back of the car and quickly close and lock the doors so she couldn't get out. They then got into the cars themselves and didn't allow Tara to even say goodbye before they drove off.

authors note
sorry this chapter
doesn't have kyla and
jj (jyla?) but it's definitely
important in terms of development
and what im planning plot wise
heheh. anyway, i hope u guys
enjoyed this chapter!! (also i
changed tara's fc to kathryn newton
so u could check that out on the intro
page!)