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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝘄𝗼: 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲

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Cassie forced Emery out of the party once an ambulance had come and taken Topper to the hospital, wanting to escape everything that just had occurred in the span of just an hour.

Kiara telling JJ she loved him, Cassie practically ending her friendship with Kiara, Cassie breaking down in front of JJ and telling him he should be with Kiara instead, and then John B beating Topper to a bloody pulp in front of dozens upon dozens of witnesses.

She needed to get the hell out of that party before more shit could happen.

The two girls got into Emery's pink Jeep, planning on going back home before Cassie realized she couldn't go back home. Her mother was still there and no matter how much Aunt Bea could try to put a distance between them, her mother would find a way to get at her somehow.

She wasn't safe there. Her mother could try anything. If she was willing to cover up the death of her own husband, then there was nothing stopping her from doing something to her daughter who had put a wrench in her plans multiple times now.

She had to think of something and fast.

"Em, drop me off at the Sheriff's Department," Cassie spoke up.

Emery gave her a confused glance as she drove. "The Sheriff's Department? Why the Sheriff's Department? Is it because of what happened with Topper? Because I thought you didn't like him anyway."

"No, it has nothing to do with that. It's about Savannah," she revealed and Emery raised her brows. "Look, what I need you to do is drop me off there and for you to get back home. Tell your mom to get out of the house and make something up like-like you're gonna get ice cream together or something. Just make sure Savannah doesn't go with you."

"Cassie, what are you—"

"Just do this for me, Em. Please," Cassie interrupted her. "My mother is not a good person and I don't know how much longer I can see her be free."

Emery gave her another glance, her grip tightening on the steering wheel. "Are you saying you're...gonna try to turn her in?"

"Keyword is try," Cassie replied and Emery blinked in shock, nodding slowly as she tried to wrap her head around what Cassie was telling her.

Emery hadn't seen her aunt in years and she had no idea that she was capable of such terrible things Cassie had told her about, but she believed Cassie. There was no way she could have made up such a story like that, and she could tell that her cousin was having a hard time dealing with things.

Terrible things that no teenager should have to deal with.

Although Emery had dealt with some pretty fucked up things in her life, like her father cheating on her mother, that was nowhere near as bad as the things she's heard about in the last few days.

It all felt like one big script for an action movie she would have loved to star in. But alas, she was just a side character in it for right now.

Emery dropped Cassie off at the Sheriff's Department, almost running over the grass she did so, before she drove back home to try to get her mom out of the house.

Cassie stared up at the Sheriff's Department building while taking in a few deep breaths.

She could do this. She had to do this. She just had to get Shoupe to believe her for once.

Cassie stepped foot inside the Sheriff's Department, going up to the lady at the front desk. She didn't even look up as she asked Cassie, "How can I help you today?"

Cassie cleared her throat. "I'm here to talk to Sheriff Shoupe," she told the woman and the women glanced up, recognizing the girl since her face had been plastered on TV stations for a month now for being missing. "It's important."

"Well, the sheriff is a bit busy at the moment—"

"He can't busy enough for what I have to tell him," Cassie interrupted and the woman raised her brows. "Just please let me talk to him," she pleaded.

The woman seemed to think about it for a moment before she sighed, clicking on the button on the intercom to alert Shoupe. "Sheriff, someone's here to see you."

"Tell them to come back another time if it's not urgent. I got Mrs. Thornton on the phone telling me her son was assaulted," Shoupe's voice came through on the other end and Cassie pursed her lips.

The woman sucked in a breath. "It's Cassandra Blake, sir. She says it's important."

Cassie waited for a few moments in anticipation before Shoupe finally answered, "Send her in."

Cassie blinked in slight surprise that Shoupe was actually let her in, but she guessed after being missing for over a month that he wasn't ready to take any more chances in his town.

"It's the—"

"Trust me, I know where it is," Cassie assured the lady before she could tell her where to go. Cassie then set off to Shoupe's office, knocking before she stepped inside. She saw Shoupe sitting at his desk, putting the phone down right as she stepped inside. "Hi, Sheriff."

"Cassie," he greeted. "Have a seat."

"I'm fine, thanks," she told him and he nodded slowly. He assumed he deserved that.

"So, what's so important that I had to hang up the phone on Mrs. Thornton who apparently said John B assaulted her son?" Shoupe questioned. "Does that have anything to do on why you're here? Trying to vouch for your friend?"

"Surprisingly, no," Cassie answered and he tilted his head. "This is has to do with Savannah Blake."

"Savannah Blake? Your mother?" Shoupe slowly inquired.

"Yup. She's back."

"She's back?"

"Didn't you think it was weird she left at the same time I was missing?" Cassie arched a brow. "Or were you just sitting on your ass like you always do?"

Shoupe looked taken aback. "Now, Cassie—"

"Never mind that, though," she cut him off and he sighed. "I'm here because I need her to be put on prison. For good."

Shoupe rubbed his face. "For what, exactly?"

"For being an accomplice to the murder of Kevin Blake and for the murder of Gavin Barnstead," Cassie told him.

Shoupe blinked at her. "Need I remind you that Ward Cameron confessed to those crimes already? And he's already been punished for that, which we both saw with our own two eyes."

If only you knew the truth.

But Cassie wasn't here for that. She wasn't here to say that Ward Cameron was alive because Shoupe would never believe that. She was just here to prove her mother was a monster and she deserved to be put away.

"Let me prove it to you then."

"Prove it to me? And how are you gonna do that?"

"Let me wear a wire," she said and Shoupe started to roll his eyes, shaking his head. "No, Shoupe, listen to me. Let me go back home with a wire and have your guys listen in. I can get her to confess. You would already have probable cause to let me wear one since she's been arrested before and now she's suddenly back on the island."

"Cassie..."

"Shoupe, please," she begged. "Why would I be so hellbent on sending my mom to jail for something she didn't do? Why would I want my mother, my blood, to be sent away from me? You have to see that! I'm not just some-some troubled kid trying to get back at her parent for just being strict. I'm telling you the truth. And this is your chance to see that," she explained and Shoupe pursed his lips. "If you don't let me do this, then the next the person who may end up dead is me. I might go home right now and she might kill me for what I know. At least if I have a wire, you can do something about it. Save a Pogue for once in your life."

"Pogue?"

"Yeah. Pogue," Cassie confirmed. "I haven't been a Kook for a while now. You should know."

Shoupe nodded, looking down at his desk. Cassie stared at him, waiting to see what he had to say. He finally looked back up at her and said, "Fine. You know what? Fine."

She wasn't sure if it was just her mind playing tricks on her, so she asked, "Wait, really?"

"Yeah. I'll send you in with a wire. Have my guys listen in. Actually, I'll come too, how about that?" he offered and Cassie nodded along, not believing he was actually going through with this. "But if you waste my time...I won't be likely to help you again."

"Yeah, I already knew that," she replied with a snarky tone, and Shoupe gave a short laugh in response.

In just a short amount of time, Shoupe prepped Cassie for what she would have to do. She wore a wire underneath her shirt and Shoupe explained to her what to say if things got fishy.

He told her if she felt like she was danger to immediately just say it out loud instead of trying to hint at it. Or if she felt like she would be fine in a dangerous situation, then to try to tell them that without her mother knowing.

However, she told him to specifically not rush inside unless she said for them too. She was determined to get everything out of her mother and once she knew that she did, then she would tell him to send his men in.

Once she was prepped, she was dropped off a block from her house so her mother wouldn't get suspicious to see police cars outside. The cops found hiding spots outside just in case they needed to rush in, watching as Cassie made her way up to the front door of her house

Cassie pushed open the door to her house, calling out, "Emery? Aunt Bea?"

She had done that on purpose, making sure the two of them were really out even though she hadn't seen Emery's pink Jeep out front.

"They're not here. It's just me," she heard her mother say to her from the kitchen and Cassie gulped, slowly stepping inside the kitchen to see her mother standing there.

"Hey, Savannah," Cassie greeted, raising her brows at her.

"Oh, it's just Savannah now?" she noticed, nodding her head. "I see."

"Well, when you hid the murder of dad, murdered Gavin, and the. kidnapped me, what else am I supposed to call you? Murder Mom?" Cassie remarked, hoping this would lead into Savannah confessing to everything.

Savannah let out a laugh. "I think you're being a bit dramatic," she answered and Cassie resisted the urge to curse, knowing that was nowhere near a confession.

Cassie stepped further into the kitchen. "Dramatic? Oh, I can show you dramatic."

"Is that a threat?" Savannah replied.

"I don't know, is it?"

Savannah narrowed her eyes at her daughter. "You see, I was a bit confused as to why suddenly Emery was begging her mom to go out to ice cream with her. When you suddenly left the house this morning, and Emery went after you, and then didn't come back until just before without you...thought that was a bit weird."

Cassie shrugged. "I didn't wanna come home."

"Because of me?"

"What do you think?"

Savannah laughed lightly. "The thing is, Emery seemed almost...jumpy. Nervous," the blonde woman continued and Cassie tensed up a bit. "For someone who wants to be an aspiring actress, she wasn't too good at acting."

"Maybe because you're so good at it you can spot it," Cassie responded.

"So you're saying she was acting?" Savannah determined and Cassie cursed in her mind. "Like you told her something that would scare her enough to force her mom out of the house I've so kindly provided for them before I decided to come home."

Cassie looked gave her mother a once over. "And what would I tell her?"

"That you were going to kill me," Savannah assumed.

Cassie almost laughed out loud. Here she was, thinking she was caught. But no. Her mother thought that she was planning on killing her? Oh, she must have been really fucked in the head.

"You think I told her I was planning on killing you?" Cassie repeated.

"Yeah. That's why I got prepared for when you decided to come back." Suddenly, Savannah reached into her waistband behind her back and pulled out a gun, pointing it right at her daughter.

Cassie's heart began to hammer at her chest at the sight of her own mother aiming a gun right at her, her mouth running dry. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to go in there, get her mother to confess, and then have her mother get escorted out in handcuffs.

There wasn't supposed to be a gun pulled on her.

But she couldn't immediately tell the cops to come running in. Sure, having a gun pulled on her was a criminal offense, but she needed her mother to be put away for everything.

Cassie slowly held her hands up as her mother kept the gun aimed at her. "Oh, you're prepared by pulling a gun on me?" she said so that Shoupe would hear her over the wire. "That's perfectly fine," she added so he would know not to send his men in.

"It's perfectly fine?" Savannah tilted her head.

"Yup. Perfectly fine," Cassie reiterated before she dared to take a step forward, causing her mother to turn the safety off of the gun. That only made Cassie's heart pound harder. "I don't have a weapon on me, Mom."

"And I'm supposed to believe that?" Savannah questioned.

"Just because you're so fucked up and you killed someone before doesn't mean I would," Cassie seethed.

Savannah sneered before she neared her daughter, causing Cassie's eyes to widen as the gun was now only a foot or two away from her chest.

"You think I don't know my own daughter? You think I don't what you do when you get mad? You break things," Savannah began and Cassie swallowed thickly. "You break everything you touch."

Cassie's chin wobbled. "That's not true."

"Oh, but isn't it?" Savanah countered. "I know you do because you're...me."

"I'm not you. I'll never be like you," Cassie shook her head.

"But you are. And you're your father, of course. A mix of both of us actually," Savannah went on. "Anger issues, obsessed with the gold, drinking problems...the list goes on. It's in your DNA."

Cassie sucked in a breath. "No. I'm different than you. I'm not a homewrecker. I'm not a murderer—"

"You don't think I did those things to protect you?" Savannah questioned and Cassie's eyes widened a bit since she was basically admitting to it now, but she wasn't sure if that was enough evidence.

"Protect me? No! That's not protecting me, that's called being a psychopath!" Cassie raised her voice and suddenly Savannah moved forward, pressing the gun right on Cassie's chest.

"You watch your mouth," Savannah threatened and Cassie gulped, not daring to look down at the gun. "I was a good mother to you. I raised you. I fed you. I gave you a home. And this is how you treat me? If you would have never went on that search for the stupid Royal Merchant with those dirty Pogues, you would still be living a good life, Cassandra."

Cassie's lip quivered. "If you would have never done the things you did, then I would have a good life anyway," she shot back breathlessly.

"I had to do those things, Cassandra!" Savannah shouted in her face and Cassie flinched. "Your father got us into the mess and I was determined to get us out. I may have been sleeping with Ward, but I didn't deserve to get abused every day your father couldn't find the gold. I was relieved when I watched Ward kill him and I was even more relieved hearing from Gavin that the plan to crash the plane worked. But, unfortunately for Gavin, he had to make things tough for us. There was nothing I could do, don't you understand? I was hiding things to make sure you had a good life and Gavin was going to out everything. So when Ward dropped the gun, I shot him. You think I liked it? No, I didn't fucking like it! But I had to do it. For you. For you to grow up with a parent left and not end up like those Pogues."

She admitted it. She admitted everything, Cassie realized, her whole body shaking.

But now what was she supposed to do? If she told Shoupe over the wire to send his men inside, she was risking Savannah shooting her out of spite for setting her up.

She had to get the gun out of her hands, but how was she supposed to do that?

She started to shake her head, feeling her eyes starting to water out of fear. "None of that was for me. It was all to protect you and to protect your reputation," she forced out and Savannah's jaw clenched. "If you really cared about me, you would've told me about dad from the beginning. I-I would've understood."

"But you wouldn't have," Savannah denied, her grip on the gun tightening. "I know you always liked your father better than me. I mean, he would tell me that himself when he decided to hit me and berate me. He always treated you like an angel while I got the short end of the stick. So sorry if I wasn't likable because of that."

"So you were jealous? You were jealous he treated me good while he hit you behind closed doors?" Cassie dared to ask.

"Is that wrong? Is that wrong of me to be jealous?" Savannah inquired. "I was nothing but a good wife to him and that's how treated me. I mean, I guess that's where you got it from. Why you treat me so bad."

"Stop comparing me to him!" Cassie raised her voice. "And stop comparing me to you because I'm not like you."

"But you are! Where do you think you got all your tendencies from me, Cassandra? The fucking milk man?" Savannah exclaimed.

"Wouldn't be surprised because you're a fucking whore!" Cassie raged and Savannah's nostrils flared. "I'm not like you and I'll never be like you! I'll never be a monster!"

"You're a Blake, it's in your DNA!" Savannah reiterated loudly, stupidly holding her hand up that held the gun.

Cassie took that moment to push her mother against the edge of the island table, causing her to groan in pain. The younger Blake then reached for the gun in her hand and the two of them started to fight over it before Cassie elbowed her mom in the stomach as hard as she could, making her release the gun from her grip to clutch her rib and double over.

The gun fell onto the floor and Cassie dove for it before her mother could, grabbing onto it. She turned, standing over her mother as she pointed the gun at her.

Savannah blinked, holding her rib that Cassie might have broke from the sheer strength of her elbow. "Cassandra..." She trailed off, gulping. "Think about this, honey."

Cassie kept the gun aimed at her mother's head, tears now falling from her eyes as her hand shook. "Think about this? How-how could I think about this? You pulled the gun on me first," Cassie spoke shakily, not caring that Shoupe was hearing this.

"I thought you were going to kill me," Savannah pointed out fearfully.

"I wasn't going to kill you, you fucking idiot!" Cassie screamed before she whimpered, the tears falling down her face and onto her lips. "But I should."

Savannah blinked. "W-What?"

"I should kill you, shouldn't I?" Cassie reiterated. "I mean, you-you ruined my entire life. You're an accomplice to murder and a murderer. You-you locked me in my own house, you locked me up in a-a goddamn boat! You stole the gold, you stole the cross. Pope's family's cross! I-I mean, you deserve to be dead. You deserve to die."

Suddenly, Shoupe and his men came rushing through the front and back doors of the house once they heard what Cassie had been saying from the wire, knowing this was perilous just from what they could hear the young girl saying.

"Cassie," Shoupe began, but Cassie kept her gaze locked on her mother below her. "Cassie, just lower the gun. We got her confession. Everything will be fine."

Savannah glanced between her daughter and the cops, her mouth gaping. "Confession?" Savannah mumbled under her breath.

"That's why I was here. To get a fucking confession out of you," Cassie revealed and Savannah's eyes widened. "Not to kill you."

"You might as well just kill me at this point then," Savannah suggested, tears in her own eyes. "I'm not going to jail."

"Cassie, don't listen her," Shoupe tried. "You don't have to do that for this to be over. Just walk the gun over to us."

"No, just kill me!" Savannah cried out and Cassie started to cry even more, the gun shaking tremendously in her hand. "My life is over anyway, so just do it, Cassandra. If I'm capable...you're capable."

The tears rushed down Cassie's cheeks as she let out a sob at her mother's words. Her own mother wanted her to shoot her, to put her out of her own misery so she wouldn't have to go to jail.

And Cassie wanted to.

She wanted to pull that trigger right then and there so she wouldn't have any chance of dealing with her mother again. She would finally be free. Free from the shackles of her family line.

But would she?

If she killed her mother, wouldn't she just be continuing the family line?

It's in your DNA.

It's

In

Your

DNA

Those four words kept echoing throughout her mind, causing her keep on crying. She was born doomed. Doomed from the start. With a rage-filled alcoholic father, and a lying and conniving mother.

She had both of their traits. She had both of their DNA. She was a part of their family line.

But it was time to break out of the family line.

It was time to make her DNA pure.

Cassie let out a choked sob as she lowered the gun from her mother, causing all the cops to rush over and create a distance between them as one cop took the gun from her hand and the other cops forced Savannah to her feet to handcuff her as they told her her rights.

Cassie continued to weep as an officer escorted her over to Shoupe, who was rubbing a hand along his face in pure shock.

"What do we do with her, Sheriff? She pointed a gun at her," the officer pointed out.

Cassie looked up, meeting eyes with Shoupe. That was the first time she had ever seen the man look so...sympathetic. Human.

"Self-defense," Shoupe answered after a moment and Cassie blinked rapidly at him, stunned at the fact Shoupe was truly helping her.

"But Sheriff—"

"It was out of self-defense. Savannah held it to her first," Shoupe firmly stated and the officer nodded, slowly letting go of Cassie's arm.

"Thank you," Cassie weakly said as tears still streamed down her face, not daring to look over to see her mother being handcuffed. Despite her wanting to see it so bad before, she couldn't dare to look at it now.

Shoupe let out a sad sigh as he looked at the girl, guilt consuming him. "Don't thank me. I'm just...I'm sorry, kid."

authors note!
anyone catch the parallel to when jj
was pointing the gun at his father but
couldn't shoot in s1? 👀 they are meant
to be hehe. also ik this is like not a realistic
thing to happen but this is obx we're talking
about and it's for the sake of the plot so just
bear with it LMAOO promise u there will
be happiness next chapter!!