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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝘅𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝘅: 𝗸𝗶𝗱𝗻𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱...𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻

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Cassie was sitting in the back of the truck that seemed to be taking her to a gigantic house that was guarded all around. She swallowed thickly as the truck stopped in front of a three armed men, one with a dog.

The man brought the dog towards the car, sniffing to make sure that nothing foreign had been brought in. Well, other than Cassie of course.

"All right, let them in," the guard said and the other guards moved out of the way so the truck could continue driving towards the mansion.

Cassie continued to look around, seeing more and more men with large guns and her stomach dropped. She had no idea what she would be walking into and she didn't want to find out.

But something at the back of her mind told her this had nothing to do with Ward or Savannah. And somehow, that was worse.

The truck stopped once it got to a gate that led to a door and a man forced her out of the car, walking her inside by the bicep. She looked up, seeing more armed men on the balcony and below as well.

She sucked in a breath as the man forced her to keep on walking and she didn't even protest. How could she when she would probably shot on sight? She wasn't that reckless. She knew when it wasn't the right time to start crashing out.

The man brought her up to the door and it opened up, revealing a maid inside. Cassie glanced back at the man before he forced her inside, letting go of her arm so he could shut the door.

She slowly walked further into the house next to the maid, taking a look at some of the items scattered across the home. They looked to be old artifacts of some kind. She furrowed her brows a bit before she stopped in front of another armed guard.

"Take her upstairs. The Orinoco Room," the maid told the guard.

"This way," the guard said, grabbing her arm and forcing her up the steps with him. "Up." Cassie gasped a bit as his grip on her arm tightened, but she kept her mouth shut in fear of what they would do to her. Once they made it to the Orinoco Room, he opened the door and shoved her inside. "Inside."

Cassie took a quick look around the room before she turned to the guard. "Why am I here? Who are you working for?" She asked.

"Dinner at eight. I'd clean up," was the only thing he said in response.

"Just tell me what they want!" Cassie begged before the guard moved back and shut the door, locking her inside. Cassie jimmied the knob, but it wouldn't budge. "Shit," she cursed, releasing a frustrated breath. She then reached her hand into her pocket to try to find to Bobby pin and cursed against when it wasn't there.

It must have fallen out when she jumped into the water to save JJ or when they were on that damn island.

But even if she had the Bobby pin and got out, would she even make it out alive?

She turned back around, her eyes flitting all over the room before she moved to the window. She moved the curtain out of the way, seeing guards below her room.

She poked the inside of her cheek before she walked away, spotting an armoire that had red dresses lined up. She tilted her head, moving closer to see that a note had been left that read, Pick Your Size.

She examined them, running her fingers along the fabric. "Hm," she hummed, looking up at the ceiling to think. It seemed like whoever these people are, they wanted her to clean up nice.

Honestly, that wasn't even the worst thing. It was actually pretty great, especially when Cassie stepped into the bathroom and saw a shower. An actual shower! She hadn't seen one in over a month.

She immediately ran the water, hopping inside to feel the warm water hit her skin. She practically let out a pleasurable sigh at the feeling, grabbing the soap they had left for her to scrub every inch of her body.

Although the situation hadn't been great whatsoever, she was grateful that they had the decency to let her rinse the muck off her body she had waited so long to do so.

While Cassie showered, the Pogues were on a mission to figure out where this Jimmy Portis guy lived to try to find the Blake girl. They had found some cloth to wrap up Kiara's gash on her arm and now they were walking along some random street without any idea where they were.

"Really helps there's no names on the streets," JJ commented sarcastically, tweaking over the fact that Cassie had been kidnapped...again. He would have traded places with her in a heartbeat if he had known she went back to help Kiara.

He had no idea if she was okay or if she was even...alive. He didn't want to think about that. In his mind, she was alive right now and throwing whatever she could find at these people to show them she wasn't afraid of them.

That was the Cassie he knew in his mind. Determined, angry, and most importantly...alive.

"Just let me handle it," Cleo told him as she walked over to some people on a balcony of a building named Old Brigand. "101 Cattle Wash?" She asked since JJ had manage to swipe Portis's license that had his address on the plane and the man pointed to a house a a block down or so. "Blue house? Thanks, appreciate you."

"Let's do it," JJ said as the Pogues made their way over to the blue house, seeing the address etched on a plank of wood. "This is it. Let's go around back."

The Pogues snuck around back, going through the opened gate. Since JJ had been itching to get inside, he accidentally made the gate rattle. "Shh!" Pope shushed him.

"My bad, sorry."

The Pogues quietly ran up to the house. "Hey. Window?" John B said, pointing up to the window above them.

"Yeah," Kiara nodded.

"Here. You want some help?" Pope offered.

"No, I got this." John B placed his hands on the windowsill and pulled himself up, grunting a bit.

As he did that, JJ turned around once he noticed some crabs snapping at his feet. "Whoa. Yo, get off! Get off!" He whisper-shouted before one jumped on his shoe. "Get off! Dude, get o — OW!" JJ yelped once the crab bit his finger, making him jump around and groan as the crab hung off of his finger.

They all shushed him as he danced around, flinging the crab off of him. "Hey, what are you doing? Does the element of surprise mean nothing to you?" Pope questioned.

"It turned my thumb purple," JJ whined.

"Shhh, relax," Cleo told him. "It's just a crab, man."

"I'm being surrounded right now. Goddamn it. Damn little sea spider," JJ panted as he kept sending the crabs nasty looks.

They finally made their way into the home as sneaky as possible. "I'll take the front," Cleo whispered before she turned to John B. "Take the back."

"Cassie?"

"Cece?"

"Cass?" JJ tried, but no answer. He turned to Sarah, seeing that she was peering into a room. "Sarah, no one in there?"

Sarah shook her head. "No."

"No one there?" JJ asked John B.

"There's no one in there," John B confirmed.

"Shit," JJ cursed under his breath, becoming frantic once again. "Okay, well, if she's not here, where is she?" He asked no one in particular, looking around the house.

Pope's eyes landed on a painting of a smoking ship, reading the bottom that said, San Jose. "John B. John B?" He piped up and John B went over to him, following his gaze. "Recognize that?"

"What? Find something?" JJ breathed out as he walked over to the boys, thinking they found something in relation to Cassie.

"Holy shit."

"It's a burning boat," JJ stated, his eyes darting to the two boys in confusion. It had nothing to do with Cassie, so why was it important?

"This is San Jose. It's from Denmark's diary. This is the ship that Captain Limbrey stole the cross from," Pope explained.

"And the Merchant gold," John B added as Sarah walked up behind them, peering at the painting from over her boyfriend's shoulder.

"Great, whatever. It's just about the gold. It's not about Cassie. It doesn't help us," JJ shook his head as he stalked off, making Sarah shake her head at his behavior.

"Well, Portis is a treasure guy. This is too close to our boat," John B pointed out.

"Just let it go. That's not why we're here," JJ dismissed, growing frustrated that they seemed to care about some stupid boat with treasure than Cassie. Oh, how start of the summer JJ would be calling current JJ pussy-whipped right about now.

Cleo and Kiara peered out the window, seeing a car pull up. They shared a look before Cleo whistled, "Guys, guys, guys!"

Sarah came rushing over. "What?"

"Shit. It's Portis," Kiara realized once the car pulled closer to the house.

"Shit."

"Yo, he's back."

"Do we run?" Sarah asked, glancing at Cleo and Kiara.

"No, no, no. We mad-dog him," JJ planned and they all turned to him like he was crazy. "What? It's just one guy and there's six of us! And he's probably all wonky from hitting his head before," he reasoned. "We mad-dog, stick a knife to his throat, and make him tell us where Cassie is. That's it. That's what we're doing."

Kiara sighed, "JJ—"

"Let's just do it, Kie," John B cut her off, making her give him a surprised look. "We honestly have no other option."

"Yeah, and how else are we gonna figure out where Cassie is? The man deserves to have a knife pressed up to his throat anyway and I'll gladly do the honors," Cleo smirked at them.

JJ pointed at John B and Cleo. "Exactly! Okay, let's go! Let's do this!" He nodded and they all shared an uneasy look before JJ began to explain their positions and what to do.

They hid in the house and waited for Portis to come inside. Once he did, John B ran out of his hiding place first and hit Portis in the face, sending him to Pope who grabbed him.

"Come here!" Pope grunted as he wrapped his bicep around Portis's neck, allowing John B to run over but Portis had shoved him away with his knee. John B flew backwards and hit against the wall, falling to the floor.

Portis elbowed Pope in the side before he flipped him over his body, sending the boy down to the floor with a groan. Portis turned toward the door and tried running away to the other room, but JJ had popped out behind the door and tripped him.

"I got him," JJ said as he went over to the man, grabbing him. "Get up!" He demanded through clenched teeth, forcing Portis up and shoving him on the table as Cleo came over and put her knife to his throat.

"Okay, okay, okay, okay. You guys really shouldn't be here right now," Portis said shakily.

"Where is she, Jimmy?" JJ interrogated with a fist full of his shirt.

"Answer the man!" Cleo shouted.

"You really don't wanna know."

"Talk," Sarah said as she placed a hot sauce bottle underneath Portis's chin and shoved his head back. "Who took her? Was it Ward? Savannah?"

Portis began to laugh. "Ward and Savannah? Who's Ward and Savannah?" He replied and they narrowed their eyes. "You guys really don't understand who you're messing with."

"Then we'll call the cops," Sarah stated.

"Sure, call the cops. See how far that gets ya. This guy owns the cops. He's got eyes all over the island looking for you. All of you. He's a big man, the Kingfish," Portis revealed.

"The Kingfish," JJ repeated as his eyes burned into the man's skull, wishing he could read his mind and have it tell him where Cassie was.

"Hey. What's this?" Pope held up a letter.

"Hey, take your hands off my shit!" Portis exclaimed as he tried getting up.

JJ and Cleo pushed him back down. "Hey, quiet down!" The latter demanded.

"Shut up," JJ drawled.

"Quiet."

JJ looked at Pope. "What is it?"

Pope opened the letter, pulling out cash as he stared directly at Portis. "Ah, man."

"What's that, Jimmy? Is that the payoff?" JJ questioned as he lifted Portis's shirt up, practically using it to strangle him. "Is that the payoff for Cassie, Jimmy? Is it?!" The Maybank boy yelled as Portis groaned from his shirt being pressed against his throat.

"Talk!"

Pope looked at the stamp on the letter. "Hey, what's Vaux Hall?"

"You really don't want to go there, man. That's the lion's den," Portis warned then.

"That's it. That's where Cassie is," John B nodded, sharing a determined look with JJ. "Come on. Pope!" He urged, rushing out of the room.

"You really don't wanna go there!" Portis tried again as he tried to wriggle out of JJ and Cleo's grasp.

"Do we look afraid?" Cleo tilted her head, keeping the knife up to his throat.

"You should be."

Cleo pursed her lips as she shared an angered look with JJ, the both of them wanting to pound this guy's face in but John B came back into the room. "Let's go, come on, it's not worth it. Come on, Cleo. JJ, let's go! Come on!"

"You're so lucky she wasn't here man, or else you'd be fucking dead right now," JJ told him through clenched teeth before he shoved Portis away, following the others.

"Portis, we're taking some clothes. Deal with it."

"Big mistake! You're just gonna make it worse for her!" Portis yelled after them as the Pogues rushed out of the house with Portis's clothes in hand, some of them flipping him off. "Hey, I didn't tell you shit, okay?! Remember that!"

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Cassie lied on the bed in the room in boredom after she was done showering, doing her hair in a neat braid, and putting on one of the red dresses in her size.

Her mind had been racing with all sorts of things like why was she here, what was this place, where are the Pogues, where's JJ?

God, everything just went back to JJ.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door and she sprang up from the bed. The door opened and Cassie stood up, being met by the maid. "He's ready," the maid told her and Cassie sucked in a breath before she followed the maid out of the room.

The maid led her back down to the first floor, bringing her to a dining room of some sort where someone had been pouring a drink. "Uh, excuse me?" Cassie spoke up, spotting the man.

The man turned around and Cassie became face to face with none other than Rafe motherfucking Cameron. And here she thought that Ward and Savannah may not have been a part of this.

She took in his appearance for a second, seeing that he had buzzed his hair. Once she made eye contact with him, she felt her body start to tense up even more than it already was. The last time she saw him he had pushed her against the wall and was spewing some shit about being destined to one another.

As fucking if.

She started to grow angry after going over everything he had done to her and her friends since the start of the summer. There was no she was going to let him get away with whatever this was.

"No, there's no way you, Ward, and Savannah were behind this shit," Cassie seethed as she stepped closer to the Cameron boy, her eyes wide with fury.

"What are you talking about? You trying to weasel in on my deal right now? Is that's what's going on?" Rafe questioned, striding over to the girl as he pointed to himself. "What are you do—"

"I wondered if your little reunion would cause sparks, you know," a man in the other room next to them piped up as he stared out the window, his back turned to them. He slowly turned around, chuckling as Cassie and Rafe stared at him in confusion.

"Who are you?" Rafe asked.

"Me?" He pointed to himself.

"Who else?" Cassie bravely remarked.

Singh laughed again, seeming not to care for her attitude. "My name is Carlos Singh," he introduced himself before he started pointing at Rafe. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Cameron." He then looked at Cassie. "And Ms. Blake, I do apologize for the rough tactics in bringing you here. But please, come. Sit down." The two just stared at the man, not knowing if they should listen to him. "Come now, I don't bite."

"Yeah? Well, I do," Cassie countered.

Singh chuckled again. "That doesn't scare me, Ms. Blake. Makes you all the more intriguing."

She scowled a bit before she looked at Rafe, who was already looking at her. She gave him a nasty look before she followed Singh into the room.

Rafe watched her walk away before he scratched his head. "Rough tactics? What about me?" He inquired since he had been tricked by the Michel Arnaud guy into coming.

"Yes, Mr. Cameron, false pretenses. But the ends justify the means, I'm afraid," Singh expressed and Rafe pursed his lips. "Sit down. We have a lot to talk about."

"Why the hell are we here?" Cassie questioned once she sat down on one of the chairs.

"Well, Ms. Blake, Mr. Cameron, we share certain interests, you know. Objectives," Singh began.

"Is this not about the cross?" Rafe asserted.

"It is. Tangentially, it is about the cross, but it's also about something much, much bigger than the cross. By orders of magnitude...the completion of a grand quest," he spoke, not really making any sense as he stared at one of the paintings in the room.

"What the fuck?" Cassie muttered quietly, giving him a weird look from behind his back before she shoved the expression away once Singh began to turn back around.

"You see, the story goes that 450 years ago, a Spanish soldier came out of the Orinoco Basin with a few gold beads. And when they asked the Spanish soldier, 'Where the beads came from,' the Spanish soldier replied that he got them from a peaceful Indigenous tribe who lived in a city of gold. El Dorado. And for the next 450 years, people tried to find that gold, you know. They tried," he continued as he picked up a knife from the table.

"Conquistadors, knights, captains of ships, tribes, entire nations. All fighting each other in a race for the end of the rainbow. Thousands of lives laid on the pyre of gold fever. And it falls to me, you know. It falls to me to complete the task. To bring full circle a quest that has gone on for almost 500 years. Perhaps...perhaps the greatest quest in the history of the western hemisphere, you know. And you two," he chuckled, "you two are going to play a part in that."

Rafe pursed his lips as he nodded at the man, thinking he was absolutely crazy. Cassie furrowed her brows as she glanced at Rafe, not knowing what to think of any of this.

"What about you, Ms. Blake? Are you interested in history?" Sing asked as he sat down on the chair next to her.

"Not after this conversation," Cassie sassed, looking up at the ceiling in annoyance.

Rafe groaned. "Yeah, I didn't listen to a word you said, okay? How much you gonna keep philosophizing?"

Singh chuckled but his expression was anything but entertained. "You are direct, aren't you, Mr. Cameron?"

The two men stared each other down before Cassie rolled her eyes and piped up, "What do you need from me?"

"I've come to believe that you and your friends are in possession of something that can help me get what I want," Singh told her.

Cassie shook her head. "Which is?"

"An old manuscript. A diary, actually," Singh revealed and Cassie forced herself not to make any hint of knowing about a diary on her face. The only one that has come to mind was Denmark's diary. Although they didn't have the photocopies of the diary anymore since they were left in the OBX and they were all practically lost at sea, they did once have it.

Rafe stared at the girl to try to read her expression before he said, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Cassie shook her head, putting her lying skills to the test. "This is ridiculous. I don't know anything about a diary."

"But how else could you have learned that the cross was on the Royal Merchant?" Singh questioned.

"Luck, maybe?" Cassie guessed and Singh narrowed his eyes. "Look, I want to help you, but I can't."

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that, you know. Because unfortunately, I don't believe you. You and your friend here couldn't have found the cross without it," Singh darkly said.

"He's not my friend," Cassie instantly denied, glancing at Rafe.

"Well, we can't all be friends, you know."

Rafe sighed exasperatedly. "Look, this is ridiculous. Okay? I'm out." He got up from his seat, holding his hands up as he backed away from them. "I don't know anything about a diary, okay? So—" Rafe stopped himself when a guard stepped in front of him, not allowing him to leave.

"Do I look like a fool to you, Mr. Cameron? Do I look like a fool?" Singh challenged as he slowly stood up as Rafe paced back and forth, not knowing what to do. "You have the cross. She and she friends had the cross at one point. So one of you has the diary." Rafe glanced at Cassie, who looked away. "And if you really don't know, then I suggest you convince your friends to tell me," he said, pointing at Cassie behind him, making her look up at him and then at Rafe. "Once I have the diary...you'll be free to leave."

Neither of them said anything as they just stared at each other, waiting for the other to talk. Rafe really had no idea what Singh was talking about, but Cassie did. She wasn't about to reveal that though. She didn't know what would happen if she did.

Once it had been a few moments of silence, Singh forced them to follow him upstairs back to the Orinoco Room Cassie was in before. Even though Singh was in front of them, they couldn't even try to slip away because of the armed guard following behind them.

"Enjoy the grounds during your stay. I must warn ya, though, I'm not a man of infinite patience," Singh threatened. "You have one day. Go to the window for a little demonstration. I think you'll enjoy it, you know," he said, patting Rafe on the arm before he walked out of the room.

The guard pulled the door shut, causing Rafe to shout, "Hey. Hey! You're just done talking?" He twisted the knob, but the door wouldn't budge. "Hey!"

"It's locked," Cassie told him as she walked toward the window, looking outside. Rafe followed after her, standing next to her as he looked out the same window. She gave him a quick glance, subtly shifting away from him a bit.

"Get off me, man! I didn't do nothing, man!" They heard someone yelling and a man came into view, being forced by a guard to walk.

"Who the hell is that guy?" Rafe questioned.

"I know him. It's Jimmy Portis," she told Rafe and he turned her, but she kept her eyes planted outside. "He was trying to help me."

Rafe turned back to the window, seeing that Singh had made his way out and looked up at them. He took a gun out of his waistband and Cassie's eyes widened as Rafe muttered, "Whoa, whoa, whoa."

Singh turned around, walking off to disappear from view. They waited a moment before they heard a gunshot, causing the both of them to flinch and start to pant in fear.

Singh just killed Portis, the man that Cassie risked her life to save. And now he was dead.

Did that mean they were next?

"This diary," Rafe began before he turned to Cassie. "Hey, no bullshit. Don't bullshit me. Okay? Do you have it? Cassie?"

Cassie pursed her lips, looking down before she slowly turned Rafe's way. With Portis gone and having no idea what the Pogues were doing, she had no one else. But that didn't mean she was about to trust Rafe Cameron, the man who strangled her, beat up her friends, stole Pope's cross, and killed Sheriff Peterkin.

She wasn't that desperate.

"No."

authors note!
i have a work today so thought id get
a chapter in a bit earlier, but not sure if
i'll be able to double update today. we
shall see. hope u guys liked this chapter
though!!