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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘆: 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻

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Savannah Blake always made sure to have the best life for her daughter.

That's why when Kevin Blake came to her saying that Ward Cameron had asked them to move to the Outer Banks because of his promotion, she had packed up things in heartbeat if it meant a better, richer life for Cassandra.

That had also meant keeping things from her if she thought they would do her harm.

Let's start with a little history lesson to make things clearer.

Savannah and Kevin's marriage began to strain when Ward Cameron approached him about a hunt for gold. He needed a partner, someone to trust. And that had been Kevin. Although not officially named business partners, he basically acted as one for Cameron Development.

The two became engrossed in the search, so much so that Kevin would barely even speak to Savannah unless it had to do with the gold. Savannah had been livid. The man she had loved for years and had a child with was forgetting what he was supposed to be: a good husband.

Once he and Ward seemed to have come up empty in their search every route they went in, he had turned to drinking. And Kevin had never been a violent person until the alcohol had entered his body.

Savannah had tried to hide the marks he left on her from Cassie, wearing long sleeves and turtle necks despite it being sweltering during the summer. She knew that Kevin would never hurt their daughter since he had still acted like a good father, but she was scared for her own safety.

That's when she approached Ward Cameron, asking him for help. She told him he was unstable and needed help, that he was drowning himself in alcohol. She begged them to stop their search for the gold, but Ward had told her they were so close.

So close, yet so far.

However, as Kevin drank and drank his sorrows away, the more Savannah reached out to Ward. Despite him also being obsessed with the gold, it didn't overtake his body like it had did with Kevin. He was still a good husband to Rose and didn't go home beating her for asking too many questions.

He was caring, gentle, understanding. How would Savannah Blake not fall for the man that had been giving her the time of day unlike her own husband?

That's when the affair started.

Ward loved Rose, he really did, but there was something about Savannah that had entranced him. Maybe it was because he felt like he was saving her. Or maybe because he always longed for secret escapades and doing what was wrong but felt so right.

While Ward and Kevin spent their days coming up with possible ideas about where this gold could be, Ward and Savannah would spend their nights together. Ward would say he had something to take care of for the business, and Savannah would say she was having meetings with the Island Club members that Ward had got her a membership too.

It was perfect. No one had known.

Until Kevin decided to follow his wife to the random motel Ward had rented them to stay at due to his suspicions.

And yet, when he had confronted them, he would have never expected his wife to be cheating on Ward Cameron, the man he considered to be his best friend. To say he felt betrayed was an understatement.

He had been drunk when he caught them, which only fueled his rage. He tried going after his wife first, swinging his fists, but Ward had stopped him. The two had gotten into a fist fight, but Ward was able to overtake him since Kevin had been in a drunken state.

He had pushed Kevin over, making his head hit the end of the metal radiator in the motel and it cracked open. Ward didn't mean for it to happen, but what was he supposed to do when Kevin attacked them first?

He went to go try to help him, urging Savannah to call the police since it been an accident and Savannah could have been a material witness to everything.

But Savannah didn't listen.

If she called the police, everyone would know of their affair. If she called the police, everyone would know of Kevin's drinking problems. If she called the police, everyone would know that he had abused her.

And the one person she didn't want knowing the most was her daughter, who had looked up to her father like he was a saint sent from heaven. How was she supposed to break the news to her that he had been a raging alcoholic while his wife cheated on him?

She couldn't.

So the two watched as Kevin slowly died of blood loss in front of them, devising a plan on how to get dispose of the body.

Ward called up his pilot, Gavin, telling him he needed him to fly out tonight. He said he would explain it to him there. And when Ward and Savannah got to the airstrip with a dead body in their car, Ward paid the man thousands in cash to keep it a secret for him to do what he had said.

Gavin took the money in an instant. He flew the plan directed to the Bahamas, and jumped out with his parachute as he watched it come crashing down with Kevin's already dead body inside. Although he felt guilty, his pockets had become heavier so he couldn't complain.

As for Savannah and Ward, they vowed to always keep the secret until the day that they had died. So when Ward had "found out" about his plane crashing and had the cops look into it, only to find that Kevin had died, the two had to act their hearts out.

It wasn't hard. The two would always have love for the man that was once a good husband and a good friend. So when Shoupe showed up at the Blake's front door step to deliver the news of Kevin's passing, Savannah screamed and cried to her heart's content.

She only felt worse to see her daughter, who seemed to be going through the five stages of grief all in an instant. One second the house was as clean as can be, and the next second there had been glass shards everywhere and almost holes in the wall.

Savannah knew that Cassie had always liked her father better. And she tried not to let it get to her, but it really did. Especially when she knew who the real Kevin was while Cassie hadn't.

So as the days dragged on and days had become weeks, and those weeks turned to months, Savannah had slowly morphed into a different version of herself.

For starters, she had decided to help Ward search for the gold. Especially since Ward had enlisted the help of Big John Routledge, who he had found out had been searching for the gold for a lot longer — 20 years in fact — than he had been.

But when Ward had gone out on a boat to talk business with Big John, but came back without the latter...that's when things had really changed for her.

She stuck by Ward's side, but became overly obsessed with her image on the island. Maybe it was because she knew she was hiding what truly happened in the Blake household and needed to prove to others that everything was perfect when it wasn't.

She could feel her daughter drifting away even more, but she didn't care if their relationship had been strained. All she cared about was her daughter's safety. If that had meant sacrificing being a better mother to her, then so be it.

However, she would have never thought her daughter would get caught up in the same gold mess that she had been in. Not when she had found out Scooter Grubbs, who Ward started working with after Big John's disappearance, had also died. And definitely not when her daughter started hanging out more and more with those Pogues.

Savannah had never liked them. She only cared for Kiara Carrera, who had been a Kook and whose mother she would talk with from time to time. But she never would have thought that Big John's teenage son would get wrapped in the hunt for gold. She had turned a blind eye when she shouldn't have.

So when Ward had called her that morning, saying John B had known about the gold and that he knew Ward killed Big John...Savannah didn't know what to say. Did that mean Cassie had known as well? The girl hadn't been home in days, so there was no way of knowing.

But when Savannah had been sitting at the kitchen table, like she always did, and heard her daughter call out her name...she knew she had to try to get answers.

And that's where the history lesson ends.

"Mom?" She heard Cassie call out from the other room. Savannah gasped and pushed away from the island, rushing over to see her daughter standing there. "Mom."

"Oh, thank God," Savannah breathed out. She rushed toward her and gave her a hug, trying to push away the anger she had been feeling when Cassie hadn't come home for days. Instead, she was trying to be as loving as possible so Cassie would be more inclined to give her some answers. "I thought you were hurt. I thought that—"

"Mom, it's-it's okay," she heard Cassie stammer. "I'm fine."

Savannah pulled away, looking her daughter in the eyes meaningfully. "I didn't know where you were. I thought you were-were hurt and that's why you hadn't come home."

"Why would I be hurt?" Cassie asked her, furrowing her brows.

Savannah forced a frown. "John B. Ward told me that he had attacked him when they went fishing for no reason," she lied, knowing that John B never actually attacked him and he had been trying to frame the boy. "I know you've been hanging out with him, so I thought...Maybe he went crazy."

She watched Cassie slowly shake her head. "No. No, John B...He's-he's not crazy. And-and we don't even know if he actually hurt Ward."

Savannah narrowed her eyes a bit. These Pogues had been corrupting her mind. She fought down the urge to snap at her by gently grabbing her hand, pulling her toward the steps. "Here, let's talk about this in your room. You look like you need your bed," she said, allowing Cassie to step in front of her to walk up the stairs. "What have you been doing with John B, Cassie?" She asked as they slowly walked up the steps.

"Just...hanging out, that's all," Cassie answered.

Savannah hummed behind her, knowing her daughter had been lying. She could hear it in her voice. She had caught eye of her daughter's phone in her back pocket and carefully swiped it, unbeknownst to the girl. "You haven't been...searching for lost treasure, have you?" She inquired, trying to sound as innocent as possible when asking.

She watched as Cassie stopped in her tracks once she reached the door to her room, slowly turning around to face her. "What? How do you know about that?" She questioned Savannah.

Savannah pursed her lips. "Ward told me. Said John B and his friends have been after the gold from the Royal Merchant."

Savannah watched as Cassie's face twisted into realization and the former mentally cursed at the girl's next question. "Is Ward after the gold, too?"

Savannah let out a breathless laugh, trying to make it seem like the question was silly. "What? No, of course not. He's just worried that you all are getting too caught up in all of this. You know, since Sarah is with John B and all that. He doesn't want John B becoming like his father who obsessed over it to his death."

Cassie paused. "How do you know he's dead?"

Savannah blinked at her, unsure of Cassie had meant by that. It was obvious to anyone that if Big John hadn't been back in 9 months after he disappeared, then there's really no other explanation. And since Savannah knew the truth, she knew it was just absurd to think he was still alive. "What? Cassie, come on, everyone knows that Big John is dead."

"No. No, we don't know that. He just disappeared. That doesn't mean he's dead."

Savannah tensed up, growing frustrated. Why had Cassie been trying to argue with her? Was she trying to coax a confession out of her? Or did John B not get the chance to tell her about Ward killing Big John? Savannah didn't know, but she was growing tired of the conversation. "Of course he's dead, Cassandra. You don't take a boat out to sea and never fucking come back if you're alive."

"There's still a chance—"

"There was never a chance with millions worth of gold on the line!" Savannah spat before she realized what she had just said, her eyes widening. She hadn't meant to say that, she didn't know why she did. Maybe she had been tired of keeping so many secrets that it accidentally slipped out.

"I thought you said Ward didn't know about the gold."

Savannah sucked in a breath. "He doesn't," she tried to lie, but she could see Cassie didn't believe her.

"But you do?" Cassie narrowed her eyes. Savannah didn't know what to do. Here her own daughter was, questioning her about the gold. This would have never happened if Kevin had continued to be a good husband, she thought. When Savannah didn't answer, Cassie breathed out, "Oh, my God. No, there's no...There's no way."

Savannah tried to back track, to try to save herself. "Cassie, honey—"

"Did Ward...did he kill John B's father?"

Savannah's had widened at the question. So John B had told her what he found out. She couldn't have this. She couldn't have her daughter questioning about something that would bring Ward down, that would bring the both of them down and expose every single secret they had.

"Mom, did he?!"

All of a sudden, Savannah found herself pushing her daughter into her room and onto the floor without even thinking. "Hey! MOM!"

Savannah slammed the door shut, quickly grabbing the key from the top of the door and locking it before Cassie could get it back open. "No, wait, no! Mom, please, no!"

Savannah ignored her daughter's pleas as she went over to the large, standing cabinet that had been next to the door and started to push it in front of it just in case Cassie tried kicking the door down. She knew she was very much capable if she had thought about doing it.

"No, please!"

"I never want to hear you say those words again, do you hear me?" Savannah demanded once the cabinet had been placed in front of the door, sucking in a breath.

"Fuck! No, Mom, please! Let me out!"

"I'm not letting you out until you calm down and realize that you're being delusional. Ward is innocent! John B attacked him for no reason." All she wanted was the best for her daughter and if that had meant locking her in her room, away from the Pogues, then so be it.

"No, that's not true!"

"Well, then I guess you're not coming out any time soon," Savannah replied before she turned on her heel, walking downstairs as she tried composing herself.

"NO, COME BACK! PLEASE!" She heard her daughter's bellows through the door and she winced, trying to tune it out. "FUCK!"

Once Savannah reached the kitchen, she shakily dialed Ward's number. He picked up on the first ring. "Hey, Sav, I was just about to call you. I think I found the gold. It's at the Crain house," he quickly told her excitedly.

Savannah let out a shaky breath, "What?"

"I'm having the gold be dug out first thing tomorrow. We're gonna be rich, baby!" Ward laughed proudly over the phone. Savannah didn't react as she just sucked in a breath. How could she have been happy about this when Cassie now knew what Ward did? Or, at least, could have guessed the truth based on her reaction. She had spent her whole life keeping Cassie in the dark to save her from reality, but now it had been exposed and she definitely despised her for it.

"Sav, did you hear me? I found the gold!"

"She knows, Ward," Savannah told him, placing her hand on the side of her face as she leaned against it and rubbed her temple.

"What?" Ward's voice lowered.

"Cassie knows about Big John. She just tried confronting me about it," she clarified.

She heard Ward huff over the phone. "Well...are you dealing with it?" He seethed. He couldn't let anything get in his way, not even the daughter of the woman that he had loved in secret.

Savannah ran a tongue across her top teeth. "I've dealt with it. Just thought you should know."

"Okay, okay, because, um, I think I'm leaving for Nassau tomorrow. With the gold and Sarah. To just lay low for a bit, until this all blows over," Ward revealed her.

Savannah blinked. "You are?"

"Yeah."

"Not with Rose?"

"No, not with Rose."

"Good...good. She can't know about us, Ward. If this Big John thing came out, then who knows what else will."

"I know, Sav, I know. Nothing else is gonna happen, okay? I have it under control," he assured her. "Now get a good night's rest. I'll call you when I get to Nassau, okay?"

Savannah breathed out, "Okay. I love you."

"I love you, too."  Ward hung up.

Savannah placed her phone face down on the table in front of her as she placed her head in her hands, trying to think of ways to sort out this issue with her daughter.

But she knew, deep down, it was never going to be fixed.

authors note!
sorry that there is no jj and cassie
in this chapter, but i wanted to give
yall insight into savannah's perspective
of everything before cassie knows
everything heheh. there will be jj
and cassie next chapter i promise :)