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❝ jj would never trade me ❞
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𝘚𝘺𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘦'𝘴 𝘗𝘖𝘝

I'm woken up by the sound of a horn blaring loudly and I groan in pain, peeling my eyes open to see Sarah looking back at me. My eyes dart around the small cabin room we're in before looking back to her and she strokes my hair with a soft smile.

"Are you okay?" My twin sister asks me.

"My head hurts like a bitch" I whine.

"I cleaned you up a little. You've got a cut on your eyebrow and your head is pretty bruised, but you should be okay" She explains.

"Thank you" I mumble out, pulling myself to sit up.

"You're welcome" She shrugs.

I catch sight of myself in a mirror across the room and I grimace at the bruising blossoming across my hairline on my left side, the cut on my left eyebrow as red as the top I'm wearing.

"Where are we going? Do you know?" I question and my sister shrugs.

"I don't know why they keep doing this shit. I can't believe it" She complains.

"I'm sick of playing prisoner" I agree with her.

I hear the door click open and I look up with a glare, expecting to see our brother. Instead of Rafe, our father appears in the doorway and I freeze up in shock.

"Hi, girls" He says to us and stare at my father in disbelief "It's me"

"I know this is impossible to you, and I'm gonna explain-" The man is cut off from his sentence as Sarah storms up to him and slaps him across the face, causing my eyes to widen in surprise.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I deserve that. I do. I know I do. You have been through hell, and that is my fault. And I'm sorry. I'm so-" The man desperately tries to explain and Sarah slaps his hands away from her so I rush to my sister's side.

"I'm so sorry, Sarah. I can promise you that I didn't have any other choice. I didn't. I don't expect you to understand that now. All I can do is tell you what happened, and I'll answer your questions" Dad speaks, following us back into the room as Sarah pulls me to sit down with her.

"Maybe you'll see it was the only way. I know you don't believe that, and I know it's hard to hear. But I-" He continues his speech while Sarah cries quietly, leaning into my side and my own eyes well up with tears "It was my only choice. It was the only way to make sure that we were all safe and we were all together"

"It was the only way to be a family again" He finishes.

"How are you even here?" I choke out my question, willing myself not to cry.

"I used the scuba gear on the Druthers. I had it all set up in advance, timed to the second. It was touch and go getting off. I almost didn't make it" Dad explains to me.

I stare at the man in complete disbelief and I cry, tears roll down my cheeks as I heave in breaths. Sarah pulls me into her arms and I cry on my sister's shoulder while she rubs my back.

I cry, not because I've missed my father, but because of how utterly stupid I feel for grieving a man who was never dead.

The door clicks open for a second time and I calm myself down, peeling myself away from Sarah to see that Rafe has now joined us. I eye my brother wearily and he avoids eye contact with me almost guiltily.

"Sweetie, what I need you to understand more than anything is that I never imagined that you two would be there" Dad tells Sarah, pulling my attention away from Rafe "I wanted to call you immediately to tell you girls that I was okay, to explain it all. It broke my heart that I couldn't. But I had to make sure Rafe got away"

"Thank you, Dad. At least one of us is grateful" Rafe replies, sitting down across from me.

"That's psychopathic, both of you" Sarah spits out in anger.

"I promised Rafe that he wouldn't go to prison for helping me. I had to make good on that promise" Dad stresses.

"Not that you care" Rafe adds in.

"Did it look like I didn't care when I thought Dad was dead?" Sarah snaps at her brother.

"It looked like you cared about running off with some asshole" Rafe counters.

"It looked like all you cared about was the inheritance" Sarah retorts.

"Yes, you cared! You cared! That's the point! Anybody on that dock could see how much you both cared, sweetheart. And I know you're angry right now and rightfully so. The important thing is   that it's all behind us now" Dad tells us "We're gonna live a new life, all of us together"

"Girls, where I'm taking you, it's paradise. It's off this place called Guadeloupe" Dad smiles happily "And oh, by the way, all those A's you got in French are about to pay off, cause they speak French there"

"I took Spanish" I mumble out numbly and his smile falls.

"I want to call my friends, and I want to call my boyfriend. Can I at least just tell them that I'm okay?" Sarah questions.

"Yeah, I agree. I need to call my boyfriend. I have to call the Pogues" I state firmly.

"Yes, of course you can. As soon as we get there, you can call John B and you can call JJ" Dad assures us "They know you're here, right?"

"No, they don't" Sarah and I answer in unison.

"Yeah, they do" Dad counters.

"What are you talking about?" Sarah frowns in confusion.

"The Pogues have no idea where we are" I argue.

"When you were getting ready, they came by the house, and Rose talked to them. You know the cross you've all been looking for? Rafe was able to get it" Dad tells us and Sarah sighs in annoyance "Turns out that, I guess, historically, it belongs to the Heywards"

"Yeah, we know" Sarah mutters.

"It also turns out that the most important thing to me is you two, so I gave John B and JJ the cross for you two" Dad states and I shake my head at him in denial.

"And John B was okay with that?" Sarah scoffs.

"Well, um, I had just given him a half-billion-dollar artefact, so, yeah, he seemed pretty okay" Dad replies.

"JJ would never trade me for the cross" I protest, my eyes welling up once again.

"I don't know what to tell you. He's a Pogue" Dad shrugs, taking a drink from his glass on the table.

I sit back in my seat and a tear slips down my cheek as Sarah takes a hold of my hand.

"Rose, Wheezie, come on in" Dad orders and the two of them enter the room, the former smiling at her husband while the latter bounces right over to Sarah and I.

"Sarah. Sylvie, hey. We are going to our very own private island. Isn't that awesome?" Wheezie smiles excitedly.

I stare straight forward at my father emotionlessly and I can't even will myself to paste on a fake smile to reply to my little sister.

"The girls aren't feeling real well right now, sweetheart. But they will be. We're all gonna be feeling pretty good soon, huh?" Dad declares, giving Sarah and I a pointed look.