─☼☼☼─

𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘾𝘼𝙍𝙍𝙀𝙍𝘼 𝙃𝙊𝙐𝙎𝙀 was dark and empty when Charlotte returned from Tannyhill. 

Sarah had wanted her to stay, but she couldn't stay in that house with Ward Cameron. She wasn't sure exactly what he had done, but she knew it wasn't good. 

Kicking off her shoes, Charlotte entered the dark house and let out a frustrated sigh. She had come home this summer hoping to refresh. Instead, she was having arguably the most chaotic couple of months of her life. 

She never, in a million years, could have expected this is what her life would have come to. Maybe she should have stuck to the Kook life...it seemed less dangerous. 

The sound of a car pulling into the driveway met Charlotte's ears as headlights lit up the front of the house. 

Tentatively peeking out the front window, Charlotte watched as her sister and JJ got out of the car. There was no sign of John B...or Pope for that matter. 

It didn't really matter who was here, she was going to give them all hell one way or another. 

The front door slowly creaked open as if Kiara was attempting to be quiet. JJ was whispering something to her as she attempted to shush him. 

"Give it up." Charlotte instructed from the kitchen. "I'm awake."

"Fuck."

When the two of them entered the kitchen, they both looked fearful of the wrath they were about to be met with. So, Charlotte gave it to them. "Where the hell have you been? Can none of you pick up a fucking phone?"

JJ was the first to speak. "Listen, Charls, we get that you're mad, and you have every right to be. But shit went down tonight...like for real."

With her hands on her hips, Charlotte looked between the two of them. She could either continue giving them hell, or discuss the shit-storm they had on their hands right now. She decided that the latter was more important. "I know." She answered. "I went to Tannyhill tonight."

Kiara looked like she had just been told that Charlotte jumped into shark-infested water. "What!?"

"I didn't know where any of you were! So I went to talk to Sarah." She let out a breath. "I heard her and Ward arguing...he was saying that John B accused him of murder and─"

"That's because he is a murderer!" Kiara exclaimed. "He killed Big John."

Running her hands over her face, Charlotte shook her head at the situation. She really didn't want to say this next part out loud, because when she did, she'd be admitting that her ex-boyfriend's father was not the man she thought he was.  "Sarah also told me that...she told me that John B accused Ward of trying to kill him this morning on the boat."

JJ's face paled. "What?"

"And he knows about the gold." Kiara muttered, throwing her hands up in frustration. "That's why he tried to kill John B. Fucking psychopath!"

"So where is he?" Charlotte demanded, still trying to register the news. "Where's John B? Is he safe?"

Kiara and JJ shared a nervous look. "We don't know exactly."

"You don't know?"

"He took off." JJ explained. "He was pissed─obviously─ and he just took off without telling us where he was going. We figured he went to Sarah, but we staked out at the pier over at Tannyhill and couldn't see anything. And if you were there and didn't see him then..."

"Well then let's go look for him!" Charlotte ordered, already reaching for her keys. 

"No." JJ argued. "There's no point tonight. We all need to get sleep and regroup in the morning. He's not in any shape to be around any of us right now."

JJ was probably right. If John B was as pissed off as she assumed he was, it wasn't going to be pretty. She just hated the thought of him alone. Feared that he might do something he would regret. 

"Okay." She finally breathed, giving in.  "Okay. J, you're staying here, no objections. We'll all get some sleep and then figure out what the hell we're going to do tomorrow."

"This is fucked, man." JJ muttered, flopping down onto one of the barstools. "That Cameron family is more twisted than I thought."

Charlotte felt a lump form in her throat as a million thoughts raced through her mind. 

You know what they say...like father, like son. 

She really hoped they were wrong. 

─☼☼☼─

Someone was shaking her. 

It felt like she had just fallen asleep when it started. But whoever it was wasn't stopping. 

Groaning, Charlotte opened her eyes and rolled over to look at the guilty party.

"JJ." She muttered, using her arm to block the light that was coming from outside her window. "What the hell are you doing in my room?"

"Get up, Charls." He instructed, reaching out to pull her hand away from her face. "We're going to The Wreck."

Charlotte squinted at him, her head pounding from exhaustion. She hadn't been able to fall asleep last night after she, Kiara and JJ had split off into separate rooms. Her mind was running with the constant what if.  "What time is it?" 

"Nine o'clock, Charlotte. Now get up." Kiara called from the hallway. 

"I don't have to open the restaurant until eleven!" Charlotte yelled back to her sister, still less than pleased with being awoken. "So leave me alone until then."

JJ sat on the edge of her bed, trying to pull her up. "John B is meeting us there. So get up.""

That got her up. "You talked to him? He's okay?"

"I would use the term 'okay' lightly. But yeah, I talked to him. He's going to meet us in an hour and we're going to start figuring shit out, okay?"

Nodding, Charlotte stood up and pulled JJ up out of her bed, leading him toward the door. "Got it. Now get out."

JJ smirked as she led him to the door. "You know, Charley, this is like straight out of one of my fantasies. You kicking me out of your bedroom before anyone catches us."

He was kidding, but that didn't mean he didn't deserve a hard shove. "You're gross." Kiara muttered as JJ stumbled into the hall with a laugh. 

─☼☼☼─

Thirty minutes later, the three of them were gathered in The Wreck, awaiting the arrival of John B.  Pope was still at his scholarship meeting which left the remaining four to devise a plan.

When John B finally entered, he looked more run down that he ever had before. Wordlessly, he took a seat next to JJ on one of the bar stools, grabbing one of the drinks that Charlotte had set out for them. 

"The gold's gone."

Those three words caused the energy in the room to shift so substantially, Charlotte was sure you could see it. 

Her own heart had plummeted down to her stomach. Everything John B had worked for these past few weeks, everything his father had worked for, it was gone."

"Dude, what?" JJ demanded, his eyes growing wild. "Gone?"

John B's jaw was clenched as he nodded. "Ward took it. All of it."

"Oh my God." Charlotte muttered, dropping her head into her hands. 

JJ let out a frustrated grunt as he slammed his fist down on the bar. "And the fucking rich get richer."

Kiara tugged at her hair, shaking her head. "Are you sure he got everything?"

John B kept his head down. "Every bar. The whole enchilada."

They were all silent, grappling with the newfound news. 

JJ was the first to try and offer a solution. "Have you talked to Kook Prince lately?" he wondered, leaning forward to look at Charlotte. "Maybe he's in on this with his dad. If he is, I bet you can get him to tell you everything he knows. We─we can find the gold and get it all back."

Charlotte's heart skipped slightly as she turned to grab a pitcher of water. "Ward kicked Rafe out...he doesn't know anything. And even if he did, I wouldn't bet on his allegiance to me."

"What do you guys think about Sarah?" Kie wondered. "We've got to get her out of there, right?"

"She's being pulled in two totally different directions right now." Charlotte answered, recalling the devastated state the younger girl had been in last night. "We can't help her until she's got her head on straight."

"She doesn't believe me." John B muttered, his head resting on his fist as he leaned against the bar top. 

"She doesn't want to believe you." Charlotte corrected. "At least not yet."

JJ looked between the group of them. "So what the hell do we do? We just sit back and let him take it from us?"

The other three remained silent, each of them seemingly trying to think of a solution to their problem. 

"I can go to Tannyhill." Charlotte proposed. "I know where the key to Ward's office is, Rafe showed me once. I can get in and I can search for anything that might help us."

"Ward's and idiot if he hides his key in the same spot every time. Especially with a son like Rafe." Kie muttered, distaste in her voice. 

John B finally sat up. "And it's too dangerous, Charley. Ward's a murderer...you don't know what he'll do to you if he catches you snooping around."

"We can't let him win." Charlotte shot back. 

"Do you think I don't know that?" John B snapped, looking to her in frustration. "He killed my dad Charlotte, I'm well aware that we can't let him win."

"Woah." JJ interceded, giving John B a stern look. "We're all doing our best right now, okay?"

John B wore a dark look as he shook his head. "Listen, Charlotte. This might have been a fun little summer activity for you, but this was real for the rest of us."

Charlotte's chest felt tight as she shook her head. "It was real for me." She argued. "What more do I have to do to prove to you guys that I'm with you now? I'm not the same Kook girl you knew a year ago?"

"Is that why you let Rafe stay at your house a couple of days ago?" John B challenged. 

"What are you talking about?" Charlotte's face had paled while JJ and Kiara wore incredulous expressions. 

John B rose his brows. "I heard Wheezie talking about it the other day. Ward wanted an update on where Rafe had been staying, and your name just so happened to be mentioned. How can you claim you're with us when you're still screwing him?"

"I am not screwing him, John B. And quite frankly, even if I was, it's none of your damn business." Charlotte fired back, her embarrassment turning to anger. "Need I remind you that you're the one who brought Sarah Cameron into all of this? Those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

JJ placed a hand on John B's chest, trying to calm him down. "Come on man, you're not in the right mind right now. Just lay off."

Sucking in his cheeks, John B gave one more withering glare before standing up and marching toward the patio, away from the group. 

JJ gave Charlotte a quick regard before following after his best friend. 

The moment the two boys were gone, Kiara turned to her sister with a look of disgust. "You let him stay in our house?"

Charlotte dropped her head into her hands. "I'm not doing this right now, Kie."

"GUYS!" 

All of the tension that was hanging in the air was broken as Pope came sprinting into the restaurant. He was still dressed for his interview, but now drenched in sweat with a wild expression. 

"Oh! Oh, God." He panted, bending over to try and catch his breath as JJ and John B rejoined the two girls. "I ran all the way here."

"You good?" Charlotte wondered, already in the process of pouring him a glass of water. Pope responded with a weak thumbs up, gratefully accepting the refreshment. 

"How was the interview, Pope?" JJ wondered, the group of them pretending there hadn't just been a blowout.

"Don't ask." He huffed, standing up with a wince. "JB, look...I'm sorry, about everything, dude."

"It's fine."

"But─but I don't have a lot of time, and─and I have information that is tactically relevant." A look of interest covered all four faces and Pope continued. "So, before I had my interview, my dad said he was going down to the private airstrip to cut palms for Cameron's big plane. Because it was too heavy and needed a longer landing strip to take off."

He was rambling, but what he was saying had everyone intrigued. "So, I'm sitting there in my interview, thinking to myself, 'hm, why would Cameron need a longer airstrip to take off? What could be so heavy to weight it down?'"

The same look of realization dawned across all of their faces, JJ being the first to speak. "Gold."

John B looked stunned. "That's right."

Pope made some wild gesture. "Exactly!" He looked around at all of them. "Guys, this is our chance, but it leaves tonight, and we have to go."

Kie looked excited as she hopped off of her stool. "Guys, we can't give up now."

"What's the plan, Big Man?" JJ wondered, turning to his best friend. 

For the first time all day, John B cracked a hopeful smile. "We're gonna steal that shit back. All of us." The latter part of his statement was aimed directly at Charlotte, an apologetic look already covering his face. 

She couldn't help but crack a smile. For all of their faults, these kids were some of her truest friends, and she wasn't going to abandon them now. 

"Let's do this."

─☼☼☼─