(chapter forty three)

Rafe hadn't imagined he would find himself in that situation. Maybe Rose was correct in being suspicious of the quick invite from the buyer, but he would never actually say this out loud.

What he didn't expect was to turn around after he served himself a drink and see Kiara standing in a silk red dress behind him, sharing the same confused expression he was wearing at that exact time.

Whatever the man — Singh, or whatever his name was — was saying was complete nonsense for him. Rafe Cameron just wanted to sell the cross and be completely away from anything related to it. He wanted the money and only the money, period.

He could not care less about the gold hunt Kiara and her posse seemed to be always after, but he couldn't help but feel slightly curious when the man called the armed guards, bringing the two of them to a closed-off room, with windows glued close.

From what he could tell, Kiara wasn't someone who went there willingly, she was kidnapped. But at that exact moment, Rafe could only focus on trying to bite back the urge to strangle the girl in front of him.

It was because of her and her friends that he had lost the only person he had ever loved. She was dead because they couldn't stop themselves from sticking their noses in situations they weren't even a part of.

And there they stayed. Rafe was on the other side of the room while Kiara laid on the bed — a relaxed expression contrasting from the angry one when her back hit the mattress — the two of them completely quiet.

Kiara because she didn't want to interact with the man in any way, and Rafe because he knew he wouldn't be able to control himself if he said something — anything.

He wanted to know what they did with her body. If she had a funeral like she deserved, or they simply threw her into the ocean, leaving her body floating until some sea creature would venture in devouring the rotten flesh.

The sickened and white-ish eyes, blue skin on once tan and sweet eyes flashed on his mind and he had to control himself from flinching.

Red — blood — dripping from her mouth while she stared deep into his eyes.

Rafe was so confused, but so was Kiara.

And one thing he was sure of was that she did know what diary Singh talked about. Rafe knew talk she would tell him, because why would she after everything he put her through?

They had one day, the man had said. The clock was ticking, and one thing they had in common was the fact that neither wanted to die.

Kiara was trying to gain the guard's attention, and that made Rafe's heart beat faster. He wasn't scared about what would happen to him in case the girl decided to piss the man off, but he was anxious for sure.

But when Kiara stopped knocking, her movements stalling and her blood freezing cold, Rafe walked as fast as he could to see what she was looking at. A man being dragged by his arm, as he went into a not visible part of the house.

"Who's that?" Rafe asked, and Kiara forced her hands into fists.

"That's Jimmy Portis... He was trying to help me," she shook her head, and Rafe looked at her as if he was trying to figure her out. Their attention shifted downstairs again when the other two guards appeared, dragging this time a girl, her arm bleeding and slipping blood, Kiara touched the window, despair taking over her. "No, no! Hey! Get away from her!"

Rafe felt his heart skipping a beat as he took in the girl's features. There was Clara, a pained expression on her face, the blood tainting the floor as she passed, and a cover of sweat on her body. But she was there.

Clara was there, she was alive.

That was all that mattered to him as the two watched her being dragged away.

Until they saw Marcus Singh, who stopped right below their window, looking up at the two with a smirk on his face. His hand searched and grabbed something from the back of his pants and he pulled away a gun, unlocking the safety pin and turning his back to the two, moving to where they dragged Clara and Jimmy.

"Woah, woah- Hey!" It was Rafe's turn to bang his hand on the window, their breathing frenetic as the man also disappeared.

Their blood ran even colder when they heard the gunshot. Not once, but twice.

"Don't bullshit me, Kie!" He yelled, his fist connecting with force against the window — with no vail since they were reinforced. "Do you have this diary, or not?"

"No," she looked just as scared as she looked at how angry the man beside her got.

"Why you didn't tell me-"

A knock on the door interrupted the two, the familiar voice with the accent rolling off the tongue. "Your girl friend is safe. Consider this as a motivation for your brain to remember where you left it."

The steps disappeared in the hallway, making Rafe turn with a vicious look back to Kiara, taking a few steps closer to her while the girl stepped backward until her back hit the wall.

"You better start talking."

++++

Clara hissed when the two guards pushed her inside the room, locking the door behind her as she held her arm close to her body. The closed windows and the smell of fresh bleach filled her senses as she tried to hold back tears.

She had gone through worse and she was fine, but fuck, that hurt so much-

Her eyes landed on the bathroom, as she ran to it, holding her arm in the sink and turning on the faucet. The water burns on the open skin and turned slightly pink from the dissolved blood. A sob went through her mouth as she felt her entire arm burn, and she bit her lip strongly as she grabbed the soap bar and hesitated while her hand hovered over the wound.

And then she did it, brushing the soap on the arm, the stinging getting even worse at that. Her heart beating so fast in her ears that she hadn't heard the gunshot, nor the door of the room opening and closing behind her.

"You don't have to worry, the dogs are vaccinated," the voice behind her made Clara jump. Her back hit the counter of the sink, and she stared in between tears at the man. He was holding a small white bag in his hands, as he rested it on the table and opened it, taking out a gauze and antiseptic. "I apologize that this is the way we meet, Miss Campbell. If you may."

He held out his hand, waiting for Clara to accept his help to aid her bloody arm, and she saw no other choice than to accept it.

Resting her arm on his hand, the man spilled the antiseptic over the wounds, the stinging made her bit her tongue as she bit the fingernail of her other hand to prevent herself from slapping the man's hand away. Then he separated small pieces of cotton balls and dunked them on the liquid, applying it to the bite marks and wrapping her arm with gauze.

Her voice was rough from the crying and Clara sniffed. "Where's Kiara?"

"Your friend is alright if that's what you want to know," he assured, cutting the tape and sealing the bandage, then starting to put the medical kit inside the bag. "But I do have in fact a bigger question for you than I had for her."

But then he places a closed medicine in front of them on the table, finger pointing at the glass of water by the bedside. She still looked slightly suspicious at him, until he clicked his fingers.

"Forgive me my manners, Miss Campbell. I'm Marcus Singh, I've been looking everywhere for you and your friends there," he completed it, now with his body resting on the table as he still stared at her. "But I know that different from them, you have a particular taste for history. I'm even convinced that you advised them to find the gold in some way. So tell me, what do you know about the treasure of El Dorado?"

Clara stopped when she placed the pill in her mouth, that action bringing back bad memories, but she swallowed. Water.

For the first time in almost two months she was drinking real water, and she couldn't help but feel the relief of her body thanking her.

And Singh looked like he found that amusing, as he stood there still, a smirk on the side of his face. He placed the bottle of pills on the desk as he stared at the girl.

"What most of the people know, I guess," Clara finally answered as she poured more water for herself. "A city full of gold located somewhere in South America. Some may say in between Venezuela and Brazil, whoever it was never found."

"Your grandmother was one of the researchers that were looking for it. I believe she might know more than she let on," he nodded, walking to one of the walls, and then looking at the painting hanging on it. A yellow Aztec pyramid — or more so-called — one of the El Dorado a representation of what it might look like. "I met her once, even if she wasn't able to give me the answers I needed, her death was a great loss for all around the world."

Clara remembered the quote highlighted in Jimmy Portis' book, the brief reminder of Alice's diaries talking about a weird man with a relic passing through her head.

Then he turned around once more and walked back to the table, then opened the drawer. From inside, he took out a notebook and a pen, and then Marcus looked back at her.

"Whatever you know about El Dorado, you write down on it. Because it would be best for all of us if we are cooperative with each other. Once all of this is done, I assure you I'll let you and your friend go," he then turned away from her. "And I'm guessing you'll choose the best option."

Singh then opened the door, locking it behind him after he left, leaving Clara to look even more confused than before about where he once was.

The only thing she really wanted was a shower and food. Since she knew the latter wouldn't happen so soon, she turned back around to the bathroom, turning on the shower for a well-deserved bath.

++++

A day had gone by, and she was now sitting on the bed with the notebook in her hands. The hair sitting messily on her back. It was so broken and dry because of the tangles after almost two months on the island, and she hated how much of a mess it was.

Clara chewed on a piece of bread from the meal that Singh had asked to deliver for the girl. It was a weird moment. She wasn't expecting to be well treated after being kidnapped. She was skeptical at first, but her hunger got the best of her.

Then she got up, resting the plate on the table and stopping her movements as she pondered if she should take the bottle or not. And she did, grabbing the painkiller and popping two pills inside her mouth, swallowing with the cup of water, her eyes traveling back to the notebook.

Her reflection in the mirror showed a pair of silk black pants, that were on her bed when she got out of the shower, but she had opted to stay with her red sports top.

It's not like Clara knew whatever to write there. The myth of El Dorado was always there for as long as she could remember. Many believed that it was just a way to fool the colonizers when they first settled on the South American coast and it never existed. Others believed it might have this magic around it, that — just like the Gods Olympus — would change places as it found suit.

Whoever her grandmother's words would ring in her head.

So she wrote, whatever she knew just like Marcus Singh had once said. Clara didn't believe that it would help in any way, but she didn't want to take her chances, either. She would do it, she would put in everything she thought would be good information, and she would get her and Kiara out of there.

Until she heard the commotion outside and she ran to the window. The loud voices of the guards as they hopped inside a jeep, drove away. What she did not know was that Rafe and Kira were looking at the same scene from the window of the other room.

"They're going to find John B... and your sister," Kiara stressed, walking away as she paced in the room.

"Sucks for them," Rafe said as he continued watching from the window as the jeep disappeared from their line of sight. "But that's good for us though. This may be our only shot at getting out of here."

"And how're gonna do this?" Kiara asked, crossing her arms as Rafe bit the inside of his cheek.

He walked up to the door, crouching down and looking a little under it, just to see the back of a pair of boots on the outside, then he got up, pointing with his head to the bathroom. Kiara followed him a little hesitant.

"So where's what we gotta do, alright?" He pointed at the bathtub, as the plan took traction in his head. "We're gonna pretend we are gonna fight like I'm going to for real try to kill you-"

Kiara squinted her eyes at that and Rafe — who had his finger up, closed his hand in a fist.

"I'm not. Okay, you'll have to trust me on that, like I said, this might not be the best plan, but I'm your best bet," Kiara could only reluctantly nod, as she moved her hands to tell him to continue. "You're gonna be laying on the bathtub, and I'll be right here."

He moved to position himself behind the door, as he pointed at the tub.

"He'll only see you, and as he got in, I'll close the door on his hands, maybe- I'll try for his gun," he explains, his voice still low as Kiara observed how his mind worked. "We tie him up with the sheets, grab his keys, and try to find Clara."

"How do we know that there's not gonna be another guard in her room?" The girl asked, and Rafe tilted slightly his head to the side.

"I counted the number of guards around when I got here, and minus the one on our door, they all were on the jeep," he answered, raising one hand to point behind him. "But if I'm wrong, we'll have the gun anyway. I'm gonna get Clara in one way or another."

Kiara was taken aback by the fact that Rafe said he would kill for the brown haired girl. She knew she shouldn't be surprised, but that still sent shivers down her spine.

"It's now or never, Kie. We have to do this."

And they did. After the shouting and Rafe breaking one of the bedside lamps to grab the attention of the guards, Kiara rushed to the bathtub, laying there just waiting as she looked back at Rafe. He gave her a small nod from his place behind the door as they heard the guard opening the bedroom door.

When he saw the gun, Rafe closed the door on the man, making him drop it, and stumbled back, so he was quick in leaving the bathroom, grabbing the other bedside lamp and smashing on the man's head. The guard fell down and Rafe pulled his arms back, starting to tie him up with the bedsheets like he had said before.

Kiara grabbed the gun, pointing at the man as Rafe pulled the keys and the phone, leaning down closer to the man's ear.

"Where's the other girl?" The man tried to fight back, but Rafe pulled and slammed the man on the ground once more. "Where's she?"

"Three doors below," he spattered out, and Rafe hummed, pulling the sheets on the man's mouth as he tied it along with the one wrapped around the guard's hands and legs.

"Don't make a sound, all right?" Rafe said it once more, as he let go and got up. He looked over at Kiara, hand out for the gun.

"Give me the phone," she demanded, and Rafe raised one eyebrow, but pushed the item on her hands as she gave him the gun.

Unclicking the safety lock, he got out of the room, Kiara not too long after him. He peeked around the corner and there was no guard as he had imagined, and he walked up to the door.

Clara jumped when she heard the door unlocking and slamming open. What she didn't expect was to see Rafe with widened eyes standing there with a gun in his hands.

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out of it. Clara was still in shock at seeing the man, and Rafe walked with big steps closer to her, hand going to cup her face as he took a nice look at her. His touch sent tingles down her body as he did a once over, looking for any injuries, only seeing the gauze wrapped around her arm.

"Hey," he let out a smile — one so soft that Clara didn't remember the last time she saw that look on him — as he could feel how warm she was under his hand, just another reminder that she was alive.

"Rafe..." she managed to say after she blinked and her brain started moving again, bringing her back to reality. "How-"

"We'll talk later, pretty girl, but now we have to go," he interrupted, grabbing her free hand and pulling her with him.

When the two passed the door, she could see Kiara taking a picture of a painting, and Rafe called her name in a low voice. The Carrera girl stared at Clara, relief appearing on her face as the older girl gave her an even more confused look.

"C'mon, c'mon," Rafe continued walking, as the three of them made their way downstairs and around the back of the house.

Stopping at the gate, they could see an old truck carrying wheat taking off, and Kiara nodded her head. "I got an idea. Come on!"

And she started running, Rafe not too long after as Clara had to bite on the inside of her mouth to run after them, the pain in the lower part of her belly stinging as she tried to match their pace.

Rafe saw her slacking back, so he grabbed her arm and pulled her with him, and they passed the gate. Kiara jumped on the back of the truck, Rafe along and he pulled Clara's arm so she could also jump.

But as they saw the man on the back, Rafe was quick to grab him, planting punch after punch on the man's face while Clara pulled herself over the fence and dropped her body back on the wheat, her hand going to hold the shot wound and her eyes were closed in trying to keep her breathing steady and the burning sensation to stop.

Not seeing Rafe pushing the man out of the truck.

"Are you okay?" Kiara asked as she crouched down to her friend and Clara opened her eyes, almost as if she was seeing stars from the pain, but she held out her thumb up.

"Just peachy," she managed to say after catching her breath as Kira grabbed her hand that was on top of the wound and pulled the pants down to see it.

Rafe caught a glimpse of the red skin as it looked like a burn, and Kiara pulled the pants up again.

"How bad it's hurting?" She asked and Clara shook her head.

"I'm fine," she said, looking over her lashes to her friend. "Just running isn't being my best friend at the moment."

Rafe wanted to ask, he really did, but he then saw far from them the front gate, and he called the two. "We need to hide."

Clara nodded as she got up, pulling Kiara along with her as the three of them managed to hide under the loose canvas.

They passed the armed man at the gate, who — for their luck — only did a once over, and when the truck moved past them, they came out from under it.

Rafe looked at Clara by his side, then to Kiara, and sighed.

"All right. Listen, I'm headed out to my boat, okay?" He started eyes never leaving Clara's as she could only stare at him, still confused as to how he got there. "I can give you a ride out, and drop you wherever. Somewhere safe."

Kiara still avoided looking straight at Rafe, and the man noticed that.

"Kie, look at me," he said, and Kiara hesitantly did. "I know your friends and my sister are on the island. But I can't trust them, so I'm not helping them. I can give you a rise out, but not them."

He then stared back at Clara, and the girl held his gaze. Her hand searched for Kiara's and she gave it a squeeze, then a small nod to the girl Kiara wanted to argue, but she knew that Clara had an idea blooming, even if she didn't say it.

"Thank you," Clara said, and Rafe smiled, resting his back again and thinking only one thing.

Clara was alive, and she was right beside him once more.

And she bit her lip, bringing her knees to her chest as she started thinking of a way of helping her friends without Rafe noticing.

++++

The three took a chance of the truck being stuck in the traffic to hop off, as Rafe started guiding the two to where he had left his boat.

Clara could only think of how different he was, and she was seeing him for the first time the Rafe before he broke off their friendship. He was thinking straight, he knew what he was doing. He looked more healthy, sober even.

"Can you please help me with the bowline?" He asked while he entered the boat and Clara pulled Kiara back, before she could say anything, the older girl whispered.

"Listen to me very carefully, Kie. You're gonna pretend you can't undo your knot, and while I'm undoing mine, you push Rafe on the water, okay?" Clara asked, and Kiara furrowed her eyebrows. "You grab the boat and go find our friends."

"What about you-"

"I'm staying."

"What? No-"

"I can deal with Rafe, alright? I always have," she nodded, looking back at the boy who was looking for something inside the boat. "Trust me."

Kiara looked at her friend, she had a small smile, an encouraging one for that matter, and she knew she didn't have time to ponder the question. She would have to trust Clara like they had been doing many times before. Then she nodded.

"We'll meet again in Obx, okay?" She asks and let go of Kiara's hand, walking to the knot as she eyed Kiara.

The curly haired girl grabbed one side of the knot and pulled on it, then she said it loudly for them to her. "I... uh- I can't get it?"

"What?" Rafe asked, seeing Clara undoing hers and then looking at Kiara.

"I need some help!"

Rafe passed his hand over his short hair and took a deep breath, nodding and walking to the girl as he started pulling on the rope. Then she took that as a chance to push him off the boat, his body hitting the water as Clara let the knot loose.

Kiara ran to the wheel and started the boat, giving one last look to her wavy haired friend as Clara gave her a hidden thumbs up as Rafe gritted his teeth on the water.

"Hey!" He yelled as the boat got farther away from them. "Fuck!"

Clara closed her eyes, pulling her hair back as she took a deep breath. Okay, one thing was done. She turned her back to Rafe who was swimming to the stairs of the dock, and he pulled himself up, seeing the girl.

"Did you have something to do with this?!" He asked as he got closer, his hand up as he went to grab onto her arm, but then stopped himself. His hand opened and closed on the air as he tilted his head to the side to hold in his anger.

"No, how should I?" She asked, furrowing her eyebrows as she looked up at him. "You think that if I did, I wouldn't have gone with her?!"

Rafe took a deep breath, staring deep into the girl's eyes. Yes, he did think that Clara was able to pull this off, after all, he knew her like he knew the back of his hand. Or at least he used to.

Then he bit his lip, nodding his head and running his hand over the buzzcut as he paced.

"Okay, okay..." he thought for a moment. "My fucking phone and wallet were there, and we need to leave."

"You don't carry your wallet with you?" Clara asked, her eyebrow raising as she looked at him.

"I didn't expect to be here more than two hours, alright? I left it on the boat."

"Oh, that's just great, isn't it?" She snapped at him, and Rafe stared at her.

He was used to her bursts of emotion, but she seemed different. Something about her, how she was around him was off, and he was blaming Rose for that, but it was something else, and he could feel it.

"What's up with you?" He asked, pointing at her in confusion. "I just got us out-"

"Well, what do you think?" She answered back, anger boiling her blood as she stared at him. "What the fuck do you think?"

"If I knew I wouldn't be asking you in the first place!" He yelled back, and Clara shook her head, glaring at the man.

"You were the one who put us in this situation in the first place," she raised her hand, pointing her finger at him as she took a step closer. "Because all of this is happening because of you! I had to live on a deserted island for two months-"

"You fine until you jumped off-"

"I was shot, Rafe!" Clara interrupted him, looking straight into his eyes, while she fought back tears as she let the anger get the best of her once more. "I was shot and I drowned, only because you wanted to be selfish in dragging me unconscious to that fucking boat. Following Rose's demand don't cut it."

Rafe stared at her as she wiped off a tear that had dared to fall from her eyes as she continued talking between gritted teeth.

"I had to live for a month on a deserted island with the only food being fish and coconut water," she dramatized with her hands, then her hand went over the lower part of her belly as she was trying to protect the wound. "They had to cut off my infected skin and cauterize with a burning knife, while I was begging for them to let me die. So don't stand here and tell me that I was fine- that I wanted to be there."

Rafe could only stare at her, his eyes flickering to the covered wound and her teary eyes. He wanted to reach out and pull the pants down like Kiara did to analyze the injury, but he stood still, knowing she wouldn't let him.

"I spent days hoping that maybe, just maybe, you would come back. I hoped that I would see a plane or a boat and you would be there. You would be looking for me, but I see that you didn't even try. You just kept going with your life, with not a care."

Clara pressed the heels of her hands on her eyes briefly, cleaning them as fast as she could. She didn't want him to see her cry.

"Your best life, as I can see. And I beat myself every day for still feeling so hopelessly in love with you," she took a shaky breath. "But you didn't even care."

"I thought you were dead." His voice cut her own as he closed his hand on a fist. "When I saw you getting dragged to the boat and there was so much blood. They were yelling you weren't breathing. And I thought you died."

Clara gritted her teeth, nose scrunching slightly as a way to keep herself from crying.

"So yeah, I lost hope. You were out of my eye range and you were dead. And yes, I moved on with my life, but you don't know how ruined I was because of it." He took a step closer, his hand hovering over hers as he was scared she would flinch away. "You told me you beat yourself for being in love with me, but I'm still in love with you. And I told you this many times before: you are the one for me, alright? I know you are mad, but please. Please tell me we can still make things right. Please tell me you still feel the same."

And Clara looked away from him, jaw clenched as she started walking away she cleaned the remaining tears in her eyes.

"Let's find a way to leave this fucking island," she said, and Rafe let his shoulders fall at the last of an answer, but he followed after her.

Let's just say it's been a while since I had such a hard time to write one chapter. I didn't know what would fit nicely, so I pondered the option that I had and I think this is the best way it turned out!

The last scene I had on my drafts since I season 3 released, oof!

Tell me what you think?

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