Halle's POV

I felt a pair of strong arms around me and a hard chest against my face. It was dark but I could automatically tell it was Nate as I was laying on top of and he was holding me the way that lovers do. I almost didn't want to get out because he felt safe, and comforting, unlike Leland which I never felt safe in his arms.

"W-where are we?" I stuttered as I was adjusting my eyes, as I felt for my knife as I didn't realize I was feeling Nate's pockets and not mine, but I felt something that felt like a knife.

"Don't worry I got the family heirloom." He joked about the knife as I smiled.

"It's not--nevermind." I say to him as I pushed myself off of him which I didn't want to do, but I knew that we had a job to do.

"You got the key?" He asked me as I grabbed it from my pocket and wiggled it in his face teasingly.

"Sure do." I say to him as he grabbed it and inserted it into the keyhole on the cover turning it.

A few seconds, water started flowing inside as widened my eyes as wide as I can.

"Water."

"This has to be a test! The eighteen must have built an escape, right?" Nate exclaimed as he started panicking in my ear, as I winced a little.

"So this is the puzzle. What could we possibly do with this?" I ask as I rub my temple. "'Trust in your fellow man for one shall go to heaven and the other hell' trust in your fellow man...fellow man." I say putting it together as it made sense.

"Dad!" I yelled.

"Sully, there has to be another keyhole up there somewhere that opens this door!" Nate yells.

"I'm like literally in a papa john's right now." Dad said from the other lime nonchalantly as if we weren't going to slowly die from drowning.

Since the passage way was cramped, the water was already up to our shoulders, as I shivered at the coldness of it. I heard grunting and groaning from Dad was he fighting someone.

"Dad, hurry!"

"Shut up, Hal. I'm workin' on it."

"She'll shut up when you get us the fuck outta here." Nate says irritably. "You gotta help me get this up, okay?" Nate asked as he referred to the grate.

I nodded my head as I tugged on the grate, but it wouldn't budge an inch at all. "Sully! It's now or never, we're running out of options!" Nate says as he couldn't speak properly due to the water coming in his mouth.

"Deep breaths." The water was now up to our faces. I sucked in a sharp breath before being fully submerged in the water. I punched everything, desperate to find an escape. The cover opened abruptly and me and Nate swam up, inhaling.

"Hey, guys. Say something. Tell me you're alive." Dad says out of breath as I'm guessing that he was fighting with Braddock.

"Yeah, we're good." Nate replied. "We're still alive.

"Then what are you waiting for? Get a move on." He says as I couldn't believe him. Me and Nate were having a near-death experience and he was insensitive as ever.

"Thanks, for asking if we're okay." I snapped at him.

"Thanks, Hal." Nate tells me.

"See at least someone is thanking me." I tell him with a wink.

｡ₓ ू ₒ ु ˚ ू ₒ ु ₓ｡

"Hey, you cold?" Nate asked me as I nodded my head, so he brought the torch he lit with Sam's lighter that surprisingly worked this time.

"T-thanks." I say shivering.

"I see a light. Is that you?" Dad asked.

"Yeah, it's us. We're in some sort of roman antechamber...woah." Nate says as he spotted another door a made of stone with circular patterns and bricks all around to be exact.

"Nate you still got the key?" I asked him.

"Yeah." He says as he inserted it into the hole and turned it, but there was no reaction whatsoever.

"Another puzzle?" I ask as I furrowed my eyebrows.

"It doesn't fit." Nate says.

"Dad!" I shouted walking to where he was on top. "Dad, we're missing something, see if you can find anything up there."

"I can't get this grate up."

"Forget the grate and look."

He moved away from the grate. "I think it's the two keys put together." Dad says as his voice was faint.

"What?" I ask him.

"I said I think it's the two keys put together." He repeated loudly coming back into view.

"Throw your key down!" Me and Nate shout in unison.

"Hey! You two think you're gonna double-cross me?" Dad opposed.

"You want the stupid key or you want the gold? C'mon, this is it. Throw it down." Nate demanded.

"I'm comin' down there for this, you hear me? You ain't gonna play me."

"You'll take forever to get here." I said as I huffed.

"Typical Sully, he'd rather lose the gold than--" Nate says before the key landed beside his feet.

"Finally." Nate says as he picked up Dad's key. "Does that look like a ladder to you?" He asked to which I nodded my head. The keys put together did look like a ladder.

"Okay, ready? Three...two....one..."

He inserted the combined keys, turning them once more. It worked this time. "What are you waiting for?" I say getting impatient, as I kicked the door down.

"What the---"

"What's happening?"

"We found it."

"Is the gold there? Talk to me!" Dad asked getting impatient as I was.

"We're in an old roman storehouse. It's gotta be at least 2000 years old, and there are these giant urns that are like eight feet tall." Nate explained.

"Are they intact?" Dad asked.

Nate went to one of the urns caressing it. "Yeah, they're perfectly preserved."

"What are you waiting for? Open them and get the gold?" Dad asked as I had an idea.

"Give me a lift, Nathaniel." I tell Nate as I step on his hands and then on his shoulders. A pained sound emitted from his mouth.

"Hey, it's Nate and be careful, you're stepping on a person, who has feelings." He scolded me but I didn't care.

"Fuck you, shut up." I say as I found small cracks forming on the urn.

"Nate? I think we have a problem. Nate?" I say as the cracks were getting bigger.

I jumped down almost landing on Nate as just then the urn and the rest of the urns blew into smithereens, with salt everywhere.

"What's happening?"

"No, it's gotta be here." I panicked, clawing the pile of salt.

"Answer me! What do you got?" Dad kept asking questions, but Nate's response shut him up.

"The gold's not here."

"Hang on, don't lose hope, there's something here." I say as I pointed at the pile.

Nate climbed the pile and dug through it and found a rusty case with a rolled up map in it. He unrolled the map, revealing our next clue.

"They never brought it back, the path to the gold starts here at Barcelona, but it ends somewhere over here in the west indies." He said as he looked at me with a wide smile and crescent like eyes, the happy look on his face made me smile.

｡ₓ ू ₒ ु ˚ ू ₒ ु ₓ｡

After we were reunited with Dad, I was standing on the other side of Nate as he was standing beside Dad. "What happened to my brother?"

He opened his mouth to make an excuse but closed it. "Where's Sam, Sully?" Nate asked again.

"I should have told you before, but your brother...he's gone."

"No, he's not. You said he ghosted you."

"He's gone. He didn't ghost me."

I looked at Nate seeing his face riddled with despair, in the amount of time I have never seen him distraught. I felt bad for him as I grabbed my hand and he squeezed it.

"We went down to the captain's tomb together to find the journal, and it was there, right where Sam said it would be." He started. "We were on our way out and Jo and her guys cut us off. They opened fire and Sam got shot."

"So you just left him to die."

"I saw a way out, so I took it---" He said as I raised my eyebrows, not wanting to say something and piss the both of them off.

"So you just left him there to die."

I was unable to believe that Sam was actually dead, I was in denial. Nate said that his brother promised he would return.

"What was I supposed to do? Get shot too? There was nothing I could do." Dad said shaking his head.

"Not surprised, you are a selfish bitch, who only cared about you, yourself and you. No wonder Papa didn't like you. You were always selfish." I tell him as I finally had the courage to say something. He looked at me like I was crazy.

"I am not selfish!"

"Then why did you leave my brother Victor!" Nate says as he two butted in.

"How could you not tell Nate, Sam was his fucking brother. Sam promised that he would come back. You never told Nate, what the fuck Dad. You didn't do anything to him--"

"Your brother believed that there was a final place, a last trick the eighteen played. I thought maybe he said something or sent Nate something. Shit all he ever did was talk about you Nate."

"So you dragged me all the way out here, let me believe that I might see my brother again, because you thought I would know something."

"Yeah." Dad admitted without an ounce of guilt. "Do you?"

"Did you really just ask that?" Nate said on the brink of tears. "You said that money changes people, makes them greedy, selfish, but you know what? I think that's just who you are. I don't think there was ever a better version of you, and whatever this is, we're done."

"Kid-" Dad tried.

"Don't fucking dare." I seethed at him as I was ready to throw punches at him but stopped myself.

At the safe house, I was keeping Nate company, as I sat next to him on the bed as he was looking at the postcards.

"I know this is a stupid question, but how are you feeling?" I ask him as I brushed one of his curls out of his face.

"Honestly I didn't expect that he would be dead, because if and when we did find him, you would have honestly loved him." Nate says as I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze as I smiled a little at saying that.

"Oh really?" I tell him as he cracked a smile as I know that me making him feel better is going. I'll take that smile because honestly it's making my legs melt.

"Yeah, he had a thing for blondes."

I laughed at what he said. "Oh really? What about you?" I ask him as I grabbed my pillow and clutched it, as it's what I do.

"Did I say he likes blondes? I meant I do."

I looked at him when he said that. "Oh really, let me tell you I have a thing for brunette's."

"Really now?" He says to me as I smiled at him.

"Maybe."

"You wanna do what I do for girls who have been smart asses, especially from the 'peanut gallery'." He says as he rubs his index finger on my sides sending a chill down my spine.

"W--" I went to ask and next thing I knew was that he smashed his lips against mine, catching me off guard but I kissed him back.

(You get the idea, I didn't want to into detail of the smut scene, because I don't know the ages of people who read this book, so that's why, but you get the idea).

｡ₓ ू ₒ ु ˚ ू ₒ ु ₓ｡

A couple hours later
Still Halle's POV

I managed to make some coffee that I found even if it took five minutes. It felt good to have sex with Nate. Why did I say that, but who gives a shit.

As I was making the coffee, Nate was looking at the postcards, as he was reading the stack that he had gotten. I got a text from Dad saying that he wanted to apologize. As the coffee was brewing, I walked out of the tiny ass kitchen.

"Don't get mad, Nate." I tell him as he wasn't paying attention to what I said. I sighed as I gently touched his hands and held them in mine.

"What's up?" He asked me once I got his full attention.

"I know you and Dad aren't on the good terms. but I just got a text and he said that he wants to apologize. So please don't try to kill each other. I may not like him, but I want him to be in once piece when this is all done." I tell him as he looked at me and thought about what I said, as he nods his head.

"I suppose." He says to me, which made me ruffle his hair knowing that he doesn't like it. "Halle, seriously." He says as I looked over my shoulder as he was fixing his hair. I went to grab my bag of clothes and found a tank top and shorts.

As I was changing I'm guessing that Dad got here, as I heard talking from the kitchen. "Halle, you decent. Your Dad's here!" I heard Nate shout from wherever he was.

"I'm getting my shorts on, gimme a sec!" I shouted back to Nate even if these walls were fucking thin walls. When I finished getting dressed I walked out of the bedroom as I leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen and the supposed living room.

"Here me out, please. I'm aware it was jerk-ish of me to lie, but now that you two know the truth, are you just gonna walk out on this? After all that? Don't you Nate, wanna finish what your brother started?" Dad says to us, as Nate turned around as he got some coffee and poured it in a mug.

"I know where she took the map, moncada right?" Nate says walking to the living room. "I mean think about it, who ese has the resources she's gonna need? Jo and her goon squad just so happened to find us at the church? He had to have somebody on the inside." Nate explains as I nod my head as I sat on the arm rest of the couch.

"You hate me, alright. I get it. Look, I'd hate me too, Braddock? After what she did to your brother? She shot him cold blood. We can't let her win--" Dad says before Nate interrupted him.

"Sully, will you stop it for like five minutes?" Nate asked frustrated. "For years, I've told myself that Sam would come back, that he wasn't gone, that he was just lost. But instead, me and your daughter are stuck here with you. I'm gonna finish what my brother started and we're gonna go our separate ways."

"Wait, how'd you get into all of this anyway?" Dad asked pointing a finger at me, as I was just listening to what they were saying, deciding what to say.

"She came to the bar where I worked at and after you left she came along with me." Nate says semi bitterly, as I knew that it wasn't in my direction. Then again, I can't blame him for acting like this now, especially to what Dad did to him. He basically lied to Nate telling him that Sam was alive and was still out there, but then earlier it was amazingly revealed *note the sarcasm right there* that he was dead. "By we I mean me and you Halle is staying with me."

I couldn't help but smile at what he said, as Dad looked at the two of us confused at what just happened. "What are you two dating or something?"

"As of three hours ago, yes." I tell him with a shitty grin on my face. The difference between Nate and Leland is that Nate is more caring and funny, than Leland then again Riley made me and him break up just so that she can have him and leave me in the fucking dust. When me and Leland were dating for almost four years. We dated since I was almost eighteen, and he was nineteen.

"Alright, it's settled kid."

｡ₓ ू ₒ ु ˚ ू ₒ ु ₓ｡

thought i could end it here, but anyway here is this chapter!!!!

make sure to vote and comment, thanks love you all <3