─☼☼☼─

𝙒𝙃𝙀𝙉 𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙍𝙇𝙊𝙏𝙏𝙀 𝙋𝙐𝙇𝙇𝙀𝘿 up to The Chateau, she barely recognized it. 

String lights had been strung from tree branch to tree branch, illuminating the usually dark yard. It was a new,  but not totally unwelcomed sight. 

However, the most odd thing about the aesthetic change was the hot tub that now sat in the middle of John B's property...what the hell happened?

Quickly grabbing the supplies from her car, Charlotte hesitantly started toward where the hot tub was situated. She could hear voices, and could see figures which could only be her sister, Pope and ... JJ! He was okay!

As she got closer, her eyes fell on JJ's chest as he stood up out of the hot tub, waving her over. He was covered in bruises, and Charlotte felt her stomach churn with nausea. Maybe he wasn't okay...

"Charley!" JJ called, a slight slur to his voice. "Thank God you're finally here."

Hopping over the edge of the hot tub, JJ threw his arms around Charlotte, enveloping her in a wet hug. 

As he did so, Charlotte looked toward Kiara and Pope who were both soaked from the waist down, as if they had gotten in the hot tub in their clothes. The look on her face was one of confusion to which Kiara gave her a small shake of the head which said I'll tell you later.

"Did you bring a suit?" JJ wondered, a sloppy grin on his face as he pulled back slightly to look at her. 

It took Charlotte a minute to pull her eyes from his busted open lip and respond. "Uh no." She rasped. "But I have to work on the pulley system for tomorrow anyway."

JJ groaned. "Oh come on, Charles. Have a bit of fun for once."

She gave him a forced smile. "Maybe later, J. I should get started. Just─uh─have a drink for me."

Shrugging, JJ took her statement quite literally and cracked open another beer before launching himself back into the hot tub. 

With him distracted, Charlotte looked over at her sister, aggressively nodding toward the house to signal that she wanted to speak to her. 

Kie sighed, passing her towel off to Pope before following Charlotte toward the porch, away from the prying ears of Pope and the completely oblivious ears of JJ. 

"What the hell happened to him?" The eldest Carrera demanded the moment they were around the corner. "Who did this?"

Casting a look over her shoulder, Kiara wrapped her arms around herself, as if a chill had overcome her. "It was his dad." She finally admitted. 

Part of Charlotte was relieved that it wasn't Rafe who did this, the other part of her was irate. "I'm going to fucking kill him." She bit out, anger searing through her veins. 

"Char─"

"No parent should do that to their child." Charlotte snapped. "Luke Maybank is a fucking sorry excuse for a man."

Kiara frowned. "I know. But there's nothing we can do."

Charlotte's brows flew up. "I should go over there. Tell him what a fucking coward he is and that if he ever touches JJ again he'll have hell to pay."

"What are you going to do? He won't be scared of you, Charley. He'll laugh in your face and beat JJ ten times harder the next time he sees him."

Kiara was right, and Charlotte knew it. But it was taking everything in her to contain her anger. JJ Maybank had a special place in her heart, and she could not stand to see him hurt, especially by the one person in the world who was supposed to protect him above all else. 

"Yo, Char! Kie! What are you guys doing?" Came JJ's voice from the hot tub. Deep within it you could hear his pain, his devastation. No matter how hard he tried to hide it, JJ Maybank was broken. 

After sharing a final silent look with her sister that said she would leave it alone for now, Charlotte turned back toward where the two boys were. "We're coming!"

Charlotte Carrera would give Luke Maybank a piece of her mind one day...that she was sure of. 

─☼☼☼─

Charlotte, Pope, Kie and JJ (until he fell asleep after an hour) worked through most of the night to perfect the winch that would aide in getting the gold out of the well. The three of them had come up with something that they could confidently say they were proud of. 

It was near light by the time they finally fallen asleep, and when Charlotte awoke, it was to the ringing of her own phone. 

She sat up in a daze, accidentally knocking Pope's head off of her lap as she scrambled for her phone that would not stop ringing!

Pope let out a groan, while Kiara and JJ stirred. Charlotte cursed as she looked down at her caller ID. 

"Hey, mom." She rasped, plastering on a fake smile hoping that would mask the fact that she was dead asleep at almost one in the afternoon.  "What's up?"

Anna Carrera was not in the mood for formalities. "Where are you?"

Glancing around, Charlotte sighed. "Still at John B's...why?"

"Did you forget what day it was?" Anna challenged in exasperation. Over the line, Charlotte could hear her father talking in the background, and then some kind of intercom...

"Shit."

"Pardon?"

Hastily gathering her things, she kicked at Kiara's leg, attempting to wake her. "It's the fifth." she deduced. 

Every year for as long as Charlotte could remember, her parents always left the island to attend a business management meeting in Jacksonville.

This year, Charlotte had been left in charge of The Wreck...and it may have slipped her mind until now.

Anna sighed from the other end. "Charlotte, please tell me you didn't forget."

"Wh─no! No, mom, I did not forget." Lie. "I─I just─why can't Trevor manage it while you're gone? Isn't that the whole point of having an assistant manager?"

Kiara finally opened her eyes after Charlotte kicked her once again. Sitting up, she scowled at her sister. "What the hell is your problem?"

Waving her off, Charlotte returned to the phone where her mother began speaking. "Trevor's wife is about to have a baby any day now. We couldn't rely on the fact that he would be there everyday. These are our last few weeks before the off-season, we need to be open, Charlotte. You know this."

"Yeah, mom, I know. I─I'll head over there right now, okay? I've got this." As much as Charlotte wanted to continue helping with the gold mission, her parents came first.

"Thank you, Char." Her mom breathed. "We'll be home in a few days. Please keep and eye on your sister. Make sure she actually shows her face at home at least once while we're gone."

Charlotte's eyes drifted to Kiara who was now trying to wake up JJ. "Got it."

"Bye, Char. Love you."

She smiled softly. "Bye, mom. Love you, too. Safe trip."

The minute she hung up the phone, she kicked at a near bye stick. "Fuck!"

That finally woke JJ up. "What the hell?"

Shoving her phone back into her pocket, Charlotte fished through her bag for her car keys. "I have to run The Wreck for the next three days." 

Recognition dawned on Kiara's face. "The conference."

Pope looked lost as he looked between the two girls. "Conference? What─what conference?"

"Our parents go to this stupid meeting in Jacksonville every year. I'm pretty sure they first started going to get away from Charlotte and I, but they've never stopped. Charley's in charge while they're gone."

"Woah, woah, woah." JJ started as he stood up, swaying slightly. "We need you. You can't leave us hanging like that!"

Charlotte threw her hands up. "What do you want me to do? Someone has to run the restaurant, and besides, John B isn't even back yet. I'll close a bit early tonight, then we can go get the gold, and we'll have Pope back in good time for his interview tomorrow. Sound good?"

The three younger kids shared a look, none of them coming up with any objections. "Sounds good." Pope finally agreed. 

"Good." Charlotte breathed.  "Just don't─don't do this without me."

─☼☼☼─

They were definitely doing this without her. 

As promised, Charlotte had closed the restaurant by eight o'clock and had driven to the Chateau right away, prepared to head straight to the Crain House to get the gold. 

But when she got there, it had been dark, no sign of any of the kids. 

She had then called each of them, numerous times...nothing. 

They weren't at The Wreck, she knew that. They definitely weren't at JJ's, nor were they at Pope's. 

So, she went home, hoping that for some odd reason they were there. 

They weren't.

So desperate, she even drove past the Crain House, but there was no sign of the Twinkie or any of her friends. 

Charlotte was almost at her whit's end when she pulled into Tannyhill. It was her last option. If Sarah or John B weren't here, then she was about to file a missing person's report─or five of them. 

Rafe's bike wasn't here, which Charlotte wasn't entirely sure if she was happy or disappointed. For the sake of her own sanity, she was going to say disappointed. 

When she knocked on the door, it was pulled open by the Cameron's housekeeper,  Mariella. 

A huge smile came over her face as she pulled Charlotte into a hug. "Oh, Charlotte! I've missed you. It's been too long!"

Charlotte had always been friendly with the numerous staff that worked at Tannyhill, but Mariella had always been her favourite. 

"I missed you, too, Mari." Charlotte laughed, a warm smile coming to her face. "Sorry I haven't been around...you know how things get."

Mariella dropped her voice. "I heard about you and Rafe...good for you, my girl."

"Mariella!" Rose snapped, her slippers smacking across the ground as she marched down the stairs. "Who is it?"

As she neared the bottom, her eyes fell on Charlotte. "Oh, Charlotte. Hi, dear."

A forced smile came to the younger girl's face. "Hi, Rose. Sorry to bother you so late."

Rose waved her off. "Nonsense. You're always welcome here. You know that."

When an awkward silence began to settle between them, Charlotte cleared her throat. "I came to see Sarah. Is she here?"

Something flickered across Rose's face for a moment before she finally nodded. "I think she's upstairs talking to her father. You can wait in her room if you'd like." She then glanced past Charlotte toward the front door. "Are you alone?"

Charlotte turned slightly, looking at the closed door behind her. "Um...yeah?"

Rose nodded, her eyes still looming near the front door. "Good. You know the way to Sarah's room...go ahead."

"Thanks, Rose." Charlotte smiled a smile that didn't reach her eyes as she moved past Rose, making her way up toward Sarah's room. 

Something was going on in Tannyhill, and she was afraid whatever it was had something to do with her sister and friends. 

As she neared the top of the stairs to the second floor, she could hear voices carrying from Ward's office. 

Pausing, she stopped to listen. 

"─I mean if you heard the crazy things he was saying on that boat." Ward sounded upset, frustrated. 

"Like what?" Sarah challenged. She seemed as equally upset. 

"Like I killed his father! Like that. Me!"

Charlotte's heart rammed against her ribcage as she stepped away from the door. Ward was talking about John B, it didn't take an expert to figure that out. 

But why? What the hell happened on that boat for John B to have accused Ward of killing his father? 

Whatever had happened, Charlotte was sure it wasn't good. She was also sure that it had something to do with the whereabouts of her friends. 

When the door swung open, a tear-stained Sarah Cameron stumbled from the room. Her eyes landed on Charlotte, and instantly a single finger went to her mouth, signalling for silence. 

Not in any position to argue, Charlotte remained silent as Sarah dragged her into the room furtherest from Ward's office...which just so happened to be Rafe's bedroom. 

"Did John B send you?" Sarah demanded, instantly breaking the silence. 

When Charlotte looked at her, she noticed how devastated she looked...something bad had happened. 

"No." Charlotte answered instantly. "I haven't spoken to any of them for hours. No one's answering my calls."

Sarah ran a hand through her hair as more tears spilled from her eyes. Without saying anything, she paced back in forth and small patterns.

"Sarah." Charlotte asserted. "What the hell is going on? I heard you and your dad talking about John B."

Finally stopping, Sarah looked at the older girl. "Something bad happened, Char. I don't know what to do."

Keeping her composure, Charlotte spoke calmly. "What? What happened?"

A small breath fell from Sarah's lips as another tear follow. "My dad said that─he said that John B tried to kill him."

Charlotte felt her heart plummet. "What?"

"And─and John B told me that it was my dad who tried to kill him. I don't─I don't know what to do, Char." Sarah cried, dropping her face into her hands. 

Numb with shock, Charlotte reached out and pulled Sarah toward her. 

Things had just gotten worse...so much worse. 

-an-

season 3 renewal...yeah baby!!

i hated this chapter but we're getting to the good stuff soon!