With her teeth biting down the flesh of the inside of her cheek, she let out a wry chuckle. "You abandoned us back there to save your own asses, trapped us in the cabin of the ship to try to collect your stupid bounty and not to mention pointed a loaded gun at me. We don't owe any of you shit, Terrance, but Ward doesn't deserve a single bar of that gold, so how does ten sound to you?" Jaylene upped her previous offer, a smug smirk on her face.
"Ten million apiece." Cleo attempted to negotiate the offer, her feet dangling from the roof of the cabin where she sat looking down at the Rosewood girl.
Terrance grinned, pointing a finger up at Cleo as a way of agreeing with her. "I like that. Ten apiece." He brokered.
"A piece? Okaβ" John B nervously scratched the back of his neck, attempting to voice his own opinion on the matter, but Jaylene spoke over him before he could further disapprove of this plan.
"Ten apiece." Jaylene predominately sealed the deal with an approving head nod, not really caring about what John B had to say considering he was the reason they were tangled in this mess, to begin with. Had he just stayed at the Rosewood estate and kept a low cover until his friends cleared his name to allow him to peacefully head back home, they wouldn't be here right now.
"Ten million dollars. We're just throwing money away." The Routledge boy was in obvious distress over this but turned to his idea of a humorous response instead of starting a fight with his girlfriend at that very moment. While he knew that he was at fault for this, that didn't change the fact that it felt as if he was disappointing his dead father by practically throwing away thirty million dollars worth of gold.
As an eerie silence engulfed them, Marleen kept her gaze focused on her daughter, that same feeling she felt when she watched her children take their first steps engulfing her. Despite her obvious disapproval towards all of this, she was proud of her oldest daughter for learning to stick up for herself and fight for what she believed was right. Maybe Jaylene could be a bit ill-mannered sometimes, but Marleen had behaved the same way towards her husband's judgmental family whenever they uttered condemnatory words about her, so she couldn't exactly blame her. Sometimes you had to be stony-hearted.
Holding his hand out for Jaylene to take into her own, Terrance spoke up after a short period of time. "You have yourself a deal."
Jaylene grinned, momentarily taking his hand into hers as they shared a firm handshake to officially seal the deal, completely unaware of the trouble that the future had in store for her.
________________
"PICK UP THE PHONE, NATE," Jaylene muttered under her breath, pacing back and forth as she dialed her brother's number for what felt like the thousandth time now, her patience growing frail at the number of times he'd declined her calls.
It was now the next day and after getting a decent amount of sleep last night, Jaylene felt a bit refreshed from yesterday's events . . . excluding the painful cut on her leg that kept pounding with every step she took as she grew frustrated that her brother wasn't answering any of her calls.
I mean, she was lucky that he hadn't blocked the unfamiliar number yet, but still, she couldn't help but feel annoyed that he was testing her patience right now despite being completely unaware of it.
Luckily for her, just as she was about to begin ripping her hair from her scalp, the line stopped ringing, and instead of having to listen to the monotone voice telling her to leave a voicemail, her ears flooded with the sound of her annoyed brother on the other end of the line.
"If this is you, Liliana, I swear to god." Nathaniel groaned on the other end, frustration lingering in his tone at the simple thought of this being his obsessive ex-girlfriend who had gone through great measures to get in contact with him after their breakup last year. Psychotic wasn't even the right word to describe that girl.
"You know, I never understood what you saw in Liliana Solano in the first place. She was even crazier than Lorelei and that on its own speaks volumes." Jaylene began to feel emotional at the sound of her brother's voice, her first instinct being to tease him about his failed relationship in the past.
Nathaniel could've sworn his heart stopped beating for a few seconds, the shock coursing through his veins which seemed to be sufficient enough to snap him from the trance he'd fallen into. Standing to his full height and out of the bed he'd been lying in for most of the day, he received a curious look from the girl sitting at the edge of it. "Jaylene?" Though he knew it was his sister, he still had to verify that it was her.
"I prefer the better looking Rosewood, but yeah. Yeah, it's me." She nodded her head, the widest of smiles etched onto her lips at the sound of her brother's voice. Even though they had grown apart when she spiraled out of control, he was her best friend, and being in contact with him after all the chaos she'd been through recently made her feel a whole lot better.
"Jaylene?! She's alive?"
It didn't take much for Jaylene to identify the voice in the background that had asked the question, a surprised look falling onto her face. She had anxiously been wondering what had happened to Sarah after everything, so she was relieved to know that she sounded fine, but she remained confused as to why the Cameron girl was with her brother.
"Hey, I'm gonna need you to put me on speaker, alright? Time is crucial right now, so I can't spend it talking to you all day." Jaylene approached one of the stone steps, taking a seat on the flat surface with a relieved sigh falling from her lips from the weight being taken off of her healing leg.
"Yeah, alright. You're on speaker." Nathaniel set the phone down on the bed, bringing a hand up to his jawline as he anxiously ran his fingers against the stubble growing on it.
Jaylene took in a deep breath, tapping her fingernails against her bare thigh as she loudly exhaled. "We're in Nassau."
"Oh, my god, was that you yesterday? Ward mentioned something about someone being on the property. I mean, not directly to me, but I overheard him telling Rose." Sarah's brows shot up in surprise, unable to contain the smile that wandered onto her lips now that she knew that Jaylene and John B hadn't become victims of the storm like deputy Shoupe and the entire SBI team had assumed. She already hated the male beings of her family for framing John B, so she was a bit relieved that he and Jaylene hadn't died because of Rafe and Ward's selfishness.
Due to the lack of evidence against Ward Cameron that could prove that he had in fact aided and abetted in the murder of sheriff Peterkin and that he had killed John Routledge, he was let go after an exhausting night of questioning at the station with his lawyer. As a result, Sarah had practically been placed under house arrest by her father for having told the SBI agents that it had been her brother who shot Peterkin. Unfortunately, after Ward claimed that she wasn't in the right state of mind due to a recent psychological disorder diagnosis, Sarah was ruled incompetent to testify in favor of John B until Ward's claims could be proven false by a medical professional. Of course, that had little possibility of happening considering that Ward had connections everywhere and if Sarah were to get a psychological evaluation, it wouldn't work in his favor.
As for why she was hanging around Nathaniel Rosewood? Well, that was a whole other story that she didn't wanna focus on. What mattered was that Jaylene and John B were alive.
"Oh, my god. The gold." The realization finally struck Sarah, absolutely dumbfounded that she hadn't put two and two together yesterday when she was eavesdropping on Rose and her father. "That's why you were at Paradise Island."
"Gold? What gold?" Nathaniel gave her a confused look, unaware that his sister had joined her boyfriend on a treasure hunt that summer to search for the famous Royal Merchant gold.
"The Royal Merchant gold, Nate, keep up." Jaylene playfully scoffed, figuring that there was no use in keeping him out of the loop. She even considered telling him about Marleen, but then remembered that he tended to blurt out secrets whenever he argued with their father, so she decided against it, shaking those thoughts away. "Anyway, I need you to find out when your dad's gonna fly down to the Bahamas to move the gold, Sarah."
"You think he'll go down there to move the gold?" Sarah was surprised to hear that assumption, wondering whether the gold really meant that much to Ward. He'd been advised to not leave the country due to the ongoing investigation her family was dealing with. They weren't found guilty or anything, but it didn't take a genius to realize that all eyes were on them and randomly leaving the country would look suspicious to any sane person.
"He killed John Routledge because of it. No offense, Sarah, but your psycho father wouldn't take the risk." Jaylene knew how cruel her words were, but it's not like she was lying. Ward Cameron was a greedy, disturbed individual who deserved to rot in the great depths of hell.
Sarah frowned, not because Jaylene of what Jaylene had said but because it was the cold truth. Knowing what she did about her father, she nodded her head despite the fact that Jaylene couldn't actually see her. "Yeah, alright. I'll look through his computer and send you pictures of anything useful that I find."
"Yeah, okay. Get those pictures to me asap, please." Jaylene supplicated, resting her chin in the palm of her hand with a frown of her own tugging at her lips. The more she thought about it, the more disastrous the plan sounded, but she wasn't backing up now. Though she really should've considered it because the more she thought about it, the more she began to take notice of the strange feeling lying in the pit of her stomach.
"Will do." Sarah hummed in response, too overwhelmed to even utter a simple 'bye' to Jaylene before she hung up and made her way downstairs to her father's office with Nathaniel closely trailing behind her.
Meanwhile, Jaylene pulled the phone away from her ear, scoffing quietly at the fact that she hadn't even been given the chance to say bye to her brother. Whatever. She quickly shook it off and stood back up, continuing to pace back and forth despite the awful pain that pulsed through her leg.
After a few minutes, she felt the phone vibrate in her hand and a relieved sigh followed at the sight of a few images that confirmed the exact time Ward would be in the Bahamas tomorrow to attend the scheduled meeting he had arranged.
Anxiously tossing the phone back and forth in her hands, she approached John B who was sitting on the stone ledge a few feet away from her, taking the unoccupied space beside him without uttering a word. She just sat there, taking in the relaxing sound of the wind blowing through the sunny day, birds chirping in their nests as the sun-kissed her skin. The serenity amidst the chaos trapped her in a trance, her mind momentarily at ease as it sunk into a void state. She was deprived of all human emotions, the state of mind reminding her of the complete and utter peace that once coursed through her veins with the help of a fine, white powder that she neatly formed into a line and proceeded to snort through her left nostril with a rolled-up dollar bill . . . courtesy of Rafe, of course.
When she realized that the equanimity had died down, she sighed, squeezing her eyes shut to help her mind relocate to the present. Once she was ready, she opened her eyes and looked over at John B who was already staring back at her. "Hi." She softly spoke, scooting closer to him to lean her head on his shoulder.
"Hi." He responded in the same tone, carefully pressing the base of his own skull against hers as he wrapped his arm around her warm body. Though it was quite obvious that she had a million worries running through her mind, he could tell that she didn't want to discuss any of them, so he decided to avoid coaxing her into opening up about whatever it was that was nibbling at her.
Even though Jaylene would've loved to stay in this moment forever, she knew that wasn't possible, so she pressed her lips together into a thin line, thinking back to how cold she'd been last night when they were headed towards Paradise Island. "I'm sorry about what I said yesterday. I was projecting." She apologized, pulling away from him so that she could look him in the eye, genuine regret glazed across her very own eyes for having been an absolute bitch.
John B shook his head in response, inhaling sharply before exhaling loudly. "It's fine, Jay. I was impulsive and you were frustrated. One of us was bound to have an outburst." He assured her.
"Don't." Jaylene's headspace suddenly shifted back to a point in time that she never wanted to relive, the countless arguments she had with Jason played like a freaking horror movie. She remembered all the shouting and the countless tears that would result from them. "Please hold me accountable for the messed up shit I do. When I was with Jason, I would excuse his behavior all the time and look how he and I ended up. I don't want to repeat that kind of history, especially if I'm the bad guy this time."
Reaching to stroke her cheekbone with the pad of his thumb, John B pulled her face closer to his, turning his body the slightest bit so that he could press a gentle kiss to her forehead before wrapping his arms around her again. "You're not the bad guy." He proceeded to say, able to sense the heavy self-doubt she was feeling right now.
"Caring just like your father, huh?"
Jaylene was quick to recognize the voice, having to take in deep breaths before she could locate the strength to look up at the blonde woman standing a few feet away from them. She didn't know where their mother-daughter relationship stoodβif there even was one anywayβso this was beyond uncomfortable. A part of her wanted to hear Marleen's side of the story, not the side that her grandparents had told her about, but the full story coming directly from the person who was physically present. She remembered the jealousy that would consume her whenever she saw kids with their mothers, wanting nothing more than to have Marleen at her side. She remembered that diner on The Cut with the jukebox and heavenly milkshakes. She remembered when Marleen would take her on walks around the neighborhood, always managing to find the smallest of flowers to tuck behind her ear. She wanted to paint her mother as a villain because she was angry at her, but the residents of The Cut loved her for a reason and she wanted nothing more than to get to know her, but her stubbornness wouldn't allow that.
"He talked a lot about you after . . . you know . . ."John B trailed off, not exactly knowing how to talk to someone who unofficially faked their death. He briefly remembered the woman standing in front of him because of all the times his father had taken him over to Figure Eight whenever Henderson Rosewood needed something fixed. He also remembered accidentally sticking gum in Jaylene's hair when they were four years old and her giving him his first black eye in return . . . not that it was really relevant to the story, but it happened.
Marleen offered him a smile, gesturing towards Jaylene despite the teenage girl avoiding eye contact with her. "Can I talk to my daughter for a few minutes?"
"No." Jaylene shook her head, but unfortunately for her, John B replied at the same time with the exact opposite.
"Yeah, sure."
As soon as she felt John B's warm touch pull away from her, she let out an irritated groan, her eyes narrowing into a death glare that she sent in her boyfriend's direction for having left her side when she needed him most. She knew there was no way out of this conversation, so she swallowed her pride and made direct eye contact with her mother, unable to handle the apprehensive feeling that threatened to eat her whole at the simple thought of having a conversation with the woman who she once believed had been dead for the past twelve years. It all felt like too much for her to handle, so she turned towards John B instead, watching him wander towards the stone stairs to head up to the patio.
"Wait!" She raised her voice, abandoning her spot on the ledge and walking past her mother to get to John B who turned to look at her. "Uhm, Sarah sent pictures of the meeting time tomorrow and something about a vault. Get that back to Terrance, yeah?" She held out the phone she'd borrowed to call her brother, gulping down the lump that had formed in her throat from how anxious she was feeling again.
John B took the phone into his grasp, giving her a short nod followed by one final look before he turned away. "Got it."
Once he had disappeared from her eyesight, she stood there for about a minute, unable to turn back around to face her mother. She felt the nerves creep up from her stomach, steadily grazing her vocal cords to deprive her of the ability to speak. It almost felt as if she was a child again, her anxiety resembling the one that consumed her that one time she got scolded as a child for having dragged mud across the expensive floor tiles. It was the first of many times that Lorelei had ever berated her, the heavy judgment in her angry tone embedded in the corridor of her mind.
"I don't want you participating in an armed robbery." Marleen voiced her opinion for the second time now, the sound of her voice ripping through the tense air causing Jaylene to turn to face her.
Jaylene collected herself, sucking in a sharp breath. "Well, that's not really your decision to make. You're more of a stranger to me than you are a mother." She admitted, and for once, she wasn't trying to be rude. Actually, she was being the most sincere she'd been with Marleen since they crossed paths again. "Did you know that Nathaniel doesn't like talking about you because he can't stand the fact that he has zero recollection of you? You lost your parental control the second you agreed to leave the island."
The words smacked the blonde right in the face, her heart aching at the pain she'd brought upon her children when she agreed to leave the island without them. She shouldn't have changed her mind about taking them with her, but after taking a blow to the head, she realized that she wasn't financially stable enough to provide for them. "I made a mistake. I should've gone back for you and your brother, but I didn't . . . I couldn't."
Jaylene picked up on the tone of voice that clung to her mother's words, her mind beginning to wonder if there was a missing piece to the story her grandparents had told her. "What else are you hiding?" She inquired, crossing her arms over her chest with a curious look.
Marleen squeezed her eyes shut, having to give her mind the opportunity to carefully analyze what she was about to say, the buried secret of hers threatening to rise from the mountains of dirt piled on top of it. When she was confident enough with herself, yet a bit uneasy
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