Author's Note:

Hey all! I'm finally getting this story up and I'm so excited to share Stevie's story with you. Most of you know me from Tumblr. If not, my URL is in my bio.

Before you read, I'd like to give you some info on this story. This takes place years after the current Season 2 of Riverdale, so Stevie is 19 and Sweet Pea (and the other Serpents his age) are 24. This story will be centered around the Southside Serpents, so there will be very little Northside characters mentioned in the story. Jughead is still a Serpent and lives in the Southside with FP. If you go to my profile, there will be a link to my Tumblr page where you can see gifs I've made to show who I see portraying each of my original characters. Just click on the "My Characters" link once you're on my page. Stevie Lark is portrayed by Dove Cameron. Of course, you are always welcome to imagine my characters however you want to ?

Please bear with me as this story might be a slow build. It takes a lot to create an original character and a whole history for her, and I want to do this right.

WARNING: This story is rated Mature for a reason. There will be a lot of profanity, graphic violence, sex, and slight drug usage. If you do not want to read about any of that, then this story is not for you.

Witness Protection

Chapter One: The New Year

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1, HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

The room full of party-goers rattled their noise makers and howled drunkenly into the air. Couples around the room embraced and kissed, welcoming in the new year.

A pretty, blonde young woman laughed gleefully, clapping her hands together and beaming at the happy people around her. Her friends. She loved each of them so much.

"Happy New Year, best friend!" a familiar voice called from behind her as two long, brown arms wrapped around her waist. Deija. Her absolute favorite of them all.

The blonde whirled around and hugged her friend back, a wide smile on her face. "This party is amazing, Deija."

"All thanks to you, girl. No one would have showed up if it weren't for your last-minute invites. Good thing you know literally everyone in LA," Deija smiled, pulling back to look down at her shorter friend.

"Good thing you have the hook-up to the best penthouse in LA," the blonde replied, looking up at Deija, who examined the girl closely and then cocked her head slightly.

"Stevie, where's Asher?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. The blonde's forehead crinkled in confusion for a moment before her eyes widened. In her happily drunken state, Stevie completely forgot that her boyfriend of two years had come to the party with her. It concerned her a little that while watching all of the couples around her kiss at midnight, she did not once think of Asher Sinclair.

Pouting her lips, Stevie shrugged and let out a small sigh. "Not here, I guess."

Deija frowned, her eyes narrowing at Stevie's sudden change of mood at the mention of her boyfriend. She scanned the dimly lit room full of party-goers, mostly people she'd only ever met once through her more popular friend. After a few seconds, she spotted a mop of dirty blonde hair walking toward the elevator at the front of the penthouse. It stuck out from the rest, as the hair belonged to someone taller than most in the room. Asher.

"Found him," Deija smirked, turning her friend around and pointing out Asher in the crowd. "Go get him, baby. And tell him he's a dick for leaving you alone at midnight. Next time, I'll kiss you myself if he's not there."

Stevie's nose crinkled as she giggled wildly, knowing that her very openly bisexual friend would keep true to her word and steal her away from Asher if she thought he wasn't treating Stevie right. Deija gave her friend a soft shove to where Asher was standing by the door and Stevie started toward him.

It was then that the blonde noticed her boyfriend wasn't without company. With him was a short, stockier built guy who looked to be of Hispanic descent. The two were facing each other and engaging in what seemed to be a passionate conversation. As Stevie got closer, she could hear that their voices were raised. However, she was too far away to hear what exactly they were saying.

Damn, this penthouse is too big, she thought to herself.

Suddenly, Asher scrunched up his face in what seemed to be extreme anger and grabbed the shorter man by the back of the neck, pulling him into the elevator of the penthouse.

As the doors to the elevator were about to close, Asher looked up and locked eyes with Stevie, whose face was contorted with confusion. Asher shook his head as if to tell her to stay in the penthouse and then he disappeared from her view when the doors completely shut.

Not one to listen, Stevie huffed and walked to the elevator, pushing the call button and waiting for the doors to open. Once they did, she rushed in, almost tripping over the five-inch stilettos on her feet. As the doors were closing, a hand slipped in between them, making them open back up. A giant, imposing man walked into the elevator, smiling at Stevie as he pressed the button for the 12th floor and stood next to her. There was something off about his smile, something she didn't like. Looking at the man out of the corner of her eye she saw that he was tall, taller than Asher. His tan skin glowed in the dim light of the elevator and his full lips were still pulled into a smile that she knew she couldn't trust. He was dangerously attractive, she thought begrudgingly. She also noticed that his jaw was clenched despite the smile on his face.

Because the penthouse was on the 50th floor of the building, the elevator was moving incredibly slow toward the 12th floor. The man turned his upper body and his piercing brown eyes caught her looking at him.

"You're Sinclair's girl?" he asked, his deep voice startling her.

She coughed to cover up her embarrassment at being caught looking and gave him a tight smile. "Uh, yes. That's me."

"I'm Ryker," He said, his smile widening as he put out his hand for her to shake.

She eyed it for half a second before remembering her manners. "Stevie," she shook his hand. "How do you know Asher?"

She noticed his smile tighten slightly at her question.

"We work together," he said simply, his eyes never leaving hers.

"You work for his father's firm?" Stevie asked, holding his unnerving gaze. She knew everyone at Gregory Sinclair's law firm and she had never once seen this man before tonight.

Ryker kept smiling and did not answer her as the elevator doors dinged open on the 12th floor.

"You be careful tonight," he told her, his eyes lingering on hers for a moment longer before he exited the elevator. A cold shiver ran down her back, his words sounding an alarm in her head.

The elevator doors stayed open for a bit and Stevie saw Ryker open a door directly across from the elevator. Before it shut, she saw a glimpse of what was inside. To her shock, she saw her boyfriend standing above a chair, one which had the young man he was with earlier tied to it. The young man looked bloodied, as if he had been badly beaten. As the door to the apartment closed, so did the elevator doors. Stevie repeatedly pressed the "OPEN DOOR" button until the elevator doors opened again. She rushed into the hallway, stumbling slightly from the alcohol still running through her system and the tall, thin heels she was wearing.

When she reached the door to the apartment that the men were in, she placed her hand on the door handle but didn't turn it. Instead, she quietly pressed her ear to the door and listened.

"Where's my money?" That was Ryker.

"Please, I-I still need time. I'm working on g-getting it," a tremoring voice she had never heard before answered. It belonged to the Hispanic man who was obviously terrified, and as Stevie had seen, hurt and tied to a chair.

"You've had two months, Javier" she heard her boyfriend answer.

"There's been s-some set b-backs," Javier answered.

She heard someone let out a booming laugh, one that sounded cruel and made her blood run cold.

"We don't have time for setbacks, boy." Ryker answered, "Sinclair, where's my blade?"

"No, please!" Javier begged, and Stevie put her hand over her mouth to cover her gasp.

It was silent for a moment before she heard a muffled yell and then a choking noise. At the sound, the hand she had on the door handle slipped and the door swung open. She froze in the doorway as she took in the sight before her. Blood was oozing out of Javier's throat, having just been slit, and he was slowly drowning in his own blood. Behind him stood Ryker with a bloody switch blade in his hand. Asher was sitting on the couch, looking to have been on his phone and not paying attention to the killing of the man in front of him. Both pairs of eyes stared at Stevie as she stood frozen in the doorway. Her eyes flittered back and forth between the three men, wide with fear and disbelief of what she'd just witnessed.

"What the fuck?!" The words slipped from her mouth suddenly. At the sound, the two men still alive in the room moved to grab her.

Stevie slammed the door shut and ran to the elevator, pushing the "CLOSE DOOR" button frantically. Just before the elevator doors shut, Stevie saw the men rush out of the room, cursing as they saw the doors closing, and then run toward the stairwell.

"What the FUCK?!" Stevie screamed this time into the empty space of the small box she was riding in. She had just witnessed a murder. Her boyfriend was a part of that murder. Oh my god oh my god oh my god what the fuck?

Her thoughts raced as she pressed the button for the 1st floor of the apartment building. Her hands grabbed at her hair as she realized that her phone was still in the penthouse and she couldn't call the police.

Fuck fuck FUCK, she thought. She wavered slightly from her heels being too tall and let out a frustrated sound. Reaching down, she took off the stilettos and carried one in each hand. The elevator just passed the 5th floor. Knowing that Ryker and Asher could be waiting for her on any floor, she tensed her body and got ready to fight her way through them. She knew there wasn't much of a chance considering they were both giants and she was only 5' 2" and barely 110 pounds. But she would still fight. After seeing what they did to Javier, she had no idea what they'd do to her, but she knew none of it would be good.

Suddenly, the elevator stopped on the 2nd floor. Stevie took a deep, shaking breath as the doors opened.

Standing there were the two men she was running from. She opened her mouth to scream and they quickly moved into the small box, Ryker putting a large hand over her mouth and Asher closing the elevator door. He then pushed the "EMERGENCY STOP" button, bringing the elevator to a halt.

"Now, Princess, didn't I tell you to be careful tonight?" Ryker said into Stevie's ear, pulling her body against his and tightening his hand over her mouth. She screamed against his hand, but it was too muffled for anyone else in the apartment building to hear. Tears leaked from her eyes as her body stiffened in his hold.

"Such a shame, too. You are nice to look at," he chuckled darkly before shoving her roughly at Asher, who caught her and pulled her against his body. Given the opportunity, she let out a small scream before her boyfriend covered her mouth again with his hand.

"Take care of her," Ryker said to Asher sternly, the command evident. "No one finds out about this, Sinclair."

Asher swallowed heavily as he nodded and watched as Ryker pressed the "OPEN DOOR" button, the elevator doors immediately opening. The giant man winked at Stevie before exiting the elevator and leaving the couple alone.

Asher pressed the "EMERGENCY STOP" button again and let out a long sigh before looking down at his girlfriend. Looking at her sadly, the hand not covering her mouth went to her throat, wrapping around it softly, his thumb stroking the skin there. Stevie sagged against him, whimpering slightly. Asher slowly removed his hand from her mouth, giving her a look as if warning her against screaming again.

Taking a breath, she caught his eyes with her own tear-filled ones.

"I won't tell anyone, Ash. I swear." She whispered pleadingly.

Asher's lips lifted into a sad smile, his eyes staring into hers, full of regret.

"Yes, you will, baby. You're too good of a person to not tell anyone." He cupped her cheek and stroked the porcelain skin there softly with his thumb, and then placed a tender kiss against her lips, wet from her tears. "I'm so sorry, baby."

The hand on her cheek swiftly moved to join his other one around her throat and he squeezed hard, pressing on her windpipe. She made a choking sound and went to move her hands to cover his in an attempt to claw them away from her throat. However, she still had her stilettos in her hands.

Seeing the sharp point of the skinny heels, she got an idea. Despite the lack of oxygen from Asher strangling her, adrenaline pumped through her body. She aimed the sharp heels at his head and brought them down as hard as she could.

Asher let out a surprised yell and let go of his grasp on Stevie's neck. His hands flew to the back of his head where the blow was delivered. Stevie let out a gasping breath as oxygen flooded into her lungs again. Bringing his hands from his head to examine them, Asher stared in shock at the blood that covered them. He looked up at Stevie then and let out a snarl in anger, lunging toward her. In her panic, Stevie hit him again with her heels, this time striking the side of his head and his neck. He recoiled in pain once more before lunging toward her again, his hands aimed for her throat.

Stevie brought her heels down against him once more, harder than before. Asher froze, and a gurgling sound emerged from his mouth. He stumbled back, revealing one of the heels stabbed into his throat. He pulled the heel out of his throat and crimson liquid gushed out of the wound. Sliding to the ground, he grabbed at his throat, blood coming out of his mouth as he started to choke on it.

Stevie let out an agonized cry and knelt by him, holding her hands against his wound to try to stop the blood from coming out. She knew it was too late, though. He was going to die.

"I'm so sorry!" she cried, holding his body against hers. "I didn't mean to!"

A few more choking noises came from Asher's throat before he went limp, his eyes sliding to look at her and then glossing over.

He was dead. She had killed him.

BOOM. There was a pounding on the elevator doors all of a sudden, making Stevie jump and cry out.

A male voice called out, "Is there anyone in there? This is the LA Fire Department. We were notified of the elevator malfunctioning. We're working on getting it working again."

Silently, Stevie used the last bit of her strength to reach up and press the "OPEN DOOR" button. Then, she slumped back to the ground, pulling Asher's limp body tighter against her and sobbing into his chest.

When the elevator doors opened again, she was on the 1st floor and firemen were standing outside of the small box. They stared in shock at the scene before them.

A fresh wave of tears and hysterics flooded the young woman on the floor and she babbled while she cried.

"I didn't mean to"

"He was choking me"

"I didn't want to kill him"

"I'm sorry"

"I'm sorry"

"I'm sosorry"

Carefully, she was pried away from her boyfriend's body and picked up by a fireman. As she was carried away to an ambulance, she looked back over her shoulder and locked eyes with piercing brown ones, ones that she had looked into earlier that night. Ryker stood in front of the big crowd that had formed from the commotion, frowning at her. He put a finger to his lips in a shushing motion before disappearing into the crowd.

Stevie screamed.

Somewhere in a run-down trailer on the southside of a small town, a young man awoke from his slumber with gasp. Sitting up, he rubbed his hand along the serpent tattoo on the side of his neck and wiped away the cold sweat there, wondering what had caused him to jerk awake. As he laid back down and tried to sleep again, a woman's scream echoed in his head.