- Chapter Ninety-Five -

Assist Mode - ON -

Frustration and despair on the crux of winning the war as it overtook the lot of them, it went without saying that relations were strained between the two parties from the very beginning. Prize horse and heart-breaker all in one, the weapons may have been cast aside for the sake of their juvenile absentee, however it was highly suspect if the armistice would last. Even if it was only because there was no further reason to suspend hostilities...

No one willing to voice what they were all beginning to think, by this point it was starting to look like the girl had vanished into thin air without a trace. Still, they couldn't give up without a body - Daniella had to be out there, somewhere.

Experience leading the march, it might have helped matters to broaden the net and let the other know that the heiress had gone missing yet again, however it was quickly agreed that no one else needed to get involved.

Nathan and Elena believed that Sam had whisked the young woman away on the next leg of their journey, and for Cassie's sake they could keep believing it. Rafael being in the know might have made a difference, however it was easier to let him think that he had simply been ditched. It was the story that Nate was going to paint him anyways, and outside of his 'medical' know-how, Sam wasn't convinced that he was particularly useful. Better staffed and not looking to complicate matters with yet another contender in the race, Jian saw the wisdom in keeping him out of the loop. Chloe... Not so much, but Nadine had talked her into going along with it.

And speaking of the one person in the group that had the means of outsourcing for this little dilemma, the ex-mercenary was still debating within herself about whether or not she should call her son back in for this. Returned from running a patrol around the parameter (the hope being that they had either missed a major clue in the dark or that the young woman herself might come crawling back), Nadine eyed the couch with dreams of getting off her feet, even if only for a moment. But of course that wasn't gonna happen.

"Oh, back already?" Thumbs tingling on the cusp of pure numbness, as the triad leader spared a single half-glance up from the bright brick that was his phone, it felt as if they were a single character away from falling off his hand. Having spent the better part of the last two hours working on tracking down the whereabouts of their prime suspects, he had probably sent out more texts in that time than he had at any other point point in his life. "I thought you just left."

Cotton plastered to her skin by sweat stains, the off-white shirt stuck stubbornly to her spine, soaked all the way through; even her curls were reacting to the humidity, the hairs that were too short to tuck back into her ponytail sticking to her forehead. Morning too hot to add any additional aggravation, all he received in reply was a grunt.

Customary as it was between the pair, she had been dreading the snide remarks the other one would hurl her way; rebuttals lined up, when none were forthcoming Nadine scanned the room for her moody associate. Pencil drawing up new routes and eraser scratching out the old ones, the explorer was hunched over a map of the island, too busy tweaking the coordinates to pay attention to anyone else. Glad for that much at least, the woman returned her burnt-out focus to the short-term dream.

Tuckered out after too many fruitless hours of doing bugger all but crack their heads against the wall, Chloe was soundly asleep on the sofa, her nose all the way back in the air like some ominous shark's fin. Less than thrilled about this latest development but having no meaningful say in the matter, Zanny had made himself busy running their boys ragged for information on their missing friends. All-in on this latest mission, Ludo was currently in the bathroom... also running ops from his phone.

Aware of how cold the other woman could get while she slept, the muscular tank of a master brawler moved aside the heaping piles of take-out that littered her lap like the scene of a crime.

Skimping on meals while they all searched in frantic secrecy for someone that they couldn't admit to losing, Ludo had snapped at Zan's constant whining and made everyone stop long enough to refuel. Both of the team figureheads had ate separately at the work stations they had carved out for themselves, each in a rush to be the first one to find that elusive clue that would bring the girl back. Chloe, bless her, had made the most of the meal, laughing and joking the whole way through. Even after Drake had bitten her head off for pissing about.

Waist already loosely covered by a light summer throw, the ex-soldier made to pull the blanket around the pickpocket's shoulders for extra warmth. "Hey ya." Silken voice thick with sleep and eyes heavily lidded, Chloe flashed a dopey grin at her other half.

Promptly deciding that the locksmith needed a proper rest, Nadine made an executive decision for their sub-unit, priorities shifting for the greater good. Tender as she scooped the slumbering Aussie up from the sofa, the gruff fighter model held the photographer in a lingering embrace before carrying the older woman back to their room. Eyes definitely gooey as everything softened for a whole fraction of a second, Chloe was gingerly nestled that much closer to the heart as they made their exit. Temporary, in Nadine's case.

Less busy in their pursuits than Nadine had given them credit for, both Sam and Jian had watched the display of sugary sweetness from the edges of their respective peripherals, neither able to hide from thoughts of Daniella. Trying like mad to picture himself showing his bride-to-be that level of courtesy, the younger man could only see himself dropping her on the ground or accidentally banging her skull into the wall on the way to their martial bed. On the other side of that coin was the adventurer, who had already shared that very same kind of moment with the girl so many times over that he had lost count. For him, it was more a matter of trying not to remember.

As if smelling blood clouding the water, both men pounced upon the other's weakness, conveniently forgetting that they themselves had succumbed to the same train of thought.

"Well, if that isn't the storybook picture of romantic." Having been friends with the two woman for as long as he had, Sam had seen just about every dimension to their relationship, and this was just about as pure and fluffy as it got. Heh, the thief could scarcely keep a straight face as he gave such a glowing compliment to the same woman that once said she would dig her way to China, just because it was the last place anyone would look for her. "Almost warms the heart of a couple heartless bastards like us, don't it?"

Understanding the jab and not particularly appreciating being lumped into the same category as the old man, the young gangster returned with one of his own, "Says the man that lost her in the first place."

So much for trying. Sorely tempted to throw it in the punk's face that he would never know that kind of affection in his sorry life, it was a little too hard to separate the general hunch from a specific young woman, so instead the ex-con settled on the basics. Crossing out a route that lead to a dead-end, the historian scoffed, "Like you know the whole story."

Phone down on his thigh before he realized he had stopped his stream of seemingly endless texting, Jian frowned suspiciously at the other male, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Who cares?" Whispered beneath his breath lest he rise their ire, Zanny frowned at the silver screen of his phone as if it were the fault of the inanimate object.

Bored to tears by the ongoing pissing contest almost as much as he was by the whole tiresome team-up scenario, Zan rolled his eyes. For business or for pleasure, the heiress just wasn't worth all this fuss - ancient as he was, Drake could move on and find literally anyone to fill that empty hole, and as his boss, Ruan could find other opportunities. Daniella Adler was not the end-all-be-all, and they all knew it; at this point it almost seemed like pride that kept them fighting. Bathroom echoing these sentiments, the triad's best friend knew that he would be hearing about this long after matters had been settled. Win or lose.

"Dells may have sent you that little love letter," name and story being used against his better judgement, the grizzled brunette had started down this road, so he figured that he may as well finish it, "but we both know how this story ends."

"You sound so confident." Aware that the young woman had largely been raised in America (with all that that implied), he also knew that Wen Bai wouldn't completely abandon her culture, even if she had turned her back on her home. Daniella Adler surely knew something of honor, and of family - one way of another, she would submit. "Her grandfather wants this marriage. Her mother left her no choice but to accept her fate. She herself as good as agreed to my terms. I fail to see how you could possibly think this could end any other way but with her on my arm."

Valid as these points may have been on paper to an assuming asshole, Sam had gotten to really know Dells in the course of all this - or at least he could say that he knew more about her than this cocky prick - so he knew that he was right. Daddy dearest had never explicitly said one way or another that she owed her allegiances to her kith and kin above all else; if he had, there wouldn't be any problem at all. The young woman might have her doubts (obviously, she had asked to meet with her supposed fiancé in secret), but she clearly had yet to make up her mind. Besides, he had proof...

Her name still stung the very tip of his tongue, yet it was undeniable that it came much more easily this time around, each letter tumbling out clean and natural. Though, that may have been due to the fact that the thief wasn't self-editing his speech as the words came. "If you were gonna wind up with the girl in the end, why did Dells ask me-"

Door blowing open at just the right moment (or wrong, depending on which side you favored), all three were forced from their respective tasks to acknowledge the dramatic entrance. With so many people coming and going these past two days, everyone on the team had been trained to pretty much ignore the stream of chests and bums... except, this was a particularly sudden (and loud) arrival.

"Boys, you need to hear this..." Urgent, Nadine stood frozen in the door as she held out her phone.

[Preemptive Measures/My Last Escape]

Waves frothing almost silver against the sturdy umber beams, churning the rich salty hues of sapphire until they bled themselves white, the barrage crashed against the side of the boat with a frightful continuous roar. Filling the spaces between the vessel and the edge of the lively pier, Wyatt's men hopped off the commandeered vehicle and on to the busy dock before they could make acquaintances with their newest and youngest companion. Buzz of commerce just as thick as the cawing of early morning gulls hunting along the shallows for their breakfast, at least three different languages could be discerned along the dock itself.

Phone borne by a swallow and alight with a touristic frenzy of digital snaps, one slipped through the moving current of local fishers and shiphands towards the nearest bazaar. Mindful that this was not a vacation, the other vanished in the opposite direction, seeking out the contact that would provide instructions and means to their next destination.

Goldenrod gaze following the wayward heiress as she scrambled up to her feet, Wyatt purposefully placed himself in front of the two departing their anchored vessel. While the two-man crew earned their bonuses, he motioned for his sister to remain by his side. Half-commanding and half-imploring, the forgotten son carefully weighed his next move as she visibly debated her own actions.

Vaguely aware of the two shapes bounding from the helm to disembark in a needlessly flashy way just so they could shrug it off as nothing, Daniella was more preoccupied by this being her only chance. Left alone with her supposed sibling for who knew how long, this was quite possibly going to be the best window she had to escape, and yet... Lured in not only by the prospect of having a real family but also of fulfilling that deepest and most sincere childhood dream, Dells couldn't make herself move.

Instead of act on the impulse - though she could certainly feel it tugging at her like an insistent child - the heiress obeyed like a good little girl, watching curiously as he pulled out his cellphone. Clunky in comparison to what society at large favored, she had been around Nadine long enough to recognize that it was made as a tool for the military, to be able to better survive the elements and still function.

I wonder if he'd let me use it say goodbye? Thinking more long-term, she wasn't so blinded the silver platter to ignore the prospect that he would abandon her too, brother or no.

Mind going straight to some shady figure being a smoggy cloud in some dodgy club, instead of notice that the silhouette playing for their team was heading directly for the customs office, she wondered who he might have been calling. I mean, if he's going to do this in front of me... edging just a tinsy bit closer to the soldier, the young woman didn't even try to hide the fact that she was listening to the call.

"Mother." Greeting kept short more times than not, it wasn't so strange for him to keep it a wrung above professional. "How have you been keeping?" Feigning his way through the pleasantries, Wyatt never once removed his saffron stare from that icy-eyed bargaining chip. So much trouble, and over such a clueless little thing...

Answer fuzzy and not quite discernible from the other end, shy of climbing on top of her long-lost sibling, Dells was disappointed to admit that she wasn't going to hear Nadine at all. If it really was her on the line.

Nadine. Daniella sucked the air in through her teeth, holding it in while the contents of her stomach snarled and launched into a fierce battle for the ages. That meant...

"I see." Drawing out a pensive pause, Wyatt demonstrated that he knew how to play the part of a good son, "Anything I can do to help?" Offer not entirely hollow, it was hardly a secret that he was game for taking on all manner of hard work. And if his assumption that she was still a hot commodity rang true, well, that was only good for business.

From the victoriously smug way the smirk curled the very corner of his mouth, the flash of visible gum helped Daniella deduce that something good had been said. Perhaps something he had been expecting to hear, some phrase or invitation. Without saying a single word, the look on his face told the heiress that the call had paid off precisely as he meant it to. It honestly unsettled her, though the fluttering in her belly just as easily could have been the world swaying beneath their feet.

As casually as if he had been speaking about the weather, the soldier let it slip that he had the remedy to his mother's ailment. "Oh, I have her here." Imaging this moment differently, in his head he had been on the verge of downright giddy, gloating that he had the girl, but in real life... Wyatt supposed that it should have been obvious that Nadine would be hesitant to say anything more than she had to, but logic did little to ease the sting of learning that she was still nursing reservations.

Equally socked despite being in two different time zones, both Daniella and Nadine fell into a momentarily stupefied silence, neither expecting to hear the words being brandied about so flippantly. From her perspective, Nadine had been dreading hearing this confirmation, going straight to her initial apprehension over what exactly the boy would do with the girl if they were ever to cross paths. His father was unpredictable and dangerous, and in terms of personality, there was a lot of similarity. In the hostage's eyes, it seemed rather counter-productive to just hand out that kind of sensitive information.

"I assume he isn't too far." Speaking as if they all knew who he was referring to, it was fortunate that all three were thinking of the same living soul. "Give him the phone, if you'd be so kind? I'm sure he's just as anxious to hear her voice as she is to let him know that she's alright." Tone tinted in mild disgust at the very notion of romance on its own merit and not just because he had been properly acquainted with his sister after she had been recently intimate, Wyatt thought to see if that was what the young woman wanted. Covering the mouthpiece for a semblance of privacy, he checked, "You do want to speak to him again, don't you?"

Thunder in her own ears, Dells could just about feel her heart faltering in her chest, dying within the birdcage as she thought of the last time she had seen him. Given the nature of her idiocy, the might-as-well-be-the-real-deal blonde had no idea if she even could speak to Sam now. Sure, maybe to say goodbye, but she expected that if that opportunity even existed, it wouldn't appear until much later down the road. Although, this really might be her last and only chance...

As if there was ever going to be any other answer, the woman could only manage to just nod her head.

[Love Makes Savages Of Us]

Gathered shoulder-to-shoulder around the phone in a semi-circle that made Nadine get a glimpse into what it felt like to be claustrophobic, neighbor elbowed neighbor. Partially bred from pettiness, there was a kind of reverence in the seconds building up to the speaker working its strange magic. Ogling the device in rapt silence as if the slightest noise would cause the unknown creature to strike them all down dead, the available trio (with Ludo straining to hear through the walls) ceased all manner of bustling when they heard a familiar voice coming from the box.

"What do I...?" Small and uncertain about how to handle the technology in her hand, a part of her brain couldn't help but think of the phone like a walkie-talkie from the movies, the urge to press some radio button or say 'over' causing a moment of confusion. Further intimidated to perform after her brother's condescending eye-roll, the heiress stumbled over her words, "I-I... Uh, can you all hear me? Hello?"

Nadine, having switched the volume setting over to speaker phone before opening the door, barged back in with the best possible lead (shy of actually leading the girl in herself). Knowing how to handle these knuckleheads, the former mercenary spoke over the three before a single one of them had the chance to open their traps. Even after all this time knowing them it wasn't a sure thing, but after so many years of enduring motor mouths like Nathan and Chloe, it was a necessary skill to learn. "We can hear you."

Both picturing the young lady lightly bobbing her head in response, Sam and Jian came to yet another small amendment to their agreement. Standing virtually stock-still and only making the bare minimum of acknowledgment to the other's existence, it really didn't need to come out just yet that she was talking to anyone besides the two thieves. Shushing his man with a stern gesture, the would-be-groom even took a step back to lower the risk of the speaker picking anything extra up. Sam was actually impressed by the play.

"Dells, are you alright?" Serious about keeping the girl in as close to one piece as was currently possible, the historian wasn't entirely sure if it had anything to do with any previous agreement or not - he only knew that she better be no more banged up than normal.

Stomach fluttering once more, merely hearing the sound of his voice was enough to justify the young woman's concerns from earlier. "Y-yeah. I'm fine..." Seasickness not making for an entirely convincing argument, she looked to her brother for any kind of assurance. Or for rebuke.

Truth be, the mercenary's son did not seem to be in any particular rush, nor did it seem like he cared one whit about what she told her bodyguard. In fact, the young man was so disinterested in their conversation that he had even removed himself from it, turning his back on her with a wide yawn. Facing the sea as it glittered in the early morning light - swirls of low fog drifting in lazy patches and fish splashing above the surface on the dotted horizon - Wyatt began to stretch. It had been a long voyage, and he'd spent a great deal of it seated.

Deal made with an ink so sacred that there was no hope of taking it back, she didn't mean to, even though its toll was so immediate and hefty. "Listen-"

Only allowing her enough breath to clarify that she wasn't in immediate danger, the experienced explorer leaned in to his vast wells of criminal know-how, deeply suspicious that she was allowed to talk so 'freely'. Surely whomever was pulling the strings had made her rehearse this, or was making her speak with a gun pointed at her head. But for what? Typically these sorts of tactics were to stall for time or as a diversion, but he failed to see how that applied in this instance, or what it would gain.

Despite knowing Wyatt better than anyone else in the room, even Nadine was at a loss - clearly working in cooperation with Rafe's little girl on this, it didn't make any sense to make this call. Whatever their personal relationship was, by this point in time the heiress should have known that Sam wasn't the sort that could be deterred, that he was going to hang in there until the money talked. Unless Wyatt was counting on that?

"What happened, where are you?" Sometimes the most basic of questions were the best, even if they lacked all traces of originality.

Mouthing the words behind the older man's back, Zanny pantomimed shooting himself in the side of the head from the sheer blandness of the conversation, "I'm fine mom." Bang. "But I miss you, boo hoo" Bang. Fake tears.

Leering death at his own best friend and most trusted lieutenant for making such an obscenely lame joke at the risk of jeopardizing everything, Jian was less than amused. Promising that there would be consequences for this display of gross timing, the gangster gave his head a disappointed shake, eyes full of disapproval.

Calmly repeating her previous statement at the expense of his inquiry, though her head was swimming full with thoughts and half-realized fears, the heiress didn't think of her newly-discovered kin. Not how they had found their way into each other's lives, nor who might be working for him now. But she should have. "I'm fine. Really." At least this time it almost sounded convincing.

"Dells..." Unsure of what to say and just barely conscious of all the witnesses, Sam trailed off.

Still uncertain about what it was she was expected to say or even why she was able to say goodbye at all - or, she supposed she always could have begged her thief to come to her rescue once more - Daniella saw another sort of opportunity. Going completely against the framework that had been built on the foundation of what she thought she had found with Sam, with Wyatt the young woman wouldn't have to worry about getting anyone she actually loved hurt. Rather like her bright idea to reach out to her intended, this way the heiress could preserve some dignity and leave on her own terms, before he could... Also, if Dells continued down this path, she could keep the first promise she ever made.

Daddy, I'm still your good little girl... Right?

Never a question until now, if not for an entire lifetime harboring one ideal, one dream, one infinite and unconditional love, this probably wouldn't even be a dilemma for her, but now... Between this new realm of possibility and the lies that had lead her whole life in a single direction, for maybe the first time ever the scales moved, tipping between one extreme and the other. Choose adventure and uncertainty and guaranteed heartbreak, or, choose misery and fear and death. Or, option three: choose everything you have ever known, the father you have always loved, and quite probably certain death. This was all there was, along with the warning that no matter what she selected, there was no going back.

Gold all but sapped from the sky, the roses had been pulled apart, leaving only a crisp blue canvas for the clouds to paint their masterstrokes upon. Staring into the middle distance as a silence stretched over the lines of communication, Daniella envisioned a whole other life. Maybe it was some alternate universe, maybe it was the future, or maybe it was the unwell inbred cousin of 'what if'; whatever the origin was, the picture was clear.

Hearing more embedded in her name than there probably was, Dells would have given almost anything to be there in person, although, for what she was about to say, maybe it was for the best that she wasn't. Avoiding his name quite intentionally, she hardly trusted herself in that moment, "Listen, you don't have to worry about me anymore."

Flooded with blood swishing back and forth even as the bile burned the back of her throat, Daniella could taste how dry and wrong those words rang in her mouth. Dagger wedged between her ribs sawing through the brittle bone and spoiled sinew, she knew deep down that it would probably be better for everyone if they parted ways then and there. Hating herself for inserting the ornate ceremonial blade in the first place, she closed her eyes to the sky, to the dawn that was wilting away beneath the splendor of the new day.

"Whatever deal my mother made, whatever you think you owe me for my father, just forget it, alright?" Otherwise unresponsive to the drivel that she was spouting, when she mentioned their father Wyatt cocked his head into the rising sun. Like before, was he waiting to hear something specific? Adding it to the list, she tried to imagine facing Sam, her free hand reaching up to stroke a cheek that was no longer within her grasp. "I'm not going to make you pretend to care. I've had enough of that in my life, and the last thing I want is to put you in a cage."

"Pretend?!" Spitting out the word as if it had been a filthy swear saved only for the foulest of scourges, the anger flared in quadruplicate, just as strong as every other emotion coursing through him in that moment. Higher, even.

Glad that her phone could take a good deal of abuse before feeling it, Nadine had been counting down the minutes, fully expecting him to lose it much sooner than this.

Not about to let on just how much her disappearance had affected him, the ex-con had just spent the last two days so worried that he could did little more than obsess over a map, hoping that his baby girl would turn up. "You...!" Ready to throttle her slender little neck through the phone, the thief growled, "You got real balls, you know that!? I oughta be the one askin' you about playing pretend!"

It was Sleeping Beauty's turn to be caught off-guard, not entirely sure what he meant by that remark but having a fairly good idea. "..."

Lobbing accusations like grenades, the ex-con stormed on, though by this point it was just as much for himself as it was for her. "Sayin' shit like that, then firing me!? FIRING ME!" Shaking his head incredulously, this was suddenly lager than her life potentially being on the line. "You should've fired me before getting gone. Before meeting up with Ryan."

Alarm rising to the very tip-top, Dells took a step back, as if she had been struck. "How did you...?!"

Seriously?! Prickling worse than a hedgehog over the fact that his bride-to-be shared in the casual use of the disrespectful moniker, as it set in that he had dealt himself this doomed hand, Jian's mood quickly soured. Where hearing that the young woman had removed their biggest obstacle for them had done wonders for Tiger morale, for Zan personally, this was especially sweet music to the ears. Smirk pure unadulterated vindictive triumph, this may have been a small win, but he would definitely take it.

"Nah." Decidedly not pissing about this time, in a real brawl this would have been the moment where the sturdy brunette would have made his move. Fist in face, everything happening just a little too quickly for the naked eye to catch. But this wasn't that kind of fight, and he would be damned if he let baby girl wiggle her way out of this one. "I'm the one askin' the questions around here now."

Dominance definitely felt, because it was Sam giving the orders the heiress felt much more comfortable voicing her dissent, that vicious rebellious streak that ran in the family. "I don't have to answer to you!"

Technically speaking, he agreed that she didn't have to do anything, "No, but you will. You owe me that much."

Flushing against the backdrop of the crown jewel that was equal parts blue and gray and green, Daniella sputtered in disbelief. I owe him?! Armor crumbled away so that her knight stood there for all the world to see, he actually had the audacity to say that to her after she had offered him everything she had?! Correction, after the offer had so callously been pushed aside and he failed his only job?! Her pride wasn't nearly as wounded as it could have been, but boy oh boy, was she furious that he was turning the table on her in such a manner.

"Is this really the time to get into that?" After all, he had already made his feelings pretty clear.

"Au contraire, I think this is the perfect time." Ok, so it probably wasn't, but it wasn't like the gun was pointed at his head. "You yourself said you're fine, that I don't gotta worry about ya. If that's true, you got the time."

Not sure if that was strictly true, Dells looked to her brother once more, acknowledging openly between the pair that he was the one calling the shots. Amused by this little outburst and interested enough to see where it was going, the mastermind graciously allowed the drama to play itself out; pouting in horror over the decision, the young woman looked totally and utterly betrayed. Half hoping that he was growing tired of this and was going to tell them to hurry it up, she really wasn't looking forward to revisiting this wound.

Left no other choice on the matter short of hanging up, she stubbornly relented, "Fine. What's so important that you feel inclined to feed me to the lions-"

"Tigers." Doing that know-it-all thing where they had to take the time to correct the folks threatening their lives, the thief saw no reason to exempt the young woman from that compulsion. "Tigers would be more fitting here, don't you think?" What with her chasing one around in a circle and all.

Amused by the joke in spite of the boiling carmine mood, it only infuriated her further that he made her want to chuckle at a time like this. Glad that her (former) guardian wasn't there to see the grin twisting her scorched mask, it was bad enough watching her sibling make up for lost time, the solider visibly tickled pink by the steam blowing out of her ears. "Urgh! You're such a jerk!"

Ouch. "As if I haven't been called worse."

"Well, you deserve it." Very much the playground retort, the girl could have claimed that the juvenile rebuttal was due to having such a limited childhood, but the truth was simpler - that man was making her see so many splendid shades of scarlet that it was like a carnival in the dark. "Because you are. Worse, I mean." Explaining herself more than was necessary, the faux blonde's babbling was the equivalent of blowing down the precarious card tower you've been stacking all morning midway through construction.

"And yet you still love me anyways." That would have been the moment she slapped all semblance of color from his face, if they had been anywhere in the same vicinity.

If only because of that geographical discrepancy, the heiress had no other choice but to refrain, her fury causing her knuckles to pop as her digits curled themselves into shaking fists. "I believe you had questions for me?"

Too petty at heart to sincerely feel the full stab of remorse that typically came with hurting someone's feelings, the historian figured that she'd forgive and forget this exchange soon enough. Or at the very least it would be buried beneath a heap of more pressing matters... kinda like how that cavern had rained down over her father. "Did you mean it?"

Desperately wishing that she could leave matters there (or even had the strength and wisdom to just hang up), it was the million dollar question. Filled with the uncanny sense of déjà vu, just like how the women had known exactly who Wyatt had been referring to, Dells knew precisely what it was that Sam was asking her now.

"I..."

Esophagus colliding with spleen and kidney simultaneously, her liver throbbed against the joints of her elbow, vision going momentarily hazy as the brain powered down in a soft system reboot. Large intestine coiling itself around the rib cage with the intention of cracking what was left of her skeletal structure, its smaller counterpart had tactically shriveled to hide from the carnage.

Experiencing everything going wrong all at once while all the various organs and bits twisted every which way, the worst part was sinking back into that same pool of hopelessness that had swallowed her that night. "I do. Did. Do..." Loathing the idea that she had to bare her soul for him once more, knowing that it was going to be a one-way street made the following squirm practically audible. "I stand by what I said, but-"

Protests cut short, he pointedly stared down the head Tiger as he locked down this massive lead in the polls, "Prove it. Tell me why you wrote that asshole a whole love letter after everything he'd done to you." Did the jaded explorer need to push this sensitive issue in this way, at this time, and in front of an audience no less? Probably not. But in his defense, this was something that the ex-con needed to square away for his own sanity.

Deepening every second that this delicious drama unfolded, the sky was no longer that same soft blue that the romantics favored but a cheeky sonnet, a promise that the sun would always be there. Waves a blanketed mirror of her undeniable paternity test, the light could not not hope to reach the bottom of the eddy. Maybe drowning wasn't so bad a fate after all... Exasperated to say the least, Daniella did not enjoy being put on the spot like this. Although, maybe it's what I deserve?

Resigned to the fate that she had charted for herself, if you listened close enough you could hear the heiress breaking, "I was scared. I didn't know if they would do anything to your family, to your niece. Cassie's just a kid, she doesn't deserve to be dragged into my mess."

Noble as that sounded in theory, Sam saw that he had actually just given Ryan ammo to use down the road. Well, shit. "So you did it for Cassie?"

Unable to help herself, Dells tittered at the very thought, knowing that her hands were stained with too much red to be admitted anywhere beyond limbo. "Like I'm that much of a saint? Ha! I wish! Really it's..." Teetering two fine lines, the heiress decided to go with the lesser of two evils, "If anything were to happen to her, everyone would hate me. Everyone. Elena, your brother... You. Most of all, you."

Yeah, that checked out. But it still wasn't enough to give him what he needed. "That all?"

Gods no! Perhaps the biggest reason why Daniella even considered going over to the other side was because she was so terrified of having something so precious in her life. Experience taught her that it never ended well, so it only followed that touching something so beautiful and forbidden came with the realization that it was bound to be stolen back. Daddy... Shen... And now Sam. Cursed to hope, she could only dread that inevitable moment that it all turned to ash.

"Taking the deal would have meant keeping them all out of the crossfire, assuming that he wasn't lying." Place in the situation made crystal clear to him, the would-be-groom was suddenly rethinking his cousin's plan. "It also meant doing right by my family." Even if they had tried, Wyatt and Daniella couldn't prevent themselves from gazing at the other at that stage. "It wouldn't have been much, but I wanted to do what I could to fix what was done. I just so happened to find another way to do that..."

Victory far from an assured thing now, where Jian was able to gloat that he was correct about her wanting to do it for her family, Sam stuck to the fact that she was speaking in the past tense. Girl might have been faking it, but damn if she wasn't a convincing liar. Manner of speaking indeed indicating that she had changed her mind on the subject, it was the others that caught the rest.

Wise enough to not make any additional noise, as the only other person that could speak aloud without raising suspicion, it was left to Nadine to ask the obvious. "What do you mean 'another way'?"

Finally getting around to answering one of the earlier questions that Sam had asked, the chaser of paper pirates recited an old quote that only a skilled historian or fellow sea dog aficionado could appreciate. "'I am a man of fortune, and I must seek my fortune'."

Author's Note:

Once again, I have to apologize for the delay between chapters. Some minor personal stuff, and also, I've been following the drama surrounding the 'Last of Us 2' leaks... I haven't even played the first one myself (watched it online, and while I do really like Joel, never quite got around to buying it), but after going after people just for TALKING about the game? Putting their livelihoods at jeopardy? It's a mess all around, and now it's just really hard for me to look at Naughty Dog the same, even the older games like Uncharted. Unrelated, and yet so similar, bound by the same twine... Anywho, trying to keep it all separated, and finish this story!

On the brighter side, really glad that I watched "Drake's Quarantine". Seriously, even if you don't watch Retro Replay at all (and I admit that I kinda stopped for whatever reason), it was totally worth it to see the cast of Uncharted 3 together! (this was BEFORE the mess).