𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐓 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐀 𝐏𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄 // 𝘫𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘣

𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗

He only shook his head. "You know I did everything I could to find him, right?"

She hugged him a little closer. "I never doubted it for a second."

<<<>>>

It was the next morning. Affinity assumed that she may have actually fallen asleep at some point in the night, but that didn't stop her mind from immediately returning to what her father had told her last night about John B and his father. She knew him well and knows that he would never give up on such a case, especially if it meant the victim's kid was now orphaned and on the run from the DCS. There had to be something more to the story if John B's father was still alive, but finding a man in hundreds of miles of open water seemed damn near impossible. All they were left with was his whole life's work and research. How could you find someone that assumed they were going to be dead anyway?

There were still questions to be answered, but now they actually had the map leading to the Royal Merchant. Affinity never knew much about the Merchant, other than the very fantasized bedtime stories her father would make up to help her relax and fall asleep. She never really thought of it any more than just a story but she knew it was a real ship. Her father would always make fun of the ship's sinking, saying that 'If there wasn't so much damn gold, it wouldn't have sunk in the first place'. All she was really left with was uncertainty. At first, they wanted to investigate the disappearance of John B's father, but now it had suddenly turned into some fatal treasure hunt that John B's father's life completely resolved around. Although, it did clear up the reason why those men were after them. They knew the compass held a clue, just as John B said, and they were ready to kill for it.

Affinity rolled over onto her side to check her phone, the time reading: 12:47 PM. That was the first time she had slept that late in years. She was always stuck with the late nights and the early rises. But despite the fact that her recent involvement in a missing person's case had now become some kind of deadly treasure hunt, she felt at ease. She couldn't understand why for the life of her. All she could come up with is how she actually felt secure in this new group of friends she had found in the midst of everything that had been going on with her parents. Whatever was in store for them, she knew they would handle it together.

Her eyes shifted away from the time and saw that she had gotten a text from Kiara:

Kie
hey! we stopped by your house
but your dad told us that you
were still asleep. we are on
our way to the library to punch
in the coordinates from John B's
dad. we'll stop by again on our
way back to let you know what we
found!

Affinity check the time, discovering that it was sent only an hour ago, meaning that they should arrive at any moment. Affinity threw the covers off herself and quickly changed into a cropped tank top, a pair of cotton shorts, pulled a loose fitting sweatshirt over her shoulders, and slid her feet into a pair of low top shoes. She exited her room and walked into the quiet kitchen. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that her father had left her a note before he went to work.

' Fin,

Since when do I wake up before you?? I didn't want to wake you up before I left because I couldn't believe you were actually still asleep? but I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry I questioned you last night. I can't imagine what John B is going through and I can't imagine myself handling it any better if I lost you. I want you to do what I couldn't.

Do whatever you can to help him find his father.

                   - Dad '