BROOKLYN WASN'T SURE where she was being taken to, she just knew that if she wasn't obedient, she would die.
They had been driving for a while, all while Brooklyn stares out the window hopelessly trying to find any sort of direction but this was the Barbados, she didn't know shit about where she was. She watches fields of endless grass pass her by until they reach a gate where more guards stand, obviously waiting for her.
One guard observes the car before agreeing to let them through. Brooklyn was forced out of the car by another guard who led her through a metal gate that led to only the biggest house she's ever seen in her life, far bigger than Ward Cameron's.
She had never seen so many guards in one place. Why were there so many guards?
When she was led to the front door, a woman, who she assumed was the housekeeper by what she was wearing, answered the door.
The guard let go of her arm while the maid brought her into the house. Everything in the house was valuable, most artefacts covered by a layer of glass. What kind of place was this? What they hell was happening? was all she could think as the housekeeper spoke to the guard and order him to, "Take her upstairs. The Orinoco Room."
The guard forcefully grabs her arm and pulls her up the stairs and into the Orinoco room. Once inside, she turns her head and asks, "Why am I here? Who are you working for?"
He only replies with, "Dinner at eight. I'd clean up." Rude.
"Just tell me what they want!" she begs as the door is shut and locked in her face.
She takes this opportunity to look around, peering outside her window to see guard after guard walking by, some with dogs and some with giant firearms. "What the hell?" she mutters, moving towards the wardrobe to see four of the same dress.
On a note reads, pick your size. "I'd rather not," she groans, flicking between the dresses to see her size right there in front of her.
She won't lie, the dress is beautiful, but she didn't want to give them the satisfaction of wearing it. The dress was red, low cut with a slit down one leg that hugs her body perfectly. She won't lie in saying that she looks good and would die to keep this.
She then didn't exactly know what to do until eight so she lays down on the bed and closes her eyes for a quick moment.
And ends up sleeping for hours.
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At eight, the housekeeper came to the door to say, "He's ready."
Brooklyn follows the housekeeper all the way into the dining room of the home. Upon arriving, she notices another man, his back to her while he fixes himself up a drink.
She clears her throat to say, "Excuse me?"
She wasn't expecting him— Rafe Cameron to turn around. "No, I knew you and Ward were behind this shit," she speaks, stepping closer to him.
"What are you talking about? You trying to weasel in on my deal? Is that what's going on?" he asks, stepping to meet her in the middle.
Another man who has a strong accent speaks from the room next to them saying, "I wondered if your little reunion would cause sparks, you know." He chuckles and turns to face them. His face wasn't one that Brooklyn recognised but it seems that he was a man who was interested in one thing and one thing only: money.
"Who are you?" Rafe asks.
"Me? My name is Carlos Singh," he replies. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Cameron," he points to the man next to Brooklyn before turning his attention to her. "And Miss. Routledge, I do apologise for the rough tactics in bringing you here. But please, come."
Rafe and Brooklyn look at each other, neither of them thrilled to see the other but they obey and follow Singh into the next room.
The two sat next to each other, avoiding eye contact at all times. Brooklyn hadn't seen him since he last tried to kill her and Pope. She also wasn't sure if he was the one who shot her and nearly killed her on the ship.
"Why are we here?" Brooklyn asks.
"Well, Miss. Routledge, Mr. Cameron, we share certain interests, you know," he begins, however, Brooklyn wasn't sure what certain interests they share.
"Is this not about the cross?" Rafe asks and Brooklyn rolls her eyes.
"It is," Singh replies, clicking his fingers. "Technically, it is about the cross, but it's also about something much, much bigger than the cross." He steps towards a particular photo in the room but Brooklyn couldn't quite make out what he was looking at. Singh continues to speak, "By orders of magnitude, the completion of a grand quest," he sighs before continuing on, "You see, the story goes that four hundred and fifty years ago, a Spanish soldier came out of the Orinoco Basin with a few gold beads. And when they asked the Spanish solider, "Where the beads came from," the Spanish solider replied he got them from a peaceful Indigenous tribe who lived in a city of gold. El Dorado. And for the next four hundred and fifty years, people tried to find that gold, you know. They tried. Conquistadors, knights, captains of ships, tribes, entire nations," while he had been speaking he picks up a knife.
He continues to talk and Brooklyn's patience level is decreasing rapidly, "All fighting each other in a race for the end of the rainbow. Thousands of lives laid on the pyre of gold fever. And it falls to me, you know. It falls to me to complete the task. To bring full circle a quest that has gone on for almost five hundred years. Perhaps... perhaps the greatest quest in the history of the western hemisphere, you know."
He chuckles and points to Brooklyn and Rafe. "You two are going to play a part in that," he tells them.
He sits himself down across from Brooklyn and says, "What about you, Miss. Routledge? Are you interested in history?"
"I'm more of a future person," she admits, not wanting to delve into the past any longer than she already had.
Rafe groans next to her, meaning he was about to complain any second. "I didn't listen to a word you said, okay? How much you gonna keep philosophizing?" he asks, clearly not having much patience either.
Singh just laughs and responds with, "You are direct, aren't you, Mr. Cameron?"
There was a painful silence between the two men so Brooklyn asks Singh, "What do you need from me?" because that question still hadn't been answered all day.
"I've come to believe that you and your friends are in possession of something that can help me get what I want," he speaks, his eyes meeting hers. She's confused as to what that something is until he continues with, "An old manuscript. A diary, actually."
Rafe looks over at her, Singh stares at her all while Brooklyn shakes her head and acts as if she's never heard of the diary in her life. "I don't know anything about a diary," she lies.
"But how else could you have learned that the cross was on the Royal Merchant?" he asks the question Brooklyn doesn't have an answer to.
She exhales a deep breath, responding with, "Look, I want to help you, but I can't."
"I was hoping you wouldn't say that, you know," he replies and suddenly, Brooklyn realises that she may be closer to death than she thought. "Because unfortunately, I don't believe you."
Well, shit, she thinks.
"You and your friend here couldn't have found the cross without it," Singh says.
Brooklyn just replies with, "He's not my friend."
"We can't all be friends, you know," he sighs.
Rafe also sighs and rises to his feet out of frustration. "Look, this is ridiculous. Okay? I'm out," he says and begins to walk away until a guard stops him from moving any further.
"Do I look like a fool to you, Mr. Cameron?" Singh asks and Brooklyn wishes to say yes. "Do I look like a fool to you?"
Rafe shrugs his shoulders and steps away from the guard, looking back at Singh who begins to speak again, "You have the cross. She and she friends had the cross at one point. So one of you has the diary. And if you really don't know, then I suggest you convince your friend to tell me," he points in her direction and Rafe looks at her.
As if she'd tell him of all people.
"Once I have the diary... you'll be free to leave," he says with a smile.
Rafe and Brooklyn are later brought into another room by Singh. "Enjoy the grounds during your stay," he says. He then turns to them to tell them that, "I must warn you, though, I'm not a man of infinite patience. You have one day." Brooklyn and Rafe's eyes meet once again. Awkward is the only word to describe all this.
Singh then says, "Go to the window for a little demonstration."
He leaves the room and the door is once again shut and locked behind them. However, Rafe being Rafe tries to get the door open.
Brooklyn and Rafe stand beside each other as they stand at the window, peering down at the scene below them. Brooklyn sees Jimmy Portis, the man who tried to help her, being dragged by two guards with huge firearms.
The pair then see Singh turn to look up at them in the window. They then watch him pull out a gun, walk away from their view and then a gunshot rings through their eardrums.
"This diary," Rafe begins to speak. He turns to Brooklyn and grabs her shoulders to say, "Hey, no bullshit. Don't bullshit me. Okay? Do you have it? Brooke?"
She shrugs his hands off her shoulders and simply replies with, "No."
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author speaks;
aw a cute lil rafe and brooklyn moment, haven't we missed them lol
also i'm a bit torn between brooklyn seeing her father again and going off with her brother or her leaving with her friends on the boat so lemme know your thoughts