Kayanna's heart beat unbelievably fast as she made her way through the crowd. She dodged around people as she tried to find the man. She was thankful that she didn't have a heart condition because if she did she'd be on the floor now. Although she didn't have a heart problem, she did still have the headache from last night. And it pounded harder than it had in the last twenty-four hours. She barely felt it, though. She just focused completely on finding the man that looked just like her father.
She jumped when she felt an hand on her wrist. It wasn't rough, but startled her in her frazzled state.
"Hey, have you seen Sar—" JJ started. He stopped when she glanced at him quickly before continuing on through the crowd. She hadn't processed a word he said.
She continued looking through the sea of people, stopping every once in a while when she thought she saw him. It felt like time was flying by so quickly and she couldn't keep up. Like everyone around her was living in fast motion while she was stuck in slow motion. She didn't hear her name called until a hand landed on her upper arm.
"Kayanna! Where are you going? Didn't you hear me?" It was Mrs. Deion, no doubt ready to introduce her to some new rich person. She turned to the couple across from her. "This is Kayanna. She's been staying with us recently and I have absolutely loved having her around!"
"Oh, how lovely." The woman said extending her hand to Kayanna. "I'm Lisa Martin and this is my husband, Robbie." She spoke, gesturing to the man next to her who seemed to be interested in just about anything besides the conversation he was in. "It is such a pleasure to meet you!" Kayanna took her hand into her sweaty one. Normally, she would have been embarrassed at how sweaty it was, but now she couldn't care less.
"You too." She said simply. Mrs. Deion didn't remove her hand from Kayanna's arm. She left it there, probably worried she'd leave.
"So are you considering adopting her?" Lisa asked nosily. She was probably preparing some juicy story to tell all her rich nosy friends at their next tea party.
"Well, I'm not sure about that, but it's definitely a possibility!" Mrs. Deion replied with a wide smile. Kayanna furrowed her brows slightly. Adopt her? Oddly enough, the thought had never crossed her mind. She'd learned not to get her hopes up for someone adopting her. It had never worked out before and it seemed like it wasn't even a possibility at that point.
"Would you like that, dear?" Lisa asked with a kind smile on her face. Okay, maybe she wasn't that bad.
"Yes, I would." Kayanna attempted a smile. She felt Mrs. Deion's hand drop from her arm and took it as an invitation... to leave. "I hope you enjoy the party." She said shaking Lisa and Robby's hands again before turning around and continuing her previous mission.
Her eyes scanned the Kooks around her and stopped when she saw a server with a tray of champagne glasses. She grabbed one as he walked by, sending him a smile and a "thank you". She needed a drink if she was right. She swallowed the drink, taking a moment to regain her thoughts and composure. If it really was her dad, what would that mean? She had no idea. She began scanning the crowd again and ended up walking back outside.
"I can walk myself out, man." JJ's voice brought her attention away from her current dilemma. He was being escorted out by security and was causing quite a scene. She watched, confused as he drank some man's alcohol and commented on a woman's crazy hair piece. It was a bit much.
"You can't just boot him!" She heard Kiara shout from the porch of the building. "I invited him here." Her eyes lingered on the woman with the hair piece. She seriously was gonna poke someone's eye out. "I am a member of this club." Why would she even wear that? Her eyes finally drifted to the man next to her.
Her mouth immediately went dry and she felt her heart in her throat. It was him. He looked different now. Older. And he had a beard. But he was the same man, with the same confident air around him.
Her stomach turned and she felt her blood drain from her face at the sight. That was the man who had murdered her mother. Her breath caught in her throat when his eyes made contact with hers. He had a confused look on his face, like he was trying to figure out where he knew her from. Or maybe why she was looking at him with such a shocked look on her face.
"What are you doing? C'mon." She heard as Pope tugged her arm. She tore her eyes away from the man before her, trying to dismiss the nausea in her stomach.
She stumbled after him and the rest of the Pogues, trying to focus on anything besides the horrible feeling growing inside of her. She breathed heavily in an attempt to calm herself down.
"Are you okay?" Pope asked, slowing down to help her catch up.
"Yeah, I'm great. Why?" She asked avoiding his eyes.
"I don't know, why were you looking at Ward like that?"
"Who?" She asked nonchalantly.
"Ward Cameron? You were kinda... like... staring at him."
Ward Cameron. That was new. He used to go by Ed. Short for Edward. Now he went by Ward. His last name used to be Benson. He must have changed it when he bribed his way out of prison.
"Sarah's Dad?" Pope added when she didn't answer immediately.
Sarah's dad? He had other kids?
"Uh... I don't know... I guess I was just thinking and... I was accidentally looking at him?" She spoke as she began walking again.
That would make Sarah her half sister. Shit, that would make Rafe her half brother. Ew. Her thoughts drifted back to the man she'd seen tonight. She never thought she would see him again. And she didn't want to. The thought of him made her physically sick and the thought of him living on the same island as her... was appalling.
What did this mean for her? Although he had seen her, he hadn't completely recognized her. He could eventually, though, and then what would happen? He couldn't want the fact that she was his daughter to leak. Or that he killed his first wife. He killed his first wife. He killed her mother.
Kayanna felt acid rising up her esophagus. She turned to the side and threw up everything she had eaten that afternoon. In front of Pope.
"Holy shit! Kayanna?" He stood by her awkwardly. Thank God she'd worn her hair up.
She spit, trying to get the acid taste out of her mouth, before standing up completely. "Uh... I guess it's from the concussion?"
• ❁ •
"Hey, guys, my dads already going to kill me, so what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope asked. The group sat around a bonfire. Kie and Kayanna still wore their gowns from the party.
"Might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed."
"You ready for this?"
Kayanna pulled some grass up from the ground and began ripping it down the center. It was the next best thing since she didn't have her bracelets.
"Yeah gold never went down with the Royal Merchant."
"Here we go again with this."
"Just hear him out."
"It's been here the whole time. It's on the island."
Although Kayanna heard John B and tried her hardest to be interested, she couldn't keep her thoughts from going back to Ward. It just... didn't feel real. He lived there? On the same island as her? Of all places?
"I have a letter from Denmark Tanny,"
"Who the hell is that?"
"Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck. Check this out." John B handed the letter to Kie. "Slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad found the complete manifest."
She couldn't wrap her head around what was happening. He was actually there? It was unreal. How could he be so close to her? Wouldn't he have paid to keep her away? Or something? Maybe kept track of where she was so there was no surprise?
"...so on the day they were coming to get him, he writes a letter to his son as a farewell and in the last line of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold."
"Where?"
"Harvest the wheat in parcel nine, near the water. Except, there's no wheat. You see wheat is code for gold. All we need is an original survey map of the property, and we've found the gold."
Kayanna felt Kie nudge her shoulder. "Can you believe it?" She asked with a hopeful expression.
"It's crazy." Kay smiled.
"Okay, so what's he plan?"
"Good question. Sarah Cameron is coming tonight. She's gonna bring an original survey map—"
Kayanna's head snapped up.
"Wait, wait, hold on. Sarah. Why Sarah?" Kie asked.
"Sarah, uh she got me into the archives at Chapel Hill yesterday and that's where I got the letter."
"You were in Chapel Hill with Sarah Cameron?"
"He was mackin' on her." JJ added.
"I wasn't macking."
"You were totally macking Sarah Cameron."
"I wasn't macking her, okay? I was usually her for access."
So, he was macking... Kayanna's... sister.... No. They definitely were not sisters.
"I'm trying to make us filthy rich here. Okay? So you can pay off the boat, or uh, you can go to autopsy school, or you can get out of foster care." John B said, gesturing to Pope, JJ, then Kayanna. "Do I look like the type of person to fall for Sarah Cameron?"
"Uhh..."
"Do you want us to answer that..."
"Look, you don't know her yet. I do! You can't trust her."
"Her brother did hit me and Kayanna with his golf club." Pope pointed out.
Well, he was kinda Kayanna's brother, too.
No. He wasn't. Nope.
"Rafe and Sarah are two different human beings." Well, at least that was semi comforting.
"Whatever we get she's gonna try to take."
Kayanna looked at her hands. This night was already far too long for her liking.
• ❁ •
A/n
I feel like I might not have done an amazing job explaining about Ward and everything that happened with him. I have it in my head so when I read it it makes sense but I don't know if it does to other people so I want to summarize it. And lmk if you're confused so I can fix it in the past chapters.
So basically, Ward was having an affair for a long time which is how Rafe and Sarah exist. After he killed Kayanna's mom (which he could have actually not meant to do but he did do it so ya know... ) he went to jail for a few years but got out fast bc of his money and friends. He got custody of Rafe and Sarah somehow and then remarried (rose) hoping to do this marriage right. He wanted kayanna to live with him too but when he heard how much she resented him, he didn't want to get into more trouble or have a bad reputation so he stopped trying to get her to come with him.
I hope that makes more sense if it didn't before lol
peace <3