𝐍𝐎 𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘, 𝐍𝐎 𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐄 - kiara carrera²

𝒙𝒙𝒙. 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒚 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕

"AND LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER?"

Cameron Limbrey followed behind his mother and uncle as they approached and taunted the young teens, who had possession of the key. Cam wasn't too sure what it did or what it was even for, but he'd heard his mom go on about it for years, ever since she started getting sick.

At the sound of the evil, old woman, the five pouges turned around to face the voice.

Five? Why were there only five?

Cameron's eyes skimmed the whole dock searching for the pair of encapturing, blue orbs, but Tatum Quinn was nowhere to be seen. However, what he did see was five sets of glares directed straight at him - or rather, what was sleeping in his arms.

A sandy-haired boy with crystal eyes stood out the most, his tall, masculine figure using all its power to threaten Cameron without even moving.

"Where's my sister?" asked Cam, not letting the boy get what he wanted by scaring him, not breaking the  eye-contact.

"My sister," the blonde corrected, jaw clenching in challenge, as he was reminded of today's earlier events. Her heart had stopped, her breathing had gone, but they were not going to give up. Blood flowing or not, they weren't going to give up on Tatum. They refused to believe she could really be dead. Even Pope Heyward denied the basic facts of biology, refusing to give up on hope.

"Well, technically, no, she's mine."

Before JJ Maybank could make a move to throw Cameron off his ass, Carla Limbrey raised her arm, her cruch separating the two boys. She held a steady look up at the blue-eyed pouge, not threatening, but not kind, either. "Now, now, you don't want to hurt a girl, do you?"

Cameron sighed and shook his head. He'd gave up on standing up to his mother only a day after he came out. Only an idiot could think they could defend themselves against Carla Limbrey, the richest bitch of all time. After he started taking testosterone pills - his first big step into his transition, which he was extremely proud of - she shipped him away to boarding school for a year, and refused to speak to him. And then she continued to use his deadname until his breast-reduction surgery when she couldn't deny the change anymore.

"You assaulted my father," said Pope Heyward, taking a step forward to get up into Carla's face, but was only stopped by Renfield, who was somehow almost worse than his sister.

"Oh, I didn't assault anybody," argued Carla innocently, causing her son to scoff and roll his eyes, remembering the muffled conversation between the two siblings he listened in on earlier.

"He can identify the psycho from a mile away," a new voice spoke. It was a girl, her chestnut eyes puffy and red, her crop-top stained in a mixture of brown and green. Dried blood and vomit. Cameron almost vomited himself at the sight and smell of it. But he recognised her right away. During Tatum's timely limited stay at his large home, the only thing she ever talked about what that girl. Talked about her like she was her whole world, even after what she did to her.

Cameron couldn't imagine ever forgiving someone that easy - he was always so stubborn and could hold a grudge like it was a kite. She stared back at him, scowled right at him, at the sleeping baby in his hands. "Your mom drug him, too?"

"Why would my employee a...a...assault your father?" asked Carla, back again with her innocent act, choosing to ignore the girl's last question. "That's absurd," she added with a false laugh.

Cameron furrowed his brows and looked down at the sleeping TJ. Did she drug him? She better not have.

When he looked back up, he was once again facing the glares of the five pouges, bringing him right back to his first question. Where was his sister?