𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫, 𝐣𝐣 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫

"i still can't believe that your related to denmark tanny." claire said in shock as she sat on the wooden railing outside of heywards shop.

"are we in presence of a royal?" john b gasped jokingly.

"a king?" jj added.

"we shall crown him. all hail the lord of tannyhill." john b said in a british accent. everyone bowed down jokingly and laughed.

"i just keep thinking about the letter. the one that limbrey sent. it had the wheat symbol on it." pope said.

"that must mean it has something to do with the royal merchant." john b spoke.

"yeah. something seems.." jj trailed off, trying to find the right word.

"fishy." claire said and looked towards him.

"yeah." he said. he was glad that she was actually looking at him now.

"but if we find that cross, we can split it like we were gonna split the gold." kie suggests.

"yeah. im with that." jj says.

"once we get that cross, we will get your family's inheritance." claire told pope.

"and live happily ever after?" a female voice spoke. everyone turned to look at where the voice came from and saw limbrey and renfield. renfield grabbed claire's arm and pulled her into his grasp making her gasp in fear and the boys stood up protectively.

"let her go." john b demanded.

"not until we get what we want." he said.

"you assaulted my father." pope told the lady.

"oh, i didn't assault anybody." she said innocently.

"he can identify a psycho from a mile away." kie scoffed.

"who would my employee a-assault your father?" limbery gaslighted pope.

renfield tightened his grip on claire and she could already feel a bruise forming.

"listen, we can keep on negotiating but the fact is i want the key." limbrey told pope, "and i won't stop until i have it. i don't have a choice, which means you dont either."

"it's limbrey right?" john b asked, catching the blonde woman's attention. she glanced over to him, to see him holding a key, her key.

claire knew pope wouldn't give his key up, and she was right. pope pulled the actual key out of his shorts in confusion. claire realized that they had a fake key and made sure to follow along.

"is this what you're looking for?" john b asked the lady.

"yes, it is." she nods.

"looking at the tide right now, i'd say it's about 20 feet deep out there. so if i just threw it in the channel, the probability of you finding it again is slim to none." john b says, "you wanna give it a shot?" he pretends to throw the key and limbrey jumps forward to stop him.

"no!" she says and john b steps back.

"please don't do that." she pleads.

"get him to let go of her and back the hell up." john b tells her and limbrey sighs.

"let go of the girl, and back up." she tells renfield. he pushes claire forward, causing her to stumble into kie who grabs the girl and steadies her.

"i'll give you the key, but i want the tape." pope said and claire gives him a fake worried look.

"of course. of course." limbrey said. john b went to hand pope the key before pausing.

"pope, hey. you don't have to do this." john b pretends to have pope rethink his decisions.