𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 - JJ Maybank

Chapter 55: Snake Head

Grace's jaw dropped and her heart skipped a beat.

John B looked directly at her, "He's alive, and he's on this boat."

Grace felt her mouth go dry, her fingers grow clammy and her breath hitch in her throat.

"What?" Kie exclaimed.

JJ stared down at Grace, concern written all over his face.

"Yeah," John B confirmed.

"You gotta be kidding me," JJ mumbled as he grabbed Grace's fidgeting fingers and held them in his hands.

"Are you serious?" Pope breathed.

"But... but I watched him die. I was there. The boat-" Grace rambled.

"It was all a setup, blowing up the boat, the confession to Shoupe. Think about it. That was to clear Rafe's name. And he does what? Goes to the Druthers. And what's on the Druthers?" John B trailed off.

"Scuba," Grace breathed, still in a state of complete disbelief.

"Bingo."

Grace threw her head back and clenched her eyes tightly before opening them up again and taking in a deep breath. "My dad isn't dead," she mumbled, so quietly that only JJ could hear her.

"So, Ward's alive, huh?" JJ spoke up, hands still gripping Grace's tightly.  "And he has the gold and the cross and Sarah."

"Thanks for rubbing that in," Kie replied, sarcastically.

"He can't get away with everything again. He always gets away with all of it," Grace spoke up, drawing the group's attention to her. Her mind drifted to the letter. Anyone reading it would feel bad for him. The poor man who lost the love of his life. 

But that's the thing, Grace didn't feel bad. She felt angry. He got to run off to Tannyhill and live his perfect life with his perfect family. Nobody got to know that he was in love with a Pogue. Nobody got to know that the faultless Ward Cameron stooped low enough to beg a woman living paycheque to paycheque to marry him. 

Meanwhile, Grace and her mom lived in their shitty little house. Grace grew up without a proper father figure. She saw him. She went fishing with him. She spent holidays with him. But she didn't get a dad. 

Then he killed her. The woman he was willing to give his entire life away for. He killed her. He betrayed her, he betrayed Grace and he got to show up to the funeral in a black suit to save face and spout lies.

Then he put Grace in a position where she had to choose between her biological family and John B. He framed her best friend, her brother, for a murder he didn't commit. A murder that he would never commit. She picked John B. She died. And once again, he got to go to the funeral, wearing a black suit to save face and spout lies.

"We're going to make him pay for the shit he's put us through. It's not happening again. I can't watch him take everything we've worked for away again. We need the win. And we're going to get that fucking win." 

Grace looked around to see all of her friends staring at her. She made her way to the centre of the group.

"He's taken everything from me. He's not taking anything else. We're going to the bridge, and we're gonna take it right now. Cut the goddamn snake's head off. You with me?"

A determined look settled on John B's face. "Let's do it."

"I'm with you, and I wanna be the one to take that bridge," Pope added.

"That's what I'm talking about," JJ slapped Pope on the back while grinning at Grace.

"He's gonna take the bridge?" Cleo laughed. "He couldn't even take me."