𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒, liam dunbar

xix.

"you counted it yet?"
stiles stilinski's voice came from hen other room.
upon hearing it, teddy forced herself out of bed.
it was eleven pm; what was stiles doing in her brother's room?
of course, this wasn't the first time the pair had been together at ungodly hours, discussing supernatural occurrences they were forced to hide from the outside world.
plus, teddy was in the process of giving her brother a strict silent treatment, meaning whatever teddy heard, she couldn't ask him about it.
which, in retrospect, was a good thing.
he'd never find out she was eavesdropping.
she new she couldn't keep up the silence facade forever.
teddy had so much she needed to tell scott; what she found out with brett and lori, her memories of the incident.
but for now, they weren't talking.
how could scott not tell teddy her dad was in town?
her own flesh and blood?
yes, teddy wouldn't deny that she didn't like her father, for all the things he had done, but she didn't hate him.
she could never hate him.
and the fact that scott thought he was here for her.
that shook teddy to the bone.
why would he be here to take her away?
he wouldn't, would he?
teddy pushed the swarming thoughts aside and focused on the conversion occurring in the other room.
"no."
scott's voice was solemn.
"we should probably count it.."
stiles added.
no more words were said, just a ruffling movement and something being tipped onto scott's bedroom floor.
a lot of somethings.
after that, there was nothing but muffled movement.
despite her curiosity, exhaustion got the best of teddy mccall and she slumped back on her bed, emotions swirling around her mind.
teddy fell asleep to a thousand thoughts.
><
'after entering the IP address, you will be connected through a dark net portal to an untraceable bank.
once logged in, enter your account number to receive wire transfers.
the IP address will deactivate with each transfer.
you will be assigned a new IP address of you choose to continue down the list.
remember, visual confirmation is always required for payment.'
stiles stilinski pushed down the black button on the stereo, putting an end to the deep, echoing voice.
"you ever made a wire transfer?"
he asked scott, who's eyebrows were knitted into a tight line.
"never had enough money."
he admitted.
"so you didn't understand a word of that either?"
stiles confirmed.
"i don't understand any of this."
scott said, frustration laced within his words.
"why would someone use all this money just to kill us?"
"someone wants you dead,
dude."
stiles sighed.
"badly."
scott exhaled heavily, before moving the stacks of money that lay before him back into the gym bag.
"whoa, whoa, what are you doing?"
the human panicked, raising an eyebrow at his best friend.
"it's late."
scott argued back.
"we've got PSATs in the morning."
"no, i meant the money."
stiles pointed to where the red and black bag lay beside scott's feet.
"five hundred thousand dollars. you know how much money that is?"
scott paused.
"it's five hundred thousand—"
"it's half a million dollars, scott."
stiles cut the boy off.
"what are you going to do, just slide it under your mattress?"
"i have to talk to derek."
scott reasoned.
"the money's his."
"you mean, his and peter's."
scott's eyebrow shot up at his best friends comment.
"what does that mean?"
"it means, maybe, we should proceed with caution.."
"you don't think we should tell derek?"
scott asked quizzically.
"no.. no."
stiles stood up and paced across the room so that his back was facing scott before sighing.
"no, of course we have to tell him. i'm just..."
he paused.
"i'm just saying that some of that money's peter's, right?"
stiles spun round to face scott, his hands outstretched in a questioning manner.
"yeah."
scott said.
"right? peter. homicidal killer? remember?"
scott glared at his best friend, indicating over in the direction where his mother and sister were sleeping.
stiles lowered his voice, then continued.
"you want to give half a million dollars to him."
the alpha paused, assessing the situation, before speaking quietly.
"so we should give derek his money back. but not peter?"
"i didn't say that."
stiles' voice was low.
scott looked his best friend up and down, confused.
"stiles, what are you saying?"
stiles' hand went to his jeans pocket as he sighed.
but before he could answer, a loud banging rung through the silence and the rain beating on the windows.
hurriedly, scott forced the bag of money under his bed.
him and stiles scrambled to get up as the wooden door swung open, revealing malia, her hair wet and plastered to her face.
"we found satomi's pack."
the coyote breathed heavily.
"derek and i. but they're dead."
scott's voice raised.
"all of them?"
"all the ones we found."
"then where's derek?"
stiles took a step forward as he spoke.
"the hospital."
malia spoke quickly.
"he found a girl; she's been shot."
><
stiles, scott, kira and malia stood, gathered in a huddle in the crowded hallway of anxious teens.
indistinct noise filled the air.
"where's lydia?"
kira's voice drew in the attention of the other four.
"she took it her freshman year."
stiles answered, pocketing his hands and looking around.
"does that mean i could have taken it some other time?"
malia's voice was full of anger, all directed at her boyfriend.
"malia,"
scott said, eager to reduce the coyote's anger, especially in such a public place.
"you studied harder for this than any of us."
"doesn't mean i'm gonna do good."
she argued back.
"well.."
stiles' voice was quiet, almost a whisper.
"well, what?"
malia asked, watching as stiles' his face changed as he realised his mistake.
"it's do well, not good."
he whispered.
malia sighed out of frustration.
"oh, god!"
"okay, okay."
stiles tried to calm her.
"you're doing this,"
scott said slowly.
"because while we're trying not to die, we still need to live. if i survive high school, i'd like to go to college.
a good college."
"it's only three hours."
kira added.
"we can survive three hours."
at the kitsune's words, stiles scoffed, earning him a death glare from scott.
they could survive three hours, right?
><
by the time teddy woke up that saturday, scott and melissa had already left the house.
thus, leaving more time for teddy to avoid talking to scott.
whether that was a good thing, she wasn't sure.
whichever the scenario, teddy wasn't too content on the idea of staying home alone whilst scott and his friends took their PSATs.
so, upon dressing in jeans and her typical 'love always wins' tshirt, she made her way out the house.
the cool breeze made contact with teddy's bare arms, causing a shiver to ripple through her body.
the young mccall knew where she was set out to end up, but she didn't quite know the way.
wishing she'd have thought out her plan more, she dropped mason a quick text.