Silhouetted Sins

to the grave

A/n: hiii. how is everyone today? also sorry if that title freaked u out lol nobody's dying 😂

toni's pov

"mom why are you leaving?" sophie asks while sitting on our bed. i'm currently fixing my hair in the bathroom.

"i told you sophie there's a mandatory serpent meeting." i say. "for what though?" she asks. "to be honest i have no idea." i say.

"ok but why do i have to stay here?" she asks. "because they said no kids allowed at this meeting. and the last time you went to the bar you kids were out of control." i say.

"i'm gonna be bored." she says. "i know but don't worry i won't be gone for too long. just promise me you don't answer the door." i say and walk out of the bathroom. "i promise." she sighs and turns on the tv.

i throw on my serpent jacket and put on my boots.

"ok bye soph. remember the rules." i say. "i will. bye mom." she says and i walk out of the room. i felt really bad leaving sophie alone in the room especially at night but i really didn't have a choice.

halley and ashley aren't serpents but jughead told them to come anyway. i really had no idea what this meeting was about and i was kind of excited to find out.

i walked downstairs near the lobby where i was supposed to meet halley and ashley. "hey t." ashley says. "hey girls." i say and we start walking to the bar.

"so does anyone know what this meeting is about?" halley asks. "i have no idea. i feel bad leaving the kids though." i say. "me too. scooty kept saying he was gonna be bored." ashley says. "well hopefully this is worth it." halley says and i nod.

we keep walking for 5 minutes until we get to the bar.

"finally you guys are here." jughead says as we enter. him, betty, sweet pea, fangs, cheryl, veronica, and cheryl are all sitting on the couches. "oh sorry were we late?" i ask. "not really we were just waiting on you guys." he says and we all sit down.

"so um why are we here?" cheryl asks. "i just thought it would be necessary for us to sit down all together and have a discussion. the bar isn't doing as well as i thought it was going to." jughead sighs.

"so was moving all the serpents here a mistake?" fangs asks. "i don't know yet." jug says.

"i mean we could always keep the bar open longer. like longer hours?" cheryl suggests. "we could but that would mean we would need more staff or everyone would have to work crazy long hours." betty says.

"well everyone who comes to the bar are serpents. and sometimes most serpents are working the bar. which means our customers are just our own people. that's the problem." jughead says.

"so we need to come up with a way to get non serpents to come to the bar." sweet pea says. "exactly. and we need more money. all of us. not even me and betty are in the clear on all rent." jughead says.

"yea i didn't wanna interrupt but even with the job at the bar i'm still struggling with money. trust me the job has definitely helped but it's not even  near enough." i say. "me too. i still have...side hustles." halley sighs. "me too." i say honestly.

"ronnie do you think you could come up with something? you used to own two businesses back in riverdale." archie says. "i mean we could always do a casino night. whenever la bonne nuit wasn't doing so well i would host a casino night and we would have a packed house. on those nights we made more money then we ever had before." veronica says.

"no not casino night. just casino." fangs says. "what?" ronnie asks. "how about we turn the bar into a secret casino. do you know how much cash we'd make?" fangs asks.

"my god you genius." jughead says. "oh my god fangs that's the best idea you've come up with ever." cheryl says and he smiles.

"ok well one problem. they have kids." sweet pea says looking at me, halley, and ashley. "and?" jughead asks.

"so when they had shifts they had other people watching the kids. if we're all going to be working at the casino there's no one to watch them. and sure they can stay at a bar just for a few hours but a casino? that's like double illegal. and casinos are open longer hours then bars are." sweet pea explains.

"he's right. and if you think of where we are location wise we are surrounded by hotels who are holding guests who are going to disney world. majority of people going to disney world have kids. no ones gonna want to come to a casino when they have kids they should be watching." i say.

"fuck you're right." jughead says. "are there any extra rooms in here?" ashley asks. "um there's the office space upstairs and the basement." betty says. "how big is this basement?" ashley asks. "it's pretty big and it's empty. why?" jughead asks. "maybe we can create a rec room for kids to stay in while their parents are upstairs." ashley says.

"yes. i like your thought process." halley says. "i actually think that's a great idea." cheryl says. "that's brilliant." jug says.

"so not only are we gonna open a casino without a permit but we're also gonna be illegally housing kids in the basement?" betty asks in disbelief. she's obviously not so big on the idea of rule breaking.

"we're not illegally housing kids it's just gonna be a spot where kids can hang out. also maybe even kids from the nearby motels can come and their parents can get jobs working here." veronica says. "yes oh my god. more workers more service. perfect." jughead says.

"and what happens if the cops come? we can't lie to them." betty says. "the cops aren't gonna come. and if they do we won't lie. we'll just shade the truth a bit." archie says.

"i think we're in way over our heads guys. what happens if someone snitches and we all get sent to jail?!" betty says freaking out.

"we're not going to jail betts. don't worry babe." jughead says and puts his hand on betty's back.

"i just think as long as we're careful we should be ok. but everything has to be super exclusive. both the casino and the kids club. we have to monitor everyone who comes in and out." i say. "i 100 percent agree. that's the only way this is gonna work." sweet pea says.

"yes of course. and if anybody we don't know asks anything about it we stay silent. never a tell a soul. it stays inner circle. ok? to the grave." jughead says and spits in his hand before holding it out in front of himself.

everyone else spits and links hands with the person across from them.

"to the grave." we all say together.

later

that night i laid in bed staring at the ceiling. i couldn't think straight. my mind was just filled with the idea of finally being financially stable enough to move sophie out of here.

ideally i would want to be living with cheryl somewhere. maybe we can even have another kid.

i turn on my side and look at my little girl peacefully sleeping. no, she's not perfect, but who cares? certainly not me.

she's my whole world and my lifeline.

we have a different type of relationship than most but that doesn't make it any less loving.

i have a really good feeling about this new bar and casino idea. if it's gonna help turn me and sophie's life around then i'm all for it.

A/n: i love the fact that i'm the only one who knows how the story is gonna end 🤪