Second Chances [Sweet Pea x OC]

Chapter 24

"I'd heard you were pretty clever. And here I was thinking Jughead was the one I had to worry about. Goes to show how much I know."

"Indeed it does," I said coldly. "Did you really think you were going to Riverdale and set up shop that easily? If you'd done even the slightest bit of research, you'd know that this isn't the same town you left all those years ago. Those aren't the same Serpents you abandoned."

Gladys looked up from the magazine she'd been flipping through since Veronica left. "Oh, I did my research all right. I know Jughead's pulled this crew out of the drug trade, but that's where the money is. And that's why we're going to pull the Ghoulies in and take the business back from the Gargoyles."

"First Tall Boy tries to merge us with the Ghoulies and now you? In case you didn't hear, let me tell you how well that went," I began. "Jughead challenged the Ghoulies to a race, got a bunch of them sent to prison for a few months. Tall Boy kept going behind our backs and got himself kicked out of the Serpents and Riverdale and dropped as Penny Peabody's little errand boy. Eventually Hiram Lodge brought him back to run around as the Gargoyle King and he ended up dead. So unless history is going to repeat itself, I'd get the fuck out of Riverdale if I were you."

"See, that's the difference though," Gladys said. "Unlike Tall Boy, I'm not doing anyone else's dirty work. I'm running this whole operation myself."

I let out a short laugh. "Oh, so you're trying to be the new Penny Peabody, is that it?"

Before I could do anything, she was standing in front of me, my hair caught tightly in her fist as she pulled backwards. "Never compare me to that bitch again," she hissed in my ear before letting go of me. "Try it, and I'll make what I did to her in Toledo look pretty."

"So what is your master plan then?" I asked. "Planning to dethrone Hiram Lodge and take over the Southside? He's got a hand in the Fizzle Rocks production too, so that might mess with your plans a bit."

"Oh, I'm not worried about Hiram," Gladys said. "I've already got his daughter working for me, trying to convince him to give up on the candy business. He can have his prison and Southside, I don't care about any of that. And you know, I had been considering making this a family business. I had JB working with me back at the junkyard, thought it might be nice to bring everyone else in here. And given your...extensive knowledge of the Ghoulies and the candy business, I was thinking of bringing you on as my right-hand man. Or woman, should I say. But now I'm not so sure that would be a good idea. It would be too easy for you to usurp me."

"You can count me out on helping you become a drug queenpin," I said. "I won't need to be a part of it to bring you down. I'll be able to manage it from the outside just fine."

"I look forward to seeing you try," Gladys said, walking closer to me again. "Dolly," she added quietly as someone came up the steps outside. I glared at her as the door opened, keys rattling in the lock.

FP paused in the doorway. "What, uh, what's going on here?"

"Nothing to worry about," Gladys said, slipping on a fake smile as she brushed past me towards the kitchen. "Just a little disagreement between Babygirl and I. Such a shame she didn't have a better mother figure growing up, then this whole thing could have been avoided."

"She was your sister," I snapped, getting a warning look from FP.

Gladys ignored my comment, pulling things out of the cupboards. "I was just about to start on supper. Are you staying?"

"No, actually, I'm not," I replied, making my way to the door. "By the way, Reggie was asking when you were going to return his car," I said, stopping with my hand on the doorknob.