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“Wait.”

“That’s my wife.”

“I know.”

“If he touches her⁠—”

“We get her out. We don’t give him another hostage.”

Trigger’s entire body shook with rage.

But he stayed.

Judy raised her voice.

“Rylie remembered you.”

Inside the building, Evan went completely silent.

“She remembered you coming to Cabin Nine,” Judy continued. “She remembered Emily arguing with you.”

“Emily was a liar.”

“She called you a coward.”

Another crash.

Then Evan shouted, “She begged.”

Judy went still.

The words hung in the rain.

A confession.

Not complete.

But enough.

“She begged you not to kill her?” Judy asked.

Evan laughed.

“She begged me to let the little girls go.”

Trigger’s jaw clenched.

Judy kept him talking.

“And you drowned her.”

“No.”

The answer came too fast.

Judy looked at me.

There it was.