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I look at the frozen image, where Vero is turned mostly away from the camera. “That’s blood.”

“And it’s not a small amount,” Ares adds.

It confirms what we know already: Vero cut out his microchip. Noa messaged this afternoon that his machete was missing, which explains the cornfield. With how much blood we are seeing, he must have used it to cut his neck.

I move the footage forward to the second point and see Cave. I think we all sigh in relief that Vero didn’t kill him. What is more surprising is that Cave is carrying someone over his shoulder. This time, both he and Vero are moving toward the maintenance road that runs behind the island’s outer fence.

“Is that—” Brawley starts, but Ares cuts in.

“Luca, I mean Aaron.”

I glance over at Kayla, where she is watching the screen, but I can’t read her expression.

“They have him,” she whispers.

“Looks that way.”

Kayla is sitting with her hands in her lap and staring at the television screen, which is still paused on Cave with Aaron thrown over his shoulder. She has been awfully quiet, focused on holding herself together.

“Can someone turn off the screen?” I say.

“He told me he has been watching me since he got out of prison. I thought I was safe here, but he still found me.”

“You are safe here,” Brawley tells her.

“He got past every system you have. Your background checks, cameras, and all of you. I won’t ever be safe with him out of prison.”

“He had time to plan it,” Ares says. “He knew what he was doing. That isn’t a failure of the systems⁠—”

“Just stop,” she snaps at him. “He buried me alive.”

She looks at us, her eyes red from the tears she’s holding back, not wanting to cry in front of us.

“He did,” I confirm. “And you were all alone down there. You couldn’t move or yell for help. You were helpless and⁠—”

“Clay . . .” Brawley warns.

“She knows what I’m doing,” I tell him and keep my eyes on her. Kayla knows I’m not being cruel; I’m doing this because she needs to hear it out loud. She hates what he did, and she needs to get it out. “You didn’t know if we were coming.”

That’s what does it, what breaks her, and the first tear rolls down her cheek.

She wipes it away with her knuckles as I move and crouch down in front of her, taking her other hand in mine.

She cries quietly while I hold her, rocking her slightly and remaining silent. Brawley moves to stand behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder, and she turns into him slightly. Ares doesn’t move, but I can see the minute crack in his exterior at her tears. After a few minutes, she pulls back and wipes her face, then takes a deep breath.

“Sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” Brawley reassures her.

“Vero is missing and I’m making this about me.”

I squeeze her hand, and she glances down at me. “This is about you. You’re allowed to break down. Vero is alive, and so is Cave. They are both grown-ass men and will be fine.”

Kayla’s tears start again, and she nods. “If Aaron is alive, he won’t leave me alone—that’s what people don’t understand about him. He won’t walk away; he will wait me out. This will just be a hiccup to him, and not finishing what he started will eat at him until he tries again.”

“He won’t get the chance,” Brawley grits through his teeth.

“You don’t know him,” she says between sniffles.