The cave felt different after Sora left.
There was more room around the fire, yet the silence seemed heavier. The flames burned steadily, throwing shifting shadows across the walls.
Lila watched Kai's face.
“You're thinking about her.”
“I'm thinking about tomorrow.”
“Of course you are.”
She tried to laugh, but there was a sharpness in it.
“She was hoping you'd rescue her. I could see it. She expected you to choose her simply because she was nice to you at work.”
Kai said nothing.
“Don't tell me you feel guilty.”
He glanced at the entrance.
“She doesn't belong out there alone.”
“Then why did you let her go?”
“Because I told her to wait outside. She said she'd gather wood.”
Lila folded her arms.
“You're making her sound much more innocent than she is. She came in here because she wanted something, too. She just didn't have the courage to admit it.”
Kai looked at her.
“Is that what you think?”
“It's what I know.”
She settled beside him again, drawing close to the warmth.
“People always want something. They just dress it up in different words. Kindness. Friendship. Loyalty. Love.”
She turned her face toward him.
“At least I'm honest about what I want.”
Her confidence had returned, but Kai noticed the way she kept glancing at the cave entrance. She was afraid he might send her away, and she didn't intend to give Sora another opportunity to come back.
“I came here because I was freezing,” Lila continued. “I offered you a deal. You accepted. Why should I feel ashamed of surviving?”
Kai considered the question.
He had no simple answer.
He didn't believe he was responsible for saving everyone who came to his cave. Water and food were finite. If he gave away everything he had, he would end up in the same condition as the people on the beach.
Yet Sora's situation was different. She had warned him, defended him, and tried to stop Kael's men from attacking him. He had carried her to safety when she collapsed from the heat.
He hadn't done those things because she could pay him back.
He had done them because, at the time, it had seemed right.
Now he wasn't sure he liked how quickly that distinction was disappearing.
Lila rested a hand on his arm.
“Don't think too much. We don't even know whether we'll see tomorrow.”
The words should have sounded like a warning.
Instead, they sounded like an excuse.
Kai leaned back against the rock. He let the conversation end without answering her.
Outside, somewhere in the darkness, stones scraped beneath someone's feet.
He looked up.
The noise faded.
“Probably Sora,” Lila said. “Looking for wood.”
Kai reached for his knife and checked that it was secure at his side.
“I'm going to make sure she knows where the entrance is when she comes back.”
Lila's hand tightened on his arm.
“She knows where it is.”
“I said I'll check.”
He stood, but before he reached the entrance, a low voice came from beyond the vines.
“Kai?”
He stopped.
That wasn't Sora's voice.
A figure appeared in the opening, leaning heavily against the rock. The person looked as though she had crawled through half the island to reach the cave.
Elara Voss.
The CEO's white swimsuit was streaked with mud and soot. Her hair had come loose, and dark smudges covered her face. Her lips were cracked, her eyes bloodshot, and her breathing was shallow from the smoke she had endured beside the beach fire.
Yet she still held her chin high.
For a moment, she said nothing. Her gaze passed over Kai, then settled on the clean-burning fire.
She saw the dry wood stacked nearby.
She saw the food container beside the wall.
Then she noticed Lila, sitting much closer to Kai than she had expected.
Something tightened in Elara's expression.
“Kai,” she said again, trying to recover the commanding tone she had used in the office. “We need to talk.”
Kai rested one hand on the rock beside him.
“Do we?”
Elara ignored the question and took a cautious step inside. The warmth reached her face, and she closed her eyes for a fraction of a second before opening them again.
Lila watched her with a small, knowing smile.
“It's warmer in here than it is down there, isn't it, Ms. Voss?”
“Don't start with me.”
“I'm not starting anything. I'm just saying you look exhausted.”
Elara's eyes narrowed.
Then she looked back at Kai.
“I admit that I underestimated you,” she said. “Your preparation has been better than ours. Your shelter is secure, your fire is working, and you have food and water.”
Kai said nothing.
“But we can't continue like this.” She forced herself to stand straighter. “The situation below is deteriorating. People are cold, hungry, and frightened. They need leadership.”
“Then lead them.”
Elara's jaw tightened.
“I need resources.”
“Of course you do.”
“I'm prepared to negotiate.”
Kai glanced at the smoke-stained woman standing in his cave. A few hours earlier, Elara would never have climbed to his shelter without expecting him to stand up and wait for instructions.
Now she was asking to negotiate.
The difference was almost funny.
Kai picked up a piece of firewood and placed it on the flames.
“Go on, Ms. Voss. Tell me what you think your money can buy.”
Elara's eyes flicked toward the remaining food.
For the first time since the disaster, she seemed to understand that the next decision would not be hers alone.
And Kai, sitting beside the fire that he had built while everyone else had waited for rescue, was in no hurry to make things easier for her.