Elara held Kai's gaze.
“My company can offer you more than money,” she said. “A senior position. Real authority. You wouldn't have to spend another day answering to people like Kael.”
Kai leaned back against the rock.
“I'm listening.”
“Vice president of Aetheris Group. A starting salary of ten million dollars a year. An apartment in the city. Shares, if that's what you want.” She paused, watching his expression. “You would have a future waiting for you when we get home.”
The offer might once have sounded like a fantasy. A month ago, Kai would have spent the rest of the night thinking about it.
Now he looked down at the half-empty tin beside the fire.
“How much is that worth out here?”
Elara's jaw tightened.
“We won't be here forever.”
“You said that yesterday, too.”
“I said rescue would come.”
“And it didn't.”
For an instant, her composure slipped. Then she straightened, gathering the authority she had carried into boardrooms and negotiations.
“The delay doesn't mean rescue has failed. There are procedures. The ship's disappearance will trigger an emergency response. My phone was set to send a distress signal.”
Kai let her finish. He didn't interrupt, and somehow that made the silence worse.
“Do you have proof the signal went through?” he asked.
“I—”
“Did you speak to anyone? Receive a confirmation? Get a location?”
Elara's mouth closed.
Kai nodded toward the entrance, where the night pressed black against the vines.
“My information says the distress call never went through. The magnetic interference around this area is severe. We're hundreds of nautical miles from the nearest known route, and no one can give you a reliable position for this island.”
He didn't mention every detail the system had shown him. He had already learned that knowing something and convincing someone of it were two entirely different things.
Elara stared at him.
“You expect me to believe an intern's guess over the emergency protocols of my company?”
“Believe what you like. It won't make a helicopter appear.”
She glanced at the fire. Kai saw her notice the dry wood stacked against the wall, the water within reach, the food he'd kept out of the damp. She was trying to calculate what staying here would cost her—and how to turn that cost into a negotiation she could control.
“What do you want?” she asked at last.
Kai could have asked her to help gather wood, carry water, or take a watch at the entrance. Those were useful things. They were also things she could have agreed to without surrendering the pride that had made her look through him at the office.
He thought of Kael's hand closing around his shirt. Of the laughter at the party. Of all the times Elara had looked past him as if he were part of the furniture.
The words that came out were meant to hurt.
“Take off your swimsuit,” he said. “No more CEO act. If you want the warmth and food, then make the same kind of bargain Lila did.”
Elara looked at him as though he had struck her.
Lila, who had been sitting close to the fire, went still. She had expected Kai to use his advantage; she hadn't expected him to say it so bluntly.
“You cannot be serious,” Elara whispered.
“Why not? You came here to make an offer.”
“I offered you a future.”
“A future you can't guarantee.”
Elara's hands curled at her sides. Anger fought with the shivering that she could no longer quite hide.
Lila shifted nearer to the fire. “Ms. Voss, you should think about this before you answer.”
“Don't you dare tell me what to think.”
“I'm telling you to look outside.” Lila's voice was quiet now. “You know how cold it is. You know what happened to people down there tonight. Whatever you think of Kai, the fire is real. The food is real. Your promised rescue isn't.”
Elara turned on her.
“You're helping him humiliate me.”
“No,” Lila said. “I'm trying to survive.”
The difference between the two answers seemed to disgust Elara more than the demand itself.
She faced Kai again. “You want me to beg.”
“I'm asking what you're willing to pay.”
“No. You're asking me to prove that you can do whatever you like because you have something I need.”
Kai didn't answer.
Her words landed closer to the truth than he wanted them to.
For a moment, the cave held only the snap of burning wood. Then Elara took a step backward.
“I would rather face the night outside than give you that satisfaction.”
Kai pointed toward the entrance.
“Your choice.”
She lingered as if waiting for him to reconsider. He didn't.
When she finally turned away, she moved carefully over the loose stones, one hand braced against the wall. The wind caught her as soon as she reached the opening. Her shoulders jerked, but she kept going.
Lila watched her disappear into the dark.
“You didn't have to push her that far,” she said.
Kai picked up a piece of wood and placed it on the fire.
“She came here believing she could buy her way into control.”
“And you wanted her to know she couldn't.”
He looked at Lila.
She lowered her eyes. “I understand. But there's a difference between making someone face reality and enjoying the moment they break.”
Kai's hand stayed on the wood longer than necessary.
Before he could answer, someone scraped a boot against the stone outside.
“Sora?” he called.
A pause.
Then Sora appeared, carrying a bundle of branches against her chest. Her fingers were red from the cold, and a smear of dirt crossed one cheek. She had been close enough to hear raised voices, perhaps more than that, but she made no mention of it.
“I found these behind the rocks,” she said. “Some are damp, but a few might burn.”
Kai took half the bundle from her.
“You've been out there too long.”
“You told me to wait outside.”
The reply was mild. That made it harder to meet her eyes.
“I know.”
Sora looked past him at Lila, then at the fire. She didn't ask why Elara had just left. She simply set the remaining branches beside the wall and sat near the cave entrance, leaving a careful distance between herself and the others.
Kai beckoned her over.
When she stepped close, he pulled her into a quiet, firm hug.
A few tears slipped silently down Sora’s cheeks.
After a long pause, Kai told Lila to wait outside the cave entrance.
Only once she had stepped out did he add a branch to the fire, and watched until it caught.
Outside, the wind rose against the rocks. Down on the beach, the survivors were still gathered around a fire that gave them heat only when the smoke allowed it.
Kai and Sora settled down beside the warmth and fell asleep together.
Lila, lingering just beyond the cave mouth, did not need words to understand. She knew exactly how Kai felt about Sora.
The night had not finished with them.