Right after he finished speaking, Tristan's phone lit up with a video call from Benjamin Gomez.

Tristan took a slow, shaky breath and answered.

The screen filled with an image that almost knocked the air out of him. Emily was hanging from a tree, her whole body battered and broken. Her hands hung limply, her hair was tangled, her skin looked ghostly pale. Blood had soaked through most of her clothes. She looked worse than he'd ever seen her. It was the kind of sight that would break anyone's heart, even a stranger's.

Emily didn't look up. Maybe she was too weak, or maybe she just couldn't bear to face the camera. All he saw was the top of her head, her face hidden.

Tristan's eyes stung. He could feel his vision blur as tears threatened to fall.

This was Emily. His Emily. The woman he loved more than anything in the world.

Elizabeth was there too, crying quietly as she looked at Emily's image.

Tristan tried to speak. His voice came out low and rough. "Emily..."

Emily barely moved, just the slightest nod.

A tear slid down Tristan's cheek.

He tried again, voice breaking. "Emily..."

Again, she nodded, just a little.

That was too much for Elizabeth. She couldn't hold it in anymore. She leaned toward the phone and cried out, voice trembling, "Emily, does it hurt? Are you in pain?"

Emily hesitated.

Elizabeth's voice was thick with tears. Emily wanted to say something to comfort her, to tell her it didn't hurt, but she knew there was no way she could make that lie sound believable. Saying it would only make Elizabeth feel worse.

So Emily stayed silent, pretending she hadn't heard.

But Elizabeth knew her too well. She saw right through that silence, and her sobs grew louder. She covered her mouth, her whole body shaking with grief.

"Emily..." Elizabeth's voice was

barely more than a whisper. "Don't be scared, okay? We're all doing everything we can We'll 'll get you out.

It won't be long now..."

Her words came out broken, her voice quivering with every syllable. With Benjamin

there, she was careful not to say too much.

"Just hang in there a little longer. We'll see each other soon..."

This time, Emily gave a tiny nod.

Elizabeth started crying even harder.

That night she lost count of how

many times she cried. Her eyes swollen and red she couldn't even

bring herself to look at Emily!!" ē

anymore. It hurt too much.

But then she thought, what right did she have to feel this way? Emily was the one actually going through all this if she couldn't even bear to look, what kind of friend did trat make her?

She forced herself to watch, refusing to look away for even a second.

Tristan stood there, his face tense, pain buried deep in his eyes. Only the tiniest shifts in his expression gave away how much he was hurting inside.

He wanted to say so much. His lips moved a few times, searching for words. In the end, all that came out was a quiet, “Emily, I miss you."

Benjamin held the phone a little ways back, so Emily could barely hear the words.

Tristan hadn't raised his voice, so his words reached her softly, much quieter than Elizabeth's desperate cries.

But that simple sentence hit Emily harder than anything else. Her resolve, the strength she'd been holding onto all this time, suddenly wavered.

She knew exactly how Tristan felt.

She could only imagine what he must be going through right now.