~SCARLETT.
I could hear voices, but they were distant and muffled as if I had been submerged underwater. My head throbbed, and my body felt torn apart—every muscle sore, every joint stiff. I could barely open my eyes, and a sharp sting in my throat reminded me how dry it was.
"She wandered off into the woods! We had no idea…"
The voices started coming in clearer.
"That's not good enough," another voice got through the drumbeat echoing in my skull. "You were responsible for these women. For her. I should've never let her come here in the first place."
I recognized that voice. It was Liam.
"Calm down, man," a gentler voice intervened. " Not now. We should be thankful she was found before it got worse."
Then I heard a familiar and heartbreaking sob. Lily.
"You didn't see her," she cri
