The smile disappeared.
Ayana looked toward the mountains.
"My husband was named Nantan."
Elias waited.
"He was a good man."
"I believe you."
"He died protecting our people."
"I'm sorry."
She nodded.
"After he died, everyone told me I should marry again."
Elias continued working.
"They said a widow needed a man."
Ayana's voice hardened.
"I needed a life."
Elias looked up.
She met his eyes.
"No one understood the difference."
"I think I do."
She almost smiled.
"You might."
Weeks passed.
The ranch became quieter.
The hunters stopped coming.
That worried Elias more than their presence.
Rourke was planning something.
One morning, a stranger arrived.
He wore a sheriff's badge.
Elias recognized him immediately.
Not the county sheriff.
A deputy from the next territory.
His name was Thomas Bell.
"I heard you have a ledger," Bell said.
Elias said nothing.
Bell glanced toward Ayana.
"She can testify?"
"She can speak for herself."
Ayana stepped forward.
"I can."
Bell nodded.
"I believe you."
Those words stunned her.
"Why?"
"Because my sister disappeared last year."
Ayana went still.
"Her name?"
"Maria Bell."
Ayana opened the ledger.
Her fingers trembled.
Then she found the name.
Maria Bell.
Age twenty.
Sold to a buyer in New Mexico.
Ayana closed her eyes.
Bell's face collapsed.
"Is she alive?"
"I don't know."
He swallowed.
"But I know where she was taken."
That was enough.
Three people became a team.
Elias.
Ayana.
Bell.
Their mission was no longer simply to survive.
They had to expose Rourke.
But before they could reach the abandoned mine, someone betrayed them.
The betrayal came from inside the town.
The general store owner.
The man Ayana had trusted to hide supplies.
He sold their location for money.
That night, gunfire erupted around the ranch.
Elias pushed Ayana behind the stone wall.
"Stay here."
"No."
"You're injured."
"My ankle is better."
"Still no."
She glared at him.
"You don't own me."
Elias stared.
Then nodded.
"You're right."
He handed her a rifle.
"Then stand beside me."
They fought together.
Ayana fired only when necessary.
Elias covered her position.
For the first time, she understood what it meant to fight beside someone rather than behind them.
By dawn, the attackers were gone.
Elias was bleeding from his shoulder.
Ayana found him sitting beside the stable.
"You were shot."
"It's a scratch."
"It's bleeding."
"That tends to happen."
She tore a strip of cloth.
"Sit."
He obeyed.
She cleaned the wound.
Her fingers were gentle.
Elias watched her.
"You trust me now?"
She tied the bandage.
"No."
He smiled.
"Fair enough."
She looked at him.
"But I trust you with my life."
The smile disappeared from his face.
That meant more than he could say.
The next morning they rode for the abandoned mine.
The journey took two days.
At sunset, they found the first evidence.
A child's shoe.
Then a broken bracelet.
Then wagon tracks.
Ayana dismounted.
She touched the earth.
"They were here."
Bell looked around.
"How do you know?"
"The ground remembers."
They entered the mine after dark.
Inside, they found chains.
Blankets.
Empty food crates.
And dozens of names carved into the wooden walls.
Ayana touched one.
"Elena."
Another.
"Maria."
Another.
She closed her eyes.
Then they heard voices.
Women.
Alive.
Elias looked at Bell.
"How many?"
"At least ten."
They followed the sound.
Behind a hidden wooden door were twelve women.
Weak.
Terrified.
But alive.
Ayana stepped inside.
One woman immediately backed away.
"It's all right," Ayana whispered.
"No."
The woman shook her head.
"They'll come back."
"They won't."
"How do you know?"
Ayana looked toward Elias.
"Because this time, we're not alone."
They freed the women.
But they didn't leave quietly.
Rourke was waiting outside.
Twenty armed men surrounded the mine.