Hope didn't move.
Neither did anyone else.
The words stayed between them, heavier than the silence that followed.
They're looking for you.
She looked at Bayu, waiting for him to take it back. To tell her the man was lying. To give her one of those explanations that made absolutely no sense but at least gave her something to hold on to.
He didn't.
"Inside," he said.
Hope laughed once.
It sounded wrong.
"No."
"Hope, please."
"Don't you dare 'please' me."
He closed his eyes briefly.
She stepped closer.
"You said you were going to tell me everything."
"I will."
"Then start talking."
"Not here."
"Of course. Not here. Not there. Not anywhere, apparently."
"Hope—"
"Who was that man, Bayu?"
His jaw tightened.
"His name is Adrian."
"And?"
"And he's dangerous."
She stared at him.
"Well, that narrows it down considerably."
Behind them, Dani appeared in the doorway.
"Okay, I'm sorry, but somebody needs to explain what's going on because I am officially done pretending this is a normal holiday."
Nobody disagreed.
Marcus stood beside her, his arm positioned protectively across her waist. Theo and Priya were behind them, both looking considerably more awake than they had ten minutes ago.
Hope glanced at the open gate.
The road beyond it was empty.
"Where did he go?"
"Does it matter?" Bayu asked.
"Yes, it matters."
"He wanted us to see him."
Hope felt her stomach twist.
"What does that mean?"
"It means he didn't come here by accident."
Bayu turned toward the villa.
"Pack your things. All of you. Ten minutes."
Theo blinked.
"Ten minutes? For what?"
"We're leaving."
"Leaving where?"
"Somewhere safe."
Theo looked at Marcus.
Marcus wasn't smiling anymore.
That frightened Hope more than anything Bayu had said.
Marcus was the sort of person who could find something funny in practically any situation. Even when things went wrong, he usually managed to make a joke out of them.
Now he was staring at Bayu as though he were trying to decide whether to trust him.
"How do we know you're not the problem?" Marcus asked.
Bayu looked at him.
"You don't."
"That's reassuring."
"But if I were the problem, Adrian wouldn't have needed to come here."
Marcus considered that.
"That's not necessarily true."
"No," Bayu agreed. "It isn't."
Hope watched them.
There was something deeply unsettling about the way Bayu answered questions. He didn't try to convince anyone of anything. He simply gave them enough truth to make the rest of the situation worse.
She hated it.
She hated him a little for it, too.
"Fine," she said.
Everyone turned toward her.
"We pack. We leave. But you're talking to me in the car, and if you try to avoid one single question, I swear to God, Bayu, I'll get out and walk."
His expression softened for half a second.
"You won't get out."
"Try me."
"I don't intend to."
He walked inside.
Hope stood there, watching him disappear around the corner.
Dani came to stand beside her.
"Hope?"
"What?"
"Are you scared?"
Hope swallowed.
She wanted to say no.
She wanted to laugh and tell Dani that this was all some elaborate misunderstanding and they'd be back beside the pool before lunchtime.
Instead, she looked toward the gate.
"Yes."
Dani slipped her hand into hers.
"Okay."
Hope looked at her.
"Okay?"
"Yes. You're scared. I'm scared. We're all scared. Now let's go pack our stuff before I start screaming."
A shaky laugh escaped Hope.
It was the first one that felt real all morning.
They went upstairs together.
Hope packed without thinking. Clothes, toiletries, phone charger. She shoved everything into her suitcase, barely registering what she was taking.
Her mind kept returning to Adrian.
The way he'd looked at her.
Not Bayu.
Her.
As though he knew something about her that she didn't know herself.
As though he'd been waiting for this moment for a very long time.
She zipped the suitcase.
Then stopped.
Something lay on her pillow.
A photograph.
Hope was certain it hadn't been there when she'd woken up.
Slowly, she reached for it.
The picture was old, the edges yellowed and worn. It showed a woman standing beside a little girl outside a house with a white wooden fence.
Hope recognised the woman immediately.
Her mother.
Younger than Hope remembered her ever being, with long dark hair and a smile that seemed almost unfamiliar.
The little girl beside her couldn't have been older than six.
Hope's fingers began to tremble.
It was her.
She turned the photograph over.
There was writing on the back.
Three words.
Ask about Elias.
Hope read them again.
Then again.
"Elias?"
The name meant nothing to her.
She flipped the photograph over, studying the background. The house. The fence. The trees.
She had never seen that place before.
Or at least, she didn't think she had.
A knock sounded at the bedroom door.
Hope jumped so violently that the photograph nearly slipped from her hand.
"Hope?" Bayu called.
She stared at the door.
"Give me a minute."
"Are you okay?"
She looked down at the picture.
"No," she whispered.
Then, louder, "I'll be out in a second."
She slid the photograph into the front pocket of her suitcase.
When she opened the door, Bayu was standing there.
His gaze dropped to the suitcase.
Then returned to her face.
"Ready?"
"Almost."
He studied her for a moment.
"What happened?"
"Nothing."
He didn't look convinced.
For once, Hope didn't care.
She wheeled her suitcase past him.
"Let's go."
They were on the road twelve minutes later.
Marcus drove, with Dani beside him. Theo and Priya sat in the back, unusually quiet.
Hope sat in the passenger seat of Bayu's car, her hands clasped tightly in her lap.
For several minutes, neither of them spoke.
The villa disappeared behind them.
Then the road curved toward the coast, and Hope caught sight of the sea through the trees.
Beautiful.
Blue.
Completely indifferent to the fact that her life had apparently just fallen apart.
"Start talking," she said.
Bayu kept his eyes on the road.
"Adrian knows your mother."
Hope turned toward him.
"What?"
"He knew her before you were born."
Her mouth went dry.
"How do you know that?"
"Because I met him years ago."
"When?"
"Before I came here."
"Why?"
He exhaled slowly.
"Because I was looking for someone."
"Who?"
He glanced at her.
"You."
Hope stared at him.
For a moment, she genuinely couldn't understand what he'd said.
Then the meaning settled.
"You were looking for me?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because your mother disappeared."
Hope felt as though the air had been pulled from the car.
"My mother died."
Bayu said nothing.
She turned fully toward him.
"My mother died when I was eleven. I went to her funeral. I saw her—"
Her voice broke.
She stopped, swallowing hard.
Bayu's hands tightened around the steering wheel.
"I'm not saying she didn't die, Hope."
"Then what are you saying?"
He was quiet for so long that she thought he wouldn't answer.
Finally, he spoke.
"I'm saying the circumstances surrounding her death were never what you were told."
Hope stared at him.
Then she remembered the photograph.
The little girl.
The unfamiliar house.
The words on the back.
Ask about Elias.
She reached into her bag and pulled it out.
Bayu glanced down.
The colour drained from his face.
The car drifted slightly toward the centre line before he corrected it.
Hope's heart hammered.
"You know this photograph."
He didn't answer.
"Bayu."
His eyes remained fixed on the road.
"Where did you get that?"
"It was on my pillow."
He swore under his breath.
Hope gripped the photograph.
"Who is Elias?"
Bayu pulled the car onto the side of the road.
For several seconds, he sat without moving.
Then he turned toward her.
"Elias was your father."
Hope stopped breathing.
"No."
"Hope—"
"No. My father died before I was born."
"That's what you were told."
She shook her head, clutching the photograph so tightly that it bent between her fingers.
"Who are you?"
The question came out smaller than she'd intended.
Bayu looked at her with something that might have been guilt.
Or grief.
"I was supposed to keep you safe."
"From Adrian?"
He hesitated.
"From all of them."
Hope stared at him.
"All of whom?"
Bayu looked back toward the road.
And when he finally answered, she wished he hadn't.
"Your family."