The voice came from behind him like a gunshot.
"I found you."
Damian spun around, breath caught in his chest.
Through the pounding rain stood Leo, staring at him with the fury of a wounded animal.
Behind him were Clara and Ethan, both frozen in disbelief, their faces ghostly in the stormlight.
For a moment, nothing existed but the sound of the sea and the mirrored reflection of two identical faces, divided by everything they had broken.
Leo stepped closer, eyes burning.
"Where is she?"
Damian shook his head. "They took her."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
Leo grabbed his collar, shaking him. "Don't lie to me! You're the one who took her!"
Damian shoved him back. "I tried to save her!"
"You deceived her! You pretended to be me!" Leo's voice cracked like thunder.
Damian lunged at him, and they fell into the mud: fists, rage, and betrayal colliding.
Rain mixed with blood, thunder rolled above.
Every punch was a confession neither of them wanted to make.
"You stole her trust!" Leo spat, pinning him down.
Damian hit back, eyes filled with pain. "I saved her life. You weren't there!"
"You touched her!"
"And you gave her to that monster you call her father!"
Leo shoved him against a tree, trembling with rage, hand already on the trigger.
The gun pressed cold against Damian's forehead.
Clara screamed, throwing herself between them. "Leo, stop!"
Her body was drenched, trembling. "If you kill him, Naiara's gone for good!"
Ethan stepped forward, tense but steady. "Put the gun down, man. This won't save her."
Leo's breath was shaky. Rain streamed down his face like tears he refused to shed. "Tell me where she is!"
Damian's voice cracked. "I don't know. But they're not selling her for organs anymore."
Leo blinked. "What?"
Damian swallowed. "Someone wanted her… for himself. A powerful man. I don't know who he is. No one does. He's above Miguel. Above everything."
The silence that followed felt like the pause before a scream.
Leo's face drained of color. The gun slipped from his hand and landed in the mud.
"For himself?" he whispered.
Damian nodded slowly. "Yes. And I can't imagine what he plans to do to her."
Leo's anger twisted into something darker, heavier. "Then I'll find him. And I'll kill him."
Damian's voice was barely a whisper. "I'll do it first."
Clara stood between them again, her voice trembling. "Enough. Either you kill each other, or you save her. If you keep fighting, she'll die, and none of you will ever forgive yourselves."
Leo looked at her, lost. "What if it's too late?"
"It's never too late when you love someone," she said softly.
Ethan pulled out a soaked map, spreading it on the ground. "Look. There's a base to the north, Sector Seven. It's the only location with active satellite signals. If she's being held, it's there."
Damian nodded. "It used to be a military outpost. Now it's a trafficking hub. It's locked down, but during the shift change, we can get in."
Leo stared at him. "You know their procedures."
Damian gave a bitter smile. "I wrote them."
Clara took a breath. "Then we move. Together."
Leo's gaze softened on her for just a moment before hardening again.
Damian looked toward the forest, where lightning tore through the sky. "There'll be a fight."
Leo stepped beside him: the same face, the same blood, but two souls that would never meet again.
"You loved her too, didn't you?" Leo's voice cracked.
Damian said nothing, but his eyes gave him away.
Leo closed his eyes for a moment. "Then we'll get her back. But once she's safe, one of us disappears for good."
No one answered.
The rain swallowed every sound, erasing even the boundaries between right and wrong.
Clara and Ethan followed as the brothers started toward the jungle, their silhouettes swallowed by the storm. And as the thunder rolled over the island, Leo's thoughts burned with one promise only: if that man had laid a hand on Naiara, the world would finally learn what it meant to make a soldier lose his mind.