Chapter 80

The energy bars were nearly gone for everyone. With so many people in the cave, no one dared to ask Aria Bennett and the others for more, though they watched with longing eyes.

Audrey Lane hesitated as she held the bar. "Aria, you should keep this for yourself."

Aria pushed it into her hands. "I have more in my bag. You're not feeling well—how are you going to keep up tomorrow if you don't eat?"

Audrey's eyes grew warm. It was the first time a girl had taken care of her like this. She nibbled on the bar, her voice barely audible. "Thank you."

Aria smiled at the faint blush on Audrey's ears.

In her past life, after leaving the show, Audrey had become nothing more than a stepping stone for Serena Blake. Not only had she been overshadowed, but she'd also been labeled as "pretentious" and "fake." A single mistake during the final live performance had dragged her entire team down, earning her endless hate from netizens.

Aria had always liked this quiet, introverted girl. As fellow women, it was only natural to look out for each other.

"Mm." Audrey tucked the gratitude away in her heart. If not for Aria's intervention, she wouldn’t have dared to admit she was suffering from cramps. Had she slowed the team down, the backlash would have been brutal.

Cole Turner and Tobias Kane still had plenty of energy bars left after sharing the grilled fish yesterday. They’d expected babysitting these celebrities to be a nightmare, but surprisingly, things had gone smoothly.

What they didn’t know was that most of the group was barely holding on. Only because Damian Cross and Nolan Reed hadn’t complained did the others grit their teeth and endure.

As Aria and the others finished eating, the rest of the group lay in their sleeping bags, stomachs growling, willing sleep to come faster.

Once the cameras shut off, darkness swallowed the cave.

At two in the morning, Aria's eyes snapped open. She slipped silently out of her sleeping bag and crept toward the cave entrance.

In the shadows, three pairs of eyes opened simultaneously.

Cole and Tobias, trained for fieldwork, never slept deeply outdoors. Damian, on the other hand, was instinctively alert.

He narrowed his eyes at the exit—that slender silhouette was unmistakably Aria.

The three assumed she was stepping out for a private moment, but when ten minutes passed without her return, Damian was the first to rise and follow.

Tobias kept his voice low. "I'll check. You stay."

Cole nodded. "Be careful."

Outside, Damian swept his flashlight across the damp ground. A trail of footprints led deep into the dense forest.

"Aria!" he called in a hushed voice.

The sound of a scuffle echoed in the distance. His pulse spiked, and he broke into a run.

Under the beam of his flashlight, three burly men were closing in on Aria, their movements sharp and lethal—clearly trained fighters.

Damian and Tobias, who had just arrived, immediately joined the fray.

"Fall back!" one of the attackers barked. In an instant, the three scattered into the jungle with startling speed.

"Are you hurt?" Damian grabbed Aria's wrist.

She shook her head. "I heard noises and came to check. They were lurking around."

Damian's frown deepened. "Next time, call for backup first. That was reckless."

Tobias studied the trampled ground. "They were speaking an indigenous dialect."

"Not from our country," Aria confirmed. "And they smelled of blood."

Damian turned to Tobias. "Did the production crew set this up?"

Tobias tried contacting the director, but the comms remained dead.

"Something's wrong," Aria said grimly. "Those men had the aura of killers."

The three exchanged glances before silently returning to the cave.

Tobias roused Cole and the three other mercenaries, and they conferred in low voices.

Aria and Damian settled back into their sleeping bags.

Tomorrow, trouble was coming.