Chapter 2
I said, my voice icy cold, "Zach, I need you to do one more thing for me.
"Send those photos of Andrew and Charlotte looking intimate in the hospital's VIP suite to the biggest entertainment media outlets in Capitavia, anonymously.
"Use this headline: 'The Todd Family heiress's body isn't even cold yet, and her fiancé and stepsister are already staging a romance in the hospital ward.'"
Zach whistled on the other end.
He said, "Damn, that's cold. I like it.
"Emily, you finally wised up. When it comes to those scumbags, you can't show any mercy."
"This is just the appetizer," I replied.
After hanging up, I shoved the last energy bar into my mouth and made myself choke it down.
I had to conserve my energy.
One hell of a fight was still looming ahead.
Night had fallen completely, and the snow cave was swallowed by darkness.
When I was about to collapse, I caught the sound of soft footsteps and low, urgent voices outside the cave. "Emily!"
They'd come for me. It was Zach and the crew.
My spirits soared, and I summoned every ounce of strength to crawl out of the snow cave.
Not far away, a few figures were braving the blizzard, their flashlights cutting through the darkness as they struggled toward me.
Leading the group was Zach.
As soon as he spotted me, he dashed over and pulled me into a tight hug.
"Holy shit. You're alive," Zach blurted out. His voice trembled with relief, as he'd barely made it out alive.
I patted his back. "Told you I wasn't going to die.
"Enough talk. Let's get out of here. I don't want to spend another second in this hellhole."
One of the crew quickly wrapped a thick down jacket around me, while another handed over a thermos of hot tea.
The warm water slid down my throat, and I could feel the chill melting away inside me.
Getting down the mountain was way tougher than I'd ever imagined.
Zach's crew was seriously professional. They tied a climbing rope around my waist and surrounded me, one in front and one behind, watching my back every step of the way.
Even so, I almost lost my footing more than once.
"Emily, hang on," Zach yelled over his shoulder.
Step by step, I gritted my teeth and followed them.
I couldn't die there.
I still hadn't seen my dear father and stepsister ruined yet.
After what felt like forever, we spotted the rescue camp at the foot of the mountain.
Zach led me off to the side, where an unassuming SUV was waiting.
"Get in the car. We'll talk once we're back in the city," he said.
The heat was blasting inside the car, and I finally felt some warmth creeping back into my frozen body.
Zach grabbed a first aid kit from the back seat and checked me over with practiced skill.
"Good news, nothing major, just some frostbite, and you're exhausted," he said.
As Zach patched up the little cuts on my fingers, he was grumbling and swearing the whole time.
"That old bastard Richard. When we get back, I'm gonna have someone mess him up so bad he'll lose a leg," Zach spat.
"Don't do anything crazy," I said, grabbing his arm. "Assault's a crime. I want him to wish he were dead."
Zach gave me a look I couldn't quite read.
"Emily, you're not the same anymore," he said.
"After you've been through hell, you can't help but change," I replied, my tone cool and detached.
The car raced back into the city, where the streets were alive with lights and energy.
Zach brought me to the presidential suite at a hotel right in the heart of downtown.
"You'll stay here for the next few days. Don't even think about going home. Your place is a freaking danger zone right now," he said.
I didn't protest.
"Any updates on my dad?" I asked, my voice low.
"Relax, he's under close watch. Every move he makes is in the palm of my hand," Zach assured me.
Zach handed me a new phone.
"Your card's fixed up. Hit me up if you need anything," he said.
After a hot shower and slipping into clean clothes, I felt alive again.
Standing by the huge floor-to-ceiling windows of the suite, looking down at the city lights, I felt my heart was as cold as stone.
After my mom passed away, I spiraled into depression and illness.
Richard and Charlotte used fake affection and hypocrisy to drag me back from the edge.
Thinking about it at that moment, I believed they never wanted to save me. They didn't want me to die that easily.
After all, as long as I was alive, they could slowly transfer the fortune under my name into their own pockets.
My phone buzzed. It was a message from Zach.
Zach: [Photos are out. A few media outlets already got them. The show starts tomorrow morning.]
I just replied: [Good.]
Then I dialed another number.
It was David, my mom's most trusted lawyer back when she was still around.
"Hey, David, it's Emily," I said.
David sounded genuinely surprised on the other end.
"Emily? Aren't you still on the mountain?" he stammered, disbelief in his voice.
I cut him off, "I'm back, David.
"David, I need you to do something for me. Make a full inventory of every share and asset my mom left me, and get the paperwork ready to freeze all of it."
David was stunned. "Emily, what's going on?"
"It's serious," I stared out at the city lights, saying it slowly, word by word. "Someone wanted me dead and buried, so that they could steal everything I own."