Chapter 1
It was Christmas, and our family had a trip.
Halfway through our trip, my husband and his parents suddenly disappeared.
After searching for a while, I opened a tablet and found a group chat.
My husband: [Kaylie, I've shaken off my wife. Coming to join you for the Veyrath Traverse snow hike!]
Kaylie Hebert: [Hurry up, I'm already waiting in Ashwick Village. Let's head to Camp 2800 and enjoy the Christmas snow!]
I wasn't in the group.
I looked up at the towering mountain in the distance.
My sister-in-law Elissa tried to stop me. [That's Veyrath Traverse. It's dangerous and not that interesting. Charlotte, don't look.]
More messages kept popping up.
Mother-in-law: [It's cold up there. I'll stay at the base and wait for you.]
Father-in-law: [Alright, we'll take some photos and come back down.]
Come back down?
I got into the driver's seat.
"Before they return, we're going to Ashwick Village too," I said calmly.
Elissa froze. "What? No!"
She frantically typed in the group: [Charlotte is coming to Ashwick Village—Mom, go hide on the mountain. Dad, Michael, Kaylie, stay up there longer.]
By then, the storm warning had already escalated—nine-level winds, freezing rain, blizzard conditions. Nobody was coming back down.
*****
"We're not even climbing, just going to check it out. So what's the big deal?" I shot back, my voice icy.
We'd been married for three years, and this was the first time we'd managed to go on a trip together.
As we passed through Whitepeak County, Michael suggested we stop for a break.
With my in-laws tagging along, what was supposed to be a quick rest ended up dragging on for half the day.
The area was deserted, and I couldn't even get a signal on my phone.
I was getting anxious.
My sister-in-law, Elissa, meanwhile, was just lounging around, casually scrolling through short videos like she didn't have a care in the world.
She even handed me a tablet, telling me to play some match-three game and quit stressing out.
And thanks to that tablet, I ended up stumbling across a group chat on Michael's account that he'd forgotten to log out of. [Kaylie's Snow Adventure]
It was a five-person group chat.
My in-laws, Michael, Elissa, and Kaylie Hebert.
I knew who Kaylie was.
She was Michael's boss at work.
Michael used to gripe about her nonstop, saying she was a pain and kept piling work on him.
But after a while, whenever he brought her up, his tone got gentler, and he even started grinning when he talked about her.
Something about that just felt off to me.
But since they never crossed any lines, I just brushed it off.
Never in a million years did I expect that, this Christmas, they'd all be heading out together for a snowy adventure on the Veyrath Traverse.
I wasn't even in their five-person group chat, and the previous messages were all about how to ditch me.
After Elissa told them I was heading to Ashwick Village, their reactions made my heart sink.
Michael: [What? Why is she coming? Elissa, keep an eye on her. Kaylie and I just made it to the Bonsai Garden.]
Kaylie: [Wait, is she planning to hike too? This isn't some ordinary hill. It's the Veyrath Traverse. Charlotte, you sure you can handle that?]
Lucian: [No way she can make it. Just tell her to stay where she is and don't let her come over.]
Alice: [Oh, I'm exhausted just walking from the village to the base of the mountain. I barely got a break. Elissa, please do whatever you can to keep her from coming. I really don't want to climb any more.]
Like it or not, they had to think about me.
Michael and Kaylie were probably already having an affair.
Even my own in-laws and Elissa were helping them keep it from me.
So that was how it was.
If they were so into chasing their snowy dream on the Veyrath Traverse, let them all stay up there together—no need for any of them to come back down.
I took a deep breath, trying to choke down the pain and rage twisting inside me.
A weather alert banner flashed across the top of the tablet.
"Weather station just dropped an urgent yellow blizzard warning: Heavy snow's coming to the Highcrest Range and Veyrath Traverse in the next hour, with blizzard conditions and strong winds in some spots..."
I swiped it away.
I tucked the tablet away.
I'd just finished setting the navigation for Ashwick Village on my phone.
Elissa, looking desperate, leaned over from the back seat and gripped my arm tightly.
She said, "Come on, Charlotte, don't. The Veyrath Traverse isn't anything special. Let's just stay put so my brother and the others won't have to search for us when they get back."
"What's the big deal? We're not that far. If your brother and the others can't find us, they can just call, and I'll drive right back," I said.
I brushed off Elissa's hand.
Elissa threw herself over the steering wheel, blocking me from moving.
Half her body sprawled across the driver's seat as she pleaded with me not to go. "No way, seriously. My brother and the others will be back any minute now.
"It's freezing out there. Let's just wait here, okay?
"Charlotte, believe me, the Veyrath Traverse is just a regular mountain—nothing special at all. It's really not worth the trouble.
"You've been driving for five hours straight. You finally get a break—just take it easy and don't overdo it."
She looked so sincere, like she genuinely cared about me.
If I hadn't seen what she really said in their group chat, I probably would've bought it.
But in that chat, she wasn't pretending to care about me at all.
She said if it weren't for me, she'd be out there climbing and conquering the famous Veyrath Traverse herself.
She blamed me for making her stay here.
She even said I was overreacting and that she had to waste her time reassuring me.
I never treated her badly.
Every holiday, I'd give her a big cash gift and always made sure she got plenty of presents.
But I never expected that, behind my back, she thought I was a nuisance and even covered for Michael and the others.
I couldn't help but sneer inwardly.