Their Four-Person Test, My Unopened Parachute Chapter 03

By four in the afternoon, the sky had turned completely gray.

Black clouds pressed low. Then fat raindrops came slamming against the windows.

The temperature plunged by more than ten degrees.

Suddenly, the lounge door burst open.

Ethan Brooks, the base manager, staggered in — soaked to the bone, his face deathly pale. Two security guards followed behind him.

“Mr. Moretti! Something’s wrong!”

“The tower… the tower just cross-checked the parachute checkout records and found a solo main canopy missing!”

“And the weighted training rig in locker three — the whole set is gone!”

Damian’s expression hardened slightly.

“What do you mean?”

“It means the young lady who went up with you — what she had strapped on wasn’t a parachute at all!”

“It was the weighted rig the private flight division uses to test the load-bearing capacity of jumping gear!”

“And… the patrol just found a broken safety fence near the wind tower in Gorge Four, along with a lot of blood.”

The lounge went completely silent.

Nico’s champagne glass slipped from his hand and shattered across the floor.

“It’s not really Avery, is it?”

“How could it be?”

Damian smoothed his cuff, unconcerned.

“She has extreme-sports experience. How could anything happen to her?”

A mocking smile curled at the corner of his mouth. “Rather than admit her own cowardice, rather than ruin my relationship with Celeste — she even learned to bribe people to lie for her?”

Ethan dropped to one knee on the spot.

“Boss, I’ve always been loyal to the Moretti family. I swear every word is true.”

“The patrol also said there were signs of an extremely violent impact at the scene…”

“I said that’s enough.”

Damian cut him off coldly, looking down at him with contempt.

“I know her better than you do. Anything Celeste has, she has to fight for.”

“She’s just trying to make me cave.”

“If she really fell, why hasn’t she made a single call for help?”

He pulled out his phone and dialed my number in front of everyone.

All that came through the receiver was a cold, robotic female voice.

“The number you have dialed is powered off. Please try again later.”

Damian’s face darkened.

He opened the chat window and sent a voice message.

“Avery, drop the cheap tricks. I know you can hear me.”

“You think hiding and playing dead will make me give in?”

“I’m counting to three. Get back here now.”

“Otherwise, the engagement is off, and the Moretti family cuts off all funding for your mother’s care facility, effective immediately.”

With that, he slammed his phone face-down on the table.

I floated beside him, watching the arrogance in his eyes — the look of a man who thought he controlled everything.

Damian, you’ll never get to the third count.

And you can’t threaten anyone anymore.

My mother had already passed away six months ago.

Back then, you were busy taking Celeste to Iceland to see the northern lights. You didn’t even show up to my mother’s funeral.

You don’t know anything.

All you know is that I was a toy you kept in a cage — a toy whose dignity you and your friends could trample whenever you pleased.