He Forced Me to Kowtow 10,000 Times on the Snowy Mountain Chapter 02

He Forced Me to Kowtow 10,000 Times on the Snowy Mountain Chapter 02

Hale lunged forward first, yanking the old knotted cord free from the sack.

The rope was worn thin from years of handling, its core stained an unwashable dark red.

Three years ago, an avalanche hit the Mount Whitney Backcountry Range’s north ridge, sweeping Hale, Liora, and me off the trail.

When I woke up, Liora was confined to a wheelchair, her legs permanently damaged.

Everyone had immediately jumped to the same conclusion: I’d cut the safety rope to save my own skin.

Liora’s voice trembled, feigning hurt.

“Rynne… why do you still carry that around?”

Zane Roth slammed his palm against his thigh.

“Told you so! Only someone hiding a crime hangs onto evidence like this!”

The other scions chimed in, echoing his accusations.

I ignored their jeers, my gaze fixed rigid on that length of cord.

I’d been unconscious after the avalanche, and Rian had picked up all my discarded gear from the ranger station storage.

Everyone else had rushed to lock me away as a criminal, but Rian had never once doubted me.

He’d kept that knotted cord hidden all this time, clinging to the hope he’d one day clear my name.

“Give it back to me. That’s my brother’s stuff.”

Hale’s thumb brushed the dark red stain on the rope, his forehead creasing almost imperceptibly, then he sneered again.

“Stop hiding behind your dead brother’s false claims. This is proof, and you aren’t getting anywhere near it.”

My eyes burned hot. “You said the accident was fully investigated three years ago.”

He flicked a dismissive glance my way.

“We solved the case. That doesn’t mean you get to touch proof of your wrongdoing.”

The same hand that twisted the rosary beads and handed me warm cider, now gripped my brother’s last keepsake.

I shot forward to snatch it back.

Hale hadn’t expected me to lunge. He stumbled backward, then twisted my frost-bitten wrist to pin me still, his grip light but unbreakable.

“Stop fighting. You’ll tear your wounds open.”

“It belongs to my brother.”

Hale let go of my arm and stuffed the cord deep inside his wool coat’s inner pocket.

“It’s yours to remind you of your mistakes, not to keep making excuses.”

My arms fell limp at my sides, my joints frozen stiff, unable to bend.

Back during the avalanche, Liora’s left leg had gotten tangled in a secondary safety line, bleeding heavily.

I’d sliced through that secondary cord to free her.

But when I woke up in the hospital, she’d sobbed to everyone that I’d sabotaged the main rope to save myself.

Hale had only said one sentence.

“Liora would never lie about something as serious as losing the use of her legs.”

He turned to walk back to Liora.

Wind swirled ash from the campfire straight into my forearms.

My jacket still lay under Liora’s feet. She glanced down at it and tugged her lips into a faint, smug smile.

“Hale, Rynne’s hands are ruined from the frost. Send someone to grab her a spare coat, won’t you?”

Hale nodded, signaling his assistant to fetch a spare parka.

The assistant carried the heavy outerwear over to me. “Ms. Vey, Mr. Thorne sent this over for you to put on.”

“I don’t want it.”

I walked back to the canvas sack and knelt down to sort through Rian’s leftover belongings.

A handful of worn old shirts, a pair of sneakers with soles worn completely flat, a notebook labeled Ledger on its cover.

And one crumpled photo.

Rian stood in front of a plasma donation center, grinning wide at the camera with his bared eyeteeth.

He was gaunt, his cheekbones sunken deep, but his smile never faded.

I pressed the photo tight to my chest, my nails digging hard into my palms.

I can’t cry.

My tears would just become another bet for them.

I tied the sack shut and stood up, clutching it tight against my torso.

“Rynne.”

Liora’s voice pulled me to a halt.

She stared down at her disabled legs, then smiled coldly.

“Do you know what I’ve hated most these past three years?”

She tilted her chin up. Her soft, fragile face hid the cruel delight blazing in her eyes.

“I hate that you’re the one who left me crippled. You get to walk around on two legs and run straight to Hale every single day.”

She tilted her jaw toward the snow-soaked ground beneath her wheelchair.

“So kneel down and crawl to my feet right now.”

“You owe me the legs I lost three years ago—pay the debt with every bit of your pride.”

The campfire’s warm light softened her features, masking the malice beneath.

Hale stood directly behind her, and didn’t stop her.