He Left Me to Die, I Left Him to Ruin

Chapter 3

Ava's POV:

I instinctively reached for the icicles beside me, but my fingers were frozen so stiff they wouldn't move.

Beatrice let out a laugh and bent down closer to me.

"The blizzard will arrive before nightfall," she said with a smug smile. "This is the perfect place to bury someone. Nice and convenient."

She tilted her head slightly. "And, Ava... Luke has wanted to divorce you for a long time. He just didn't have the nerve to say it."

I stared at the smile she could no longer hide, and my mind went completely blank.

Taking advantage of my shock, Beatrice suddenly pulled out an ice axe and slashed the blade across my insulated climbing jacket.

"That climbing journal you've treasured so much?" she said. "It belongs to me now."

Her smile widened. "When we reach the summit tomorrow, we'll even leave an ice flower for you."

The blood that seeped from the cut froze almost immediately.

A wave of hatred surged through me.

Using every ounce of strength I had left, I forced myself upright and slammed my head into Beatrice's chest.

She staggered backward and crashed into a snowbank.

"You tried to kill me!" she shrieked.

Hearing her scream, Luke and the others rushed over.

They grabbed my arms and dragged me through the snow.

Beatrice pointed toward the bloodstained ice axe lying nearby, her voice trembling dramatically.

"I was trying to share half my oxygen with her, and she attacked me with an ice axe!" Beatrice cried, tears welling in her eyes.

"She even said she wanted to push me off the cliff and trigger an avalanche to bury everyone!" she added.

The blatant lie made my chest tighten painfully.

Luke immediately steadied Beatrice and shoved me hard.

"Have you completely lost your mind?" he shouted. "Beatrice was trying to help you, and you wanted to hurt her?"

His face twisted with anger. "If I'd known you were this vicious, I never would have brought you on this expedition."

Then he delivered the final blow. "When we get back, we're getting divorced."

The word hit me like a hammer. Divorce. My mind went completely blank. My frozen lips moved instinctively.

"That's not—" I began, but Luke cut me off.

"Someone like you deserves to freeze to death out here," Luke said, his words piercing my heart like sharpened ice.

I swayed, nearly collapsing into the snow.

At that moment, I finally believed Beatrice. Luke really did want a divorce.

One of the teammates spat toward me.

"I thought you were just weak physically," he sneered. "I didn't realize your heart was this rotten."

Another teammate shook his head. "Beatrice tried to help you, and you wanted to push her off a cliff. You're unbelievable."

These were teammates I had once protected with everything I had, but now they didn't trust me at all.

My bloodied hand trembled as I lifted it, trying to show them my wound.

The wound Beatrice had inflicted went unnoticed; no one looked. Instead, they crowded around her.

"Don't waste your time arguing with someone like that," one teammate muttered.

"We still have a summit to reach," another said firmly.

"Once we're off this mountain, we'll report her," someone added.

"Report her?" another teammate scoffed. "She should be arrested for attempted assault."

Beatrice suddenly kicked my frozen leg, her sneer full of malice.

"When the blizzard buries you under the snow, there won't even be anyone left to claim your body," she said.

Something inside me finally went cold, completely numb as the wind hurled ice pellets against my face.

The wound on my arm had frozen stiff, yet blood still seeped beneath the crusted layer.

Then Luke suddenly pulled my mountaineering certification from his backpack. Without hesitation, he ripped it in half in front of everyone, the sound seeming louder than the storm.

"You're going to die out here anyway," he said casually. "This certification is useless to you now."

He held up the torn pieces.

"I might as well keep it as a souvenir," Luke said.

Then he crouched down and jabbed my chest with a trekking pole.

"But..." I started.

A cruel smile appeared on his face.

"If you crawl over here right now and apologize to Beatrice, I'll throw you the half-filled oxygen bottle you have left," Luke said, twirling the trekking pole lazily.

"Whether you manage to get it before you die depends on your luck," he added.

I stared at all of them, and a cold smile slowly spread across my face.

"If you've got the courage..." I whispered, my voice barely audible. "...then kill me."

Unfortunately, none of them heard me as the hypothermia grew worse and my consciousness became increasingly blurred.

Through the ringing in my ears, I heard Luke speaking to the others. "Forget about her. Let's go."

His eyes landed on my backpack. "Her sleeping bag can still be useful in an emergency."

The storm intensified, and I no longer had the strength to lift my arms.

All I could do was watch as they pulled my sleeping bag from my backpack.