After The Don Left Me To Die I Chose Freedom Chapter 02
The snow had reached my chest.
Every breath felt like shards of ice scraping through my lungs.
I didn’t dare shout anymore, afraid of shaking loose more snow. I could only press the phone against my cheek and use fingers that had almost lost all feeling to dial my mother Margaret’s number.
The moment I opened my mouth, the wind and snow crushed my sobs into fragments.
“Mom, save me. I’m at the North Ridge camp. There’s been an avalanche.”
“The snow is up to my chest. My stomach hurts so badly. I’m already bleeding…”
For the first time, there was a flicker of panic in my parents’ voices.
“What? Emma, you’re really in the snow?”
Dad—Victor—sounded urgent too.
“Don’t move! Send us your location!”
I clung to that lifeline like a drowning woman.
“It’s real, Dad. Mom. I’m not lying to you.”
“Please contact the rescue team. Please, hurry…”
But the next second, Grace’s feeble voice came through from the other end.
“Dad, Mom, is that a call from my sister?”
“It’s all my fault. I’m the reason Luca sent her to the mountain to reflect.”
She coughed twice, her voice the picture of frailty.
“But isn’t that the Moretti family’s private camp? It should be perfectly safe…”
“She probably just thinks I don’t deserve an apology from her.”
The moment those words landed, my mother’s tone shifted completely.
“Emma, how long are you going to keep up this act?”
Dad’s voice went cold too.
“You deliberately locked Grace outside and gave her a fever that wouldn’t break. All we did was have you stay on the mountain for a while to calm down, and you have to turn it into this?”
I shook my head desperately.
“I didn’t—”
Mom cut me off, her voice dripping with impatience.
“Enough! There hasn’t been a single peaceful day in this house since you came back.”
“Grace has been sickly her entire life. Why do you always have to go after her?”
“You are our biological daughter. Shouldn’t you know better?”
In that moment, the pain in my chest was almost worse than suffocating.
In their hearts, my safety didn’t even outweigh a single sentence from Grace.
I cried so hard I couldn’t breathe.
“I’m going to die…”
“Mom, I’m really going to die out here…”
Silence on the other end.
I thought she might feel sorry for me, even for just one second.
But then Grace murmured softly: “Mommy, I kind of want some hot soup.”
Mom panicked immediately.
“Of course, of course. Mommy will have some brought right away.”
Dad chimed in: “You rest first. Don’t worry about Emma. She’s just been spoiled rotten.”
The call was disconnected.
I stared blankly at the darkened screen.
So my life mattered less than Grace wanting a bowl of hot soup.
The snow pressed tighter and tighter. I knew I couldn’t wait any longer.
I clawed at the snow in front of me with both hands. My nails peeled back, blood mixing into the snow before freezing solid.
I gritted my teeth, tears smeared across my face.
“Hold on…”
“I have to hold on…”
The wind swept the snow right back, filling the gap I’d just dug.
I was on the edge of despair.
Finally, with trembling hands, I sent my mother a video call.
When the call connected, the face on screen wasn’t my mother’s.
It was Grace.
She looked at my wrecked, desperate face through the camera and smiled faintly. Then she muted the microphone.
I could see everything on their end.
They couldn’t hear a word I said.
In the private suite at the hospital, the lights were warm. Mom was bending down to drape a jacket over Grace’s shoulders. Dad was handing her a bowl of hot soup, stroking her head with a pained tenderness.
Luca stood beside her, leaning down to adjust her scarf.
Flowers and cake sat on the table. Mom held Grace’s hand, smiling, saying that once she was feeling better, they’d throw her a proper celebration dinner.
Luca sat next to her, ladling soup, passing her napkins. When she coughed softly, he was the first to press a glass of warm water into her hand.
That was a tenderness I had never been given.
I slammed my frozen, cracked fingers against the screen over and over, screaming again and again.
“Mom! I’m right here!”
“Save me!”
Then Mom frowned and mentioned me.
“Emma is getting more and more out of control. Grace has been through so much, and she still has to pull something like this.”
“She actually tried to use the baby to manipulate us.”
Dad gazed at Grace with gentle affection.
“Forget about her. A few more days of reflection will do her good.”
The video call was cut off.
My heart sank to the bottom of the snow.
They were all gathered around Grace, giving her warmth, favoritism, and love.
And I was alone, buried in a mountain of snow, too afraid to even cry out loud.
I clenched my jaw and dragged my body upward.
My chest loosened for just one second.
Cold air rushed into my lungs, and I broke into a violent coughing fit.
But the next instant, I lost my balance and crashed back down.
The phone slipped from my hand and fell into the snow.
Before I lost consciousness, the only thing I felt was the snow beneath me growing redder.