Chapter 6

The magazine will fully cooperate with the investigation and protect the victim's and our own rights."

Victor went pale. He pointed at me, his voice slipping out of control.

"Ethan! You're going to be this ruthless? Destroy her? All those years together—"

"What destroyed her was her own greed and cruelty, Mr. Crowley."

I met his eyes. My voice was tired and cold.

"While I was fighting for my life on that mountain, while she was helping someone else strip away my last chance — did she spare one thought for us?"

Victor was about to say more. The Council enforcers at the door stepped in and showed their credentials.

"Mr. Crowley, regarding your daughter Selene and the studio, we'll need you to come with us for questioning."

He was still talking as they led him out. "I'm calling my advocate! You have no evidence—"

Nobody listened.

Marcus sighed and adjusted my IV.

"Don't let that kind of man rattle you. Focus on healing. The investigation team has confirmed that Selene and Caleb's conduct falls under malicious harm and economic crimes. The case will move to the Council for prosecution. The studio's assets will be frozen pending resolution."

I looked out the window at the peak of the mountain, shining clean in the sun.

And I realized — the betrayal and the damage had cut deep, but they'd also shown me something. Against the truth, against fairness, no mask and no power can hide reality forever.

A week later, I was finally out of the danger window and moved from the hyperbaric chamber to a regular room.

The doctor said I was recovering better than expected. No obvious permanent damage to the nervous system. The frostbite was healing. A little more observation and treatment, and I could be discharged.

That afternoon, Marcus came by with news.

"Selene and Caleb are asking to see you. They want your forgiveness — probably hoping for lighter sentences. If you don't want to, I'll shut it down."

I hesitated. Then I nodded.

"I'll go. There should be an ending."

The visitation hall at the Dungeons was colder than I'd pictured. A heavy silver-reinforced glass partition split the space into two worlds.

Selene was brought in first.

She was in standard-issue clothing, face bare, every trace of her old glow gone. All that was left was exhaustion and panic.

When she saw me, tears spilled out. She begged through the glass.

"Ethan, I know I was wrong. I really know. I had one moment of bad judgment, I was fooled by Caleb's sweet talk. I didn't mean to hurt you... please forgive me this once. All those years we had..."

I looked at her and remembered the mountains we'd climbed, the roads we'd walked.

Sharing the last piece of chocolate out in the wild.

Leaning against each other in the cold predawn, waiting for the sunrise.

Hugging each other when we won our first big prize.

Those images used to be my most precious thing. Now they were like faded photos. Blurry. Far away.

"You weren't just wrong in a moment. You put your ambition and your need for control above a person's life. Above every line. You treated everything we built together as a step stool."

My voice was flat. Almost indifferent.

"When you watched Caleb tear my jacket open, when you watched me fighting to breathe — where was what we had then?"

Selene's tears came harder. Her palms pressed on the glass.

"I lost my head in that moment! I was afraid of losing control of the studio, I was afraid you wouldn't need me anymore... Ethan, I love you! Can we start over? I'll do whatever you want from now on..."

"Love?" I shook my head. The irony was unbearable. "There's too much calculation and betrayal woven into what you call love. The second you let Caleb swap my oxygen, we were already over."

Selene's shoulders collapsed. Her eyes went empty. She had nothing left to say.

When her time was up and they led her away, her last cry came out broken: "Ethan... I'm sorry..."

Caleb came in next.

He was more hunched. His eyes darted. He wouldn't meet mine.

He sat down and was quiet for a long time before he spoke, voice low.

"Ethan... my parents... they know... they're sick with shame..."

"Yes," I said, watching him. "Do wrong, and you pay. Dragging your family into it is the worst of it."

Caleb's head went lower. His voice caught.

"I didn't mean to... I just wanted it so badly, I wanted Selene to see me, she said if I listened to her I'd get everything I wanted... that's why I..."

"There are no shortcuts to success. Success built on someone else's body and pain — it's a house of air."

I cut him off.

"Do you have any idea what a few minutes' delay means on that mountain? Do you understand how lethal hypothermia and altitude sickness are together? To climb higher, you threw away the most basic decency. Do you really deserve to hold a camera?"

Caleb went pale. Tears spilled down his face.

"I regret it... Ethan, I really regret it... could you... put in a word for me... I'm still young, I can't end like this..."

"Everyone answers for their own choices."

I stood up. I didn't want to listen anymore.

"The Council will deliver a fair verdict. Do what's right from here."

When I walked out, the high-altitude sun was fierce and clean. It fell on me like it could burn through anything dark.

Marcus was waiting outside. He handed me a preliminary summary of the case.

"Here's where it stands. Selene faces charges of malicious harm, commercial fraud, and illegal transfer of assets. Evidence is airtight, and she'll be formally charged. Caleb, as the main actor and accomplice, faces the same malicious harm charges."