Rescue on the Mountain

My fiancé’s childhood sweetheart sabotaged my wedding three times.
First, she flew back from overseas, intercepted our wedding car, and dragged Liam away before he could reach me. She claimed his mother was unwell and needed him urgently.
The second time, she drunkenly knelt in front of our motorcade, blocking the road so Liam couldn’t pick me up. She sobbed that it was all her fault and begged me to hit her.
The third time, she secretly rerouted the entire procession to a remote cemetery. We arrived surrounded by tombstones.
Each time, Liam defended her: his mother’s health, her sacrifices, her pain.
But he didn’t know—after this final failure, his wedding would become his funeral.
It wasn’t until the polished town car turned onto a gravel path flanked by tilting headstones that I realized Ava had played me again.
She had taken advantage of the fact that I was a stranger in his sleepy hometown, quietly altering the GPS coordinates. She’d sent us to this godforsaken boneyard.
Outside, the hired drivers got out to smoke, their eyes darting towards me, filled with a cruel, mocking pity.
“That’s three strikes. Pretty clear the groom doesn’t want to marry her.”
“Tell me about it. I heard this is the bride’s first time in his hometown. He’s never even brought her to meet the family!”
“Seriously, who gets married in a cemetery?”
I sat in the back, my knuckles white, crushing the delicate stems of my bridal bouquet. The pristine white lace of my dress, once a symbol of hope, now felt like a costume for a fool.
Just last night, Liam had sworn to me, promised that this time, his precious Ava wouldn’t interfere.
And now, here I was, the punchline to a joke I never wanted to be a part of.
My phone buzzed. It was a message from Liam, a reply to the one I’d sent thirty minutes ago.
“Sorry. Ava said it was just a joke. Don’t get worked up over nothing. I’m on my way to get you now, okay?”
This was the man who used to reply to my texts in seconds. Ever since Ava came back, his responses had grown slower, shorter, colder.
In the passenger seat, Liam’s mother, who had been listening to the voice note, turned a terrifying shade of purple. She clutched her chest, her voice a low growl.
“Clara… Liam… does he always treat you like this?”
“This is… this is unforgivable.”
Her health had been fragile for years; she’d been in a private care facility overseas and had missed the first two failed weddings. But she was finally well enough to be discharged, and she’d insisted on coming with me today to surprise Liam.
Her face a mask of cold fury, she dialed his number. He rejected the call. She tried again. Rejected. Finally, on the third try, he picked up, his voice exploding through the speaker before she could even say a word.
“Clara, I already said I’m coming! What more do you want?” he snarled. “She lost me forever, and you’re the one who gets to marry me! Can’t you be a little more gracious? Don’t you forget, she’s the one who’s been looking after my mother all this time!”
And then, a different voice cut through the line, a soft, whimpering cry. It was Ava.
“Liam, I can’t bear it… I really can’t live without you…”
Her whimper suddenly sharpened, rising into a high, theatrical moan.
A sound that anyone with a pulse knew the meaning of.
The line went dead. Liam’s mother was hyperventilating, her words choked with rage.
“That bastard! That absolute bastard!”
The world went silent. A sharp pain bloomed in my palm. I looked down. My nails had dug so deep into my skin that blood was welling up, warm and sticky. It was the only thing that felt real.
Liam and I had never—
“Give this one to Wendy, too. Look at you, you’re still standing and yelling. You’re not that fragile.”
“Do you really think you’re some kind of national treasure? Can’t handle a little hardship?”
His arrogant, dismissive tone was more suffocating than the thin mountain air.
My custom-blended oxygen, my emergency medication—all of it had become offerings for him to appease his little protégée.
The other assistants on the shoot busied themselves with the camera equipment, pretending not to see the confrontation. I felt like a patient whose life support had just been unplugged, gasping for air on the edge of life and death.
“Acute altitude sickness can cause pulmonary and cerebral edemas… It can kill you!” I hissed, the words scraping my throat.
“Pulmonary edema? Who are you trying to scare?” Kieran rolled his eyes.
Wendy played her part beautifully, shrinking behind him. “Sloan, I know you don’t like me… but Kieran said you’re experienced. I’m sure a little situation like this is nothing for you.”
She even had the audacity to flash a peace sign at the GoPro clipped to her collar.
The sight of her smug face sent a wave of dizziness through me.
“Enough!” I lunged for my oxygen tank.
Kieran shoved me back, hard. I stumbled, nearly falling into the snow. “What do you think you’re doing?! If something happens to Wendy, can you take responsibility for that?!”
Wendy immediately clutched her chest, her voice turning faint. “Kieran, I… I don’t feel so good again… Maybe I shouldn’t have come… Does Sloan think I’m stealing her spotlight…?”
“It’s not your fault. She’s just being selfish!” Kieran wrapped an arm around her, comforting her in a low voice. “She’s just spoiled. Thinks the whole world revolves around her.”
The wind and snow seemed to pick up, blurring my vision. I watched them huddled together for warmth, a perfect couple against the stark white landscape, completely ignoring me, his supposed fiancée.
A lethal cocktail of rage and the creeping, black-edged feeling of suffocation churned within me.
With a surge of adrenaline, I smashed the helium canister I was holding against a nearby shard of ice.
“Kieran!” I screamed, my voice raw. “We’re done! The engagement is OFF!”
Kieran froze, his expression twisting from surprise to fury. He took a step toward me, his voice sharp. “Sloan! What the hell is wrong with you? You’re calling off our engagement over something this petty? Do you even hear yourself?!”
“Petty?” The word was a pained gasp forced from my lungs. “Swapping out my life-saving oxygen… is petty?”
Wendy immediately stepped forward, her voice trembling. “Kieran, don’t be angry… It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t be so weak…”
“Sloan must just be saying that because she hates me…” she whispered, but her eyes held a flicker of triumphant glee.
Marco, one of the local guides, couldn’t stay silent any longer. “Mr. Thompson,” he said, his brow furrowed with concern, “Ms. Vance really doesn’t look well. Altitude sickness is no joke. Maybe we should…”

First, search for and download the MotoNovel app from Google. Then, open the app and use the code "243480" to read the entire book.