lost somewhere inaccessible.

His lawyers moved forward with preliminary estate proceedings, arguing that urgent business and financial matters required temporary authority.

Detective Reed wanted him comfortable enough to continue talking.

The hearing was scheduled three weeks after the attack.

By then I could walk slowly without assistance, although my ribs still hurt and the scar at my temple remained bright against my skin.

Adrian offered to enter separately.

I shook my head.

“I spent years letting Grant control what things looked like from the outside.”

Adrian waited.

“I’m done doing that.”

So we walked in together.

Grant sat at the front table beside his attorney.

Vanessa was two seats behind him.

He was whispering something when the doors opened.

He looked over.

Everything in his face collapsed.

Vanessa covered her mouth.

Grant stood so quickly his chair struck the wall behind him.

“No.”

The room fell silent.

I walked forward.

His attorney turned toward him with open confusion.

Grant stared at my stomach, my face, then Adrian.

“You’re dead,” he said.

“No,” I replied.

“You left me to die.”

The judge immediately suspended the proceeding.

Detective Reed and two officers entered from a side chamber.

Grant pointed at me.

“She fell.

She’s confused.

She hit her head.”

I almost admired the speed with which he rebuilt the lie.

Almost.

The prosecutor placed an evidence photograph on the table showing the button found in my glove.

Grant glanced down at his coat.

A replacement button had been sewn where one was missing.

Then came the trail evidence.

Two sets of footprints going toward the gorge.

One returning.

Then recovered messages.

Insurance research.

Financial searches.

His conversation with Vanessa.

Still, Grant fought.

“None of this proves I pushed her.”

Detective Reed looked toward me.

I knew what was coming next.

During my fall, the emergency function on my damaged phone had activated.

For several seconds, when a weak signal reached the valley, an audio fragment uploaded automatically to cloud storage.

The recording was distorted by wind.

But Grant’s voice was clear.

“You should have stopped asking questions.”

Then came my gasp and the sound of impact.

No one moved after the recording ended.

Grant stared at the table.

His attorney leaned toward him but received no response.

Vanessa began crying behind him.

Officers approached.

Grant finally looked at me.

“You set me up.”

The absurdity of it almost made me laugh.

“I was lying in the snow with a broken rib while you walked away.”

He said nothing.

“I didn’t set you up, Grant.

I survived you.”

The officers handcuffed him.

As they led him away, he glanced once toward Adrian.

That look confirmed something investigators had already suspected.

The money had mattered until the very end.

Grant was later charged with attempted murder, insurance fraud, evidence tampering, and related offenses.

Vanessa cooperated with investigators after prosecutors confronted her with the messages.

She admitted Grant had discussed leaving me and becoming wealthy, but she insisted she never knew he intended violence.

The case took more than a year to resolve.

Grant eventually accepted a plea agreement carrying a lengthy prison sentence after forensic evidence and the emergency recording made his defense increasingly impossible.

I never attended his sentencing.

I had already heard everything I needed from him on that mountain.

Six weeks