Camila looked ready to drop to her knees right there in the street. She screamed that I had been absent from Joel's life, so why couldn't I just disappear completely?
Tears streamed down her face. "Why did you have to come back?"
My heart felt numb. Encased in ice. My return had turned their calm waters into a chaotic storm.
I shook my head, tears blurring my vision, begging Camila to believe me.
The next second, something hard smashed into my face.
Joel had packed a dense snowball and hurled it at me with all his might.
"Traitor!" my son screamed. He demanded I kneel and apologize to Joseph Cobb.
"I didn't do it, Camila," I choked out. "We were husband and wife for so many years—why won't you trust me?"
"Where is the evidence, Henry Harding?" Her voice cut cold and sharp. "Show me the proof."
Nothing. I had nothing.
Camila scooped up Joel and walked away without looking back.
From that day on, I went mad looking for evidence.
I went to the unit to find my old teammates. They looked at me like I was a walking curse.
"Harrison," I pleaded.
"Henry, when we were trapped, I gave you my rations." Harrison Cobb avoided my eyes. "I didn't eat a single bite. You know the kind of man I am."
I had built this team with my own hands. I thought the bond of facing death together would count for something.
I never expected them to be the ones pushing me off the cliff.
"Henry, I'll tell you the truth," Harrison whispered, his voice trembling. "It was your wife. She begged us to sign the testimony."
He revealed that Camila had brought the fabricated testimony to seal my fate and transfer all credit to Joseph.
"Joseph is the organization's golden boy now. He's getting the medal later this year. Henry, you just... sigh."
Harrison's eyes were red. His hand shook as he gripped mine, pressing a wad of cash into my palm. "I'm sorry. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have made the money to treat my wife's illness. But... we have no choice."
He told me my entire family stood with Joseph. His knees buckled, and he looked like he wanted to kneel in apology.
I stopped him. I understood his desperation.
And I finally understood how deep the betrayal ran.
I walked down the road in a daze.
Memories of my life with Camila played in my mind. We were childhood sweethearts, the perfect couple in everyone's eyes.
When I first met Joseph Cobb, he was destitute. He stole money from classmates just to eat. I was working at his school then, and out of pity, I supported him.
Back then, Camila hated him. She said Joseph had "wolf eyes"—too much white showing, untrustworthy. She forbade me from associating with him.
She said he reeked of poverty. The year I brought him home for New Year's dumplings, Camila was so angry she refused to come home.
I couldn't pinpoint when it changed. But slowly, Camila mentioned him more often.
She started calling him "Joseph" instead of "that kid." The meals she packed for my work began to include a portion for him. She even started ordering custom suits for him, styling him like a doll.
On our wedding anniversary—the last holiday before the polar expedition—I came home to find them.
Entangled. Drunk.
Outside, the world was buried in snow. Joseph was holding her, his body pressing into hers to warm her. Camila was trembling, sobbing into his chest.
*"I'm too old,"* she wept. *"I'm married, I have a child—how could I be worthy of you?"*
*"It's okay, Camila,"* Joseph whispered, stroking her hair. *"With me, you will always be a princess."*
That night, Camila came to bed late. She smelled of Joseph's cologne. She threw herself into my arms and cried for a long time.
She initiated intimacy, claiming she hadn't felt the spark of our marriage in ages. Later, she blamed me, cursing me for burying myself in research and neglecting her.
I swallowed my suspicions. I told myself they hadn't technically crossed the line.
I buried that secret deep in my heart.
I never expected Joseph to use it to deliver the fatal blow.
