Chapter 1

I looked at the face in the photo, a face I would never forget for the rest of my life, and let out a faint smile before slamming my car keys onto the table. "I can't take this job."

Julian Hayes was still caught up in the excitement of landing such a huge job. The moment he heard what I said, he froze in place.

"What?" he asked. "Nate, have you lost your mind? This is a ten-million-dollar job! We've been stuck in this godforsaken place for ten years and have never made this much money. How can you just walk away from it?"

As a friend who had been through countless dangers with me over the years, Julian couldn't stand watching me pass up a chance to strike it rich. He quickly stopped me as I tried to leave. "Nate, are you still half asleep? Wash your face and think it over.

"Ten years ago, you came here looking like a beggar. You had nothing, and your ex-wife turned her back on you. Now, your chance to turn everything around has finally come. Don't you want to prove her wrong? Don't you want her to see you differently and beg you for another chance?"

I pushed Julian's hand aside, my tone heavier than usual. "I don't want to prove anything to anyone, and I've already made up my mind. Stop trying to change my mind. I'm heading back."

As if my stubbornness had pushed Julian over the edge, he shouted after me, sweat beading his forehead from sheer frustration. "Nate, even if you won't take the job, at least give me a reason! In my eyes, you're not the kind of person who stands by and lets people die!"

I stopped walking and looked at him calmly. "Maybe that's exactly who I am."

Julian's chest heaved. "We've known each other for ten years. Every time we got a job, you never turned it down. You were always the one leading the way.

"No matter how heavy the snow was or how dangerous things got, even when the entire team tried to hold you back, you still said that the children's lives mattered more than your own. How could you possibly be that kind of person? Nate, why are you refusing?"

I kept walking toward the exit. "There's no reason. Find someone else. I'm not doing it."

Julian grew agitated, running his hands through his hair as he followed after me. "The weather at Evermist Mountain has been getting worse every year. A few years ago, some drivers still dared to take the route, but none of them made it back alive. If you won't go there, nobody else will dare to either.

"Nate, are you feeling sick? It's fine. I'll go with you. I'll handle the rescue work. You just focus on driving.

"Besides, you need to give everyone a reason for turning it down. Everyone on our team is struggling. They're all waiting for a chance to change their lives. You owe them an explanation."

I looked at the towering, snow-capped mountains in the distance and wondered what kept drawing me back to that deadly mountain pass with its 72 hairpin turns—a road that had claimed countless lives over the years. It was all because of my daughter, Hannah Reed.

In my dreams, she cried and begged me to save her. I carried her desperate will to survive and forced myself to hold on even when I was close to death, unwilling to let another father in this world endure the same unbearable pain of losing his child.

I held back the tears welling in my eyes and spoke again. "I'll explain everything to them myself. Stop trying to persuade me."

The grief in my eyes must have shaken Julian because he didn't try to stop me again.

He said, "I still don't understand why you're doing this, but you're my friend, and I believe you have your reasons. I'll talk to the others."

Before I even left the garage, a phone call came through from a number I would never forget.

Even after all these years, Grace Ellwood's familiar and arrogant voice still grated on me. "My husband and I are almost at Evermist Mountain. I want to know why you turned down the rescue mission.

"Is the money not enough? I can add another ten million dollars, or you can ask for anything else. As long as you're willing to save my daughter, I'll agree to anything."

I tightened my grip on the phone, keeping my voice calm. "I don't have any conditions. I can't save your daughter."

Grace hadn't recognized my voice. She shouted back, her voice trembling with anger. "You don't sound young yourself. Don't you have children? If your child were trapped somewhere this dangerous, could you really be so heartless and leave them there to die?"