The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 151

He had left Sloane all alone in the freezing apartment in the capital.

He... he hadn't taken her to Miami.

He had left her here. He had abandoned his new bride—his wife who was five months pregnant—all by herself...

Garrison held the card, his fingers trembling slightly.

He recalled what Lexi had told him. He pictured Sloane withdrawing from the athletic team alone, dropping out of school alone, and then... sitting all by herself at a dimly lit desk late at night, writing this very card.

He couldn't bear to think about it anymore.

Leaning against the wall, Garrison slowly slid down to a crouch.

The clock chimed. The hour hand pointed to eleven at night.

His birthday would be over in exactly one hour.

The calico cat, Mittens, padded over, rubbing against his legs with a soft meow.

He didn't move.

He just stared at the card, at the words "I love you," and at the faded date.

The hallway was dead silent.

The only sounds were the cat's occasional purring and the faint hum of traffic outside the window.

Garrison's fingertips gently brushed over the silver dial of the watch, caressing this birthday gift that was five years late...

Finally, the tears could no longer be held back.

Warm, clear tears of crushing regret and heartache fell drop by drop onto the silver face of the watch, pooling against his fingertips...

*

Meanwhile, on the Antarctic continent, at the foot of Wells Peak.

A deafening rumble echoed through the air—

It wasn't the crash of thunder, but a primal, heavy boom, as if something deep within the earth was ripping apart. Immediately after, a massive white wave cascaded down from the summit, carrying millions of tons of snow and ice, hurtling toward the base with apocalyptic force.

"Run!"

Instead of running toward the vehicle, they dragged them in a completely different direction—sprinting toward the flank of the mountain!

Sloane stumbled as she was yanked. "Josh! What are you doing? Are you out of your mind?"

Dragged along by Harrison, Diego looked back in sheer terror at the approaching avalanche. "Professor! That's the direction of the snowslide!"

No one answered him.

The colossal white wave roared ahead of them, closing the distance so fast they could hear the sharp, splintering sounds of the churning ice.

Thirty feet. Fifteen feet. Ten feet—

"Jump!"

With every ounce of his strength, Josh shoved Sloane forward, throwing his entire body over hers. Harrison tackled Diego, and the two pairs went tumbling down the slope.

A massive ledge of ice reached out from the mountain face above like a giant hand.

The next second, the world was swallowed by white.