Chapter 1

My dad, Commander Grant, was a rescue team captain. He was leading his crew on a training expedition in the snowy mountains when they stumbled upon human remains, half-buried in a snowdrift.

After reporting it to the police, his first call was to my adopted brother, Brandon, to tell him to cancel his hiking trip planned for a few days later.

One of his teammates, Mike, reminded him, "Hey, Commander Grant, maybe call Leo too? Check on him?"

But Dad just snapped, his voice laced with venom, "That damned demon! He deserves to rot out there!"

What Dad didn't know was that I was already dead.

Those broken, shattered bones lying before him? They were my body.

But he, my own father, didn't recognize his flesh and blood.

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"There are extensive marks of blunt force trauma on the bones, and the remains aren't complete."

"It doesn't look like an accident. This feels like murder."

My bones were carefully excavated from the snow.

An experienced officer, Detective Miller, made the assessment immediately. My dad nodded, his face grim, promising to help find the missing remains.

Before they started, he pulled out his phone and called Brandon.

"Brandon, there's been a homicide on the mountain. That climbing trip you booked? Cancel it. Don't go out these next few days. Stay safe."

"Okay, Dad. I'll be careful."

Brandon's voice was warm on the other end, and Dad kept fussing over him with several more cautions. He only hung up when Brandon jokingly said Dad was going to wear out his eardrums.

Officer Jenkins, another teammate, remembered something and asked Dad.

"By the way, Commander Grant, I heard Leo also mentioned going on a climbing trip a few days ago. Maybe give him a call too?"

Dad's face instantly darkened, and he spoke with clear disgust.

"Why even bring up that punk?"

"A person who could be so cruel to his own mother, I wish he'd just die out there!"

Even though I was already dead, a chill wind swept through my translucent body, making me shiver violently.

So that's how much Dad hated me.

But then, why didn't he recognize me?

Why couldn't he see that the sympathetic pile of bones everyone was looking at belonged to the son he despised with every fiber of his being?

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