Day four brought a new horror. The snow had accumulated to unprecedented levels, some areas reporting drifts over ten feet high. The weight of it was collapsing buildings, trapping people inside their homes, burying entire neighbourhoods.
Ethan woke to the sound of alarms on his security system. He rolled out of bed, grabbed his tablet, and pulled up the camera feeds. His heart rate spiked when he saw them.
Four figures stumbling through the snow at the edge of his property. The thermal imaging showed their heat signatures were weak, fading, but they were still moving. Still alive.
The Chen family had actually made it.
Ethan zoomed in on the regular camera feed, though the blizzard made it difficult to see clearly. He could make out their shapes bundled in layers of clothing, moving slowly toward the gate. One of them, probably Dylan based on the size, was being supported by two others. The fourth figure, smallest and moving the most erratically, had to be Jessica.
They reached the gate and stopped. Ethan could see them huddling together, probably trying to figure out how to get through. The intercom system crackled to life. Robert's voice, weak and desperate, came through the speakers.
"Ethan. Ethan, we know you're in there. Please. We can't survive out here much longer. Just let us in. We can talk about everything else later. Please."
Ethan stood in his command center, staring at the screens. This was the moment he'd imagined. The moment when the people who'd thrown him out to die would beg for mercy, would plead for the help they'd denied him.
He'd expected to feel triumphant. Instead, he just felt tired.
Margaret's voice joined Robert's on the intercom. "Ethan, sweetheart, I know we hurt you. I know we were terrible parents. But Dylan is dying. He has hypothermia and frostbite. If we don't get him somewhere warm soon, he'll lose his feet, maybe his life. Please. I'm begging you. Punish me if you want, but don't punish him."
Ethan's finger hovered over the intercom button. He could speak to them, could tell them exactly what he thought, could make them understand the depth of their betrayal. Or he could remain silent, let them freeze outside his gate the way they'd let him freeze outside their door.
Before he could decide, Dylan's voice came through, weak and slurred. "Ethan, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for Jessica, I'm sorry for everything. You were right. You were always right about us. Just, please. I don't want to die."
Jessica was crying in the background, her sobs barely audible over the wind.
Ethan closed his eyes. In his mind, he saw two versions of himself. The first was Ethan who'd died in the snow, frozen and abandoned, filled with rage and the desire for revenge. That Ethan wanted them to suffer, wanted them to experience every moment of terror and pain he'd endured.
The second Ethan was the one standing here now, warm and safe, already victorious. He'd survived, prospered, built a fortress while they'd squandered everything. He'd won. The question was whether winning required their deaths.
He pressed the intercom button. "You threw me outside to freeze. You stripped me of everything and left me to die. Why should I do anything different for you?"
Silence on the other end, broken only by the wind and Jessica's crying. Then Margaret spoke, her voice breaking. "Because you're better than we are. You always were. You're kind, compassionate, everything we should have valued and didn't. Please, Ethan. Be the person we should have raised you to be, not the people we actually were."
It was a clever appeal, Ethan had to admit. Attacking his ego, his sense of moral superiority. Trying to make mercy seem like strength rather than weakness.
But she was wrong. He wasn't better than them. He'd spent two weeks systematically destroying their business, sabotaging their lives, planning their suffering. He was exactly what they'd made him, someone who'd learned that kindness was weakness and family was a lie.
"No," he said simply.
"Ethan, please!" Robert's voice was frantic now. "We'll do anything. We'll sign over everything we have left. We'll work for you, serve you, whatever you want. Just don't let us die out here."
"Everything you have left is nothing," Ethan replied. "I made sure of that. Your business is bankrupt, your accounts are frozen, your house is probably buried in snow by now. You have nothing to offer me except the satisfaction of watching you face the consequences of your choices."
He could hear Margaret sobbing now, harsh broken sounds that should have moved him and didn't. Dylan was silent, probably unconscious. Jessica's crying had quieted to whimpers.
"You're a monster," Robert said, his voice filled with hate now that pleading had failed. "You're doing exactly what you accused us of. You're leaving us out here to die."
"Yes," Ethan agreed. "I am. The difference is, I died innocent. You die guilty."
He reached for the button to cut off the intercom, but Margaret's voice stopped him. "Wait. Wait, please. There's something you should know. Something we never told you."
Ethan paused. "I'm not interested in last-minute revelations or manipulation."
"It's not manipulation," Margaret said quickly. "It's the truth. About why we adopted you. About who you really are."
Despite himself, Ethan was curious. "You have thirty seconds."
"Your birth mother," Margaret said, her words tumbling out rapidly. "She didn't abandon you at the orphanage. She was my sister. Your aunt. She died in childbirth and made me promise to raise you as my own. We adopted you because you were family, Ethan. Real family. Blood family."
Ethan's hand tightened on the intercom. "You're lying."
"I'm not. I have documents, photos, and letters from your mother. They're in a safe deposit box at First National Bank, box number 2847. The key is in my jewelry box at home. You can check. Everything I'm saying is true."
"Even if it is," Ethan said slowly, "it doesn't change anything. You still chose Dylan over me. Blood relation didn't stop you from treating me like garbage."
"You're right," Margaret whispered. "It didn't. And I'll regret that for whatever time I have left. But you have a right to know where you came from. Who your mother was. Don't you want to know?"
Ethan stared at the screen showing the four huddled figures at his gate. His mind was racing, trying to determine if this was another manipulation or actual truth. Margaret had never mentioned having a sister. But then again, there were many things the Chens had never told him.
"Please," Margaret said again. "Even if you won't help us, at least promise me you'll look into it. Promise me you'll learn about your real mother. She loved you, Ethan. So much."
The intercom crackled with static. Ethan realized his hand was shaking. This changed nothing, he told himself. Even if he and Margaret were related by blood, even if everything she said was true, it didn't erase years of neglect and cruelty. It didn't bring back Ethan who'd frozen to death in his first timeline.
But doubt had crept in, small and insidious.
"Dad's collapsed," Dylan's voice came through, panicked and more alert than before. "Dad! Someone help! He's not breathing!"
Ethan switched to the thermal camera. One of the heat signatures had fallen and was lying motionless in the snow. The other three were gathered around it, their movements frantic.
"Ethan, please!" Jessica screamed. "He's dying! You have to help!"
Ethan's finger hovered over the gate controls. One press and it would open. They would stumble inside, track snow and cold into his clean, warm bunker. They would be his responsibility, his burden. They would expect forgiveness, gratitude, a return to some twisted version of family.
Or he could do nothing. Watch Robert die, watch the others follow. End the Chen family line and erase this chapter of his life completely.
His phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number. He glanced at it, frowning.
"Mr. Cross, this is Patricia Hamilton from the bank. I'm sorry to contact you during this crisis, but something urgent has come up regarding the Chen family accounts. Can you call me when possible?"
Ethan stared at the message, then at the screens showing the dying family at his gate, then back at the message. Even now, even at the end of the world, the Chens were creating complications in his life.
He made his decision.