Chapter 1

To test my fiancé Clifford Delgado's true character, I hid the fact that I was the sole daughter of a Manhattan financial dynasty and went on a budget backpacking trip with him through the Colorado backcountry.

In my past life, our secondhand SUV broke down in the middle of the remote wilderness, in a downpour.

I had just picked up the only sleeping bag in the car when Brenda Fox, the influencer we'd shared the ride with barely hours before, spoke up in a mild little voice.

"Clifford, honey, she told me she only got hold of this junk car by hanging off her big brother."

"Does trash like that even deserve to use the only warm sleeping bag we've got?"

My fiancé didn't say a word. He shoved me out of the car and locked the doors.

He handed the only waterproof, insulated sleeping bag to Brenda.

He said I was dirty, that I needed to be washed clean by the rain.

I stood outside the car in the freezing downpour, waiting for the next round of rescue.

I froze to death out there under the endless sheets of rain, and the swollen flash flood swept my body away. Not even bones left behind.

And he took my accident-insurance payout and bought that influencer a spacious apartment, paid in full, and the two of them tangled up together day after day.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment the car broke down, back at the moment Brenda was about to frame me.

Clifford had his arm around Brenda, looking at me with heartbroken reproach.

"You're not clean anymore. Get out and wash yourself off."

Watching the two of them scheme against me with those looks on their faces, I let out a cold laugh.

I lifted my leg and kicked them both hard out of the car, then reached back and sealed the doors shut.

Unhurried, I unscrewed my thermos.

"I'm not clean? The ones I can't stand to look at are you two. Get out there and wash yourselves off good!"

......

"Cecilia Swanson! Have you lost your mind! Open this door right now!"

Wind whipped fat raindrops against the SUV's windshield, hammering it hard.

Clifford stood shivering in the downpour, both feet planted in water that came up to his ankles.

He clawed at the crack of the window with both hands, his eyes bloodshot and bulging.

"Brenda isn't strong. She can't take the cold rain out here!"

"You're healthy. Get out and hike to find help!"

I sat in the warm driver's seat and looked, cold-eyed, at the face that had left me without so much as a bone in my past life.

Last time, it was in this same godforsaken wilderness.

After the car broke down, Clifford handed the only waterproof, insulated sleeping bag, without a second's hesitation, to an influencer he'd shared the ride with for less than two hours.

He made an excuse about scouting the road ahead, then locked the doors behind him.

And he left me to freeze to death in the downpour and the cold.

In the end my body was even washed into the ravine by the swollen flash flood. Not a scrap of bone left.

Meanwhile he took the fat payout from the accident insurance I'd bought and used it to buy that scheming little snake, Brenda Fox, a spacious apartment, paid in full.

The two of them tangled together day after day, treading over my bones.

And now he actually wanted to run the same play again?

"She's not strong? Then let her run five kilometers in the rain and work up a sweat."

I unscrewed the stainless steel thermos in my hand.

"Guaranteed to warm her right up!"

"You vicious woman! Are you trying to kill Brenda!"

Clifford's face twisted with rage as he pounded on the door.

"I order you to open this door right now! Or the second we're back I'm calling off the engagement!"

I lowered the window, leaving a gap two fingers wide.

The scalding water poured straight through it and splashed into the standing water at their feet.

It hissed, and dirty water sprayed everywhere.

"Ah!"

Brenda shrieked in fright and stumbled back.

"Get away. Don't dirty my car."

I threw the words at them coldly and reached to roll the window back up.

"Cecilia Swanson, you dare throw that at me!"

Clifford kicked the door hard and jabbed a finger at my face, cursing at the top of his lungs.

"Fine, you throw your weight around at home, but this is life and death right now!"

"Brenda is so delicate. If she catches her death out here, can you carry that on your conscience!"

I couldn't help the cold laugh that escaped me.

"Delicate? Back at the campsite, when everyone was grabbing at the roast, she put away half a leg of lamb by herself."

"So how come the moment it's time to stand in the rain, she can't take the cold?"

Brenda's eyes went red and brimming, wronged, the instant she heard it.

Then her knees buckled and she dropped straight into the knee-deep mud puddle.

"Help! Murder!"

She screamed herself hoarse, wailing toward a hiking group struggling along not far off.

"This woman stole our car and she's going to leave us out here to freeze to death!"

Several men in weatherproof jackets stopped in their tracks at once.

They exchanged a glance, yanked out their trekking poles, and closed in, bristling.

"What's going on here? Somebody stealing a car in broad daylight?"

The scar-faced hiker in the lead pointed his trekking pole at me through the window.

"Don't be scared, sweetheart. We've got your back today!"

Brenda cried prettily, tears streaking her face, and pointed at me in accusation.

"That car was clearly rented by my boyfriend. She insisted on taking it, and then she scalded us with boiling water!"

"We just wanted to share the ride, and she's ready to kill us to shut us up!"

Clifford caught on instantly and pulled Brenda protectively against him.

"Please, help us out! This woman's insane. She's trying to kill us for money!"

The moment the scar-faced man heard it, he flew into a rage.

"What a cruel piece of work! Get out here, now!"

He swung the heavy solid aluminum trekking pole and slammed it into the SUV's windshield.

A huge crack rang out.

Spiderweb fractures raced across the surface of the glass in an instant.

"You dare smash my car?"

My eyes went cold, and I was just reaching for the latch on the passenger side.

The scar-faced man let out a roar and struck again.

The reinforced glass finally gave and shattered with a crash.

Wind and pouring rain surged in, flooding the warm cabin.

The scar-faced man thrust his hand through the broken hole and yanked out the car key.

"Get out here, you!"

He wrenched the driver's door open, grabbed me by the collar, and dragged me bodily out.

My feet slipped, and I went down into the knee-deep, freezing water.

The bone-deep cold and wet cut straight through my jacket.

Seeing this, Clifford scrambled into the passenger seat.

Frantically, he raked the waterproof sleeping bag and jacket from the back seat all onto himself.

"Brother, this woman has a heart like a viper. Just leave her out here in the wilderness to fend for herself!"

He rolled down the window and shouted to the scar-faced man.

"Once the rain stops, the wild animals will take care of her soon enough!"

Brenda climbed into the back seat too, poking her head out to smile at me in triumph.

"Sis, you just sit here and reflect on what you've done. We'll call the police for you."

The hikers actually nodded along, as if it all made perfect sense.

"A vicious woman like that deserves to freeze out here!"

The scar-faced man spat on the ground.

"Let's go! Get in the car, forget about her!"

Just as they were about to shut the doors and drive off in style—

Two blinding high beams suddenly tore through the sheets of rain.