Chapter 1

My husband's parents were trapped in a deadly mudslide, and I risked my life to pull them onto my Zodiac boat.

I thought we were saved, but then my husband was going to kill us.

Carter's drone fleet, diving straight at us. He stood at the helicopter window with his arm around his assistant, watching like it was entertainment.

I frantically dialed his number. "Carter! Have you lost your mind?! Your parents are on this boat!"

His laugh came through cold and easy.

"A year ago, Chloe's parents got caught in that flash flood. You were the rescue captain. You picked strangers over them."

"So today? I'm giving you a front-row seat to watch your parents go under. How's that feel?"

Chloe's voice jumped in right after, bright with excitement.

"Yes! Let me watch those two get dragged down!"

The boat lurched hard. Gerald and Marie pressed against me, shaking.

I screamed into the phone.

"Carter, open your eyes! Those are YOUR parents on this boat!"

"Riley." His tone didn't shift at all. "You really never get tired of this."

"Mom and Dad flew out to Aspen this morning. I dropped them at the airport myself. You want to lie, at least put some effort into it."

Chloe grabbed the phone from him.

"You killed my parents, Riley. Today you and those two old fools are going down with them."

I tried to hand the phone to Gerald so he could speak for himself.

But he was shaking head to toe, face caked in mud, hair plastered flat. Marie looked the same.

Like that, they were barely recognizable.

"You're both out of your minds!"

I killed the call.

No time.

If I didn't move now, the boat was going over.

Marie's face had gone ash-white. She grabbed my arm with both hands.

"Riley, what is wrong with him? He wouldn't actually—I'm his mother."

Gerald had never shown fear a day in his life. Right now his face had no color in it at all.

I couldn't stop to explain.

One mistake out here and all three of us were dead.

The drone swarm was churning the water around us, pulling at the hull.

"Hold on. Both of you, hold on tight."

I shoved the throttle all the way forward.

That's when one of the drones swept in low. The blade caught my cheek.

"Riley — you're bleeding — your face —"

Gerald's voice cracked open.

"Carter, you bastard! That's your wife!"

I bit down against the sting.

God, that hurt.

Carter's voice came back through the helicopter's speaker, cool as ever.

"Watch your mouth, old man. Nobody asked you."

The drones hit us again. The boat pitched so hard we nearly went over the side.

Water poured in. Half the hull dropped into the current.

Marie screamed.

Then a grappling hook shot down from Carter's helicopter and locked onto the bow.

His call came through. I put it on speaker.

"Scared yet? There's a document waiting in your email. Sign it, and maybe I let you walk away."

I opened my phone. I had to know what this was actually about.

What I saw stopped me cold.

He wanted me to sign a confession — that I'd deliberately let Chloe's parents die during the rescue.

Full liability for every casualty from that disaster.

But it was Carter's own construction company that violated the regulations. They cut corners on the mountain reinforcement. That's what caused the flood.

He wanted me as the fall guy. So Chloe could pocket the settlement.

If I signed this, I was looking at prison. The rest of my life gone.

Marie leaned over and saw the screen. She broke down completely.

"What kind of monster — how did we raise something like this —"

"He'd throw away his own wife for that woman. He'd throw away his own parents —"

Gerald grabbed the phone out of my hand and jabbed it toward the helicopter.

"Carter! I'm your father! You hear me? Your father! Call them off right now!"

"There is no way in hell Riley is signing that!"

My chest pulled tight and aching at the same time.

Three years. His parents had never treated me as anything less than a daughter.

Carter just laughed.

"My father? Really? You're going with that?"

"Look at yourself. Covered head to toe in mud, begging for your life. My father doesn't look like that."

"Riley, I'm done playing around. Sign it. I mean it."

Three drones broke formation and came straight at us.

Gerald's arm took the hit — a deep gash, bone showing through.

"Clock's ticking," Carter said. "Sign it, or I send all three of you to the bottom."