Chapter 1 - Left to Die
Dominic told me the mountain trip was meant to save our marriage.
""We need time away from everything,"" he had said.
""No phones.""
""No distractions.""
""Just us.""
I wanted to believe him.
After months of distance between us, an anniversary weekend in the Montana wilderness sounded like one last chance to repair what was broken.
He drove for hours through winding mountain roads until we reached an abandoned cabin hidden deep in the forest.
There wasn't another building in sight.
The nearest town was miles away.
As soon as I carried my bag inside, the cabin door slammed behind me.
A second later...
Metal scraped against metal.
The unmistakable sound of a heavy padlock snapping shut echoed through the room.
My stomach dropped.
""Dominic!""
I threw myself at the door.
""What are you doing?""
""Open it!""
No answer.
I rushed to the frosted window and wiped away the ice with my sleeve.
Outside, snow whipped across the porch.
Dominic wasn't alone.
Standing beside him was Chloe.
The same woman whose bright red lipstick I had discovered weeks earlier on documents inside his office.
She leaned comfortably against him, wrapped in an expensive white fur coat.
Dominic smiled.
Not with regret.
With satisfaction.
He lifted his hand.
My military satellite phone dangled from his fingers.
Over his shoulder hung my insulated backpack.
My winter survival jacket.
Everything I needed to stay alive.
He had taken it all before we ever left home.
""It was never about fixing our marriage,"" he shouted through the storm.
""It was always about what happens after you're gone.""
""The insurance.""
""The pension.""
""The house.""
He laughed.
""You're worth a fortune once you're dead.""
Chloe slipped her arm around his waist and smiled at me through the window.
""We should get going,"" she said.
""We still have an expensive memorial service to organize.""
Dominic gave me one final wave.
""The blizzard will finish the job before sunrise.""
""Goodbye, Lieutenant.""
Together they walked toward the truck.
Moments later, the engine started.
Its sound faded into the storm...
Until silence swallowed everything.
I slowly slid down the cabin wall and sat on the frozen wooden floor.
The man I had trusted with my life had carefully planned my death.
For a brief moment...
The betrayal hurt more than the cold.
Then I closed my eyes.
Breathed once.
Twice.
Three times.
My heartbeat slowed.
My mind cleared.
When I opened my eyes again...
The frightened wife was gone.
In her place stood the woman who had spent years teaching Special Forces soldiers how to stay alive in impossible conditions.
Dominic had made one fatal mistake.
He believed snow could kill someone who had survived worse.
He forgot...
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I wasn't his victim.
I was his greatest miscalculation.
