Chapter 1

The expedition team entered the remote desert to survey rare minerals. Suddenly, we hit a heatwave―over 150 degrees Fahrenheit.

I was on the verge of fainting from severe dehydration. I scrambled to open my backpack, reaching for the electrolyte water I had prepared in advance.

Just as I pressed the bottle to my lips, I realized it was half-filled with urine.

I turned my head and saw Silas, my wife's childhood friend. He was chugging my electrolyte water without a care in the world.

I was about to explode with rage when my wife, Avery, grabbed my sleeve.

"Don't be mad. I gave your water to Silas. He was about to pass out from dehydration. You can just drink that to get by for now."

My vision was swimming in darkness. I gripped the bottle of urine, my teeth gritted as I hissed at her.

"I'm already dehydrated. Instead of letting me recover, you want me to drink this? Are you trying to kill me?"

Avery looked at me with pure annoyance.

"Stop being so dramatic. Silas isn't like you. He didn't have years of combat training, so he can't handle this heat. It's only right that he gets the water."

"Besides, urine can still hydrate you. Why are you being so picky at a time like this?"

I realized she was beyond reason. Before I completely lost consciousness, I sent out my GPS coordinates and a distress signal through my satellite device.

"Dehydrated and near death. Expedition halted. Send immediate rescue. Also, reporting a robbery within the team. Initiate criminal proceedings."

1

Avery snatched the satellite phone from my hand. She tried to make another call to cancel the rescue and the police report.

But she quickly realized the device required my biometric iris scan to override the command.

She roughly grabbed my face, trying to pry my eyelids open.

"Liam Miller! Is all this really necessary? It's just a bottle of water. You're calling in a rescue and accusing us of robbery?"

"If you ruin this mineral survey, can you even afford to take the blame?"

I used every ounce of my remaining strength to shove Avery's hand away. I kept my eyes tightly shut.

The dizziness from dehydration hit me in waves. My stomach felt like it was filled with hot coals, and every breath felt like swallowing shards of glass.

I licked a bead of blood from my cracked lips, trying to find some relief. It didn't help.

Because of Avery's interference, I had wasted too much energy. I didn't know how much longer I could hold on.

Silas took a large gulp of the electrolyte water and sighed with pleasure.

"Sorry, Liam. Avery was just being kind. I was in bad shape. What if I had died out here in the desert?"

Then, he poured some of the water into his palm and wiped his face and neck with it.

"Man, this stuff really works fast. Good thing you brought it, or I'd be in trouble."

I gripped the edge of the car seat so hard my knuckles turned white. I wanted to tear Silas limb from limb.

I had prepared that water specifically for emergencies. Before we left, I suggested everyone bring extra.

But Silas had mocked me. He called it pseudoscience and said regular tap water was fine.

I was the only one who insisted on bringing the proper supplies. Now, when I needed them to survive, he was literally washing his face with them.

Avery turned to Silas, her face full of concern as she touched his forehead.

"You don't need to apologize. You're the kind one here. You even left him some liquid, but he's just being stubborn and won't drink it."

She threw the half-bottle of urine back at me.

"Liam, who are you putting on this act for?"

"Don't think I don't know about your years in the Special Forces. You aren't this fragile."

"Besides, if you were actually dying of thirst, you'd be shoving anything wet down your throat, no matter how gross. Silas has a weaker constitution, so I have to look out for him."

Silas giving me urine wasn't an act of kindness. It was a deliberate, disgusting humiliation.

My throat was too raw to keep arguing with them. I struggled to reach into my pack for my rehydration salts.

But the moment I pulled out the packet, Avery slapped me across the face and snatched it away.

"You had this the whole time and didn't offer it to Silas? You wanted to watch him suffer, didn't you?"

"How can a man be so incredibly malicious?"

Malicious? Rage and despair flooded my mind.

When the heatwave hit this remote wasteland, everyone else stayed in the SUV. They were too afraid of the sun to do their jobs.

I was the one who went out in 150-degree weather to survey the sites and collect data. That was why I was dehydrated.

And now, my own wife was stripping away every chance I had to stay alive.

I lunged at Silas, throwing a desperate punch.

"You don't get to touch my things! You're fired!"