Chapter 1

As the Quality Control Director for Horizon Imports, my last task before the Thanksgiving break was to oversee the final shipment of King Crabs into the warehouse.

The moment I stepped into the deep-freeze vault, set to a bone-chilling eighteen degrees below zero, the heavy steel door slammed shut. I heard the electronic lock engage, and the emergency alarm system went dead.

I felt the onset of hypothermia almost immediately. Shivering, I reached into my emergency kit for my chemical heat pads.

But as soon as I pressed them against my skin, a searing, icy shock went through my body. I realized with horror that they weren't heat pads at all.

I let out a ragged scream. Suddenly, the intercom crackled to life, and the voice of my fiancé, Bennett, filled the vault with a cruel laugh.

"We're live, everyone! We're doing a challenge to see how long our office 'Ice Queen' can last locked in her own freezer!"

Beside him, I heard the high-pitched, girlish giggle of Shelby, a junior colleague I had personally mentored.

"Come on, Elena, give the viewers a smile! Our top donor wants to see you shiver!"

The realization hit me like a physical blow. They weren't just pulling a prank; they were live-streaming my misery for profit.

They had locked me in this tomb and swapped my life-saving heat pads for fever-reducing cooling patches.

I gritted my teeth, fighting to keep my consciousness as the cold bit into my bones. I fumbled for the intercom.

"The backup… backup heat kits… give them to me!"

Bennett's voice came back, sounding completely indifferent.

"Oh, sorry, babe. Shelby's got a bit of a chill today―you know, lady problems. She's using the backup pads to keep her tummy warm."

"You're a tough girl. Just jump around a bit to stay warm. Maybe the donors will throw you some tips for the show!"

I stopped arguing. There was no point in pleading with monsters.

With frozen, trembling fingers, I reached for the flare gun stored in the emergency locker. I aimed the barrel at the most expensive, most secretive cargo in the entire facility.

It was a cryo-container holding a specimen worth two hundred million dollars.

1

The cold metal of the flare gun felt like an extension of my palm.

I leveled the barrel directly at the silver canister marked "AF-001."

"Bennett, are you sure you want to take this prank this far?"

My voice was a frantic shiver, but my resolve was as hard as the ice surrounding me.

On the other side of the intercom, Bennett's laughter died instantly.

There was a frantic shuffling sound, and then Shelby's panicked voice broke through the silence.

"Elena, don't do anything crazy! You… you can't touch that thing!"

"Oh? So you finally care about the rules?"

I let out a cold laugh, my breath blooming in a thick white cloud.

"Did you think about the consequences when you locked me in here to die?"

Bennett tried to sound tough, but I could hear the crack in his voice.

"Elena, stop acting like a psycho!"

"It's just a joke! Are you really going to take your frustration out on company property?"

"Do you even know what's in there? Put the gun down!"

I ignored him. Instead, I used my free hand to tap the side of the metal canister.

The sound echoed sharply through the dead silence of the vault.

"This is Victoria Beaumont's entire future."

"She spent two hundred million dollars to secure this legacy from an elite donor overseas just so she could have an heir."

"This is a once-in-a-century genetic sample. I'm the Quality Control Director who signed off on the intake. Do you really think I don't know its value?"

The intercom went silent.

I could picture their faces in the monitoring room, turning a pale, sickly shade of white.

They knew exactly what that canister meant.

The day it arrived, Victoria Beaumont herself watched the delivery. She insisted the handlers use brand-new gloves.

She had made it clear: if anything happened to that specimen, everyone involved would be erased from the industry―or worse.

Shelby started sobbing over the intercom, sounding like the victim.

"Elena, we really just wanted to have a little fun… lightened the mood…"

"You're always so cold and professional. Everyone is a little intimidated by you…"

"Please put the gun down. Bennett is going to open the door right now."

Bennett jumped in immediately.

"Exactly, Elena. It was just a prank. I'm trying to open the door, but I think the electronic lock is glitching because of the cold."

"Just hang tight. I'm going to go find some tools!"

Listening to them play their little game, the last bit of warmth in my heart evaporated.

The lock was glitching?

This was a German-engineered vault designed to function at fifty below zero.

He thought I was an idiot.

"Stop acting," I said, my voice like a blade. "You have ten seconds to open this door."

"And don't forget, you're still live-streaming."

"If Victoria sees her investment destroyed because of your little show, you won't live to see tomorrow morning."

"Ten."

"Nine."

I started the countdown, my thumb clicking the safety off the flare gun.

I heard Bennett's muffled curses and Shelby's frantic whimpering through the speaker.

"You're insane! Elena, you're a freaking lunatic!"

"Bennett, what do we do? The chat is going crazy! The top donor says he wants to see her actually pull the trigger!"

"Shut up, Shelby!"

"Three."

"Two."

A split second before my finger squeezed the trigger, Bennett screamed.

"Wait! I'm doing it! I'm opening it now!"

I exhaled, my body shaking violently as the tension broke.

But thirty seconds passed, and then a minute. My lungs were beginning to burn with every breath.

The heavy door didn't budge.

Bennett's voice returned, but this time it was smooth and oily.

"Gosh, Elena, I am so sorry."

"I was so nervous that I typed the override code wrong three times. The system is in total lockdown now."

"It looks like we'll have to wait for the technician to get here to bypass it."