Chapter 1

1.

Buried under the rubble of the earthquake, I fought through searing pain to send a single text to my fiancé, Cody.

【Cody, Van Nuys Blvd, Summit Gear. My left leg is pinned. Come get me!】

But I never dreamed that when he arrived on the scene, just as his steady figure was about to step onto the debris trapping me, a tearful voice would crackle through his radio. It was his high school girlfriend―Tinsley, the one he never quite got over.

"Cody, please! Snowball is going to die! You have to save her. She's the only thing my mom left me!"

Cody's voice, full of a heart-wrenching tenderness I had never heard before, came through the static. "Don't be scared, Tinsley. I'm on my way to get her right now!"

The next second, he turned and walked away, taking the entire search and rescue team with him.

Steel rebar pressed into my left leg, and blood soaked through my hiking pants.

I clutched my phone, the screen displaying our engagement photo―him in his L.A. County Search and Rescue uniform, smiling like a true hero.

I let out a bitter laugh. Some fucking hero.

A cat… he abandoned me for a cat. Fine. As of this moment, he was dead to me.

...

Minutes before the earthquake hit, I was finishing up for the day when I got a message from Cody.

The lock screen on my shatter-proof phone was a photo of us.

He was in his SAR uniform, the badge on his shoulder gleaming, smiling like a movie star.

I stared at it for a second, a smile unconsciously forming on my lips.

Ding.

An iMessage popped up: 【Sierra, we're trying on wedding dresses at six. Don't be late.】

My fingers flew across the keyboard: 【I swear, babe, no last-minute calls this time.】

After sending it, I chuckled to myself.

Who would have thought that me, an outdoor survival coach constantly covered in dirt from Yosemite and Joshua Tree, could land the "golden bachelor" of the L.A. County SAR team?

But before I could finish organizing the climbing ropes on the shelf, my phone buzzed again.

Cody: 【I promise, absolutely no emergency calls this time.】

Sierra: 【Yeah, right. That's what you said last time, and then Tinsley called with a "migraine" and you dropped everything and ran.】

This time, he didn't reply.

He hated it when I brought up "the one he couldn't let go of."

I pursed my lips, hung up the last rope, and turned to grab my thermos. Suddenly, the earthquake hit.

BOOM!

The entire world spun violently.

As the shelves came crashing down on me, my first instinct was to dive under a sturdy table, but I was a step too slow.

CRASH!

A sharp pain shot through my left leg. I grunted, and my vision went black.

Shelves, gear, shards of glass…

Everything was crushing me.

Dust choked my throat, and I coughed until tears streamed down my face. My left leg felt like it had been run over by a hydraulic press, the pain so intense my fingertips trembled.

Calm down!

Sierra, remember your training. You have extensive wilderness survival experience!

I gritted my teeth and felt for my pocket―thank God, my phone was still there.

The screen was cracked, but it still worked.

Only one bar of service, but it was enough.

With a trembling hand, I opened my contacts. Cody's name was pinned to the top, labeled as 【My Superman】.

I took a deep breath and sent the message.

【Cody, Van Nuys Blvd, Summit Gear. Leg pinned. Rescue now!】

The "Delivered" notification lit up, and I collapsed back into the darkness, completely drained.

He would come.