Chapter 1

A blizzard caught us halfway up the mountain. My fiancé, Lukas, his colleague CeCe, and I were trapped in the freezing peaks of the Rockies.

I woke up in the middle of the night, trembling from the bone-chilling cold. My high-end sleeping bag, rated for forty below zero, was gone.

In its place was a thin, flimsy summer blanket. My body felt like it was turning into a block of ice.

By the dim light, I saw CeCe. She was wrapped tightly in my professional sleeping bag, sleeping soundly in Lukas's arms.

I shook with rage and pushed Lukas awake. "Why does she have my sleeping bag?" I hissed.

Lukas pulled me to the corner of the tent and lowered his voice. "Keep it down! CeCe has a weak constitution. She's about to catch a cold."

"You work out all the time and you're in great shape," he continued. "You can handle one night without it."

I pointed at my feet, which had already lost all sensation. My voice was trembling. "She's weak, so I should just freeze to death as a sacrifice for you two?"

Lukas's face twisted in anger. "Why are you being so unreasonable? It's just a sleeping bag. Can't you show some team spirit for once?"

I laughed, tears streaming down my face. I didn't argue anymore.

I crawled back to my corner and pulled out my satellite phone. I dialed my brother, Sullivan, the leader of an elite international mountain rescue team.

"Sullivan, send a team to get me. My coordinates are… And remember, I'm alone."

1

A short while later, the anemometer Lukas hung outside the tent screeched. It was a warning that the wind had exceeded seventy miles per hour.

He rushed inside and snatched the satellite phone from my hand. His eyes looked like they were about to burst with fury.

"Was it you? Did you contact the outside world?" he roared.

"Do you have any idea what happens if a rescue team shows up? Our entire expedition is a failure! I've spent a whole year preparing for this climb!"

He screamed at me, completely ignoring my pale face and the way my body wouldn't stop shaking.

"You actually called for help behind my back. Are you trying to ruin me?"

He yanked me so hard that my stiff body slammed against the frozen rock wall. The last bit of warmth I had vanished.

I curled into a ball, trying to rub some life back into my numb feet. "The storm is getting worse," I whispered. "We could be buried alive at any moment."

"This is a mountain, Lukas, not your backyard. My body is in the early stages of hypothermia. What's wrong with asking for help?"

Before Lukas could respond, CeCe poked her head out of my sleeping bag. She looked fragile and soft as she spoke.

"Sienna, I don't mean to be rude, but you're a veteran hiker. Can't you overcome a little struggle without bothering a rescue team?"

"If word gets out, our whole group will be the laughingstock of the hiking community!"

"Besides, you know how important this climb is for Lukas. This is his final test for the Director promotion. Are you just giving up on him?"

"Is it because you're too pampered, or is Lukas's future just not that important to you?"

Her words sounded pitiful, but every syllable was a dagger. The other colleagues Lukas had invited to "witness his success" began to glare at me.

"Sienna, you're so selfish. You're only thinking about yourself!" one of them yelled.

"Yeah, we're a team. Lukas said you have the best stamina. You'll definitely make it through the night."

The cold was so sharp that breathing felt like inhaling glass. Their accusations felt like ice picks stabbing into my heart.

I struggled to pull up my pant leg, revealing my ankles. They had turned a sickening shade of purple. "Are you all blind? My feet are frostbitten. Do you call this being pampered?"

The room went silent for a second. CeCe just looked like a victim and huddled closer to Lukas.

"So you have a little frostbite. Big deal," Lukas said, looking down at me with pure disgust. "Why is everyone else fine while you're the only one injured?"

"It's because you insisted on showing off and didn't wear enough layers. Now that there's trouble, you have the nerve to blame everyone else?"

I wanted to scream that I was wearing professional-grade gear, but I didn't have the strength to open my mouth. My core temperature was dropping, and my vision started to blur.

Thank god I had called Sullivan. If I hadn't, I would have died here without a sound.

I thought Lukas would order them to reinforce the tent and wait for help. Instead, he told everyone to pack up and prepare to descend.

"Move it! We're going to push through the storm during a gap in the wind. We are getting down on our own. I won't let the rescue team laugh at us!"

I forced my body up. "You… you want to descend in this weather?"

Lukas gave me a cold smirk. "I'm the lead on this expedition. I have the final say!"

"I won't let one selfish woman destroy my entire career!"

Looking at his crazed expression, I knew it was useless to argue. "Lukas, I don't care if you want to rush down. But I'm injured. I can't go with you."

"I'll stay here and wait for my brother to find me."

"No way!" CeCe shrieked before Lukas could speak.

She looked at me with pure malice. "If we leave her here, she'll tell the rescue team that Lukas stole her sleeping bag!"

"To clear our names, we have to take her with us. We have to make sure she doesn't talk."

"If she says anything, we'll just say she had altitude sickness. We'll tell them she was hallucinating and talking nonsense."