We were caught in a blizzard on Mount Rainier. I was with my fiancé, Garrett Hayes, and several of his colleagues from Veridian Dynamics, one of whom was a woman named Jenna Miller.

In the middle of the night, I woke up freezing, my body shaking uncontrollably. My top-of-the-line down sleeping bag, rated for minus thirty-five degrees, was gone. In its place was a flimsy blanket.

By the faint glow of the camp light, I saw Jenna curled up in my sleeping bag, fast asleep. Garrett had zipped his own sleeping bag to hers, creating a warm double bag for the two of them.

I shoved him hard with my numb hands, my teeth chattering. "Why is she in my sleeping bag?"

Garrett sat up abruptly. He pulled me aside and hissed, "Keep your voice down, Cassidy. Jenna's new to this, and she's not feeling well. You're an experienced climber and in great shape. Show a little team spirit. Just tough it out for one night."

I pointed to my feet, which had already lost all feeling. "So I'm supposed to freeze to death just so the two of you can be cozy?"

He frowned. "God, Cassidy, can you stop being so dramatic? It's just a sleeping bag. Can't you think about the team for once?"

I let out a hollow laugh. The bitter cold turned the tears to ice the moment they left my eyes.

I didn't say another word. I just crawled back to my corner, grabbed the satellite phone, and called my brother, Cole. He's the captain of Avalanche Apex, the federal special search and rescue team.

"Cole, I'm on the north slope of Mount Rainier. I'm sending you my coordinates. Come get me. Now. And listen carefully—there's only one victim."

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1

Moments later, the piercing shriek of the storm alarm split the air outside the tent.

Garrett stormed in and snatched the satellite phone from my hand, his eyes blazing with fury.

"You called for a rescue?" he snarled. "Do you have any idea what that means? We'll be all over the news! The Veridian executive program will be a disaster! My career is over!"

He was too consumed by his anger to notice my deathly pale face or the violent tremors wracking my body.

"You went behind my back?" he roared. "Are you trying to ruin me?"

He grabbed my shoulders and shook me hard, my stiff body slamming against the icy rock wall. The impact snuffed out the last ember of warmth I had left.

I curled into a ball, desperately trying to knead some feeling back into my numb feet.

My voice was a faint whisper. "The blizzard is getting worse. We could be buried alive. I'm already hypothermic, Garrett. What's wrong with calling for help?"

Before Garrett could answer, Jenna peeked her head out of my sleeping bag, her voice deceptively soft. "Cassidy, don't make such a big deal out of nothing. Aren't you supposed to be an experienced climber? You can't handle a little cold without crying for a rescue?"

She let out a soft sigh. "If word gets out, we'll be the laughingstock of the entire Seattle climbing scene."

"And you know how important this summit is for Garrett. It's the final test before his promotion. Do you really want to destroy all that just because you're a little uncomfortable?"

"Are you really that selfish? Or does his future just mean nothing to you?"

Her voice was honey-sweet, but every word was a poison-tipped icicle.

Garrett's other colleagues, the sycophants who had come along to witness his triumph, immediately turned on me.

"Cassidy, that's so selfish. You only ever think about yourself."

"Exactly. We're a team. Garrett said you're the pro here. You've got this."

The cold seared my lungs, but their words cut deeper than the wind.

I yanked up my pant leg, revealing an ankle swollen to an ugly, bluish-purple, the skin as hard and cold as stone.

"Are you all blind?" I shrieked. "My foot is frostbitten! Do you still think I'm being dramatic?"

An unnerving silence filled the tent, broken only by the howl of wind and snow battering the fabric.

Jenna shrank back into Garrett's arms, avoiding my gaze.

"So what?" Garrett finally broke the silence, his tone chillingly indifferent. "That doesn't mean the whole world has to revolve around you."

Garrett took a step closer, looming over me with a look of pure disgust.

"How come everyone else is fine, but you're the one with frostbite? You just love to show off, don't you? Wearing light gear, always insisting on being out front. Now that something's happened, you're blaming us?"

I wanted to argue—that I was wearing top-of-the-line gear, that it was the loss of my sleeping bag that sent my temperature plummeting. But the cold had sapped all my strength.

My body was shutting down. The world spun, my vision blurring at the edges.

If I hadn't called Cole, I would have died right here, silently becoming an ice sculpture on the side of a mountain.

I thought Garrett would have everyone fortify the tent and wait out the storm.

Instead, he roared, "Everyone, pack your gear! We're heading down now! We have to be clear of this area before the rescue team shows up. We can't let them find us like this, and we can't have a rescue on our record."

I staggered to my feet, propping myself up against the tent pole in disbelief. "Are you insane? Descending in a whiteout? Now?"

That cold smirk crawled back onto his face. "I'm the team leader. I call the shots. I won't let one selfish climber tank my future."

His eyes held a fanatical gleam. There was no reasoning with him.

"If you all want to march to your deaths, be my guest. But I'm frostbitten. I can't move. I'm waiting for rescue."

Before he could retort, Jenna shrieked, "No!"

She shot me a venomous glare, then turned to the others, her words spilling out in a rush. "If we leave her, the moment the rescue team arrives, she'll tell them everything. If we want to get away with this, we have to drag her down with us. If she starts talking crazy, we'll just say she has altitude sickness and is hallucinating."

I stared at Garrett's cold, calculating expression, my heart sinking with each passing second. I had to try one last time. "Garrett, remember Denali last year? You took that stupid shortcut and fell into a crevasse. I pulled you out. I bandaged you up and stayed with you through a blizzard for two days and nights until help came. You cried, Garrett. You clutched my hand and called me your savior. You swore you would never betray me."

"I know I mean nothing to you now, but please... for the sake of the life I saved, don't make me walk in this storm."

For a fleeting second, a flicker of guilt crossed his eyes.

But then Jenna leaned in, hissing in his ear like a viper. "Don't go soft, Garrett. If my uncle finds out you abandoned a teammate or stole gear on the mountain, your promotion is toast."

Any flicker of guilt in his eyes vanished, replaced by cold resolve.

"Don't play the sympathy card, Cassidy. People move on." He glared at me. "Only you know the safe route down. Without you leading the way, we'll all get lost. You have to walk."

Jenna chimed in. "That's right. And don't even think about playing dead."

Watching their pathetic act, I knew appealing to the past was useless. It was time for my last card.

"Don't push me. The captain of the Avalanche Apex rescue team, Cole Reed, is my brother. You've heard the stories about how he operates. If you dare lay a finger on me, he will make you regret it."

Jenna let out a shrill laugh. "Oh, please. You're going to invent a famous brother to get out of walking? You're just some low-rent mountain guide, Cassidy. Get real."

The others joined in the jeering.

"Yeah, right. Captain Reed is your brother? A man like that could never have a spoiled sister like you."

Then, Garrett grabbed my arm, yanking me violently to my feet.

"You're a disgrace," he snarled. "Don't you feel pathetic telling a lie like that? Say one more word, and I'll throw you out of this tent myself."

I knew they wouldn't back down. They were determined to squeeze every last drop of value from me by forcing me to lead the way. Fine. I stopped arguing and made one final request.

"I'll walk. But I need my sleeping bag back. My foot is frostbitten. I can't move without warm gear."

"Shut up," Garrett roared, stuffing my sleeping bag into Jenna's pack. "You're a liability with that frostbite. Why should the best gear be wasted on you? Jenna's a novice. She needs it more."

The smug self-righteousness in his tone was nauseating.

I never imagined the man who had once sworn to protect me would trade my life for another's without a second thought.

Ever since Jenna had been parachuted into his department, Garrett had been different, constantly talking about "Jenna this" and "Jenna that."

I had told myself he was just being polite to a partner's niece. After all, we were engaged. We had been through so much together. I was a fool.

Seeing that I wasn't moving, Garrett stormed over and hauled me to my feet.

"Don't test me. Get up and lead the way."

Left with no other choice, I grabbed an ice axe and forced my numb body to stand.

Jenna came over, her face a mask of false sympathy. "Let me help you, Cassidy."

Before I could refuse, she feigned a stumble and brought her crampon-fitted boot down hard on my injured ankle. The sharp spikes tore through my outer pants.

A searing pain exploded through my body, and my vision went black.

Instinctively, I shoved her away. "Get off me!"

She let out an exaggerated shriek and tumbled into the snow, her eyes instantly welling with tears.

Garrett didn't even hesitate. He shoved me so hard I nearly tumbled down the steep slope. "What is wrong with you? She was trying to help! Why did you push her?"

Jenna cut in, her voice choked with sobs. "Don't blame Cassidy, Garrett. She's just upset that I'm using her sleeping bag. I don't mind. As long as she can get us down the mountain safely, that's all that matters."

Her words were gasoline on the fire. Garrett glared at me, his eyes burning with a warning.

"Don't think you can push Jenna around just because she's nice. You touch her again, and you'll see what happens."

My ankle throbbed with a white-hot pain.

But the searing pain in my ankle was nothing compared to the feeling of my heart shattering into a million icy fragments.

I gave up trying to explain. I didn't even have the energy to want to.

"I can walk. I don't need her help."

Jenna shot me a look of mock innocence and lowered her voice so only I could hear. "It's not that you don't need help. You're just waiting for a chance to sneak away, aren't you?"

Garrett overheard her, and his face hardened. "Don't try any tricks, Cassidy. If you slow us down, I'll make you pay."

He turned to one of the other men. "Kyle, keep an eye on her. If she tries anything, tie her to you. In a blizzard this bad, if something were to happen to her, we can just blame it on the weather."