Chapter 1
My husband sentenced me to eight hours in the Mojave over five words I had never said.
"Sage Flats. East road. Midnight."
Sabine played the recording again.
My voice came through her phone.
So did the lie that had already gotten two men killed.
Three of the men watching me had spent Christmas in my living room.
Their guns had been locked in Adrian's study while their children opened presents on my rug.
Now they stood armed in front of me and looked at the concrete floor.
Sabine Ortega stood beside Adrian, holding her phone in one manicured hand.
Those same hands had pinned my veil into my hair six years ago.
She had leaned close to my ear that morning, smoothing the heavy lace, and whispered, He listens to you.
I had believed her.
Adrian didn't look at me.
He looked at his second-in-command.
It was a small movement, but I caught it.
My thumb rubbed against the edge of my diamond wedding band.
I had watched him turn to Sabine first whenever my judgment clashed with hers.
For six years, I had called it business.
Now I called it what it was.
He trusted her over me.
Sabine slipped her phone into her tailored jacket.
She pulled a folded document from her inner pocket and handed it to Adrian.
"Grant and his driver died in a burned-out cab on the Ivanpah route three hours ago," Adrian said.
His voice was low, carrying effortlessly in the cold air.
"They were ambushed. The rival crew knew exactly which canyon pass to block."
Grant had stayed late after his shift last summer to help me tow a stranded camera truck back onto the asphalt.
He had complained about my cheap coffee the entire time.
Now he was dead, and my husband believed I had sold him.
Adrian unfolded the document and turned it toward me.
It was a lease.
Six months, paid upfront in cash, for a small furnished house in Fallon.
My stomach dropped.
I had signed that lease two days ago.
I hadn't told Adrian.
I had told one person.
Sabine.
"You rented a safe house under your maiden name," Adrian said.
I knew those eyes.
I had just never seen them turned on me like this.
"The exact same day Grant's route was leaked."
"I asked you for a divorce two months ago," I said, refusing to back away from the document. "I took my own savings. I rented the house so I wouldn't have to look at armed guards every time I walked to my car. I wanted out, Adrian. That doesn't mean I sold your men to a rival crew."
"This isn't about your marriage," Sabine said. "Grant is dead."
I looked at the only person I had trusted with the lease. "Then explain the cut in the recording."
Sabine didn't blink. "A cut doesn't explain why you were preparing to disappear."
"Leaving my husband isn't the same as murdering his men," I shot back.
"Wanting out is a conversation," Adrian said, stepping into my space. "Selling my men to buy your freedom is war."
"I tried conversation," I said. "You doubled the guards."
He said nothing.
"Before that, I asked if we could have a child. You said too many people already depended on you."
"A child would have given my enemies another way to reach you."
"I wanted a family, Adrian. You gave me a prison."
A muscle moved in his cheek.
His hand closed around my left wrist.
Hard enough to hurt.
He pulled my hand up between us, his gaze dropping to the diamond flashing under the fluorescent lights.
"Take off the ring, Taryn," he said.
I had planned to leave it on the kitchen island tomorrow morning.
But I would not take it off in this cold garage, surrounded by his soldiers, and let Sabine's lie dictate how my marriage ended.
"No." I stared straight into his eyes. "I'm still your wife. I didn't betray you."
His gaze traveled over my face.
I gave him nothing.
He let go of my wrist and stepped back.
He folded the lease and handed it back to Sabine without looking at her.
"Keep it on," Adrian said. "Remind yourself who you're lying to."
He turned and opened the rear door of the black SUV.
"Get in," Adrian said. "You have eight hours to prove I was wrong about you."