They Left Me to Burn, Now I Own the Last Water

“My family sold my water for eleven thousand dollars. Then they drove me forty miles into the desert and left me to die. It was 121 degrees. No water. No phone. As their car pulled away, my sister held up the silver locket I had worn my whole life and laughed. "Ashcroft. That's my name now." The Ashcrofts own the last full reservoir in the Southwest. Their granddaughter has been missing for nineteen years. And my sister just walked through their gates wearing my locket and my name. I should have died at that gas station. Instead, Rhys Calder found me. The cold, ruthless CEO who controls every drop behind Meridian Dam. He thinks I'm a liar. He also needs a wife in five weeks, or he loses everything. So I made him an offer. One year. One contract. And a way back into the house that stole my life. They called me a desert rat. They locked me up, framed me, and laughed while I scrubbed their floors. Let them laugh. The water is mine now. And I'm coming for every one of them.”