My Husband Stranded Me in the Desert to Defend His First Love

I had booked our flight months ago, eager to return to our favorite place for our anniversary. Before boarding, I was stopped by my husband’s assistant—the woman everyone said he truly loved. She looked tearful and pleaded with me, asking for my ticket. “Please, I have a family emergency. I can’t afford the fare.” I refused, explaining I’d bought the ticket myself. Later, Declan questioned me. “Did you know she ended up walking home?” he asked, explaining she was trying to reach her dying mother. I was confused. “Why would she walk? There’s plenty of transport.” Declan nodded softly and handed me my nightly glass of milk, as he always did. I drank it and fell asleep. When I woke, I was alone in a blazing desert. A helicopter hovered nearby. Declan stood in the doorway, his arm around his assistant, staring down coldly. “You said transportation was convenient,” he said. “Let’s see you manage without a flight.” I was being broadcast live. The tag “Billionaire Wife Treks the Desert” was already trending. Looking into the camera, I stayed calm. “When you’re done with this childish game,” I said, “send a car to pick me up.” 1 The moment the words left my mouth, a massive digital screen hanging from the helicopter lit up. A flood of live comments rolled past rapidly. [Abigail still thinks she's a spoiled heiress! Everyone knows the Hastings family went bankrupt and her parents fled the country. Who is she expecting to pick her up?] [Exactly! She lives off her husband's money now, yet she still bullies average working class girls. Stealing discounted tickets from desperate employees? Has she no shame?] [I bet she won't even make it a mile. Give it thirty minutes and she will be begging on her knees. Declan is the best boss ever for avenging his staff!] [Place your bets! I'm putting money on her crying and apologizing!] The desert heat was easily pushing past a hundred degrees. Baking under the merciless sun, I was already on the verge of severe dehydration. My miserable state was projected perfectly onto the live broadcast. Declan held Lily close to his chest, taking a slow sip from a crystal glass of iced wine. He looked down at me with absolute arrogance. "Stop acting so tough. If you want to leave this wasteland, you have two options. Walk out yourself, or drop to your knees and beg Lily for forgiveness. There is no third choice." Hearing this, Lily immediately put on her best innocent act. "Declan, it's okay. Abigail grew up in the lap of luxury. She's never experienced real hardship. Please don't punish her." She lowered her head, her voice dripping with fake sorrow. "It's my own fault for being poor. I couldn't afford a first class seat and missed the cheap tickets. I had to walk through the mountains... I guess I deserve it." My memory of the airport was crystal clear. When I bought my ticket, there were plenty of economy seats left. Lily deliberately waited until they were completely sold out before putting on her little show to guilt trip me. Declan's voice cut through the dry air like a whip. "When she used her status as my wife to bully you, she should have known this day would come!" "Abigail, I warned you over and over again. Do not mess with Lily. She might not have your elite pedigree, but that does not mean she is completely unprotected." Looking at the man I had loved for five years, a bitter taste flooded my mouth. After the Hastings family lost everything, Declan ignored all corporate protocol and brought his childhood sweetheart straight into the executive office. Lily was incredibly incompetent. She was constantly late and made endless mistakes. As her supervisor, I naturally assigned her overtime to fix her errors. When Declan found out, he punished me in our bed that night, keeping me awake until I was physically incapable of going to work the next morning. When I finally dragged my aching body into the office, he sneered at me in front of the entire staff. "I thought you hated tardiness? You can stay here until three in the morning tonight. Let that be a lesson." From that day on, anytime I offered Lily even a shred of constructive criticism, Declan accused me of being an elitist snob. Once, Lily tripped and scraped her knee. Without asking a single question, Declan assumed I pushed her. He grabbed my shoulders and violently threw me down a flight of stairs. The memories snapped back to the present. My eyes burned, turning slightly red. Up in the helicopter, Declan saw my expression and froze for a fraction of a second. "Look, she's already crying." Lily capitalized on the moment, her voice trembling pitifully. "When I walked those miles through the mountains, I lost my shoes and bled everywhere, but I never shed a single tear." Just as she intended, those words erased any fleeting sympathy Declan might have felt. His face hardened into pure stone. "Do you have any idea how much Lily suffered because of you? Guards, strip off her shoes!" 2 Before I could even brace myself, the bodyguards standing by lunged forward. They pinned me down and violently ripped the sneakers from my feet. My bare skin hit the scorching sand. A layer of skin instantly blistered and peeled from the agonizing heat. The live chat went completely feral. The total betting pool on when I would surrender skyrocketed into the millions. "Abigail, if it's too much for you, just apologize. I promise I won't hold a grudge," Lily called out. She wore a mask of pure innocence, but a sickeningly triumphant gleam flashed in her eyes. "What exactly did I do wrong? You failed to buy a ticket, and you think you can manipulate the world into feeling sorry for you?" I gritted my teeth and forced myself to take a step forward, completely ignoring her fake pity. Lily's eyes immediately welled up with tears. "I know I'm useless... If I were better, I wouldn't have had to trek through the treacherous mountain trails. The ground was covered in thorns and jagged rocks. It was all my fault..." "Abigail, it seems I have spoiled you for far too long. Do you still think you are sitting on a throne?" Declan pulled Lily into a protective embrace, issuing another cold command. "I explicitly ordered this environment to replicate her mountain trek. Scatter the nails. Let's see how long her stubborn pride lasts!" A torrential rain of metal thumbtacks cascaded onto the path ahead of me. They vanished into the loose sand, leaving only their razor sharp tips exposed. I couldn't stop my momentum in time. My foot came down hard, and the metal spikes drove deep into my flesh. Fresh blood welled up, dripping down my ankles and staining the yellow sand a brilliant crimson. The color drained entirely from my face. The private physician standing by in the helicopter looked alarmed. "Sir, her health has always been incredibly fragile. Her body will go into shock." "I am well aware of her condition. Why do you think I brought you along?" Declan scoffed softly. "I am just breaking her arrogant spirit. If she is truly on the verge of death, you have my permission to treat her. Besides, she isn't blind. Can't she just avoid the nails?" But the tacks were perfectly camouflaged in the shifting dunes. Walking barefoot, it was a literal minefield. Within minutes, the soles of my feet were a mangled, bleeding mess. The pain was so blinding I was on the verge of passing out. Declan's jaw tightened as he watched me stumble. Before he could speak, Lily whispered softly into his chest. "Declan, all she has to do is say she's sorry and this all ends. But with millions of people watching... even if I want to forgive her, she needs to give you some respect." "But I suppose a spoiled princess like her would never lower herself to apologize to someone like me..." Those words perfectly triggered Declan's deepest insecurity. He leaned out of the helicopter and shouted down at me. "Don't think I don't know the truth! You have always looked down on me because of your wealthy background! If you refuse to bow your head, then you can walk until you drop dead!" His cruel words echoed in my ears, carving a hollow cavern into my chest. We had been together for five years. I had severed ties with my family to stand by his side when he had absolutely nothing. Back then, he treated me like glass. If I got a papercut, he would hold my hand and cry out of pure guilt for hours. All of that vanished the day the Hastings empire collapsed. He grew entirely sick of my supposed entitlement. He labeled my basic standards as elitist tantrums and poured all his affection onto the submissive, easily controlled Lily. He was willing to torture me in a lethal desert just to avenge a minor inconvenience for his new favorite pet. Realizing this, whatever love I had left for him completely died. The live chat was moving at lightning speed. [Just give it up already. You are never making it out of there. This is getting boring.] [Seriously, I bet three months of rent on this. Apologize so I can cash out!] "It looks like the entire world knows you can't make it, Abigail. Stop trying to act tough. Just get on your knees." Lily mocked me with a sickeningly sweet tone. But the very next second, her smug expression completely vanished. An anonymous user had just placed a massive wager that I would successfully leave the desert. The bet was fifty million dollars. 3 That single notification sent a shockwave through the entire broadcast. Because the amount was so astronomical, the chat immediately erupted with suspicion. [Who casually drops fifty million?! Are they rigging this just to steal our money?] [Is this a massive scam?!] Lily panicked but tried to play it cool. She flashed her own betting slip to the camera. "Don't worry, everyone! I also put my money on Abigail apologizing. I have no idea what idiot is trying to hand us free cash." But the doubts kept rolling in. Lily was sweating. She had literally emptied her entire bank account to place her bet. Declan's face turned a dangerous shade of purple. "Who placed that bet? Who else would possibly support you? Are you sleeping with another man behind my back?!" "That is none of your business. The second I get out of here, we are getting a divorce." I fired back without missing a beat. Hearing the word 'divorce' only fueled his manic rage. He let out a dark, cruel laugh and signaled his guards. "If we are truly replicating the mountain path, we need to do it properly. I want her to feel exactly what Lily felt." "Mountains are full of snakes. Release them!" My heart stopped. The blood froze in my veins. Declan knew perfectly well that I had a crippling, clinical phobia of snakes. At his command, the bodyguards hauled massive bamboo crates to the edge of the chopper. Hundreds of thick, slithering reptiles spilled out into the sand, writhing and hissing as they moved. I stumbled backward in pure terror. Declan simply sneered. "They are just harmless garden snakes. Kids in the country play with them every day. Only a fragile, pampered princess would be terrified of something so basic." "Exactly! I used to get bitten all the time growing up. It's totally harmless!" Lily chimed in, though a vicious, calculating shadow crossed her eyes. It didn't take me long to realize the horrifying truth. The vibrant, triangular heads emerging from the sand were absolutely not harmless garden snakes. They were highly venomous vipers. I turned and tried to sprint away, but my mutilated, bleeding feet couldn't find any traction. In my panicked rush, I lost my balance and collapsed hard into the dirt. The scorching sand seared my bare skin. Hidden tacks pierced my palms and knees, tearing fresh, agonizing wounds across my body. The vipers smelled the fresh blood. They began to swarm, closing the circle around me. I had nowhere to run. A thick, brightly colored snake lunged forward, sinking its fangs directly into my ankle. The venom burned like absolute fire. A cold sweat broke out across my forehead. Once the first snake struck, a second and a third slithered closer, ready to attack. The skin around the bite immediately swelled, turning a sickly, bruised purple. The color rapidly drained from my lips. The physician up in the helicopter instantly noticed my physical collapse. He stepped forward in a panic. "Sir! She has been bitten by a venomous species! She is going to die! We need to administer antivenom right now!" Declan didn't even flinch. "I specifically ordered non venomous snakes. Stop overreacting over a tiny bite. We save the medical supplies for real emergencies." But as he looked closer, the reality finally registered. My lips were turning blue. My breathing was shallow and ragged. He looked down at the sea of vipers swarming the dunes. Those were not the harmless garden snakes he had requested. A sudden, paralyzing panic gripped Declan. He screamed at the top of his lungs. "I said no venom! Who brought these things?!" "Get those monsters away from her! Bring the chopper down! Let me out!" The bodyguards immediately deployed chemical repellents and heavy nets to drive the swarm back. I lay in the burning sand, barely clinging to consciousness. Through blurred vision, I watched Declan shove past a protesting Lily and sprint toward me. The doctor grabbed a vial of antivenom from his emergency kit and rushed to the open door. "Sir, we have to inject her immediately! Let me call for a medical evac!" Before the doctor could step off the helicopter, Lily suddenly lunged forward. "Let me help!" She violently tripped over her own feet, slamming into the doctor. The glass vial of antivenom slipped from his hands, plummeting toward the ground and shattering into a hundred pieces against a jagged rock. Declan's eyes widened in absolute horror. "What the hell did you just do?!"

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