Chapter 01

Natalie's pov

The knife went into my stomach.

I could not scream. I could only look at Evan's face. The man I once loved was smiling at me.

"Thanks for the shelter, Natalie," he said. "You are useless to me now."

He pulled the knife out and stabbed me again.

Behind him, Ruby laughed. She was wearing my coat. She was eating my food. She held the keys to the shelter I built with my own hands.

For eight years, the world had been under water, I fed them, hid them, and kept them alive.

And this was how they paid me.

I fell to the cold floor. My blood ran across the concrete. The last thing I heard was the rain hitting the roof.

Then everything went black.

I opened my eyes.

Sunlight. Soft sheets. The smell of coffee from the kitchen.

I sat up fast and touched my stomach. No blood. No wound. Nothing.

My phone was on the table. I grabbed it and looked at the date.

April 2nd.

My hands started to shake. This was the year the floods came. The storms would begin on July 11th. In one hundred days, the whole city of Houston would drown.

I was back.

I pressed my hand over my mouth and laughed. Then I cried and I immediately wiped my face.

"No more tears," I said to the empty room. "This time, I take every cent back."

I called the food supplier I knew from my old life. He picked up on the second ring.

"Hello?"

"I need fifteen tons of rice, beans, and cooking oil," I said.

He was quiet for a moment. "Lady, is this a joke?"

"Cash on delivery. I want it today."

"Today? That is a lot of food."

"Then you had better start loading your trucks."

He did not argue after that.

By noon, I was walking through the army surplus store on Fifth Street. The shelves were full of boots, tents, and water filters.

The old man behind the counter watched me. "Can I help you, miss?"

I pointed at a metal rack. "What is on that one?"

"Military-grade chain and locks. Strong stuff."

"I will take the whole rack."

His eyes went wide. "The whole thing?"

"And I will pay you double your price if you load it into my trunk right now."

He was already moving before I finished talking.

On the way out, I passed a boy selling junk on a blanket. Old toys. Broken watches. A small black stone on a string.

My heart stopped.

I knew that stone. In my old life, a man found it after the floods. It could hold anything inside it. Food, water, guns. A whole house of things in one tiny rock. He used it to become a king while the rest of us starved.

I knelt down. "How much for the rock?"

The boy shrugged. "Thirty bucks."

I gave him fifty. "Keep the change."

I tied the string around my neck. The stone felt warm against my skin.

Then my phone buzzed. It was a message from Evan.

"I will be waiting outside your place tomorrow. We need to talk."

I stared at the screen. My chest went tight. I remembered the knife and his fake  his smile before he stabbed me.

"Then I will not meet you alone," I said to myself.

That afternoon, I drove to the police dog training center outside the city. A tall officer met me at the gate.

"You called about adopting a retired dog?"

"Yes. The biggest, toughest one you have."

He took me down a row of cages. Most of the dogs barked and jumped. One did not.

A huge black German shepherd lay in the last cage. He lifted his head and looked right at me.

"That one is old," the officer said. "Last month, he saved our whole team from armed robbers. He took a blade to the back."

"He is beautiful," I said.

"He is retired. His back leg has nerve damage. It hurts him when the weather turns cold. He needs a quiet home." The officer sighed. "But he has turned away four families already. He is picky."

I opened the cage door and held out my hand.

The dog stood up. He walked over slowly, sniffed my fingers, and pressed his head into my palm.

The officer laughed. "Well. Looks like the hero picked his partner."

"I will call you Thunder," I whispered to him.

The next morning, I heard banging on my front door.

"Natalie! Natalie, open up!"

I opened it. Evan stood there in his gray suit. His face was red.

"Why the hell did you block my number?" he said. "We have an engagement party to plan. Do you know how many times I…"

Thunder stepped out from behind my legs. He let out a low growl.

Evan jumped back. "Oh my God! What is that? Get that beast away from me!"

I put my hand on Thunder's head. He stopped growling, but he did not take his eyes off Evan.

"I am sorry, Evan," I said. I made my voice soft and sad. "I have been dreaming about my parents a lot. I feel so alone in this big house. I got him for protection."

"Right." Evan fixed his tie. "Well, you do not need a dog. You have me."

I almost laughed in his face.

"Let's talk about the wedding," he said.

"Actually, since we are getting married, can I have my parents' shares and money back from your family? I want to manage them myself."

His smile froze. "What?"

"My parents left it to me. I think I should handle it."

"No, babe. We manage that together. It is safer with the Hartfield Group. Trust me." He touched my cheek. I wanted to bite his hand. "Don't worry about it. Just unblock me, okay? I have to run."

He walked fast to his car.

"Run all you want," I said under my breath.

I watched from the window. Evan did not drive away. He sat in his car and made a call. I opened the window a crack and listened.

"Ruby, we have a problem," he said. "Natalie asked for her parents' shares back."

Ruby's voice came through the speaker. "Relax, Evan. She is an orphan with no head for business. She is just throwing a fit. Play the sweet fiancé. Get her to sign the papers. Then that forty million dollars is ours."

"And if she does not sign?"

"She will. Your family's debt depends on it. Do not mess this up."

He hung up and drove away.

I closed the window. My hands were steady now.

An hour later, I stood on the top floor of the tallest building in Riverside Heights. The walls were glass. The whole city was below me.

The building manager clicked through his tablet. "Three thousand square feet, top floor, the best view in Houston. But the rent is high, Miss Natalie."

"I will take a four-year lease," I said. "Six months up front, plus the deposit."

He blinked at me. "Six months?"

"And I start building work tomorrow. Steel doors. Water tanks. Solar panels on the roof."

"That is… a lot of changes."

"I will pay for all of it."

He shook my hand and left to get the papers.

I walked to the window. Thunder came and sat beside me. Across the street stood a big shopping mall with a grocery store, a pharmacy, and a hardware shop.

I touched the black stone on my neck. It was warm.

"When the floods come, Thunder," I said, "everything in that building across the street belongs to us.”