Chapter 1

The Nevada desert air was hot, even as the sun dipped low, painting the strange art installations in long shadows. This trip was supposed to be about family, a break from my game studio in Seattle. My adoptive parents, Richard and Linda, seemed to enjoy the festival's weirdness.

Then the drifter appeared, a man calling himself "K." He was all dust and matted hair. He whispered something to Richard, then Linda.

Their faces changed.

Just like that.

"Alex," Richard said, his voice flat, "we need you to sign over your company."

Linda nodded, her eyes cold. "To K. It's his."

I laughed, a nervous sound. "What? Is this a joke? My company?"

It was worth millions, built from nothing, my sweat, my code.

"It's not a joke, Alex," Linda said. "Sign it."

K just watched, a smirk on his chapped lips.

I refused, of course. I told them they were crazy.

Later, back at our rented casita, Linda handed me a craft beer. I was thirsty. I took a long drink.

The world got fuzzy fast.

My legs wouldn't hold me.

They dragged me, Richard and Linda, my parents, the people who raised me. They handed me to a woman, Maria. She had hard eyes and harder hands.

They took me to an old trailer, miles from the festival noise.

Maria broke my legs first. The snap of bone was loud in the small space. Pain flared, white hot, then settled into a constant, grinding agony.

Days passed. Or I think they did.

Thirst was a fire in my throat.

K came sometimes. He'd stand over me.

"You can't fight destiny, Alex," he'd say, his voice a low taunt. "This was always meant to be mine."

He never explained.

My parents never came back.

I died there, on the dirty floor of that trailer, wondering what K had whispered. What words could make my family destroy me?