The Summer Heat Was Thirty Degrees And His Lie Was A Hundred

For two years, Nadia and her mother have survived a nightmare. Trapped in a so-called survival game with no choice but to defeat its final boss, they endure hunger, cruelty, and despair—all while holding on to one promise: that Nadia’s father would come to save them.
Then the boss removes his mask. It’s her father.
And the truth is worse than any game. There was no system, no escape to win, just a vast, horrific punishment her father inflicted to please Ivy, whom he loves, while his wife and daughter endured as “actors” who never knew the cameras were rolling. When the director calls “cut,” the crew walks away laughing. But Nadia’s mother isn’t acting. She’s dying, and Teddy refuses to believe it, and turns his back on them both.
Buried in the dust with the truth and her grief, Nadia finally understands what her father is. She thinks the nightmare is over. For her, this is just the beginning.