A risk architect who believes empathy is a liability. A clinical neuropsychiatrist who sees the truth beneath his armor. A corporate empire built on game theory-now collapsing under a single, rigged move.
When David Vance's bestselling manifesto ignites a national firestorm, he becomes the target of a brutal corporate ambush that freezes his accounts, seizes his intellectual property, and destroys his fortress of control. But the attack exposes something deeper: a predator who knows David's algorithms better than he does.
Dr. Claire Brennan has spent her career decoding trauma, not weaponizing it. Yet when David appears at her institute's door-carrying two sealed Pelican cases and the ruins of his empire-she must decide whether he is a patient, an ally, or the most dangerous variable she's ever encountered.
In a world where every system is corruptible, the only way out is to rewrite the rules. But survival has a cost-and David Vance has already swallowed the poison.