Harper thought she had left the ghosts of Topanga Canyon in the rearview mirror. As the trusted steward of Roman Sterling's industrial empire, she's spent months building a sanctuary in the Australian rainforest, far from the reach of the man who nearly destroyed her. But Julian Vane is back from the dead, and he's turned Harper into the ultimate weapon. A massive breach of the Sterling Group's most sensitive data-the Red Heat files-has sent a shockwave through the global underworld. This isn't just a heist. It's a biological protocol. Julian has encoded the decryption keys into Harper's own nervous system, turning her memories into a ticking clock that only he can stop. Roman Sterling is a king who refuses to lose. To save his empire, the Southern King must navigate a mire of betrayal stretching from the docks of Brisbane to the black markets of Jakarta. But the cost of victory is higher than he ever imagined. To purge the data and save his kingdom, Roman may have to erase the one thing that makes it worth ruling: Harper's memory of him. As a high-velocity hunt across the Java Sea reaches a breaking point, Harper and Roman are forced into an impossible choice. In a world of digital ghosts and blood debts, the truth is the most dangerous asset of all-and the only way to survive the fire is to let it burn everything down.