In a neon-drenched metropolis where memory is currency and illusions pass for luxury, Jax survives on a razor’s edge. As a streetwise “memory runner,” he steals secrets and fabricates alluring dreamscapes—his only chance to claw out of a crushing debt owed to ruthless cartels. But when a seemingly omniscient protocol infiltrates his latest gig, Jax finds himself ensnared in a conspiracy far more dangerous than any job he’s pulled before.
Zara, a brilliant corporate elite cloaked in mystery, offers Jax a chance at redemption if he’ll help her track down critical intel leading to the next leap in large-scale consciousness. Yet beneath Zara’s cool calculations lurks a flicker of longing Jax can’t ignore—one that stirs echoes of his own regrets. Their uneasy alliance bristles with suspicion and unexpected sparks of attraction, each of them haunted by secrets they can’t outrun.
As the city quakes under the looming threat of engineered conformity, Jax and Zara confront a stark choice: risk their fractured souls to defy a utopian system designed to rewrite humanity, or become the very catalysts for a mind-controlled dawn. Torn by guilt, ambition, and the tantalizing spark between them, these two reluctant antiheroes realize that resisting perfection might demand more than either can afford—and that sometimes the most dangerous illusions are the ones you create with someone you’re learning to trust.