Probationary officer Carys Voss needs one secret to stay buried: the anonymous night she spent with a stranger after saving him from a drugged setup at a hotel. That stranger is Bram Haldane, the new commander at her precinct, of the state's wealthiest shipping family, and a man who despises anyone trading favors for rank. He does not recognize her. He only keeps the wallet she dropped, which carries her roommate Delia Keene's name, so when Delia claims to be his rescuer, Bram believes her and installs her in his estate. Carys stays silent about the night, the lies and the positive test tying her to a man who now belongs to someone else. She stakes everything on earning a permanent badge — a hostage standoff, a rooftop rescue, an undercover bid inside Gideon Vale's trafficking ring — while a jealous colleague and a corrupted superior quietly work to bury her. Every rescue pulls Bram nearer the truth and Carys nearer the loss of the career she built alone.
