Zero Balance

Seattle, 2035. Elias Cole is eighty grand in the debt, bleeding on the pavement, and out of options. He is a "Zero Balance"-a man erased by the unforgiving algorithm of life.

Stephan Blankenship is heir to a venture capital empire, drowning in expectations he can't meet.

When Elias stumbles upon Stephan having a panic attack outside the exclusive Miller Services Executive Program, he sees an opening. He takes Stephan's invite. He takes his name. He takes his life.

But the Miller Program isn't just a leadership seminar. It's an integration. Every candidate is implanted with a "Node"-an advanced AI named Rai that monitors every heartbeat, every lie, and every micro-expression.

Rai knows Elias is a fraud instantly. But instead of exposing him, she decides to optimize him.

Now, Elias is trapped in a glass cage of corporate warfare, caught between a drunk heir, a brilliant hacker who sees through his disguise, and Elena Miller-a ruthless architect who isn't building better CEOs, but compliant hosts for a global nervous system.

To survive the week, Elias has to pull off the ultimate con: save a billion-dollar company he doesn't own, and save the life he stole.

High Tech. Low Life. Zero Margin for Error.