PROTOCOL: Guardian

In the glass-and-steel jungle of the conglomerate world, Erisha is a ghost-an elite security specialist who operates in the shadows of the powerful. When she is headhunted by the terminally ill patriarch of India's most formidable empire, the mission appears straightforward: secure the future of the lineage. She isn't there to protect a dying man; she is there to protect the only thing that matters more than his life-his undisputed successor.

As the patriarch's health declines, the vultures begin to circle. Erisha finds herself tethered to the family's lead legal counsel, a man who wields fine print as lethally as she wields lead. Their partnership is a friction-filled alliance of necessity: he handles the boardroom snakes; she neutralizes the street-level wolves. They are the only two who know the true nature of the Asset they are guarding-and the only barrier between the empire and its complete collapse.

But when a relentless detective starts closing in on Erisha, sensing a pattern of loyalty that doesn't align with her cold reputation, the stakes shift from professional to personal.

In a world of redacted files and corporate espionage, the most dangerous protocol is the one that involves the heart.

Behind fortified walls and airtight legal injunctions lies a secret so fragile it could rewrite the future-or reduce it to ash.

Rules can be broken.

Protocols can be rewritten.

But a guardian never leaves their post.