CODE NAME: TANK

Releasing September 9, 2025

His structured approach made him the perfect operative.
Her intuitive intelligence challenged every rule he lived by.
Neither expected their investigation of a cryptocurrency theft to
ignite an attraction that could compromise everything they stood for.

TANK
I’ve built my career on structure and strategy, but working with Dragon is testing every ounce of my control. She’s brilliant, intuitive, and challenges my systematic approach at every turn. When a cryptocurrency theft puts us on the trail of quantum technology that could destabilize global markets, we’re forced to work together despite our clashing styles. My job is to lead the mission, not become distracted by her fierce intelligence or the way she sees through my barriers. But as bullets fly and the countdown ticks, those professional lines are starting to blur.

DRAGON
Everyone thinks they know who I am—the specialist who keeps her distance, too focused on the mission to form personal connections. They’re wrong. I know exactly what I want, and right now that’s stopping a catastrophic attack on financial systems while keeping my “no workplace romance” rule intact. Tank thinks his organized approach is always best, but I’ve spent my career trusting my instincts. As we race through charity events, decipher encrypted drives, and defend each other in firefights to stop a global conspiracy, I’m beginning to realize some rules are meant to be broken. Now I just have to convince him that sometimes, taking risks leads to the greatest rewards.

—Prologue—

Dragon

The third cup of coffee sat untouched beside my keyboard as the encryption algorithm ran for the seventeenth time. Zero three hundred at Canada Lake, and I was the only fool still awake—or so I thought until the hairs on my neck stood up.

I don’t turn around. “Hovering doesn’t make the code break faster, Tank.”

“Not hovering. Brought reinforcements.” His deep voice was closer than expected, and when I glanced up, he was setting down fresh coffee and something that might actually be homemade coffee cake.

“You bake now? The apocalypse truly is upon us.”

His mouth quirked up at one corner—the closest Tank ever came to a full smile. “I thought we might need it.”

What I needed was for him to stop looking at me like he could see past my encryption algorithms straight into parts of me nobody at K19 was authorized to access.

“What I need is for this damn—” The computer chimed, interrupting my deflection. “Finally!”

Tank moved in, pressing his shoulder against mine as he leaned toward the screen. I should’ve pulled away. I didn’t.

“Is that…Arabic?” His breath was warm against my ear.

“And Cyrillic. And something else.” My fingers pounded the keyboard. “This guy has layered the encryption using multiple alphabets, almost like—”

“Like he’s leaving breadcrumbs specifically for someone with your skill set?” Tank finished.

Our eyes met, and something electric passed between us. For three months, I’d managed to keep Tank Abrams firmly in the colleague zone. Three months of ignoring the way his tactical brilliance complemented my technical expertise. Three months of pretending I didn’t notice how his eyes tracked me across the command center.

All undone by one middle-of-the-night encryption breakthrough.

“There.” I pointed at the screen, desperate to redirect. “That sequence repeats, but with variations that correspond to—”

“Dragon.” His hand covered mine on the mouse. Warm. Steady. Entirely too intimate. “What aren’t you telling me about these messages?”

The man who supposedly only dealt in hard evidence and physical certainties was suddenly reading me like one of his surveillance reports. Damn him.

“Nothing relevant to the mission.”

“Everything’s relevant when billions in cryptocurrency are missing.”

I pulled my hand away and attacked the keyboard again. “The messages were directed to someone specific at K19. I thought it was Alice, but—”

“It’s you.” There was no question in his voice.

The final encryption layer fractured, and a man’s face filled the screen. He looked haunted, exhausted.

“If you’re watching this, you’ve found the breadcrumbs.” His voice was strained. “The cryptocurrency isn’t stolen—it’s been secured. They don’t want the money. They want what created it. And if they succeed, every financial system on earth becomes their playground.”

The video cut to scrolling code that made my stomach drop.

Tank’s fingers closed around my wrist. “What is it?”

“Market Zero.” I barely recognized my own voice. “It’s already begun.”

His grip tightened, and when I looked up, the rigid, by-the-book exterior had vanished. In its place was something raw and intense.

“How long?”

“Forty-eight hours. Maybe less.” My pulse hammered under his fingers. “And we’re the only ones who can stop it.”

For one unguarded moment, I could see everything Tank’s been hiding behind that disciplined facade—and just like that, I knew. Whatever happened in the next forty-eight hours would dismantle every wall I’d built—both around the mission and around my heart.