Chapter 1

Lila Hart sat at the small glass desk in her home office, the city’s rain-streaked skyline glowing through the floor-to-ceiling window behind her. The apartment was quiet except for the soft hum of the air recycler and the occasional distant siren. Ethan was still at the gym; she had exactly forty-seven minutes before he’d be home. Plenty of time.

She opened her pad and navigated to the Desireprint portal—black background, neon-green accents, the encrypted connection warning she’d long since stopped reading. She had never done this before, but was thrilled about her idea.

The dashboard loaded. She opened the profile she had created a week ago.

Name: Lila Hart (me)

She had already done the basics. She had opened up her social media accounts so Desireprint could see her posts, private messages, and photo archive of old pictures. She had also sent in her DNA kit—cheek swab weeks ago, mailed in the prepaid envelope Desireprint sent. The confirmation had arrived yesterday: “Sample processed. Genetic fidelity: 98.7%.”

Now the videos.

The photos gave the system some idea of what she looked and dressed like. Uploading videos was the application’s way to get that authenticity.

The system prompted: “Record reference footage for behavioral calibration. Clothing optional. Full-body coverage recommended.”