Behind closed doors, Chicago's most influential minds are playing a dangerous game. And someone has just made a fatal move.

When a mysterious death rocks an exclusive Black think tank, private detective Trigger Brown is drawn into a world where intellect is currency, influence is power, and the people shaping the city's future are guarding secrets of their own.

Among the institute's brilliant strategists, wealthy benefactors, and ambitious power brokers, everyone has something to gain. Everyone has something to hide. And the deeper Trigger investigates, the more she begins to suspect that the truth is being carefully constructed around her.

As alliances shift and contradictions mount, Trigger finds herself questioning not only the evidence but the very people who brought her into the investigation.

In a place where perception can be manufactured and every move serves a larger strategy, Trigger must determine who's controlling the game before she discovers the cost of being played.

Because even the most dangerous player can be somebody else's pawn.