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Contested
Five strangers are chosen for one final round of the world's most addictive puzzle game.
They think they're being rewarded for winning.
Instead, they're dropped into a hyper-realistic world that doesn't test intelligence — it tests integrity. Every shortcut they've ever taken becomes part of the game, broadcast to millions. The only way out is to earn it honestly.
Isadora has never lost a level in her life. She doesn't know how she's so good — she just sees the answer before her hands move. When a mysterious in-app message flags her as "exceptional" and invites her to compete for a prize the company won't name, she says yes without hesitating.
She isn't the only one. Four other finalists — each brilliant, each hiding a different way of cutting corners — are flown to a research campus in rural Wyoming and sealed inside a fully immersive simulation. No one can die here. But everyone can lose everything that matters.
As the levels escalate, so does the audience — livestreamed to millions, voted on by strangers, plastered across public billboards on five continents. One finalist smuggles in outside help. One can't stop looking for a backdoor that no longer exists. One has memorized everything except how to trust her own eyes. And one has never needed a shortcut at all — which might be the most dangerous advantage of all.
Only one finalist will walk away with the truth about what they were really playing for. The rest will learn, one devastating level at a time, exactly what an honest answer costs.
They think they're being rewarded for winning.
Instead, they're dropped into a hyper-realistic world that doesn't test intelligence — it tests integrity. Every shortcut they've ever taken becomes part of the game, broadcast to millions. The only way out is to earn it honestly.
Isadora has never lost a level in her life. She doesn't know how she's so good — she just sees the answer before her hands move. When a mysterious in-app message flags her as "exceptional" and invites her to compete for a prize the company won't name, she says yes without hesitating.
She isn't the only one. Four other finalists — each brilliant, each hiding a different way of cutting corners — are flown to a research campus in rural Wyoming and sealed inside a fully immersive simulation. No one can die here. But everyone can lose everything that matters.
As the levels escalate, so does the audience — livestreamed to millions, voted on by strangers, plastered across public billboards on five continents. One finalist smuggles in outside help. One can't stop looking for a backdoor that no longer exists. One has memorized everything except how to trust her own eyes. And one has never needed a shortcut at all — which might be the most dangerous advantage of all.
Only one finalist will walk away with the truth about what they were really playing for. The rest will learn, one devastating level at a time, exactly what an honest answer costs.
143 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 1, 2026
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