Once an idealistic young detective with the Seattle Police Department, Meghan Rose suffered a serious injury in the line of duty. Trauma and the resulting scandal encouraged her to leave behind her old life with the SPD, along with her faith in the system.

Jaded and struggling with her mental health, she now works as a bodyguard with local and traveling celebrities through Artemis, a high-end private security company. Even her open relationship with Rémi Dupont has grown rocky over the past months, and she desperately wants things to get better, but she doesn’t know how to make it happen.

As Seattle's up-and-coming mayoral candidate, City COuncil member Jonathan Hale is a clean-cut, charismatic leader with a talent and passion for motivating positive change.

Jon has curious ties to fellow council member Peter O’Leary, the patriarch of an old, moneyed family with deep roots in Judas Creek and connections to unsavory dealings going back decades. Jon’s early life is something of a mystery, hidden behind the carefully polished veneer of a civil servant. There may be nothing to his past, or old ghosts may come back to haunt him at the worst possible time.

His new bodyguard, Meghan Rose, may just have her work cut out for her.

Rémi Dupont is a brilliant young computer expert working as a freelancer in information security. He has developed something of a reputation for himself, which leads him to travel all over the world, working for high-powered clients on major corporate projects.

Outside of work, Rémi is a good-hearted, loving partner with nothing but Meghan’s best interest at heart. Considering the recent strain in their relationship, however, Rémi is in need of some space and the kind of intimacy that Meghan is currently unable to give. But his newest job working a data breach for Chilean biotech company Pewü and its CEO, Luis de la Cruz, may just have to offer what Rémi is looking for.

Luis de la Cruz is something of a prodigal son, having been a partier and playboy in his early adulthood. Those habits, and plain dumb luck, resulted in Luis missing a flight that would be cut short by a fatal crash, killing Luis’ parents and sister.

The sole heir to the de la Cruz family fortune and de facto owner of the Pewü biotech company, Luis is working hard to do good things in the world and honor his family’s memory. His efforts are currently being thwarted, however, as a recent data breach puts years of medical research in jeopardy. He hopes that Rémi Dupont will be able to resolve this matter for him and protect his family’s legacy.

Robbie O’Leary is the son of patriarch Peter O’Leary and the black sheep of the family. For reasons unknown, Robbie and his father have fought each other for years, resulting in Peter all but writing Robbie out of the family. This slight is further compounded by Peter O’Leary’s clear and public fondness for Jonathan Hale and his treatment of Hale as the son he always wanted.

Not one to respond well to disrespect, Robbie has made it his personal mission to make Jon’s life difficult. Something of a balance has been struck, but Robbie’s petulance and cruelty would require little more than a spark in order to flare up even worse than before.

As the favored niece of the late mayor Baptiste Thibault, Gabrielle is looking to leverage her uncle’s memory to break up the old boy’s club that is the Judas Creek city government and affect a long overdue shift in the balance of powers and inequalities in her hometown. The people of Judas Creek, the realpeople on the streets, need someone like her to start the process of making things right.

She is a firebrand and an idealist with a plan for a better city that helps everyone, not just the people with all the money and all the power. People like Jonathan Hale are just representations of the old system standing in her way.