Adult

Elliot Carter thought he had left Harrison Creek behind for good. The small Appalachian town, steeped in shadows and secrets, was a place of pain—the memory of his mother’s tragic death and Lily Rose’s haunting disappearance lingering for years. It had been 20 years since Lily vanished without a trace, and now, Elliot is drawn back to the place he swore to escape. The call comes: his father, Dr. Robert Carter, is dying. Elliot returns to Harrison Creek, but it’s not just his father who pulls him back. The mystery of Lily’s disappearance has never let him go. As a child, he accepted the town’s story—that Lily was simply forgotten—but now, as an adult, Elliot knows better. The town hides something far darker. Dr. Robert Carter, the town’s respected doctor, has been hiding something. Elliot begins to unravel cryptic clues suggesting his father’s involvement in Lily’s case is deeper—and more sinister—than anyone could have guessed. With the help of Vera Larkin, a childhood friend turned journalist, Elliot uncovers a web of lies and moral corruption. The more he digs, the more the townspeople close ranks, and the more violent the threats become. Elliot soon discovers the unthinkable: Lily’s disappearance wasn’t an accident—it was planned. And the man responsible for silencing her forever was none other than his own father. As the investigation spirals, Elliot must confront a chilling truth: his father’s dark past may cost him everything, including his own soul. Some truths are better left buried. But in Harrison Creek, the truth always finds a way to surface.

At 11:57 p.m., every adult in Meridian City receives a countdown. When it reaches zero, the implanted System will stop their heart. Completing assigned missions earns time. Failing them costs it. A privileged few seem to have centuries. Everyone else has hours. Elias Venn has spent years hauling injured people out of the city’s condemned districts. He knows how to save lives without asking whether the patient deserves it. Then someone empties his time account while he is carrying a stranger to safety. With barely three minutes left to live, Elias accepts a hunter contract and learns a terrifying rule: the System pays more for a confirmed kill than a living capture. His first target holds evidence that time can be stolen from registered citizens. Worse, the theft is tied to Mara, Elias’s younger sister, whose own countdown has begun to collapse. Each level Elias gains opens a new route through a city divided into lethal missions, restricted districts, hunter rankings, and hidden administrative permissions. But greater strength brings greater temptation: he can buy time for Mara only by risking his own life—or taking it from someone else. An ex-System auditor named Tessa Rook offers him access to the records everyone wants destroyed. She distrusts hunters, and Elias has every reason to distrust the institution she once served. Their uneasy partnership deepens as they uncover a chain of contracts leading toward the people who designed the countdown. When a new mission appears offering Elias the hours he desperately needs, its target is not a criminal. The name on the execution order is someone he swore he would protect. And the System has already started the timer.