The Ritual of the Blade

Trapped, wounded, and staring down a blood-soaked tradition, Dr. Amara Holloway and her unlikely partner, former Detective Ben Riley, have become the ultimate prize in the Ashworth family's sickest game. With Amara's sister, Seraphina, incapacitated by drugs, the three are given a fifteen-minute head start into the vast wilderness preserve adjacent to The Manor of Ages. Their hunters—the ruthless Patriarch, Elias Ashworth, and a cabal of wealthy, amoral celebrity clients—are armed with high-powered weapons and the cruel intent of an inherited aristocracy. The clock is ticking down on the twenty-four-hour hunt, with the prize being the Ashworth Family Sword, a symbol of the family's brutal power. Amara must use her last remaining advantage—her knowledge of the slave-era tunnels and the terrain—while Riley must battle his own family's demons and tactical knowledge to keep them alive. Their only hope lies in the moral courage of a disgraced cop, Detective Marcus Holt, who enters the fray with a body cam, ready to expose the truth. But when the dust settles, even the undeniable evidence of mass murder cannot dismantle the Ashworth empire. Now, free from the Hunt but scarred by its cruelty, Amara and Riley must face a horrifying truth: the system won't stop the elite. With Seraphina emotionally estranged and the family still powerful, Amara and Riley must step outside the law to continue The Ritual of the Blade—this time, with the hunters becoming the hunted.