Gauge And Gulch

"The only honest structures are the ones that admit they're breaking."

Lira Belmont is a meticulous federal dam safety inspector driven by the ghosts of her past. When an anonymous tip leads her to the remote, decaying Harlan Gulch Dam in the dead of winter, she expects a routine structural assessment. Instead, a brutal blizzard strikes, trapping her deep inside the claustrophobic, freezing concrete galleries. But the storm isn't her biggest problem. Lira discovers she has been deliberately locked inside with Corin, a rogue structural engineer masquerading as a caretaker.

Corin has spent three years plotting to expose the massive corporate cover-up that killed his mother and destroyed Lira's father. He disabled the radio and hid the key, needing Lira to witness the impending catastrophic failure of the dam. He engineered her captivity, viewing her grief as the ultimate emotional leverage. But as the icy waters press against the fracturing walls and the dam threatens to obliterate the valley below, Corin's calculated control crumbles into a dark, consuming obsession for the woman he trapped.

Forced to trust the man holding her hostage, Lira must work alongside her captor to prevent a devastating flood and secure the evidence they need. But in the suffocating darkness of the dying dam, the line between enemy and protector shatters, leaving them to navigate a dangerous, toxic attraction that might destroy them before the water does.