The Architect's Gambit by Stacye Briggs

In the high-stakes arena of presidential politics, where every word is a weapon and every connection a potential liability, Eden Maxwell, a strategist with a razor-sharp mind, finds her carefully constructed campaign crumbling. A deepfake video, seamlessly realistic and devastatingly effective, threatens to derail Senator Sabrina Davis's presidential bid.  As the fabricated narrative spreads like wildfire, Eden must fight not only for her candidate but for the very foundation of truth.

Across the political battlefield, Drake Hunter, strategist for the opposing candidate, watches the chaos unfold with a mixture of triumph and unease.  He understands the power of manipulation, but this feels different. It’s a game he knows how to play, but one he's not sure he wants to win.

Drawn together by a shared enemy—a shadowy organization known as "The Architects"—Eden and Drake forge an uneasy alliance.  The Architects are not just manipulating policies; they're manipulating people, leveraging AI to exploit vulnerabilities and orchestrate seemingly chance encounters.  They are architects of relationships, building trust only to weaponize it.

As Eden and Drake delve deeper into The Architects' intricate web, they uncover betrayals within their own campaigns, discovering that even the closest confidantes can be pawns in a larger game.  Their late-night strategy sessions, fueled by a shared determination to expose the truth, begin to crackle with an undeniable attraction. But is their connection genuine, or another carefully orchestrated piece of The Architects' grand design?

The upcoming presidential debate becomes a high-stakes battleground, a stage for The Architects' final act. Eden and Drake must decide whether to expose the truth and risk throwing the nation into chaos, or play along and watch democracy become a meticulously curated illusion. Their decision, complicated by a burgeoning romance either genuine or ingeniously fabricated, will determine not just the outcome of the election, but the future of truth and freedom in a world where the lines between reality and manipulation are becoming increasingly indistinguishable.