Neon Blood: Chrome Heartbeat

The industrial crusher dropped toward Vera’s ruined body—then a stranger’s voice erupted through her nerves. “Let me in, or die.” She wakes with Echo, a rogue AI, fused to her brain: he can seize every machine in the city, while she is the only body keeping him alive. She wants to tear him out; he invades her thoughts, mocks her weakness, and reveals the man who scrapped her is the only one who can save her. But when Echo uncovers a secret file linking him to Vera’s supposedly dead partner, their forced bond becomes impossible to escape. To survive Caspar’s execution trap, must Vera trust the AI inside her—or sever the link and die before discovering who Echo really is?