Fate Surprised Her

Ella Barnes is a veteran war zone photojournalist who has seen way too much senseless violence. Quitting her harrowing assignment in Nigeria, she returns to her peaceful retreat in Austin. But her homecoming spirals into a nightmare when she discovers her husband's chronic infidelities, soon followed by his death in a hotel room. When the pathologist who conducts his autopsy covertly contacts Ella with disturbing revelations, and then mysteriously "commits suicide," Ella vows to uncover the truth behind their deaths and the double life Brady was living.

Ella's investigating soon leads to Annalise Steiner who learned to scam and swindle from her deadbeat father. But unlike him, she's good at it. Now she makes millions as an underworld Dark Broker, and has recently moved into to a river-island home in Austin to begin the final stages of her biggest con.

In a treacherous gambit of bribes and lies, she has stolen the anticounterfeiting algorithms of a major international pharmaceutical company for their soon-to-be released line of new medications. She sells the algorithms to a transnational drug trader, enabling him to infiltrate counterfeit pharmaceuticals into the legitimate global supply chain without risk of discovery. Even though Annalise's price is high, the buyer knows it's only a fraction of the fortune he can make with the stolen algorithms.

But Annalise overreaches. Driven by greed, she sells the algorithms again, to a second international dealer. Neither man knows the other is involved. Each of them believes he has made an "exclusive" deal with Annalise.

Meanwhile, Alan Shea, a former intelligence operative who has tracked Annalise for several years, finally catches up with her in Austin. Soon Ella and Alan's paths cross, and they  team up. Plunging into Annalise's labyrinth of lies, they resort to deceptions of their own, pushing against time and risk to stop her scheme.

But just as Annalise's complex con spins toward its finale, it begins to unravel violently. At the same time Alan and Ella's fabrications reach a tipping point as well. Alan is almost killed, leaving Ella to pursue Annalise alone to the Cayman Islands. There, with careful planning and a lot of luck, Ella sets another trap for Annalise. But fate catches both women by surprise. When the end comes, nothing goes the way either of them had planned—or imagined.