He was gilded in oil. She was traded in gold.In sun-scorched Texas, oil magnate Harlan Creed is dying and hunting for a successor. He invites Myles King, a brilliant but controversial investor known as the "Golden Boy," to shadow him. Myles believes it's a chance at legacy. He doesn't realize he's being groomed, just like others before him, and all of whom have vanished without a trace. Half a world away, Leyla Al-Mazir is dispatched by her father and gold baron, Fariz Al-Mazir, to negotiate environmental concessions with Creed. A poised diplomat with steel beneath her grace, Leyla thinks she's stepping into a policy game. Little does she know there are more sinister things at play when Leyla becomes a prize sealed in gold. Their new alliance is born not of trust, but necessity. Uncovering The Gilded Vein, a secret syndicate controlling gold, oil, and lives, they realize that the deeper they go, the more they question whether they're liberators or the next generation of monsters in gold.