A disgraced microbiologist. A mysterious outbreak. A legacy no one understands—until it’s too late. Anna Wainwright was brilliant—once. Now she’s drifting, numbed by a drug she can’t quite quit and entangled with the man who feeds it to her. When her younger sister collapses after a violent insect-borne attack, Anna’s instincts flare back to life. The illness isn’t random. It’s choosing its victims—and she’s running out of time to learn why. Mik is a charismatic foreign researcher who speaks in riddles. His theories about inherited markers and ancient divergence strike her as both eccentric and absurd—but their connection is chemical, cerebral, and physical. They are not alone. Charlie —a war-scarred grandfather—throws himself into Anna’s investigation, driven by a loss he can’t outrun. Diana keeps vigil beside her comatose son, only to discover the mystery is far closer to home than she could’ve ever imagined. Brooks , desperate to atone, places his last hope in the hands of the very man now investigating him. Each step forward reveals more than a disease. Journals scrawled in an obscure tongue and symbols no database can trace point to something older. Something watching. Something that remembers. Told through five interwoven perspectives, INHERITED is a visceral speculative thriller about the quiet terror of being known by forces you never knew existed—and the cost of uncovering a legacy you never chose. Some traits don’t just pass through families. Some are marked. Some are hunted.