Our First Harm

<p>The Valerian family are gods of modern medicine their name etched into the marble wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Their gospel the Valerian Credo is a sacred promise that has built an empire: <em>Our first responsibility is to the patient</em>. It is a soaring melody of healing and philanthropy that has made them saviors in the public eye.</p><p>But beneath the beautiful song is the low dissonant hum of a machine that runs on human tragedy. Patriarch and CEO Conrad Valerian driven to surpass his father's legacy views death not as a tragedy but as a rounding error-a simple cost of doing business. While his heir Julian begins to hear the dissonant hum of hypocrisy in his father's words the family's brilliant head of R&D Dr. Eleanor Valerian-Hayes is haunted by the secrets she's been forced to bury in the data of their blockbuster opioid Valerium.</p><p>Worlds away in a grim Ohio office Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Carter is building a case to dismantle the Valerian dynasty not as a corporation but as a criminal enterprise under the RICO statute. He is unknowingly allied with Maya Flores a fierce young activist radicalized by her brother's death from a Valerium prescription who refuses to let her family's grief be silenced or sanitized.</p><p>Their paths are set on a collision course when a principled FDA reviewer discovers a terrifying buried truth about the Valerians' next blockbuster drug. His desperate call to Eleanor his former mentee forces her to make an impossible choice: continue to protect the family that has given her everything or expose a lie so monstrous it will obliterate their name from history.</p><p><em>CREDO</em> is a searing high-stakes thriller about the battle between a seductive narrative and a devastating truth. It exposes a world where philanthropy is used to launder a reputation where science is an instrument of commerce and where the people behind the statistics are the ultimate price. How far will a family go to protect its legacy and who will survive when the hum of hypocrisy finally becomes a roar?</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>