The Lockup Period

Semifinalist 2026 BookLife Prize Fiction Contest!

90 Days to IPO Riches–if they can just figure out what to do with the body!

A fast, fun, and twisty ride through the underbelly of Silicon Valley—where fortunes are made overnight, and everyone is chasing their cut.

Mario Kennedy yearns to be part of tech’s in-crowd. But with an unfair rap sheet and a job slinging pizzas, he’s stuck on the outside. When MenuAi—a startup in which he holds advisory shares—announces it’s going public, he finally gets his shot. That is, if he can survive the ninety-day lockup period… and the stock lives up to the hype.

Driving that hype is Ravi Singh, a rising star in venture capital determined to land his first unicorn—no matter the cost. Covering the frenzy is Jamie Villanueva, a young reporter caught between breaking the story and settling a personal score.

On the night of the IPO, a troubling

A dead body turns up in the CEO’s apartment. Expose the truth, and everything collapses. Conceal it until the lockup period expires, and walk away rich.

In Silicon Valley, it may be that making a killing… isn’t just a figure of speech.