In Houston’s East End, a bail boss, her ex-MP enforcer, and a hacker auditor flip a bond-forfeiture machine run by a megachurch and the DA—racing to free her framed brother—before the system forfeits her.

SYNOPSIS:

Series Synopsis

In Houston’s East End, Zaria “Zee” Baptiste runs a small, principled bail bond shop with two ride-or-dies: ex–Army MP Lu Delgado and forensic accountant–turned–hacker Casey Park. When a desperate father skips court because a shadowy network kidnaps his daughter, Zee’s rescue operation exposes a citywide racket: a megachurch led by Pastor Reggie Cole launders civil-forfeiture windfalls through shells that bankroll the DA frontrunner, Candace Reddick. Their enforcer? Zee’s complicated almost-ally, ex-cop Wyatt King—the same officer who once framed Zee’s teenage brother, D’Andre.

Each week, Zee’s team takes on a “forfeit”—a person, property, or freedom the system has already decided to keep. They weaponize paperwork, truth, and community like others use guns. Wins come with costs. As Zee builds a community surety co-op to break predatory cycles, Candace and Reggie escalate: smear campaigns, arrests, and targeted violence. Wyatt teeters between penance and self-preservation. The season barrels toward two showdowns: exposing BEARCAT, the money spine of the empire, and freeing D’Andre—or losing Zee’s entire life to the same machine she’s fighting.

• Role: Owner, Baptiste Bond & Surety; street-smart legal tactician.

• Desire: Dismantle the grift that cages poor families; clear D’Andre.

• Wound: Brother’s wrongful conviction; years of “lawful” theft by institutions.

• Secret: Keeps the original body-cam lead that implicates Wyatt hidden—even from her team—until she can deploy it surgically.

• Contradiction: Believes in the law; breaks rules daily to make it honest.

• S1 Arc: From lone operator to builder of a member-owned surety co-op; learns to trust the community she protects. Faces a choice: sacrifice BEARCAT’s biggest reveal to win D’Andre’s freedom now—or risk D’Andre’s appeal to burn the entire network.

• Role: Ex–Army MP; runs a small fab shop; close-quarters expert.

• Desire: Keep the team—and kids like Gaby—safe, at any cost.

• Wound: Dishonorable discharge for protecting a vulnerable soldier; authority failed her.

• Secret: PTSD she manages with ritual and humor; a sealed juvenile record.

• Contradiction: Sledgehammer skill set; caretaker heart.

• S1 Arc: Learns to lead ops, not just breach doors. A near-fatal misread forces her to adopt de-escalation first tactics—her toughest skill.

• Role: Numbers whisperer; turns ledgers into warrants and headlines.

• Desire: Make crimes that hide on spreadsheets bleed in daylight.

• Wound: Blew the whistle at a Big Four firm; got blacklisted.

• Secret: Wrote the mirror that can publish BEARCAT to a decentralized network with one keystroke.

• Contradiction: Outlaw coder with auditor’s ethics.

• S1 Arc: From back-room operator to on-record witness. Chooses to risk indictment to authenticate BEARCAT in court.

• Role: Ex-cop security fixer; Reggie/Candace’s instrument.

• Desire: Redemption without ruin.

• Wound: Buried by “stats”—planted a gun on D’Andre to survive his unit’s quotas.

• Secret: Keeps a private copy of the uncut body-cam that clears D’Andre.

• Contradiction: Knight in tarnished armor; both shield and sword.

• S1 Arc: Walks the razor: feeding Zee intel vs. burning her to save himself. Endgame: testify and collapse the ring—or die protecting it.

• Role: Brilliant, immaculate prosecutor; BEARCAT’s political endpoint.

• Desire: Win, reform “her way,” control the narrative.

• Wound: Years of being underestimated; refuses to lose power once she touches it.

• Secret: Directs forfeiture resales through church shells to her PAC; green-lights intimidation.

• Contradiction: “Truth. Justice. Right.” candidate who calls truth “a luxury good.”

• S1 Arc: From bulletproof to besieged. Doubles down—quiet indictments, selective prosecutions—until the scandal forces a choice between office and freedom.

• Role: Shepherd of City Faith; CEO of a sanctified RICO.

• Desire: Influence with plausible deniability.

• Wound/Mask: Poverty-to-pulpit origin that justifies every “blessing.”

• Secret: Owns the choke points: tow lots, clerks, “donation” deeds, and the security vendor that launders cash.

• Contradiction: Sells grace; collects houses.

• S1 Arc: Public brand invincible—until Ana Cruz and Zee’s receipts crack the flock. Moves from PR war to holy terror.

• Role: The clinic; the safe house; the line Zee won’t cross.

• Desire: Keep bodies and souls intact.

• Wound: Watched a patient die over a bill; distrusts “systems.”

• Secret: Violates policy to protect minors from “welfare checks” that disappear them.

• Contradiction: Rule-bound clinician who breaks rules to do no harm.

• S1 Arc: From “off-book helper” to community health pillar; risks her license to create a pro bono medical paper trail that blocks unlawful forfeitures.

• Role: Innocent man; the heart of Zee’s fight.

• Desire: Freedom, dignity, a second start.

• Wound: Stolen youth; labeled a criminal.

• Secret: Refuses to snitch even when it could speed his release.

• Contradiction: Hardened by prison; refuses to harden his heart.

• S1 Arc: From case number to human face of the movement. His appeal becomes the season’s moral fulcrum.

(Recurring: Moisés & Gaby Cruz; Ana Cruz; a rotating bench of families and “forfeits” who become co-op members.)

Pilot (“Collateral”): Zee hunts Moisés Cruz, who skipped court because kidnappers took his daughter, Gaby. Extracting Gaby exposes a mannequin trap and a ticking-clock threat from a voice tied to City Faith Church. At a covert meet under I-610, Zee confronts Candace, who “doesn’t kidnap—she funds alternatives.” Zee refuses a trade and digs. With Casey’s tower pings and Lu’s recon, they free Moisés from a stash, seize a flash drive, and learn the bomb: Wyatt framed D’Andre. The drive cracks BEARCAT, linking Pastor Reggie’s “donations” and forfeiture resales to Candace’s PAC. Reggie hits Zee with a forfeiture notice; Zee hits back by hijacking his livestream with receipts and Ana Cruz’s testimony. Candace shrugs the headlines, plans a perp-walk distraction. Wyatt edges toward confession. Zee files an emergency motion to quash Moisés’s forfeiture, wins, and reopens her shop as a community surety co-op: “We bring you home.”

Season Spine:

• A-Story (Serialized): Expose and dismantle BEARCAT (church shells → “public safety fund” → Candace PAC), free D’Andre.

• B-Story (Episodic Cases): Each episode centers on a “forfeit”—a person/home/future already claimed by the system. Zee’s team flips the script using paperwork raids, digital evidence, and tactical extractions.

• C-Story (Personal Fallout): Co-op’s birth pains; Wyatt’s slow-burn redemption; Amara’s ethical line; Lu’s leadership; Casey’s whistleblower arc.

Kidnapped child; mannequin trap; BEARCAT discovery; public exposé; co-op founded.

• Case: A grandma’s shotgun house signed away in a “blessing drive.”

• Moves: Casey maps deed laundering; Lu leads a soft-entry to retrieve original records from a complicit title office.

• Turn: Candace indicts a minor co-conspirator to draw fire off her PAC.

• Act-Out: Wyatt slides Zee an unlogged auction ledger—strings attached.

• Case: Sheriff auction livestream; Zee challenges “vendor neutrality.”

• Moves: Amara treats a protester maced at the lot; Casey overlays live transactions with BEARCAT shells in real time.

• Turn: Reggie’s security roughs up a teen; Lu intervenes, nearly shoots—chooses restraint.

• Act-Out: Judge issues a gag order on Zee’s channels.

• Case: A mechanic’s shop seized for an unpaid ticket compound.

• Moves: Paperwork blitz: writs, emergency motions, media affidavits.

• Turn: Candace flips the court clerk; filings vanish.

• Act-Out: Casey’s mirror triggers—BEARCAT leaks to a decentralized archive…but it’s not admissible.

• Case: D’Andre’s appeal.

• Moves: Wyatt confesses privately; admits the uncut body-cam exists in a union vault.

• Turn: Break-in op: Lu on point, Casey on locks, Zee on eyes—clean until an alarm.

• Act-Out: They pull a drive… labeled “Training Comp”. Wrong file—or a plant.

• Case: City Faith member disappears after questioning “donations.”

• Moves: Pastoral care becomes surveillance; Amara shields the member’s kids from a bogus wellness check.

• Turn: Reggie sues Zee for RICO, claims she’s running an extortion ring.

• Act-Out: Process server drops a temporary restraining order halting the co-op.

• Case: RICO pre-hearing; Zee must disclose sources or cease operations.

• Moves: Casey reveals herself as whistleblower; takes the stand to authenticate the mirror.

• Turn: The real body-cam surfaces—Wyatt mails it to the court under seal.

• Act-Out: Candace’s PAC treasurer flips; names Candace on record.

• Case: D’Andre’s evidentiary hearing and the co-op’s survival—same day.

• Moves: Zee can dump all BEARCAT keys and end the ring—but taint D’Andre’s case—or hold the nuclear option and risk losing the co-op.

• Turn: Wyatt takes the mic, admits the frame publicly; Reggie orders him silenced.

• Finale Act-Out: D’Andre’s conviction vacated pending retrial; arrest warrants for Reggie’s shells; Candace resigns “to cooperate.” Wyatt is shot by Reggie’s security as sirens close in. Zee holds Wyatt’s hand as he asks if it’s enough. She answers with action: “We bring you home.” Cut to black.

Season End State: D’Andre is steps from freedom, Candace is cornered but dangerous, Reggie is wounded but not dead, the co-op is real—and the city is awake.

• Themes: Ownership vs. “donation,” faith vs. exploitation, justice vs. legality, community as counter-power, the price of truth.

• Weekly Engine: A targeted “forfeit” (home, car, custody, reputation) gives Zee a tangible mission; solving it reveals another rung of the larger conspiracy. Receipts are as thrilling as raids—paperwork becomes a heist.

• Franchiseable World: Houston’s courts, tow yards, auctions, back-offices, church lots, and kitchens; a rotating cast of families who become co-op members—each episode adds allies and witnesses.

• #TakeTheLead: Bold, women-forward ensemble led by a Black Caribbean-American heroine; authentically cast & crewed.

• Premium Female Demo: Emotional catharsis + high stakes + found-family core.

• Global Appeal: Clear David-vs-Goliath hook; diverse faces; universally graspable “the system stole my life” stakes.

• Production-Smart: Location-clusterable (Houston/Atlanta/New Orleans), limited VFX, repeatable sets (bond office, ER, church, auction yard).

• Franchise-able: Co-op expansion, companion doc-style “Receipt Room,” podcast tie-ins.

Created by: B. E. Davis Contact: 713.396.0810 • info@stopkillingyourdreams.com