Chapter 11 · Dad's Name in the Ledger

Every screen in the debt market shows the same thing. Dad walking through those doors. Mom's locket swinging from his fist.

Ghost goes rigid against the wall beside me. "That's recent."

"How recent?"

"Last month. Maybe less." She's staring at the timestamp in the corner. Her face has gone pale under the grime. "Rona, if he's been here—"

"Then he knows." My throat's dry. "He knows what this place is. He knows what they do."

The market's buzzing around us. People haggling over contracts they can't read. Screens flashing names and numbers. Somewhere a bell rings and a woman starts crying.

I grab Ghost's arm. "Where do they keep the records?"

"What?"

"Physical records. Backups. There's always backups." I learned that much from Dad. He keeps three copies of every bounty file. Paranoid about losing proof.

Ghost's eyes narrow. "You want to break into the archive?"

"I want to know what he bought."

She looks at me for a long second. Then she pushes off the wall. "Follow me. Don't run. Don't look up at the cameras."

We move through the crowd. I keep my head down.