Chapter 7 · Heartbeat Under the Flood

"Stop shaking. You're bleeding on the ledger."

Dax's hand locked around my wrist. He didn't let go. He hauled me in and slammed my back against the wet brick.

"Get off me!" I twisted. He pinned me harder. His coat stank of rain and gunpowder, cold and sharp, and his thumb was pressed right to my pulse. Thump-thump-thump. Too fast. Too loud.

"You think this is a joke, Mara?" he said. His voice was low, right against my cheek. Warm breath. Cold wall at my back. Nowhere to go. "Look."

He shoved the ledger open under my nose. My name. My handwriting. Dated twenty-three years before I was born.

"That's not possible," I breathed. "Who wrote that? Who the hell wrote my name before I existed?"

"The book doesn't lie," he said. "People do."

His eyes didn't leave mine. That unreadable, pissed-off stare.

"You're not some random runner who got lucky with a silver heart," he said. "You're the debt. You're why this city is eating itself alive."

"I'm not a debt!" I shoved at his chest. Useless. Like shoving a wall. "I don't know anything about your debts! I just want my brother back!"

"Then stop fighting me.