Chapter 16 · The Debt List

"Your sister's name is on the list."

Silas Wren didn't look up from the leather ledger spread across the steel table. His fingers traced a column of entries, each one marked with a date and a number. The underground office smelled like wet concrete and old ink.

Jace felt the words hit him before his brain caught up. "What list."

"The debt auction." Silas turned the ledger around and pushed it toward him. "Third page. Halfway down."

Jace didn't want to look. He looked anyway.

There it was. *Lila Mercer. 19. Medical debt rollover. Bid opens 03/14. Reserve: $47,000.*

His hands went flat on the table. "You put her on this."

"The city did." Silas leaned back in his chair, calm as anything. "I'm just the one who pulls the files when the reset goes live. Your sister missed two payments. The third one triggers automatic auction listing. You know how it works."

"She's seventeen."

"She turned nineteen six days ago. The system caught up." Silas tapped the page. "You want her off the list, you pay the reserve before the bid opens. Or you help me finish what we started, and I clear the debt entirely.