---
The place was larger than it looked from outside. Of course it was. Filth businesses often hid depth where honest buildings hid windows. The entry hall opened into two long side corridors and one central room where rough tables, ledgers, chain loops, and holding screens turned human misery into managed inventory.
The first thing Lily saw was a child in a side cage looking through the slats with the exhausted blankness of someone who had cried beyond sound already.
The second thing she saw was a woman in a clean dark dress standing near the central desk, fingers stained with ink, nails trimmed like a clerk, her posture was calm like a manager. She did not hold a branding rod. She did not swing a chain. She did something worse.
She held the contract seals.
The woman's voice carried across the room with bored authority. "Two girls go to the east lane. Mark them as voluntary debt settlement. If they scream, gag them. If they bite, break teeth. Do not waste medicine."
