I think about Varek Glimner leaning on my counter and smiling like he already owned the place.
I think about the way Tur went very quiet when she said that word.
I shove the thoughts away.
Not yet.
I am not spiraling yet.
We keep digging.
Patterns emerge.
The same exemption language appears in half a dozen other locations across Novaria.
All of them decommissioned transit zones.
All of them sitting on top of buried infrastructure corridors.
All of them quietly protected from redevelopment.
“All right,” I whisper. “So my family accidentally built a restaurant on top of something that makes very powerful people nervous.”
“That is… one way to phrase it,” Ishaan says.
My tablet buzzes.
Mara.
I answer it immediately.
“Hey,” I say, forcing my voice into something normal.
“Kim,” she whispers. “They came back.”
My spine goes rigid.
“Who.”
“Collectors. Not Glimner’s usual guys. Different crew. Meaner energy. They were asking about you. About who you’ve been talking to.”
My chest tightens.
“What did they do.”
“They told Lily her application to move her kids into a better school district just got ‘lost in the system,’” she says. “They told Sam his union card renewal might get complicated. They told me my landlord’s inspection next month might not go well if I keep ‘being difficult.’”
Rage lights me up like a fuse.
“I’m so sorry,” I say.
“I’m not calling you to apologize,” she snaps softly. “I’m calling you to tell you people are scared. They’re not answering your messages because they think it’s safer not to be associated with you.”
I close my eyes.
“Okay,” I say. “Thank you for telling me. Don’t antagonize them. Don’t promise them anything. I’ll handle it.”
“How,” she demands.
