Page 67 of Bloom in Darkness

No. Ten minutes. I just want the records and an answer.

Ten minutes. Records, an answer, then back to Bryn and Caelan. I lock the apartment behind me and head downstairs with the paperwork tucked under my arm.

The club looks stupidly normal in daylight. No stage lights, no drunk Alphas waving cash around, no music trying to liquefy my organs through the floor. A delivery truck is backed into the alley, and two bartenders I recognize are counting bottles behind the main bar when I step inside.

Cass looks up first, the glass in his hand going still beneath the towel. “Astra?”

"Is Sabine here?" I keep my bag over one shoulder and the paperwork in my hand so there's no way to pretend this is a social visit.

Cass sets down the glass he's drying. "Do you want me to tell her you're here?"

"Please."

Cass waits another second before reaching for the phone under the bar. "You okay?"

"Ask me again in ten minutes."

Sabine appears in less than five. She's in cream trousers and a black blouse, hair pinned back like always, and she looks exactly like she does whenever she’s about to explain why something shitty is technically my fault.

"Astra." She looks at the papers under my arm. “I wondered how long it would take.”

“Good. Then this should be quick.”

Sabine turns toward the stairs. “Office.”

I follow her upstairs with the paperwork tucked under my arm, still determined to leave with either the records or an answer, preferably both.

Sabine closes the office door behind us while I stay standing and spread the statement across her desk. “Explain this.”

She barely glances at the page. “You can read.”

"I can. That's how I know I've got payments coming off and new fees replacing them fast enough that the number never moves." I tap the itemized page. "What did I damage? What missed booking am I paying for? Why am I being charged an event preparation fee for an event I didn't agree to attend?"

Sabine folds her hands. "Your employment has costs. You know that."

"Then show me the records. All of them."

Sabine leans back in her chair. “You have become very demanding.”

"Yeah. It turns out I like knowing what I owe."

I put the Night of Scarlet packet beside the statement. "And I want to know why my name is already on this."

"Because you are attending."

"I didn't say that."

"You agreed to the terms of your employment, Astra. The Night of Scarlet is an opportunity for you to settle a balance you have made very little progress on. Silas and Rourke are both willing to clear it. There are other households interested as well."

"Interested in me or interested in buying the debt?"

“Those things do not have to be mutually exclusive.”

"They do to me."

I gather the papers back together. "Send me the complete accounting. I'll decide whether I attend after I read it."

I make it two steps toward the door before it opens. One of the security Betas stands on the other side.