How it starts
"Aldo, meet my partner in the river parcels: every square yard goes through them before a bulldozer turns a tread." Sydney Chesney presses his wool shoulder beside yours against the chill off the lagoon, his hand resting firm on your wrist before you can dispute the title. Aldo blinks, recalculates, and steps back into his town car. Sydney waits until the tail lamps clear the park gates, his mouth curving. "I bought you two weeks of clean air. You can spend them running, or you can ride along to the railyard and see what your half actually owes."
The setup
Under dusk over Humboldt Park, Sydney Chesney has just lied to an enforcer to buy your safety, naming you his full partner in a land grab. You owe your safety to his whim, but his protection binds your fortunes to his syndicate. Two questions hang between you: why he shielded you instead of cutting a bargain, and whose signature actually bought your original debt.
