CHAPTER 10: The Vendor Who Remembered Bread

Daniel had never met Silas Whitmore, but suddenly he felt judged by him.
He stood in the office with the key in one hand and the foil's warmth still on the counter downstairs. Vanessa hovered at the door, no longer shouting. Behind her, two security men waited for instructions they were afraid to follow.
'He is not supposed to be here,' Vanessa said.
'Because he is dangerous?' Daniel asked. 'Or because he is inconvenient?'
She said nothing.
The photograph on the desk answered instead. Jonah had been a child inside these walls once. He had learned the market by carrying bread, wiping tables, and running messages between vendors who knew his name before lawyers buried it under concern.
Daniel looked at the ledger again. Pages of fees. Cash penalties. Notes about vendors who fed unpaid workers, dismissed as 'soft risk.'
Mercy, apparently, had become a violation.