The debt notices arrived three weeks after Lien's final visit, delivered quietly to three separate council members on the same morning. Mercer learned of his own the moment Senna brought it to his desk, her face pale.
"This came by courier an hour ago," she said. "Marked for your personal attention."
Mercer broke the seal and read it twice before the full meaning settled over him. A formal notice, drafted in precise legal language, informing him that a shipping contract from two years earlier, one he'd barely remembered signing during his early warehouse expansion, had been purchased by a Vantris holding company. The debt, modest at the time, had apparently accrued interest under terms Mercer didn't recognize from the original agreement.
"This can't be accurate," he said, scanning the f
