Chapter 1
Inez discovers a dead stranger on her stoop bearing Mateo's stolen sigil pinned inside his coat. The sigil's fresh tear and ritual salt on the corpse's hands confirm a deliberate message tied to her brother's disappearance and an active occult debt. She pockets the sigil, drags the body inside to buy time, and registers the five-night grace period already shrinking—launching the countdown and forcing her back into the world she fled. Inez confronts Aunt Renata in the storefront with a torn ledger page bearing Mateo's sigil. Renata's fear is visible but she deflects. An Enforcer arrives and offers a deal — deliver the missing ledger in four nights and Mateo goes free; fail and the district transfers and the building falls. Renata's final admission that Mateo signed everything closes the scene and sharpens the stakes heading into scene 3. The Enforcer delivers the syndicate's ultimatum in the tailoring shop: four nights remain to produce the complete ritual ledger or Mateo is forfeit and the district falls to redevelopment. He reveals the dead courier was killed when Mateo tried to destroy part of the ledger. Renata confesses Mateo willingly signed the debt to shield Inez from their family's old ritual obligations. She admits the remaining pages are hidden upstairs but warns that touching them will transfer the debt to Inez. The scene ends with Inez staring at the salt notice as rain pounds harder, the deadline visibly tightening.