A Little Girl Asked for Soup With Three Coins… Fifteen Years Later, She Returned What the Vendor’s Own Son Had Stolen
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Chapter 7 / 30
Chapter 7 - The Whispering Campaign
Rejection did not sit well with the development consortium. Within a fortnight, health inspectors began arriving at the community kitchen unannounced, triggered by anonymous complaints regarding hygiene and fire safety standards. Mateo grew anxious, his old hands shaking as inspectors marched through his spotless pantry with clipboards. Lucia stayed by his side during every inspection, matching the officials code for code, regulation for regulation. She knew Vega was testing her, trying to exhaust their spirits, but she had spent fifteen years mastering the law specifically to defend against men like him.
