The dark bricks walls marked the entrance to the alley like sentinels guarding an underworld. I brushed against a dark figure whose hoody covered his eyes. Anonymity was always the rule.

The handles of the bag dropped heavily into my hand and the muffled clunk of metal striking metal rose from its folds.

“Thirteen. Thirteen and your family won’t pay for your debt. 9 am. Thirteen.”

I kept walking no time to turn back.