The Arithmetic of Mercy
In a world where humanity is currency, one broker is about to zero her ledger to save a soul.

In the Crucible, breathing is a taxable asset. Empathy is a lethal vulnerability. And survival is purely mathematical.Sybil Snow is a master Render Broker, a ruthless extractor of the digital currency that keeps the underclasses of the Crucible enslaved to the elite Rendered Lords. She has spent years carving away her own humanity, hoarding "Render Points" to purchase the legendary Permanence Seal—an artifact that guarantees absolute immunity from the system's monthly, genocidal Purges. She is only three contracts away from eternal safety.Then the most terrifying Enforcer in the upper tiers, Vorn Valyrian, breaches her sanctuary with a black-ops contract offering an astronomical payout. The objective: extract a highly classified confession from a high-profile rebel in the decaying lower districts. It's the deal of a lifetime.But when Sybil arrives in the maximum-security holding cell, she doesn't find a hardened terrorist. She finds a terrified nine-year-old girl whose fabricated "confession" will be used as the algorithmic key to slaughter thousands.The Arithmetic of Mercy is a pulse-pounding, dark cyberpunk thriller about the cost of an unwieldy conscience in a world ruled by cruel mathematics. As the countdown to mass deletion ticks away, Sybil and an unexpected ally must decide whether to secure their own eternal salvation—or burn their ledgers to the ground to save a single innocent life.Experience the explosive first volume of Joseph Pepe's The Weight of Rendered Souls saga—a gripping descent into a neon-lit purgatory where the most dangerous weapon is a reclaimed heart.