The Ghost Adoption Ring

In the decaying industrial town of Ashwick, seventeen-year-old Leo Thorne stumbles into a dark web forum while searching for his birth parents—adopted as an infant under a controversial state wardship program. What he finds is a live-streamed adoption auction where children are sold to the highest bidder. When Leo witnesses the murder of a whistleblower on camera, he becomes the target of a transnational elimination network known as "The Registry." Pursued by killers who manipulate legal loopholes and jurisdictional gaps, Leo must navigate a world where child protective services, private contractors, and organized crime have merged into an untouchable gray economy. As bodies accumulate and no authority can be trusted, Leo discovers that his own adoption file holds the key to dismantling the network—if he can survive long enough to expose it. A Val McDermid-inspired psychological thriller exploring the vast gray zone between justice and law, where forgotten souls are traded like currency.