Daddy, How Much for a Hug?

Stella is the Ashfords' biological daughter. At home, water, food, and sleep carry prices; juice is 50 cents and a shower is $1. Julian and Victoria call it elite independence training. Their adopted daughter, Evelyn, gets everything free. On Stella's birthday, her $1 from collecting bottles cannot buy a small piece of cake; her mother refuses. A payment alert on her father's phone shows $10,000 topped up to Evelyn. The pricing applies only to Stella.

That morning, Stella walks out alone. A man offers free candy and a free ride, then promises a place to eat and sleep for free. She gets in. He takes her to an abandoned factory, where the trafficker Scar handles her as merchandise. The buyer Vera later arrives. The destination is an underground clinic preparing organ removal.

The Ashfords receive a police call about Stella's backpack outside the city. Victoria refuses to cooperate. At the station, officer Claire reads Stella's waterlogged ledger and opens a child abuse case. Police take Victoria in. Evelyn calls Julian in tears. Julian goes to the station, calls the ledger entries jokes, and insists their education method is correct.

At the clinic, Stella asks what her eyes are worth and names $35,200 as the amount she owes her parents. The doctor offers $50,000. Police raid the operating room, but the table is empty except for fresh blood. The anesthesia hadn't worn off, but she woke up, bit him, and jumped out the back window. The search moves to the river.

Police find a plastic bag on a rock by the river. Inside are a bank card and a note. Stella has calculated over 10 years of debt at $35,200. One cornea is worth 50,000; she leaves it to pay the debt, with the rest as interest. The note ends: "In this life or the next, I never want you to be my mom and dad again."

Julian reads the note and understands that Stella was not throwing a tantrum. She was settling the bill. The clinic didn't get the cornea. Stella took the knife herself and cut her eye. A radio call places a girl with blood all over her face at a nearby crematorium. Julian bolts there, knowing that if the debt had truly been settled, he might lose his daughter forever.