# Surprise Audit — Chapter 20

id: surprise_audit | owner: codex | target: `output/chapters/chapter_20.md`

CRITERION 1 — `UNPREDICTED MOVE PRESENT`: The obvious chapter would make June choose New York because Tasker is secretly bad or Theo matters. The chapter instead makes Tasker materially good and has June refuse it before any Theo repair: "The job's good, Nia. You built it right" and "If Theo never spoke to her again... was the back room in Ridgewood still worth it?" The surprise is not a twist but an ethical refusal of the easy romance logic.

CRITERION 2 — `SURPRISE IS EARNED`: The move is planted by Ch15's offer terms and by this chapter's arithmetic. Evidence: "$49,500," "Benefits at ninety days," "after-hours studio sheet, in writing," versus "A $340 room in Ridgewood with no real heat" and "February is a blank line in my notebook." The surprise does not come from withheld information.

CRITERION 3 — `SURPRISE CHANGES THE BOARD`: The refusal transfers opportunity to Asha and makes June's future more precarious: "I did the asking already, yesterday, with her permission. Asha Ibrahim" and "She filled the blank in the notebook: FEB = coat." That changes the Tasker thread, Asha's offscreen trajectory, June's housing, and the late-book confession stakes.

Strongest counter-candidate: the Asha recommendation could feel tidy because June already arranged permission. It survives because Asha's warning resists guilt-transfer: "Send my name because I'm qualified. If you're trying to feel less bad, don't."

Chapter verdict: `SURPRISE-EARNED`.

REVISION ORDERS: none.
