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“This isn’t about what I want.”

“Then what is it about?”

“Proving you mean it when you say you’ll do whatever it takes.”

“Fine.” She yanked her torn slip over her head and threw it aside, standing naked in front of thirty witnesses. “Then fuck me. Right here. In front of all of them. If that’s what it takes to see him, then do it.”

The guests pressed so close to the glass I could hear their palms squeaking against it.

I should have stopped it then. Should have told her the House didn’t honor bargains the way she thought it did. But I believed the contract would protect her if she completed the terms, and I was already reaching for her, already pulling her down onto the cold floor.

The House purred, a low vibration that ran through the stone beneath my boots.

She straddled me and worked my belt open with shaking hands, her breath coming fast and uneven. “Do it,” she said again. “Fuck me. Make them watch. Prove I’m serious.”

I gripped her hips and pulled her down onto my cock in one brutal thrust. She gasped, her nails digging into my chest, her body tightening around me. The audience made a collective sound, half moan and half sigh, and the House’s purr deepened.

Claire rode me hard, her movements frantic and graceless, her hands braced against my shoulders. I could feel her desperation in every motion, the way she threw herself into it like she could trade her body for her husband's freedom if she just performed well enough.

I flipped her onto her back and drove into her harder, rougher, my hands pinning her wrists above her head. She arched beneath me, her breath hitching, her thighs trembling. The stone scraped her skin raw, and I could see blood smearing beneath her shoulder blades.

“Is this enough?” she gasped. “Is this what they want to see?”

“They want to see you break.”

“Then break me.” Her voice cracked. “Just get him out.”

I fucked her until she was sobbing, until her body went limp beneath me, until the audience was panting against the glass and the House was vibrating with satisfaction. When I came inside her, she turned her face away and closed her eyes, and I realized she wasn’t there anymore. She’d gone somewhere else in her head, somewhere the House couldn’t reach.

I pulled out and stood, my hands shaking. Claire lay on the floor with my cum dripping down her thighs, her breath coming in ragged gasps, her eyes staring at nothing.

The House played a recording.

My voice, clear and undeniable: “You prove you're serious. You prove you’ll do whatever it takes. And the House gives you a real contract.”

Then Claire’s voice, shaking but determined: “Fine. I’ll do it.”

The lights came up. The guests applauded. A woman in a porcelain mask stepped into the room carrying a contract.

“Congratulations,” the woman said. “You’ve completed the hunt. You’ve proven you’re willing to do whatever it takes. And now the House would like to offer you a permanent position.”

Claire scrambled to her feet, her legs barely holding her. “What?”

“Your husband signed a contract giving the House permission to keep him. You’ve just signed one too.” The woman held up the paper, and I saw Claire’s signature at the bottom, written in ink I knew she’d never touched. “You agreed to do whatever it takes. The recording proves it. The witnesses confirm it. And the House has decided that what it takes is you.”

“No.” Claire’s voice broke. “I didn’t sign anything.”

“You did. When you said fine, I’ll do it. When you fucked the Hound in front of all these witnesses. When you proved you were serious.” The woman smiled. “The House doesn’t need ink and paper. It just needs consent. And you gave it.”

“But, that’s not consent!”

“It is here.”

Claire lunged for the door. I caught her wrists and pulled her back, my body blocking the exit. She screamed and fought, her nails raking down my arms, her voice raw with betrayal. “You said I could see him! You said if I did this, I could see him!”

“I know.” My throat was closing. “I’m sorry.”

“Let me go!” She twisted in my grip, her eyes wild. “Please, Rook, let me go!”