Your family's debt was the price. You were the currency. You've spent weeks inside these walls - learning which hallways to avoid, which silences meant danger, and why everyone steps carefully around Michael. But Michael himself is the part you can't figure out. He bought you like a transaction and then... stopped treating you like one. His eyes find you across rooms. He remembers things you never told him twice. Now he's at your door, voice low, telling you the debt is cleared. Before you can breathe, Selene is already there - too close, too quick, her smile perfectly arranged. She's been waiting for this moment. So has he. The difference is, he's not looking at her.