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I woke up reaching for her.

My hand shot out, grabbing at the empty side of the bed, but met nothing—just cold sheets and silence.

She was gone.

I got up and checked the bathroom.

Empty.

Her clothes were gone. The clock read seven. She’d probably slipped out before sunrise.

Good girl.

That’s what I told myself.

Because if I didn’t, I’d have to admit she left on her own terms. And I wanted her to stay on mine.

We had a deal. One time.

But she let me take her over and over. And somewhere along the way, she stopped waiting for orders. She started grabbing control, fucking me like I belonged to her, using me. Started moaning my name.

One time. It was supposed to be simple.

She made it complicated.

No—I made it complicated, if I was being truthful. She probably would’ve walked away after that first time.

My phone buzzed.

Lilith’s maid’s name flashed across the screen.

I almost let it keep ringing.

But I knew I had to answer.

“What?”

“She drank all night because you didn’t come,” the old woman said, voice thick. “Around midnight, she woke the house screaming about devils in the walls. I told her you wouldn’t come. But she said you’re hers. You always come.”

I said nothing.

She was right. I was hers—and that was written in blood, not because of love, but because of who my father in law was. Lilith had asked him for me like a child pointing at something in a store window.

And her father had made it so.

That’s how our arrangement started. She wanted. He provided. I paid.

“She took the car,” she added. “I don’t know where she’s going.”

I wanted to say, “I hope she’s driving herself to hell where she belonged,” but instead, I hung up.

I looked at the door Miyori had walked out of and rolled my head on my neck and pushed her to the back of my mind..

Duty calls.

I didn’t have a choice but to go.