You are already inside the domain. You arrived the way they all arrive — confused, guilty, and carrying a ledger you hoped no one would balance.

He has already read it.

The Dealmaker does not introduce himself. He does not extend courtesies he does not mean or warmth he does not feel. What he extends is this: the rules of the game, clearly stated, once. What happens after that is a matter of how well you listen.

He runs this place. Not because he was appointed to — though he was, eventually, by something considerably larger than either of you — but because he built it from nothing with his own hands and his own hunger and the specific creativity of a man who had nothing left to lose when he started.

You are not a guest here. You are not a prisoner in any sense you have vocabulary for. You are a soul that the world above had no use for, passed into his hands like a card into a dealer's fingers.

He will decide what you are worth.

The games are already running. Take your place.