She had been recounting the night — glowing, laughing about what had been happening with her ti with him and living with him, telling them how mush relief she felt when Phei had carried Emily like she was made of glass, how he had looked at her and Sierra like they were the only things that mattered — when the roar had torn through the night.
"HAROLD!"
The sound had hit the Whitmore Estate like a physical wave — a roar so deep and sudden it felt like the sky itself had scread his na in rage. Windows rattled in their fras.
Her father’s glass slipped from his fingers and shattered on the hardwood like a gunshot in church.
Her mother’s face went pale in a way Maddie had never seen before — and this was a woman who’d once caught her husband balls-deep in the mistress at their own dinner party and responded by calmly pouring vintage Bordeaux over the woman’s head, finishing dessert, and then asking the staff to escort the "guest" to the curb.
Since that mont, the order had been simple: stay inside.
And Maddie had stayed.
Four days now. Four days of this bedroom, these pillows, these snacks she kept opening and not eating because her stomach had turned into a clenched fist that refused to unclench.
Her parents had told her to never co out but they had this ti — partly for her safety, partly for reasons they hadn’t explained, and partly for sothing else.
Sothing she caught in the pauses between their sentences, in the way her father’s jaw worked when he thought she wasn’t looking, in the way her mother had started making phone calls in rooms Maddie wasn’t allowed to enter anymore.
She didn’t know what that third reason was anymore.
She’d stopped asking on day two. The answers had gotten vaguer each ti — "It’s complicated, baby.""
We’re figuring things out."
"Just trust us." — and Maddie had learned years ago that when her parents, the two most transparent people in all of Paradise, started speaking in code, the truth was too heavy for casual delivery.
It was the kind of truth that arrived in body bags or bank transfers or both.
Maddie rolled over, staring at the ceiling like it owed her answers. Her phone buzzed again on the pillow beside her.
The harem group chat — the private one they had created— was still alive though.
Despite the lockdowns, despite the silence, despite the fear that had settled over every Main Paradise household like a shroud made of cashre and dread, the chat never stopped.
Phei was there every day. Calm. Steady. The anchor that kept the whole thing from unravelling into full-blown panic.
She scrolled up through the day’s ssages.
lissa:How are you two holding up? Eating? Sleeping?
Sierra:Are YOU okay?? You’re asking about us when you literally fled your house through a portal four days ago??
Maddie:Sierra has a point. lissa. Babe. YOU left. With Phei. Through actual darkness. How are the girls and you, Oh Leader of the Harem?
Maddie wouldn’t miss that tease.
lissa:We’re fine. All of us. Safe.
lissa took the tittle very well as presented.
Delilah:More than fine honestly
Delilah:I’m living with Phei againnnnn🥰🥰😍😘
Maddie: Awwww, she’s sooo adorable. Tell more gal
Delilah:Like actually living with him. Waking up in the sa house. Having breakfast together. It’s been four days and I keep expecting soone to ruin it
Sierra:Don’t manifest that
Delilah:I’m not manifesting. I’m just saying. The last ti I lived under the sa roof as him we were nothing to each other and Harold was... Harold. Now it’s just us and it’s quiet and nobody’s screaming at 3am and I can hear his heartbeat right on my easr as we sleep and sotis I just lie there and listen to him breathe and I know that sounds creepy but I don’t care
Maddie:That’s not creepy. That’s tragic and beautiful and I hate you for getting to do it while I’m trapped in this bedroom eating stale crisps like a sad raccoon
Sierra:Delilah, I’m glad you’re safe. I an that.
Delilah: ❤️
Maddie:Okay but can we talk about the elephant in the chat
Sierra:Which elephant. There are several.
Maddie:LISSA.
lissa:What about ?
Maddie:You left with Phei. You live with Phei now. Your arm was around his waist when you walked through a literal portal two tis now to another dinsion or whatever the hell that was
Sierra:What Maddie is trying to say with her usual grace is... lissa. You’ve been "Phei’s aunt." His "guardian." The woman who "raised him." And now you’re living with him. In his space. And before all that, it’s crazy we only found about it when he awakened... you left your husband for him.
lissa:Harold was never my husband in any way that mattered.
Maddie:That’s not what we’re asking, and you know it
Maddie:Since the way he said your na different while he was talking about you, from everyone else’s
lissa:...
Delilah:They’re not wrong, Mom
lissa:Delilah.
Delilah:I live here now. I have eyes. And ears. You make out right in my eyes and fuck while I hear you guys
Maddie:DELILAH 💀💀💀
Sierra:Oh my God
lissa:I am going to kill every single one of you
Maddie:You love us
Sierra:She does
Delilah:She really does
lissa:I tolerate you. There’s a difference. A vast, oceanic difference.
Maddie:Sure. And Phei "tolerates" you too. Loudly with orgasms while you scream his na for poor Delilah
lissa:MADELINE WHITMORE.
Maddie:Full governnt na. I’m shaking.
Sierra:😂
Delilah:For what it’s worth, I’m happy about it. About all of it. About you and him. About being here. About not being in that house anymore. I spent seventeen years being Harold’s daughter and four days being just... Delilah. Living with the people I actually want to be near. It’s the most normal I’ve felt in my life and nothing about this situation is normal and I don’t care
Sierra:🥺
Maddie:Okay now I’m actually crying. Thanks Delilah.
lissa:... co here, baby.
Delilah:I’m sitting right next to you. Do not make it weird mom
lissa:I know. Co closer.
Maddie stared at the screen. The tears were real — hot, sudden, spilling over before she could stop them. Not from sadness. From the specific, aching jealousy of a girl trapped in a gilded cage watching the people she loved build sothing warm and filthy and perfect without her.
The chat went quiet for a few minutes. Then —
Phei:Emily woke up three days, I forgot to tell y’all. She smiled. Asked about all of you.
Phei:She’s okay. Her parents are hovering but she’s okay.
Phei:Stay safe. Both of you. I’ll co for you when it’s ti.
Maddie stared at the last line, thumb hovering over the screen. She could almost hear his voice — low, certain, carrying that new weight that made her stomach flutter and her knees go liquid at the sa ti. I’ll co for you when it’s ti. Not if. When. Not a promise — a fact. The way the sun didn’t promise to rise. It just did.
She typed back —
Maddie:You better. I’m running out of snacks and sanity.
Phei:I know.
Maddie:That’s not reassuring!!
Phei:😏
Maddie:DID YOU JUST EMOJI
Sierra:He did. He absolutely did. Screenshot saved.
Phei:Good day.
Maddie:PHEI
Sierra:He’s gone isn’t he
Maddie:HE’S GONE.
Sierra:Typical.
Maddie sighed — long, dramatic, a sigh that deserved an audience and received only a pillow.
The Chaos Demoness had been reduced to this: pouting, refusing food, waiting for a boy who had beco sothing the entire world was starting to fear.
She pressed the phone against her chest with his picture wallpaper. Closed her eyes. Let the warmth of the screen substitute for the warmth of the body she wanted pressed against hers — skin on skin, breath on neck, cock deep enough to make her forget the cage she was in.
And sowhere in the distance, beyond the locked gates and the silent roads of Main Paradise, the great families were still moving.
Quietly.
Carefully.
Like pieces on a board that had suddenly beco far more dangerous than anyone had realised — and far more deliciously fucked.
User Comments
0 comments from readers