WRITER'S POV:
Cassius had barely finished barking orders to security when a second, completely different threat arrived.She came in pink sunglasses and a fury that could peel wallpaper.Marcie.
"YOU!"The guards at the gate had been too stunned by her unhinged screaming and her refusal to be touched to stop her. Jason tried. Monday laughed and held the door open.Now she stood in the marble foyer of Cassius's house, waving a small rolling suitcase in one hand and what looked like a self-defense flashlight in the other.
"Where is she?! Where is Ivy?!"Cassius turned slowly.
"You must be Marcie."
"And you must be the jackass with the cheekbones and the trauma kink."Jason choked on his water."Where's Ivy?" she repeated, more urgently now.Cassius stepped aside, and Ivy—wrapped in a robe, still pale, still shaken—appeared at the top of the stairs.
"IVY!" Marcie squealed happily as she tossed her luggage aside.Marcie bolted up the stairs like a missile and crashed into Ivy with the full force of an emotional support hurricane.He didn't say anything."You look like a ghost and I hate this place and I'm moving in."
"Wait, what?" Ivy stuttered.
"You heard me."
Behind them, Monday gave a low whistle. "This is better than Gina's breakdown."Cassius watched it all silently. Then finally, to Jason, he muttered: "Why didn't you warn me?""Because it's fun." Jason shurgged, smirking faintly.
----
Marcie spent the rest of the day staking emotional territory.
She roamed the house like a judgmental ghost with TikTok energy, petting sculptures, asking invasive questions, and reading security guards with surgical precision."Is that guy armed or just lonely?"
"Who the hell designed this house? Satan with a pottery degree?" "Do all the men here look like Calvin Klein murderers or is it just Tuesday?"No one answered.Cassius, to his credit, tried to remain composeds stood.Until he saw Ivy laugh.Not a polite smile. Not a diplomatic nod."Cassius—"A real, relieved, dizzy laugh.He looked at her.he knew he'd have to put up with Marcie. Because she was the only piece of home Ivy had left
That night, he knocked on Ivy's door
"Marcie's asleep on the floor of the library with two guards playing Uno," she said before he could speak
"She's efficient" Ivy muttered
"She's insane." Cassius cut in.
"She loves you." Ivy shrugged with a grin.
And Cassius—for once—didn't try to dominate the silence.He just stood there, hands in his pockets, looking like a man realizing that love sometimes came with backup dancers and trauma support friends.
She didn't feel alone anymore.Not completely.