The other penthouse was empty.

That fact settled over the Infinity Chaos suite like cold confirmation of something Phei had orchestrated but hadn’t fully processed until morning light exposed it through floor-to-ceiling glass.

All of them — Maddie, Sierra, Valentina, Patricia, Delilah — had moved their things out during the night.

Yesterday had required precision.

When they’d arrived at Hell’s Paradise Island, Phei could have consolidated them immediately and herded everyone into this single penthouse and begun the administrative work of establishing dominance through proximity.

But he’d known that night needed discretion and what a fruitful night it had been for him and Kyle... maybe?

So they’d distributed and shared the other penthouses.

Now that all that was behind him and had finished the execution to the quiet aftermath of having taken what he intended to take, there was no longer any reason for the separation to continue.

Everyone was here now.

Emily had slept in the penthouse last night, she’d occupied one of the secondary bedrooms and had nested there with Lydia. And when Phei checked after leaving Catrina’s bedroom, the room was empty...

’...Lydia’s not there too.’

Which was why he’d mentally reached for Eira:

"Where are they?" he’d asked in the empty kitchen, directing the question more toward the air than expecting an actual response.

Eira materialized beside him about instantly.

Eira was always fully engaged with whatever her Master was doing, like his experience was the only programming her ancient code ran on.

"Emily and that pretty friend of hers left at first light," Eira said.

Her voice carried the casual tone of someone reporting weather. "They of course, left you a note by the coffee machine. Very professional. Very ’I appreciate the opportunity but I have my own life to live.’ Typical human stuff — the fear of becoming too dependent masquerading as ambition."

He’d found the note. Short and gracious:

Explaining that she and Lydia better go and make sure everything went as planned.

’Its going to be a long day, huh.’

Which meant Catrina had known they were leaving;

Meaning Catrina had been faced with a choice between departing with them to make sure the day went smoothly or staying back for unfinished business with her Boss and she had chosen to stay.

’Smart girl.’

The penthouse kitchen was a cathedral to excess disguised as functionality.

Chrome. Glass. Stone countertops the colour of midnight sky. Appliances so polished they reflected Phei’s bare chest back at him like mirrors hung at intervals along the walls — a reminder, every few steps, of what stood before the stove coaxing breakfast into existence at an hour when most mortals were still drooling into their pillows.

He’d been here since before dawn. Not because he couldn’t have ordered room service — the penthouse had a dedicated connection to Infinity Chaos’s kitchens downstairs, and Hayashi had made it abundantly clear that the staff existed to manifest his every whim with the enthusiasm of a retriever spotting a tennis ball. But Phei had wanted to cook:

The last plate settled under its silver cover with a soft, definitive clink.

He stepped back and surveyed the spread with the critical eye: presentation was after all, half the seduction.

Eggs — poached, the yolks still trembling with the promise of that perfect liquid centre. Fresh fruit arranged in casual arcs that looked accidental until you noticed the precision. Toast cut into triangles because geometry mattered. Pastries dusted with powdered sugar that caught the kitchen’s harsh morning light and turned it into something almost luxurious.

’Not bad, Phei. Not bad at all.’

"Your kitchen is pathetic," she announced, her voice dripping with the specific disappointment of an ancient chaos entity forced to observe mortal inadequacy.

Phei didn’t look away from the plates. "Good morning to you too."

"Don’t ’good morning’ me." Her voice took on a distinctly sulky edge. "You used the ice on her. The actual Void-Ice element. On a virgin. And I’m still sitting here with nothing but your warm tongue like some kind of mortal peasant."

He closed his eyes. Let out a breath that carried the weight of a man learning patience the hard way.

"Eira. Should I remind you; you more virgin she is! Also, you passed out. Do you understand what I’m saying?

"You lost consciousness; your body literally rejected more stimulation and shut down. If I’d used the Void-Ice on you, you would have lasted approximately four minutes before your entire nervous system staged a revolt and filed for asylum into the dream world."

"Exactly," she said, with the iron logic like she had never been wrong about anything in her entire existence — which, granted, had probably been longer than recorded history.

"Which means I clearly need more training. More exposure. More you. Instead I get the cold shoulder — literally, you didn’t even breathe that cold on me the way you did her — while she gets the full cosmic treatment and passes out like some kind of princess."

’Greedy girl; I love her like this!’

He didn’t say it out loud.

Eira’s indignant silence spoke volumes about her opinion on that particular assessment.

Then he frowned.

Something — some small detail that lived in the part of his brain that had been wired for observation and control — registered as missing.

"Eira," he said to the empty kitchen, "isn’t it weird that the kitchenware is so, uh, ... sparse?"

Silence. Then:

"What are you talking about?" Eira asked.

"The kitchen. The utensils, the pans, the finishing supplies. I had to improvise on half of what I needed."

Phei opened several drawers, running his fingers through the contents. "This is Infinity Chaos Hotel. This is my penthouse... my grandmother’s creation — a woman who’s obsessed with perfection and details down to the angle of a napkin fold. There’s no way Hayashi wouldn’t have checked every micro-detail of this space before I arrived.

"So why am I searching for basic kitchenware and finding almost nothing?"

Eira huffed:

"Does it matter?" she asked, her voice taking on that particular sulky edge that meant she was about to pivot to complaining about something entirely different.

"I’m still here. Still mad at you and questioning whether my presence is valued in your life, given the fact that you used an entire Void-Ice element on a virgin when you wouldn’t even breathe in my direction yesterday."

"Eira."

"Don’t ’Eira’ me. It’s unfair... unjust: It’s a clear indication that my services and presence means nothing to you if you can’t even reward me well."