Chaotic

Joseph carried Jessie into the warehouse and dropped her on the couch without much care. Her head lolled against the armrest. He stripped the rest of her clothes off, posed her with one leg up on the cushion, and used her again while the rest of the collection watched from their places against the walls. Halie still lay upstairs. Ariel kept her downward stare. The others stood silent.

Jessie’s phone buzzed on the floor.

Joseph picked it up. Maya’s reply sat on the screen.

Hurry over. Tara’s making dinner and Sofia’s home tonight. Can’t wait to see you. I'll take care of you, always. Who’s the friend?

He smiled.

“She’s already promising to protect you,” he told Jessie’s empty face. “Let’s go test that.”

He did not bother dressing Jessie nicely. He threw a long coat over her naked body, carried her to the car, and shoved her into the enger seat. Ariel stayed behind this time. Joseph wanted the new toy for this trip.

The address from the phone led to a quiet residential street. A two-story house with warm light in the dining room windows. Joseph parked half a block away, froze time, and walked Jessie up to the edge of the yard so he could look inside.

Maya sat at the head of the table. Short dark curls, strong shoulders filling out a simple tank top, the kind of arms that came from years of coaching boxers. Tara sat to her right, softer features, longer hair, smiling at something said. Across from them the eighteen-year-old, Sofia, poked at her food and laughed. The three of them looked comfortable. A real family dinner.

Joseph unfroze time just long enough for Sofia to glance toward the window. Her eyes widened. She pointed.

Maya turned her head. Tara followed her gaze. Joseph froze everything again, then knocked hard on the front door. Three loud bangs.

He unfroze only the living room and hallway.

Maya’s voice came first, sharp and steady.

“Tara. Sofia. Stay at the table. Do not move.”

Tara started to rise. “Maya—”

“I said stay.” Maya was already at the door. “I’ve got this.”

Joseph stood on the porch with Jessie leaned against him. He opened the coat fully so the peephole had a clear view.

“Who is—”

“Listen carefully,” he said first. “The second that lock clicks open, everything behind it is mine. Your wife. Your daughter. Jessie. All of them. You open this door and you lose them.”

He slid two fingers between Jessie’s legs and worked them in and out while he waited, making sure the motion was obvious through the peephole. Jessie’s body stayed limp and open.

“I found her. She's hot.”

The peephole darkened.

Maya’s voice came through the door, lower and tighter. “Let her go. Right now.”

Joseph kept moving his hand. “Open the door and take her then. Or keep it locked and watch me finish with her right here. Your call.”

A long pause. Then the deadbolt turned hard.

Maya stepped out and shut the door behind her in one motion. She had already shrugged off the light jacket she had been wearing inside. The tank top left her arms and shoulders bare. Muscle shifted under skin as she set her feet. Her eyes locked on Jessie and the way Joseph’s hand was still on her.

“You’re not getting past me,” Maya said. Her voice had dropped into something flat and dangerous. “Ever. You messed with the wrong family. This is my life. You don’t touch them.”

Joseph pulled his fingers free and wiped them on Jessie’s thigh. “Big words. Let’s see if they mean anything.”

Maya moved first. She closed the distance fast, one hand reaching for Jessie, the other already cocked to drive him back. Joseph froze her mid-step.

“Get your hands off—”

And walked around her locked body. He set Jessie on the porch railing so Maya would have a clear view, then adjusted Maya into a classic double-biceps pose, arms flexed hard, chest out, the kind of stance she used when she showed her fighters what real power looked like. Then he unfroze only the rest of the house.

Tara’s voice carried from the dining room. “Maya?”

Sofia sounded smaller. “Mom?”

Joseph called toward the open doorway. “Come see what your protector looks like when she can’t move.”

Footsteps. Tara appeared first, Sofia right behind her. Both stopped dead when they saw Maya frozen in the double-biceps pose and Jessie naked on the railing.

Tara’s face went white. She grabbed Sofia’s wrist and pulled her hard toward the kitchen. “Back door. Now. Neighbors. Do not stop for anything.”

Sofia dug her heels in, staring at Maya. “Mom! Why can’t she—”

“Go!” Tara shoved her daughter toward the hallway, then spun and put herself between Joseph and the path Sofia was taking. She snatched the heavy lamp off the side table and raised it. “You stay the hell away from my kid. Maya! Help us!”

Joseph froze Tara mid-threat, lamp still raised. He let Sofia keep running for two more steps, then froze her too, just short of the back hallway. He carried Sofia into the living room first, then Tara, and stood them side by side. Maya remained frozen on the porch in her double-biceps pose where she could see everything through the open door.

He unfroze Tara and Sofia only.

Tara immediately yanked Sofia behind her body and started backing them both toward the kitchen again. “Keep moving. Do not look at him. When we reach the door you run and you do not look back.”

Sofia was crying. “Mom’s still stuck. We can’t leave her—”

“We get help and we come back. Move.”

Joseph walked toward them. Tara swung the lamp the second he got close. He froze her again before it could land. “Get away from—”

He took the lamp out of her locked hand, and set it aside. He stripped her while Sofia watched, still unfrozen shocked. She didn't understand why her big strong mom wasn't stopping him. When Tara was naked he posed her on her knees facing the porch so Maya would have a clear view. Only then did he freeze Sofia as well, stripped her, and stood her naked beside her mother. He left both of them frozen and walked back to the porch.

He changed Maya’s pose first, shifting her into a side-chest flex, one arm curled tight, the other extended, every muscle standing out under the tank top. Then he unfroze her.

Maya came out of the freeze already moving. She saw the living room through the doorway and the two women kneeling and standing naked and still. The sound that left her was not a word. She crossed the threshold like a train, hands up, weight balanced, pure forward pressure.

She did not give orders this time.

She grabbed Tara under the arms and hauled her upright, shoving her hard toward the back hallway. “Run. Do not stop.” She spun, seized Sofia next, and pushed the girl after her mother with enough force to send her stumbling forward. Only then did she put her own body between Joseph and the hallway, arms wide, becoming the wall.

“You do not touch them. You do not take them. This is my family. You will not—”

Joseph froze her mid-sentence, mid-stance, arms still spread to block the path. He walked around her, ran a hand over the hard muscle of her arm, down the solid curve of her ass under the tank top, and squeezed. Then he unfroze Tara and Sofia so they could see their protector locked in place again.

Tara had almost reached the back door. She turned at the sudden silence, saw Maya frozen with arms spread, and ran back instead of out. “Maya! Fight it! We’re right here!” She grabbed Maya’s locked forearm and pulled. “Snap out of it. Please.”

Sofia wrapped both hands around Maya’s other wrist and yanked. “Mom. Please move. Please. We need you.”

Joseph spoke over them while he felt Maya up. “Look at her. Still trying to be the wall. Even locked in place she’s the strongest one in the room. Doesn’t matter. She’s not reaching you.”

He left Maya frozen with arms spread and used Jessie on the couch while Tara and Sofia kept calling Maya’s name and trying to drag her arms down. When he finished he wiped himself on Jessie’s stomach and turned back to the family.

“You’re all coming with me. Jessie wanted in so badly. Now she gets to stay. So do you.”

Tara lunged for Sofia the second she could move, trying to drag her toward the back hallway. Joseph froze them both mid-motion before they made it three steps—

“Sofia, go—”

—and gathered them one by one. Jessie first, then Tara, then Sofia. Maya he left frozen in the living room until the car was loaded. Only then did he walk back inside, change her pose one last time into a simple standing stance with chin up, and unfreeze her.

Maya staggered, saw the empty room, and went for him with everything she had left. Her first punch was already in the air when he froze her again. He left her like that.

“I’m not making you permanent,” he told her locked face. “You’re hot enough. Nice rack. Good ass. You can start over somewhere else after this. New family. New people to protect. These three stay with me. Live with that.”

He walked out, closed the door behind him, and drove away with Jessie, Tara, and Sofia in the back seat.

Time restarted fully inside the house.

Maya stood alone in the open doorway, breathing hard. The dining table still held the half-eaten dinner. The couch cushions were messed up. The lamp lay on its side. Her wife, her daughter, and the girl she had promised to protect were gone.

She took three steps into the empty living room and stopped.

“Tara?” Her voice came out rough. “Sofia? Jessie?”

No answer.

She turned in a slow circle, fists still clenched, as if they might reappear if she just looked hard enough. The silence pressed in.

“No,” she said to the empty house. “No. You’re not gone. I don’t lose. I won’t lose them.” She opened the door, thought she could take him. This was her fault. How did he get past her? She was blocking his path. “I will get them back.”

She pulled out her phone. Police would ask for proof she did not have. They would think she was unstable. She scrolled past the emergency numbers and stopped on a she had not used in years. She needed help. She knew one person who was even stronger than her.

The read: Big sister.

Maya hit call and waited for the line to pick up, eyes still fixed on the empty space where her family had been.