Four Of A Kind

Iris Angelo woke up in the softest bed she’d ever touched in her entire fourteen years of existence.

For a solid thirty seconds, she just lay there, staring at the ceiling that was not water-stained like the one in her Philadelphia apartment. This ceiling was smooth and white, with elegant molding that probably cost more than three months of rent. The sheets felt like they were made from clouds. Or maybe angel hair. Whatever ridiculous thing rich people used when regular cotton wasn’t fancy enough for their delicate skin.

Iris wiggled her toes under the blanket, feeling the weight and quality of the comforter. This was the guest room. The guest room. The place where they stuck people who weren’t even important enough to get the real rooms.

And it was still nicer than anywhere she’d ever slept.

Sunlight streamed through the windows in actual golden rays like something from an anime opening. Birds chirped outside. Actual birds, not just pigeons fighting over subway trash. The entire room smelled faintly of lavender and something expensive that probably had a French name Iris couldn’t pronounce.

She sat up slowly, her brain still trying to reconcile the reality of sleeping in a mansion with four billionaire quadruplets who were all apparently in love with her brother.

Her phone buzzed on the nightstand. A nightstand made of actual wood with carved details, not the plastic IKEA thing Zay had assembled wrong so it tilted slightly to the left.

Sarah: YOURE STILL AT THE MANSION???

Sarah: DID YOU MEET THEM ALL YET

Sarah: ARE THEY SCARY

Sarah: IRIS ANSWER ME OR I’M CALLING THE POLICE

Iris snorted and started typing.

Iris: calm down

Iris: im alive

Iris: they’re not scary

Iris: well vivienne is kind of scary

Iris: but like in a boss way not a murder way

Sarah: WHICH ONE IS VIVIENNE

Iris: the ice queen one

Iris: she runs everything

Iris: also i think my brother kissed her

Sarah: WHAT

Sarah: IRIS

Sarah: EXPLAIN IMMEDIATELY

Iris flopped back against the pillows, which were so fluffy they practically swallowed her whole. She stared at her phone screen, trying to figure out how to explain something she barely understood herself.

Her brother, Isaiah Angelo, was the most responsible person on the planet. He woke up at four-thirty every morning. He never missed work. He always made sure Iris had clean clothes and decent food and help with homework. He was basically a robot programmed for survival and taking care of everyone else.

But the moment those Valentine sisters entered his life, the robot started malfunctioning.

Iris had watched it happen in real time. The constant phone checking. The weird smiles when he thought she wasn’t looking. The way his ears turned red when she asked about work. The hickey on his neck that he’d tried to hide with his collar before she’d called him out at breakfast.

Zay had fallen, and fallen hard, and he didn’t even realize how completely screwed he was.

Iris: okay so basically

Iris: all four of them like him

Iris: and he likes all four of them

Iris: but their mom is scary

Iris: like ACTUALLY scary

Iris: she threatened to destroy his life if he dates any of them

Sarah: THATS INSANE

Sarah: wait all FOUR of them???

Sarah: iris your brother is living in a harem anime

Iris: i know

Iris: its so stupid

Iris: but also kind of amazing???

Iris rolled onto her stomach, pulling one of the pillows to her chest. The truth was, she’d been terrified when Harlow first invited her to stay at the manor. Rich people were supposed to be awful. Cold. Fake. The kind of people who looked through you instead of at you.

But the Valentine sisters weren’t like that at all.

Harlow was a literal ray of sunshine who talked at the speed of light and somehow made it feel like every word mattered. She’d shown Iris her cosplay workshop like it was the most natural thing in the world to share her passion with a random eighth grader from Kensington. She’d taught Iris about fabric weights and draping and wig styling, and when Iris had accidentally knocked over a bottle of expensive fabric paint, Harlow had just laughed and said accidents happened and showed her how to use the spill to create a cool splatter effect.

Cassidy was prickly and loud and seemed angry at the world most of the time, but when she’d sat down to help Iris with algebra homework, she’d been patient in a way that suggested she understood what it felt like to struggle with numbers. She’d made jokes about how stupid the problems were and how teachers were probably sadists who enjoyed watching kids suffer, but she’d also walked Iris through every step until the answer clicked into place. And when Iris had gotten it right, Cassidy had high-fived her so hard Iris’s hand still stung slightly.

Sabrina was weird. Like, genuinely strange in the way that made Iris a little nervous but also kind of fascinated. She barely talked, just watched everything with those purple eyes that saw way too much. But when she did speak, it was always something that mattered. She’d looked at one of Iris’s manga sketches and said the composition showed real understanding of visual storytelling, which was basically the highest compliment Iris had ever received. And she’d left a sticky note in Iris’s sketchbook with a list of manga artists to study, which meant Sabrina had actually paid attention to what Iris cared about.

And Vivienne.

Iris bit her lip, thinking about the eldest Valentine sister.

Vivienne was terrifying. Not in a mean way. Just in the way that someone who ran a billion-dollar company at seventeen was probably legally required to be scary. She walked into rooms and people straightened their spines automatically. She talked about market projections and brand alignment like it was totally normal for a high schooler to understand corporate strategy.

But Iris had also seen Vivienne in the kitchen last night, attempting to wash dishes and failing spectacularly, soap bubbles getting everywhere while she scowled at a plate like it had personally offended her. She’d seen Vivienne smile when Zay made a dumb joke. She’d seen Vivienne’s hands shake when she talked about the launch party and her mother’s expectations.

Vivienne was just as scared as the rest of them. She was just better at hiding it.

Sarah: so what are you gonna do

Sarah: are you gonna move to california with your mom

Iris: NO

Iris: absolutely not

Iris: zay would never forgive me

Sarah: but you said she seems better now

Sarah: like actually trying

Iris: yeah

Iris: and maybe she is

Iris: but she left us sarah

Iris: she CHOSE to leave

Iris: and now she wants us to just forget that and move across the country???