Ever After | Book 2 of the Selected Series

8.

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WARNING: Rape mention.

6:45 AM,West Coast, Limia. DAY 5

"Madison, please wake up!" She blinked back to consciousness, vision still blurry after being woken up so abruptly. Mady rubbed the sleep away from her eyes, frowning at Adeline for waking her up so early.

"God, Adeline why did you wake me u-"

"Sorry to rush you, but we have a problem." Adeline blurted out, pursing her lips. Madison sat still, heart suddenly dropping to the pit of her stomach. She could see the pale look on Adeline's face, the way she stood tensed and fidgety. Oh no.

"Adeline, what happened?" Madison asked sternly and she could hear Adele gulp.

"There's an issue with the flower delivery." Madison's frown deepened and she quickly left her bed and reached for a robe to cover herself. Silently, but with her mind going a thousand miles a second, she followed Adeline out of the royal quarters and to the Blazy. Her jaw dropped as she saw the mess of flowers in the room, not a chaos per say, but the blue and purple flowers scattered across the room were definitely not what they ordered.

"Wha- What is this?" She stuttered, eyes wide in confusion. Her attention was then caught by Lindsey having an active conversation with one of the delivery men and Madison could tell Lindsey was not being kind.

"We have specifically ordered pastel colors, Roger, do not tell me otherwise! And I said roses! Not whatever this is." Lindsey was fuming as Madison approached them.

"I-I'm sorry Ma'am, but those were the flowers I was ordered to deliver. Here, you can even check." The delivery guy, Roger, handed her his notepad with trembling hands, absolutely terrified by Lindsey. This last one took the pad harshly, grumbling as she read the receipts and her frown only grew in bafflement.

"This is impossible! I discussed with your distribution company last week to check if the order was correct before it was confirmed to be on its way yesterday. I have never made any modifications since then."

"Lindsey," Madison finally spoke up, still perplexed about everything. Something was not right. "Are these all the flowers?" She gestured around them at the few vases and boxes of blue and purple irises, composing probably not even half of what they had ordered.

"Oh, the rest of the flowers were delivered to the second venue." Roger spoke up, a short smile crossing his face. Lindsey's face snapped up, eyes bulging open.

"Second venue?"

"Yes, to Jamaica." Roger's smile was now long gone as he saw the shock and bewilderment written all over Madison and Lindsey's face. "Was...that also a mistake?"

"Jamaica?! Who told you to send flowers to Jamaica?" Lindsey yelled, startling both Madison and the delivery guy. Now something definitely was wrong. How could the flower company make such a huge mistake? And this close to the wedding... They would never be able to get the flowers back in time and entirely intact, or make another similar order. It was completely ruined.

"Lindsey, I-I need to.. I need to get out of here." Madison felt like her throat was blocking air, the sudden huge burden dropping on her shoulders and weighing her down. She left the room with Adeline's arm wrapped around her waist, stabilizing her. If she felt lightheaded before, now she was completely dizzy and begged Adeline to help her head for the closest bathroom, nausea taking over.

"You've been very sick lately." Adeline inquired, holding back Madison's hair away from her sweaty face while she was emptying her stomach.

"Ugh," Mady sighed, leaning her cheek on the cold toilet rim, welcoming the coolness with open arms. "The stress is eating me alive, you have no idea." She opened her eyes slowly, watching Adele purse her lips with an unsure expression on her face, her brown eyes avoiding hers. "What's wrong?"