They have to receive the package.

On Monday morning, a message from Elara lit up the tablet Lilith had left behind: "Studio closed for electrical maintenance. Enjoy the day off. Magi, review the files from session 54. Celia, get some rest."

It was an order disguised as benevolence. The voluntary confinement was prolonged. Magi spent the morning reviewing the Collector's photos on the living room's high-definition screen, studying her own unraveling like a technician studies a manual. Celia dozed on the sofa, the shawl like a gray cocoon.

The silence was broken, brutally, by the front doorbell at two in the afternoon.

A shrill, prolonged chime cut through the air like a knife. Celia sat up with a start, her eyes wide with panic. Magi, however, didn't feel the slightest shiver. Nakedness had already become her armor inside that house; she had assimilated that exposed skin was just skin.

She approached the security screen integrated into the wall with a calm step. A man in a courier uniform, sweaty and holding a tablet, waited impatiently on the threshold. He held a flat, rectangular box, the size of a large painting.

"It's the delivery man," Magi said, her voice flat and pragmatic. "The package. Lilith's gift."

"We can't open it!" Celia jumped up, wrapping herself so tightly in the wool blanket that she almost tripped. "Look at us, Magi! We can't let him see us like this!"

Magi turned to her. She could have gone alone, dismissed the man in ten seconds, and left Celia hiding in the living room. It would have been the easiest thing to do. But seeing her trembling, consumed by a shame that was destroying them from the inside, she made a decision. If they were going to survive Lilith's rules, Celia had to face the reality of the house.

"I'm going to open it," Magi declared firmly. "And you're coming with me."

"You're crazy!" Celia shrieked, stepping back.

"Listen to me." Magi closed the distance between them and looked into her eyes with an intensity that brooked no argument. "Lilith wants us to live terrified of our own shadow. I'm not going to give her the pleasure of feeling humiliated, and you are going to stop acting like frightened prey. Drop the shawl and come with me."

Trembling from head to toe, and under Magi's unwavering gaze, Celia loosened her fingers. The heavy wool fell to the marble floor with a dull whisper. She stood there, completely exposed, hugging herself out of pure instinct.

Magi took her by the arm and dragged her toward the foyer. However, when Magi reached the doorknob, Celia's panic was stronger than her obedience. Letting out a small whimper, she cowered and quickly hid behind Magi's body, using her bare back as her only shield against the outside world.

Magi didn't throw the door wide open, but neither did she try to use the solid wood to hide herself. She opened the heavy leaf just enough to plant herself in the gap. The hot city air hit the air-conditioned foyer like a slap.

The delivery man, a man in his forties with a few days' stubble and a sweat-stained baseball cap, looked up from his tablet. The words died in his mouth.

His eyes opened wide as he came face-to-face with Magi's impassive nakedness. His gaze swept her up and down brazenly and, leaning in a little, he discovered the second woman, cowering and trembling, barely peeking from behind Magi's shoulder. The man's expression of surprise gave way to a slow, lascivious smile.

"Well..." he murmured, his voice raspy. "Good afternoon, ladies. I hope I'm not interrupting anything... fun."

Celia squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her face against Magi's back, unable to bear the humiliation, but Magi didn't shrink back. She stood planted on the threshold, her shoulders squared, holding the man's gaze with absolute coldness. Her body was exposed, but her attitude was that of someone untouchable.

"The package," Magi demanded, extending a firm hand, without an ounce of tension in her voice.

The man blinked, thrown off by the absolute lack of shame of the woman in front of him. He held out the box, but tried to hold onto it for a second longer, intentionally brushing Magi's fingers.

"Looks like your heating broke, huh?" he commented with a crude wink, trying to regain control of the situation. "Good way to stay comfortable. Doesn't bother me, honestly."

Magi didn't blush or pull her hand away. She yanked the box roughly, snatching it from him.

"The tablet to sign," she ordered.

The man offered it to her, trying to crane his neck to get a better look at the woman hiding behind. Magi scribbled a quick signature, handed back the device, and, without adding a single word, shut the door in his face. The latch made a definitive click.

As soon as the wood separated them from the outside, Celia collapsed on the floor, bursting into tears with a dry, harsh sob that tore at her throat.

"Did you see him?" she moaned, burying her face in her hands. "He looked at us like... like we were whores. It's awful, Magi, it's awful."

Magi looked down at her. She felt pity for her, but she knew the exposure was necessary to break that bubble of terror. She didn't stop to console her; her mind was already focused on the white cardboard box she was holding. "The gift for you to have fun with."

She walked toward the kitchen island. Celia, still sobbing, got up clumsily and followed her from a distance. They both stared at the package.

Magi, with a quick and decisive movement, tore the seal and opened the lid.

Inside, on a bed of black silk, lay the object: a deep purple, double-penetration silicone dildo, with ergonomic ends and a minimal control panel. It was elegant, expensive, and completely explicit.

Celia let out a stifled gasp and took a step back.

"It's... it's from Lilith," Magi murmured. There was no modesty in her voice, but a deep, cold disgust.

"A toy... for... us..." Celia couldn't finish the sentence. The idea was so invasive, so calculated, that it surpassed even the humiliation at the door.

"She thinks this is a game. She thinks that with this she's going to break us and make us perform for her, even when she's not here," Magi said with a grimace of contempt.

Without hesitation, she took the box. She didn't do it out of disgust for the object itself, but for what it represented. She scanned the living room and headed for a small built-in cabinet near the home theater, used for storing cables and spare batteries. She opened the door, tossed the package inside unceremoniously, and turned the key forcefully.

"There it stays," Magi declared, turning to Celia with an icy expression. "We just proved that we can face anyone. We are not going to play her game behind closed doors."