Chapter 9: THE LILLY

**ZALEY**

What the fuck what that? She smelled like the fresh rain clung to her skin combined with her sweat and a unique fragrance that was her. He could get a whiff of her scent amidst thousands of people and still recognise her. It's not the uniqueness that caught him off guard but the familiarity of it. He knew that scent like he knew his own. He bathed in it. He breathed in it. When? Where? How?

She has been in his mind constantly ever since he first saw her in that club. Every time he was near her, her body trembled, but not out of fear. Maybe she is the only person who didn't fear him, who cursed before him, and who swatted his hand away. And that glare gives him an instant hard-on.

"What do I do with you now." He smirked to himself.

"Did I just see her glare at you and you are smirking?" Kirill questioned him, reversing the car. The mountain of guys suddenly became nosy that day.

"And who the fuck is Leon?"

"That's what you have to find out," Zaley told him, staring at Layla, shivering in the rain like a life.

"Are you sure she didn't see me dumping the body?" Kirill, that annoying fucker questioned him again, momentarily distracting him from the view he had been enjoying.

"She didn't see anything," Zaley assured him, giving him an...explanation? He never did that, did he?

"Would be easy if I snap her neck and bury her along with the..."

"You are awfully loud today." Zaley cut him off. Something about Kirill's words makes him want to strangle him to death.

Jeez...That was a lot of emotion for someone who was supposed to be simply a pawn.

To even think that someone could exude an emotion out of him. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.

"Go back." He ordered Kirill.

"I know. We should end her. Too much of a liability."

"Shut the fuck up and go back."

So he did. Layla is walking on the footpath, her hands wrapped around her arms. She looked like a lost little puppy, a soaking little puppy.

She stopped in her tracks and her eyes followed the car as it took a U-turn.

Zaley rolled the window down and beckoned her with his eyes. "Get in."

Of course, she didn't. Nope, not a lost puppy.

"I can go on my own." Her voice shook as she said those words.

Kirill blared the horn, making her jump. Whatever she saw in his eyes, she silently walked to the car and slid in.

Kirill looked at him in the mirror, his eyes impatient. It was as if he was asking him when he could kill her. Zaley would have laughed if he knew how.

She sat quietly, water dripping from her hair and clothes, her skin pale from the cold. She curls into herself, arms wrapped tightly around her knees, shivering as she tries to shake off the chill. It took him an immense amount of control not to reach out to her. She straightened when he looked at her. She moved uncomfortably. "I am sorry, I am making a mess." There is a hint of vulnerability in her eyes, reflecting the storm outside.

She sure put up a brave facade.

And he wondered how it would be, to act brave when you are not.

"Thank you," She whispered.

She looked out of the window. Every now and then, her eyes met his reflection in the mirror. They stayed like that for five minutes, her watching out, and him, watching her before she snapped her head back to him. "Do not look at me."

"What's wrong with that?" He asked, oblivious to what made her angry.

"You are staring at me without averting your gaze. It is giving me chills."

"Am I?"

"Yes." She sounds incredulous. "Why are you staring at me?"

He didn't answer. He just stared at her. She released a sigh. "Can I ask you something?"

All she received was another cold stare. "What are you doing at that building?"

Zaley could see Kirill's eyes widen in shock in the rearview mirror.

"Can't you shut the fuck up, girl?" Kirill asked her.

Her sad eyes met his gaze in the mirror.

"We buried someone there," Zaley answered with the nonchalance only he could exude.

She looked as startled as she should be. Her hands trembled and she looked away again. She swallowed a lump in her throat. Her lips pressed together. There is something else other than fear in her eyes. She looked rather ...disappointed. Why?

Things went in a blur from dropping her to her tine house and ignoring Kirill's mountain-like presence. He needs to know about her. That may or may not be the reason he pushed his date to visit the hospital forward which to Kirill's surprise, the very next day.

*

Something bumped into him, more like a person who is so tiny. Her head is shaved and she has striking big blue eyes. Her lips are pale, and her skin is porcelain. She is wearing a pink colour gown and there is a cannula fixator on her right hand.

"You are so big." She whispered in awe.

Zaley was about to walk past her when the little her grabbed his hand with her little hand.

"Can I look at it?" She asked him curiously, staring at the lighter in his hand.

Zaley ignored her presence. He was never a kid's person. He hates them in fact with such a passion that it is a surprise that he didn't order a ban for all the kids in the city. They cause too much noise which he absolutely hates.

The girl who is maybe four or five years old, started walking beside. She holds her hands together.

"Please...pretty please. I won't tell my mom that you gave it to me." Then she paused which made him pause his steps and look at her. "I won't tell your mom too. Promise."

Kirill would have died of laughter if he had been there. She is so small, innocent, and thin like all her life is being squeezed out of her life by the lethal disease. Her features were oddly familiar and something tugged at his heart which he was sure was a frozen glass by now.

"It is not for kids." He told her.

"But you are a big man."

Illness might have made her so pale and weak but her eyes sparks even through the adversities.

"That's why I have it and you didn't."

Her lips turned down instantly. She muttered something he didn't understand. It started to rain outside, pattering the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Her attention immediately shifted to it and she smiled. Kids are so dumb, he thought. How could she forget that she was begging him for his lighter?

He left her there not wanting to waste his time. A few staff in the hospital greeted him on his way, bowing their heads a little. Patients were oblivious to his presence and the other looked at him, terrified. He would never get enough of that look, the fear in their eyes, and the way their body shook even for a second. What does it take to have the same effect on the entire population of Ylumia? The Mayor is the answer. He just had to control him. He will get everything he needs. He will get Ylumia under his grip and he is going to ruin it so bad that the Ylumia will be nothing but a haunted memory for everyone who lived in it. But why? He doesn't know either.

He woke up one day with a rage like never before. All he wanted is to destroy, not everything, just this city, just this facade of a heaven that lures people in. But it is a shit hole and he knew it better than anyone else.

He heard footsteps behind her followed by panting breaths. "Big man, wait."

Okay, not everyone feared him. This little brat...

He turned around and she almost fell back at the sudden movement. He caught her little hand, stopping her from tripping down.

She has her hands on her hips as she takes her sweet time to catch her breath. He became impatient with every passing second. He never becomes impatient. But today is different. He is going to seal Layla's fate. That gave him an odd sense of satisfaction.

"Just once," She begged him. She held her pointer finger up. "Please...pretty please. I will give you my Hulk toy."

Did this little doll make a deal with him? With Zalaey, the most notorious man in the city, that too with a hulk toy."

Zaley clicked the flint of his lighter, moving it gracefully before her and those big blue eyes watched his every move in awe. Then he took it back. "Leave," He ordered.

"But...."

"Where are your parents?" He asked her looking around.

"Ummm.." The little doll started to think as if she remembered that she had parents and lost them somewhere in this crowd. "Where did I leave my mom?" She asked herself to which Zaley raised his lone brow.

Did she just say that she left her mom somewhere?

"I am so sure she was there with me when I met Lidiya."

He let out an exasperated breath. "Who is Lidiya?"

Her eyes lit up again. "Oh, Lidiya is the staff nurse. She tells us stories sometimes. Yesterday, she told me that there is a big..." She opened her arms, checking the size before she spread them wide, "This big monster is in Ylumia sea. Also..."

Zaley had to place his finger on her lips to silence her. This girl has an attention span of three seconds maybe. She is easily distracted.

"So, will you show me your lighter?"

There we go again.

"Where are your parents?" He asked her again.

"Oh, shit. Sorry, don't tell my mom that I used the bad word. One day when I said shit because Raya said shit. Oops, I used it again. Anyway, I am saying, mom won't like it if I use a bad word."

"WHERE IS YOUR MOM?"

He should have brought Kirill with him. He would frighten the average adult with his bulky presence. Frightening this little girl should have been easy.

The girl looked around her surroundings.

"Do you know her number?"

She took a tag out of her pocket which was made of wood. It looked like a key chain.

Lilly, 5 years old, Phone number and address are written on it.

So, this is Lilly. His golden fish.

"Mommy made that because I lost once..."

"Lilly!" He heard the familiar voice snap.