𝐋𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐎𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 | 𝟏𝟖+

LILY

039. HELL ON EARTH

48 Hours Later

"Why the long face?"

Mother's red lips that were painted with deception lift into a cruel smile as she fiddles with her yellow choker scarf. Within the poorly lit room, the distinctive color of her appearance was the only thing I could make out. She comes closer, pulling at the string of a tattered lamp to let me see her figure.

I shift in the chair. "You don't smell intoxicated for once," I mutter the dig at her, but she only laughs in return.

"You always were kind of naïve, Lily."

"How so?" I pull against the restraints.

"Your father had always favored you. He always seemed to spite me despite what I did for him."

"I don't blame him, you could barely hold a conversation without choking on your throw-up," I seethe, but my comment falls deaf to ears.

She stumbles forward, placing a boney hand on her. Her black dress was short, displaying her lilth legs littered with small bruising. I grimaced. "And in that spite, he wanted to take you and your sister away from me and leave me behind with nothing. He planned to marry you off. He left a sum of money to you and your sister and when Winnie found her sum, she ran off with that boyfriend of hers. You, my dear Lily, were set for life. A nice home, money, and access to anything you could desire all because of that stupid contract," she ranted and paced in front of me.

"What contract?"

She slowed her pacing, shooting daggers into my head. "The stupid will your father left behind after I killed him."

Her words were a stab to the gut, and tingles racked through my already anxious trembles. "No-no, you're lying!" I cry out, thrashing against my binds. The stone walls of the room seemed to cave in on me as I began to hyperventilate.

Mother struts towards me and grips my face harshly in her dainty cold hands."You stupid little girl. Your daddy wasn't everything you thought he was, and he was anything but a good man. He and his good friend agreed long before you were born that their children would marry when of age. Unfortunately, that meant once you guys were gone, so was he, and I couldn't have that, so I took matters into my own hands." She then slapped me, and I wince as her fingernail nicked my cheek.

"The drugs." It dawned on me. "You lied about his death; his death certificate is-"

"Fake. Fabricated. I paid the surgeons a good deal of money to fake operate on your father to make it seem like he died of natural causes. Of course, that was after I had them overdose him to sleep." she shrugged like it was nothing.

"YOU'RE FUCKING SICK!" I screamed at her in utter rage. My breath was hiccuping and heaving as I pulled harder against the restraints, my vocal cords sour from all the shouting. I could feel blood around my wrist. "I hope you fucking die, you fucking bitch! I'll kill you!"

"Tut tut, that's no way to talk to your mother. I saved you. He was going to marry you to that man's son. Royce is not someone who is capable of things like love or marriage. Everyone around him dies or disappears. You would be no different. Just another name on his conscious."

"He has nothing to do with us!" I lie through my teeth.

Surprise lit up her face, eyebrows raised. "Aah, but you see, he has everything to do with us. Your father's old friend was Royces' father. Your father would visit Royce at the Kingss household and share things about you, pictures, anything that would get him to like you. But when Royce caught wind of what happened to your father and where you were, he attempted to come get you. He tried but stopped because I told him." she got closer again and pressed a gun to my neck. "I'd have Xavier kill you, but it seems he already took parts of your dying spirit, didn't he?"

I flinch away, and she pulls away, heading for the door. "What do you gain from all this?" I silently weep, growing tired.

"Money, power, a life your father was unwilling to provide at the expense of you and your sister." she grins sweetly and leaves.

"I'm going to kill you, and if I don't, Royce will, and I'll enjoy every second of it!" I scream after her retreating figure, followed by a broken sigh. The ropes around my wrist and ankles were burning, wincing at the faint bruising lines on my skin. "Well, isn't this just fan-fucking-tastic!" I groan out into the cold silence.

***

"Pssst."

I shoot up from my spot on the bed. Large men in all black and grey attire come in and untied me from my bonds before I shortly fell asleep from exhaustion who knows how long ago. I look around, trying to pinpoint the sound.

"Hey, up here," a voice whispers.

I look up to the ceiling to find the faint outline of someone's head peeking through the seemingly removable ceiling and begin to back away in fright.

"Wait! Don't look suspicious! Cameras are in the far right corner."

I peek at the corner to see that the person was right and take another glance at them. "What do I do?" I whisper back.

"Go to the left corner, it's the blind spot."

I do as they say, and when I turn back around, I'm startled by a hand placed over my mouth.

"Shhh, don't scream. Too much noise alerts them, plus you have guards outside your room," the person says. They sound like a girl. I coudn't tell from behind the large black cloak they're wearing.

Once they remove their hand, I ask, "how did you get here? Up there?"

Their footsteps sounded away from me, but the next thing I knew, a candle was lit, filling the corner with a faint glow. "I've been here a while and found a way to gather information by traveling through the vents and ceilings. It's dusty, with a few rats and mice, but they become your friends after a while. They keep you company.

When she face me with her hood down, I gasp. She was a few feet smaller than I was. She wore a t-shirt that was slightly torn and overworn and shorts, no shoes. She's a lighter shade of brown and had shoulder-length locs. The various new and old scaring stood out, coating her ashy skin. Eyeing her closer, I saw a minor white scar under her eye, and something clicked.

"Celeste?"