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2. IN HIS CAGE

She needs him. But he is unreachable

LAYLA | NOW

Layla slumped into the couch beside Lilly's bed. Her feet started to ache and every muscle in her body became stiff. She hates this rain. She hates how cold the nights would become in Ylumia during monsoons. Lilly trembled at the sudden clap of thunder. Layla instantly is on her foot, closing the windows and tucking Lilly into her brown blanket.

The knock on the door made her pause her actions. She took a deep breath, listening to the sound of knocking. It has been six years. But the sound of the door still made her quiver and quickened her heartbeat.

"Layla. It's Raya." The voice of her friend made her sigh in relief.

Layla quickly ushered her friend into the house before shutting the front doors. Raya is still in her scrubs as she walks inside the tiny house.

"How did it go?" She asked her.

Layla shook her head as if the answer didn't affect her. "He didn't even listen."

Something close to pity crossed Raya's face and Layla didn't like it. Her life was full of pity stares. They never help in any way. What she needs is a solution.

"What are we going to do now? I've filtered the entire population of Ylumia. He is our only option."

Layla thinks back to that only option, to those steely blue gazes, and to that unbothered person. "He isn't going to move. He isn't going to help. There should be some other way. You must find another way, Raya." She begged her only friend.

"I wouldn't send you to the devil if I think we have another way, Layla. You know it."

She doesn't doubt that. Raya is every other average resident of Ylumia and being there naturally ignites terror towards Zaley. It was his city.

Meeting him itself is an adventure or that's what most people say. Better not cross paths with him-- people often warned her whenever she asked about him. Too bad. She already did and he rejected her without even listening.

Lilly turned in her sleep. She became so weak in the last month and lost so much weight that Layla started to worry that her little girl couldn't walk on her own anymore. Every time she watched her, she felt a throbbing pain in her heart. She has to save her.

"I will meet him again, and again and again until he agrees," Layla said with a new determination.

It wasn't uncommon for her. By the dawn, she loses hope and reaches home with a heavy body and mind. And she silently cries after Lilly is asleep. Somewhere by midnight, Layla motivates herself to face the tomorrow. It was a daily ritual. People like her need to remind themselves daily why they are living and what is at stake. Some days are better than others. Somedays, she wished she never woke up again. But Lilly always put her on her feet. Lilly gave her strength. She would do anything for her little girl.

"Layla," Raya whispered, looking at her with concern. "You know how dangerous it is. He can get rid of you in seconds. You can't go after him. You know what happened to the industrialist, Keatons."

Everyone knows what happened to the Keatons. They opposed Zaley, refused to work according to his rules, and the five Keaton cousins were found dead sixty feet under the sea. No one dared to question him again in the city. Ylumia belongs to him. How can Layla ever convince a man like him to help her daughter? She has no idea. She may end up dead too. But she will die trying.

"I have no other option," Layla stated the obvious.

"I wish there were a way out," Raya said, caressing Lilly's head. "I heard you can find him at the Pristine bar tomorrow. My husband told me that he is going to meet the Mayor there. Give it a try. Some big event is going on. They are hiring new staff for the day. Tips will be good and he will be there. Tomorrow is my day off. I can look after Lilly."

If it was any other day, Layla would have urged her friend to make the best out of her only day off of the month. But tomorrow is important to her. Lilly's life is on the line. Layla needed Raya's help. She can't say no even though she knows how uncomfortable it'll be for Raya.

"Thank you," She whispered, feeling ashamed for robbing only her free day. Thanks is all she could ever manage to say. Layla could never pay back Raya for her support. There's no hope for the future, of a better tomorrow. If Lilly gets the donor, that's all that matters.

Layla set to Ylumia's exquisite club for social elites the next evening. Beyond the discreet entrance lies a world of unparalleled luxury. Plush carpets absorb her footsteps as she enter the grand lobby, bathed in the soft glow of crystal chandeliers. A subtle scent of refinement hangs in the air. Thanks to Raya's husband, Harish. Layla got to do the waitressing for this one night. Whatever the event was for, it was grand. She felt out of place there.

Soaring ceilings adorned with intricate moldings frame a space that transforms with the touch of a button. One moment, it's an elegant space for a charity gala, the next, a pulsating dance floor bathed in a kaleidoscope of colors by the state-of-the-art lighting system. Live music fills the air. Women giggled over men's arms like a possession.

What are these people? Layla thought. What do they do for a living? How is her life so difficult when she is in the same city? When will she leave this city?

Luckily for her, one of the employees switched positions so she got to enter the VIP room where there were no women in sight. Everyone is are man and from what she saw, there are only a few who are in age. Everyone else is older. The only women who are going inside are the waitresses like her.

She searched for those icy blue eyes she remembered too well. He was there, sitting at the head of the dining table, with every person's attention in the room. Unlike last time, he is wearing a tux today. She hated how it suited him so well. She hated how he was able to command everyone in the room just by being there. She hated how she thought a little help from him could change Lilly's and her life forever. Mainly, she hated being at his mercy.

He was talking to the Mayor of the city when his eyes crossed hers. He looked away at first and then looked back, right into her eyes. He held her gaze for a second. Then his stare dropped down to the tray she held making her grip it more tightly. His deep blue eyes find her's again. He held her gaze for another ten seconds before he looked away.

It wasn't until then she released a breath she didn't realize holding. She never saw eyes like that, like that of a hawk, scrutinizing every minute detail and she never saw that color before. Deep blue is like the ocean, like the cosmos, like chaos, and like the sky. How's that even possible?

Someone smacked her buttocks when she was serving. Her body became stiff as she straightened and glared at the almost seventy-year-old man behind her. That filthy dog laughed and commented, "Nice ass." And gave her another smack.

She took a startled step away from him only to have her ass squeezed by another man. Lalya felt murderous. She could kill if there's no child waiting for her at home. Her eyes find the cold blue gaze again. He was simply staring at her devoid of any emotion.

"Do something." Her eyes pleaded without her knowledge. Why would he? After all, he is the king there. He controls what happens there. Why would he help her when he is the one who encourages this?

"Eyes down." A girl from behind hissed.

"Wine here." Another bald man ordered her with a creepy smirk on his face.

Layla looked at the steely blue gaze again. Something inside her spiked. He could have stopped that. He didn't. That's how the world was. She would be damned if she lets it win her again. Instead of serving the wine, she took the exit. All the time, his eyes never left hers.

"Things like that happen there. Why would you enter the VIP lounge if you can't tolerate that? No one forced you to be there." Another girl in the washroom asked her.

"Does it make it okay?" Layla questioned the girl, looking at her own reflection in the mirror.

"What?"

"The fact that no one forced me to be there. Does it make okay for them to behave like that?"

The girl stopped applying the lipstick and watched Layla for a second before she continued her work. "You know how the world is." That is all she could mutter before she fixed her hair and walked out.

Layla took a deep breath. Another day got wasted, and another tip got lost because she didn't keep her head down. Because they couldn't keep their hands to themselves. A voice inside her reminded. But it was never their fault. The world doesn't question them.

She washed her hands, fighting the urge to wash every part of her body that both men touched. The hair on her neck prickled and her fingers halted. She looked up to find the familiar piercing blue eyes looking at her in the mirror.

"Zaley." She whispered.

He stared at her blankly without averting his gaze. Her heart thrummed inside her chest. She felt like she stepped inside his cage even though it was a ladies' toilet and he stepped inside her space.

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