𝐋𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐎𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 | 𝟏𝟖+

ROYCE

024. ANOMALY

She drives me crazy.

The way her eyes light up when she talks to Kimberly about something she likes. The way the sun hits her skin makes it glow like brown diamonds. The way she complains whenever her hair frizzes up during the hotter days with a pout on her full lips. When I had her pinned to the kitchen counter a few weeks back, I noticed the tiny butterfly tattoo sitting behind her ear and a small Winnie the Pooh on her ankle. The way she moans when she eats those fucking muffins she's obsessed with. The way her long lashes brushed against her reddened cheeks. That sassy mouth of hers whenever she silently curses me. Her smell. Her taste.

I groan in frustration as my thoughts fill with nothing but her. She's become an obsession, poisoning my head. A daydream I never wanted to wake up from. It's true what I said, that everything we've done was a mistake. But just because they're mistakes doesn't mean I don't like making them-not without her.

She surprised me moments ago, not only with her ability to sound fluent in so little time, but she surprised me, even more when she pulled me into her warm embrace. It was comforting, and I hated it.

I wanted to push her away, but my body caved in against my will. It was like a trance, and the thought that she has this much control over me boiled my blood. I hated it. No one has this much reign over me. She had left the room shaken, and I hadn't seen her since.

As soon as Axel had burst through my office with Xavier's severed hand, I knew it was for the better. To have her hate me. This life isn't meant for her; Lily doesn't belong here. I'd seen the look on her face when I killed that man in the club or even the look she wore when I beat Xavier. She's too kind, too caring. Her expression when she came and told me she knew what I did to my sister did something to my heart. Her eyes were....disappointed.

I clear my thoughts and focus on the task at hand. "Did you check the cameras?" I ask Axel.

He nods. "Yeah, all of them come up clear. So either someone could've fucked with them, or put them in a loop. Or he somehow found blind spots."

I contemplate. There are hardly any blindspots; I checked them myself and did perimeter checks. Guards were everywhere; some people didn't even know they were there, hidden in plain sight. "The guards saw nothing?" Axel shakes his head, and I grunt in annoyance.

I pay these fuckers to keep people in and out, not make fucking mistakes. I had snipers on the rooftops and attics picking up dust, for fucks sake. I wave Axel off.

"See to it that Lily has guards watching her at all times. If she needs something, come to me about it. And if she wants to go out, have several guards with her."

"She's not gonna like this," Axel says.

"I don't care."

He gives me a wide grin. "You mean you care about her safety?" Axel wiggled his brows suggestively.

"Get out of my fucking office."

"Ouch, you love me, right?" Axel persisted.

"Axel," I growl, and he raises his hands defensively, beginning to leave when the door opens, and Kimberly comes in with a worried look.

"Axel," she greets with a polite nod, which he salutes in return. She turns to me. "I didn't want to bother, but there's a young woman at the front gate." I narrow my eyes.

"Who?" I ask, not wanting to deal with any more people today.

She shrugs. "The guard at the gate came to inform me while I was out in the garden. She's demanding to see Lily."