At home, Iris spent the first half of the day taking care of Lucy. The cat was napping most of the time, but fitfully. No position every satisfied it. However, around midday, he finally calmed down.
By then, Iris was already exhausted and warmed herself a frozen pizza from the fridge. While eating, she scrolled through the news online, and she was once again reminded about Gale's situation. He seemed to be descending into the bowels of debauchery, one day at a time.
Lily's tear filled face surfaced in Iris' mind, and a sudden impulsive decision formed in her mind. She wanted to see how the girl was doing. When she left, the girl had been on the verge of a break down, and her current situation could only be making it worse.
Although Iris was no family or old friend, she had spent a couple days with the girl and liked her. It might be prudent to not intrude upon others, but with how extreme Gale's family was, she didn't feel like she would have a chance to learn about Lily without acting the same way.
Thus, she dressed up and called a taxi to get her to Mosley residence, which she easily found online. It was a grand house that could rival ancient castles with its grandness.
Unfortunately, it was on the other side of the city, so it took Iris close to five hours to get there.
Only when she was getting close to the mansion did it occur to Iris that nobody might let her inside. This was kind of a huge problem, but it was a little late to reconsider. There were only ten minutes left till the taxi would reach the destination.
To Iris' surprise, the grand gates to the residence were wide open. Anyone who wanted was free to drive inside. She thanked the driver and paid an exorbitant sum for the journey before alighting to go to the house.
The driveway was filled with various sports cars and convertibles. All of them looked not a year old, shining with eye-catching colors and speaking volumes of their owners' size of bank account. All of them seemed capable of throwing money left and right without a care.
Upon passing this show of wealth, Iris saw a four-story mansion that rose into the sky like a heavy giant. It was an older building, so it lacked the grace that was currently in style, but it made up for it with sheer size and weight. Made of red bricks, it radiated ostentatiousness and pride, a certain spirit to discredit what's new and value the good old days.
But in contrast to that spirit, there was a giant pool to the right of the house. Dozens of people were playing inside it, while a couple hundred stood around, dressed in bikinis and shorts, displaying their alluring figures.
There were drinks in everyone's hands, glasses and bottles, and many more on the tables nearby. Loud music came from the speakers, forcing everyone to shout if they wanted to speak, but no one seemed to mind. They were laughing and pointing at one another, pretending to have conversations when neither side heard the other.
While slowly getting closer, two shadows in the windows caught Iris' eyes. Gale's parents stood next to each other, looking down at the party. Iris couldn't make out their expressions, but the woman had her arms crossed, her posture haughty. The man was leaning against the window, his left hand holding the head.
'Seems like they're not too amused by the show under their windows.' But that had little to do with Iris. The reason why she was here was to find Lily and see if she was okay. If so, then to get her number to make contact easier next time.
It took her a bit of time to reach the entrance to the mansion. Although the driveway should have ended right before it, the sizes were all exaggerated here. It was as if the one who designed this place thought that the guests wouldn't be able to feel enough sense of grandeur if they didn't have to walk close to a kilometer to the entrance.
Once Iris got there, she heard loud noise from her right and saw Gale about to dive from ten meter height. He wasn't stable on his feet while standing on the board, his body going right, then left before reaching the jumping off point, and Iris became certain that he'd get hurt. After giving a drunken half-bow to the crowd, he didn't manage to straighten.
His balance gave up on him, he took a step back to catch himself, but there was only air there. From afar, Iris couldn't see his expression, but it had to have been one of horror. Matching what she was wearing now. But before she could scream out, like many others did, water surged up into the air. In its wake, Gale popped his head out, laughing like mad. The whole scene then dissolved into everyone beginning to cackle.
Not Iris though. She didn't feel their mirth. With horror still gripping her heart, she looked away and went into the house. She couldn't say anything to Gale, but there was still Lily. The little girl was still not beyond redemption. She was young enough to be made understand what is good and what is a pointless risk of one's life. No matter how lucky one was, there would come a day when that luck ran out.
Unfortunately, Iris hadn't considered that a giant mansion would also consist of countless room and endless hallways. In less than five minutes, she got lost, without even the idea of from where she had come. The long corridors were like a maze, ending in identical isles once in a while.
For a time, Iris just walked around casually, admiring the decorations and the paintings on the walls, but soon she got tired of it. Lily was her goal, but where in the world was the little girl? Although there was a loud party outside, the inside of the house was deathly silent. In her over fifteen minute long trek, she hadn't seen a living soul.
There were no guards to stop her, no servants to question her presence. It almost seemed like a dead house, just one that was well preserved. There wasn't even a speck of dust anywhere.
Upon rounding another corner, Iris was ready to start knocking on doors to see if anyone was around so she could judge her place based on the sight through the windows. Otherwise, she might never come out of this place. There were just too many rooms in this gigantic mansion. Who would even need that many? Were they planning to house half the city?
"What are you doing here?" a voice asked, and Iris jumped.
She whirled around like a startled rabbit, ready to run away. In this place, only Lily might welcome here. Anyone else was bad news, and this was clearly a male voice.
When she caught sight of the man, she froze. "Gale?" she asked, uncertain. It was him, but he didn't sound like him. His voice was lower, and there was something in his eyes that she didn't like.
With a smile that held no humor, he leaned against the wall. His bare chest was up for display, still wet from the dive before, but Iris couldn't look away from his face. There was danger there, in the slight narrowing of his eyes, the curvature of his mouth that spoke of hidden mockery.
"How did Kyro's little fox end up here? Doesn't she know that entering a tiger's den is no joking matter?"
As he said that, he pushed himself off the wall and took a step forward, his body crowding the corridor.