Page 157 of Liberating Lily

Harvey turned on him. “My girl is missing. She’s somewhere out there alone. She doesn’t even have any money, Ronan. She left most of her belongings including her phone. I don’t even know if she has a sweater. I don’t know what state of mind she’s in. You know she’s fragile right now.”

“Why is she so fragile? Why won’t you talk about her? Why couldn’t we meet her,” Fiadh asked, wiping away tears.

“Because the girl went through something terrible, Fiadh.” It was actually his grandfather who spoke up. “She needs some time to recover without being overwhelmed by all of us.”

“Amanda, I think it’s time you left,” Ronan said firmly.

Amanda was watching them all with wide eyes, but she nodded and got up. “I’m really sorry for this. I’ll call you, Fiadh.”

Fiadh just nodded.

“You’ve met Lily?” Harvey asked his grandfather once Amanda was gone.

“Yeah, that day she was here. Her mother drugged her, Fiadh, and let her be abused. So, nobody knows what state of mind the girl will be in, even though she’s a strong one. You tell us what you know.”

Fiadh nodded.

“We went to find Amanda’s notebook. She lost one on a job and thought she’d check your house. I didn’t know that you’d returned.”

He started pacing back and forth. “So you just entered my house.”

“I do that all the time,” Fiadh said.

She did and it was his fault for not telling his family that he’d returned. He’d just wanted to keep that to himself for a bit longer. You didn’t see her at all?”

“No, we didn’t see her at all,” Fiadh said, her gaze dropped guiltily.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Well, we were talking to each other. I was saying to Amanda that I had hoped the two of you would hit it off. That I thought she might have seen you while she was redecorating your place, and that you might have gotten along, because I would have liked her as a sister-in-law. I’m so sorry, Harvey. Maybe she overheard us. This is all my fault.” Fiadh burst into tears.

At any other time, he might have tried to comfort her, but he didn’t have the patience or time for that.

Ronan grasped hold of her shoulders. “Fiadh, this is important. Was there anything more?”

That didn’t sound like enough to send Lily running.

“I just, well, I guess I was venting. I didn’t understand that she’d been through something traumatic. I kind of thought she was snubbing us or something, like she thought our family wasn’t good enough. And then when Amanda said she had met her and that she’d seemed like a cold, snobby person. Well, I just got a little upset and said things that I now regret, and that I realize she might have taken badly. But surely it wasn’t bad enough for her to leave.”

“She thinks that she’s not good enough for me, that I deserve better, because she’s recovering from what happened to her. It’s scarred her. When Amanda met her, she probably came across like she was cold and uninterested because she was drugged. She was stuck in an engagement to a man she hated. And she couldn’t see a way out.”

“Not everyone has a great family who will go to bat for them,” his grandfather told Fiadh gently.

“I’m so sorry. I really am. I didn’t mean to hurt her, or to cause her to leave. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“She can’t have gone that far,” his grandfather said. “Where would she go?”

“I don’t know.” He ran his hand over his face. “She doesn’t know anybody. She doesn’t have any friends or family in the city.”

“What about her sister?” Ronan asked.

“She lives in Texas, and they’re not close. I don’t know if Lily would go to Clem.”

“Call her,” his grandfather suggested. “Just in case she ends up there.”

“Has she got a credit card?” Ronan asked. “Any way of getting money?”

“No, she doesn’t have anything.” Which was stressing him out. “Well, there was a credit card from her mother but I doubt it has anything on it.”