Page 21 of Liberating Lily

Time to make this girl more comfortable.

Lily woke up confused.

Her heart was racing, and she sat up suddenly, glancing around. Where was she? What was going on? What happened?

This wasn’t her bedroom.

Oh no. Oh no. This had happened to her before, where she’d gone to sleep in one place and woke up in another, with no idea of how she’d gotten there.

And she hated that.

She’d detested that feeling of having lost a period of time. Of having no idea what had been done to her or how she’d gotten here.

Find somewhere to hide, Lily.

No, no. What she should do is find her pills. They’d calm her down. She needed to be calm right now. Otherwise, they might come for her with a needle.

Wait . . . who would come at her with a needle?

Lily looked around. This bed was comfortable and huge. The walls of this bedroom were painted a soft gray and the high ceiling was made of wood. Where was she?

Think, Lily. Think.

Bits and pieces of memory came back to her.

And she realized exactly where she was. In the cabin in the woods.

With Harvey.

Because the wedding to Rick had been called off.

A sigh of relief escaped her before she could stop it. The wedding to Rick was off. She didn’t have to marry that mean, selfish asshole.

Lily drew her legs up against her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Why was she here?

Why did Harvey want her?

You’re useless. You have no skills. You’ve never had a proper job. And you’re sick.

Lily needed her pills.

Deep breaths.

Before she did anything else, she had to find a bathroom. Urgently.

As she pulled the blankets off the bed, she noticed the bandages on her hands.

What had happened?

Her breathing started to quicken in shock. It brought up memories of when she’d woken up after losing moments in time to find that she had strange bandages and bruises that hadn’t been there before. She turned her arms over so she could see her inner elbows.

There it was.

A bandage on the inside of her right arm.

Just a small one, but as she peeled it back, it was clear she’d had blood taken.

Her breathing grew faster and faster as she broke out in a cold sweat.