Page 5 of Liberating Lily

Roberta sat up straight, drawing her shoulders back. “Perhaps you should. I feel deceived.”

“No more than we’ve been deceived by you. Needless to say, the marriage is off.”

Roberta gave the senator a sneer. “You disgust me. I will make sure that everyone knows what was revealed here.”

“Not unless you want us to do the same.” This came from Rick’s mother. “We can both go down that hole, Roberta.”

Roberta smiled. “Perhaps you’re right. Best we all keep quiet.”

Hmm. He didn’t think so.

He watched as the senator dragged Rick out, his wife following.

“What the fuck have you just done!” Roberta screeched, grabbing hold of Clem’s upper arms. “You ruined everything.”

Before Harvey could move, Jaret pulled the old bitch away and threw her down on the sofa.

“Be careful,” Jaret warned. “I’ve never hit a woman, but after seeing the marks on my baby yesterday, I might change that rule for you.”

Marks? Harvey didn’t like that. He ran his gaze over Lily. Had this bitch touched her?

Roberta paled. “Clementine, are you going to allow him to treat me this way?”

“Mother, all my life you’ve ignored me or manipulated me. Why would I defend you? And trust me, Jaret is actually being very restrained. Where did the money go?” Clem asked.

“That bastard, Marc, stole it all! All the money your father left me. Your inheritance, Lily’s, it’s all gone.”

That didn’t matter. Lily wouldn’t need that money. He would take care of her.

“And you kept that from us. It must have killed you when Granny June left me that property and not you. That would have filled the coffers slightly, huh?” Clem said.

“That property should have been mine!” Roberta spat out. “God knows, I deserve it for taking care of that old bitch.”

“Taking care of her? You never visited her; you never did anything for her!”

“She did nothing for me! I wasn’t raised the way I should have been. How I deserved to be. That property was mine and I would have sold it as soon as I got my hands on it. But no, you had to go have these grand ideas of living there. Well, I knew I had to dissuade you, didn’t I? Once I got you away from there and safely married off, I’d have gotten the money I needed from selling that property to Myers and you’d be married to him.” She waved at Harvey.

“I might have had a say in that,” he said dryly. “Not that you’re not amazing, Clem. But my interests lie elsewhere.” His gaze went back to Lily.

Around him, the conversation swirled about the land Clem inherited and how her mother wanted it. How she’d hired someone to try and scare Clem off the land so she could sell it.

Bitch.

Jaret pulled out his phone. “I’m calling the cops.”

Harvey returned his attention to them.

Clem was gaping at her mother. “How could you do that? To your own daughter?”

“Because I needed the money! How do you not understand that?” Roberta said.

“The cops are on their way,” Jaret said.

Roberta sobbed. But he felt no empathy for her. And it was time to go anyway.

“We’ll be leaving now. If you have any problems with the cops, send them my way,” Harvey told Clem as he stood.

Clem glanced over at Harvey, then at her sister. “Lily?”