Page 6 of Liberating Lily

“Yes? Is something wrong?” Lily asked, staring around at them all.

Harvey frowned. “I want to take her with me, Clem.”

“You’re not taking her anywhere! It’s bad enough I have one defective daughter! I need her.” Roberta leaped for Lily, but Harvey stepped between them and shoved her back.

No way was this bitch getting her hands on her.

“I don’t have much compunction about taking down someone who comes after anyone that belongs to me,” Harvey warned. “So be very careful.”

“Are you sure he’s a lawyer?” Jaret asked Clem.

Harvey grinned. “What else would I be?” Then he turned to Lily and crouched in front of her, pulling her up into his arms.

She was far too light. It was scary.

“Will she be safe with you?” Clem asked.

“She’ll be as safe as I can make her. I won’t allow anything to happen to her, Clem. I promise you.”

“Okay,” she whispered. “If she needs me, you know where to find me?”

“I do.”

But she wasn’t going to need anyone but him. Harvey would see to that.

Lily stirred in his arms, blinking up at him. “Harvey?”

“Yes, it’s me,” he told her.

“Where are we going?”

“Home.”

“I don’t like it at home.” Lily shuddered.

“That place wasn’t your home, Lily. Your home is with me.”

1

Lily felt numb.

It wasn’t an uncommon feeling. Normally, she embraced ‘the numb’.

It was better than feeling anything. Better than being able to feel Rick touch her, kiss her. Than having to listen to her mother talk badly about her, pick at her incessantly.

The numb was safe. It sheltered her from her bitchy, so-called friends and the way they gossiped about her when they thought she couldn’t hear.

A shudder ran through her, and her stomach rolled nauseously.

Was she due for her pills? Why was she starting to feel things? Notice things?

Where was she? Blinking, she glanced out the window. Was she moving?

How did I get into a car?

Panic wanted to slip through the numb, but she shoved it down. Once she had her pills, she’d feel better. That was all she needed.

She could feel the cool leather seats beneath her. Running her fingers over the smooth material, she fought to stay in the numb.