Page 94 of Liberating Lily

So lying on the floor had really been better for both of them.

But he’d barely slept, and by five this morning, he’d had to get out of the room before the last of his control snapped and he ended up in that bed with her wrapped up in his arms.

He’d made them breakfast this morning, which she’d barely eaten. He was starting to get really concerned about her so he’d shut himself in his office before his mouth could run away on him. But something had to change. She needed to start taking better care of herself, or he’d have to step in. Despite the fact that she might think him too controlling over her. Her health still had to come first, right?

Fuck, but then there was her emotional safety.

Pushing all of those thoughts out of his mind, he concentrated on his baby sister. “Bea, what’s going on? What’s wrong?”

“They’re all dead,” she wailed.

For a moment, his heart stopped. What was she talking about? Who was all dead? Their family? Had something happened to Ronan, Paddy, and Fiadh?

But he’d only just heard from Ronan about twenty minutes ago.

“Your worms. Oh my God, Harvey. I’m so sorry. Your worms are all gone. I think they’ve all died.”

“Thank fuck.” That was his first response, relief that his family was fine.

Then he felt a strange sadness. Huh, that was surprising. He must have been more attached to the worms than he’d realized.

He was surprised by their death. He wondered what had happened. “How?”

“Somebody’s been in your house. They’ve trashed it. Harvey, it’s a complete wreck.”

He stood, his heart pounding. “What are you talking about? Bea, what do you mean somebody’s trashed my house?”

“When I arrived, the door was slightly ajar. I pushed it in and rushed inside, thinking they might still be in there. I came in before work, so it was still kind of dark outside. And I didn’t notice how bad it looked inside for a moment. Then I turned on all the lights and saw that the worm farm had been tipped over.”

Jesus bloody Christ.

Ronan had done his best to protect their sisters from everything, but that meant that they didn’t have the greatest sense self-preservation, or awareness of the fact that they could get hurt.

“Bea, listen to me. This is very important. Are you still in my house?”

“Yes, of course I’m still in your house. I can’t leave it this way. I don’t know what to do about the worms, though.”

“Bea, don’t worry about the worms,” he said urgently. “I need you to leave the house, all right? Get out of there right now. Go to my neighbors, the Farrars. You’ve met them, remember? Knock on the door, tell them what’s happened, ask them if you can come in and stay with them. Then stay with them.”

“Why do you sound so angry? Oh, is it because you’re upset about the worms?” Bea asked. “I’ll get some new worms, okay? And we can replace everything in the house. Don’t worry, I’ll start tidying up now.”

“Bea, for the love of God, if you don’t listen to me . . .” He didn’t know what to threaten her with. There wasn’t much he could do that Ronan wouldn’t kill him for. “Bea, please, please, go next door.”

“Why?”

“Because the person that did this could be watching. They could come back.”

“But it’s probably just some sort of random robbery. We don’t even know if it happened recently. Like I said, I haven’t been here for the last few days.”

“Or it could be really recent, okay? We don’t know. Please wait next door. I’m on my way.”

He sent a quick message to Paddy before gathering up his car keys and rushing out of the office. He nearly banged straight into Lily, who was standing on the other side of the door.

“Lily, is everything okay?”

“Um, yes, sure, are you all right?” she asked.

“Not exactly. I’ve had a break-in at my house, and I need to get over there quickly. Will you be all right?”