Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 137144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Ronan stared down at her for a long moment. Then he nodded. “All right, come with me.” He kept her hand still tucked into his elbow as he led her along. She glanced behind at Harvey with a questioning look, but he just shrugged and gave her a small smile. So she guessed this was normal behavior for Ronan?
He wasn’t acting like an iceberg right now.
They headed along the hall toward a hidden door underneath the staircase. They stepped through.
Ronan moved in front of her. “Put your hand on my shoulder as we head downstairs. I don’t want you to trip and fall over.”
Wow. He was as bad as Harvey.
But she rested her hand on his shoulder as they headed downstairs.
“How is the girl that you found in the clinic?” she asked. “Is she awake? Is she okay?”
“She’s not awake yet,” Ronan said. “We’re waiting on the results from the blood test to see what she was drugged with. I’m guessing it was the same thing as you, though.”
Poor girl.
“Do you think that when she wakes up I could talk to her? Are you going to explain how you found her?”
“Probably,” Ronan said. “We need to find out if she’s got anyone that can look after her, or whether her family knew what was happening to her.”
“And if they did know? If she has no one?” she asked, hating to think that the other woman might end up on her own. At least she had Harvey. As if he could sense what she was thinking, he placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed.
“She won’t be left alone,” Ronan said. “I’ll take care of her.”
Poor girl was probably going to be terrified when she woke up and found out where she was and who was looking after her. But she also got the idea that no one would take better care of her than Ronan.
Ronan put a code into the keypad next to the door. Then he opened it. Without thought, she reached back and Harvey took her hand in his, squeezing it tight.
To her shock, they walked into what looked to be a small apartment. There was a bed and a door off to the side that she assumed led to a bathroom.
There was also a heavy-looking chair in one corner, but the rest of the room was pretty bare, and she guessed she understood that.
Depending on who was down here, he wouldn’t want to leave anything that could be used as a weapon. The television was attached to the wall, but kept behind some sort of glass case, or maybe it wasn’t glass. It was probably a thick plastic.
She couldn’t see her mother, though.
“Roberta? Roberta?” Ronan called out, walking to the bathroom and knocking sharply.
“Go away.”
Lily started to walk toward the door, but Harvey slipped his arm around her waist. “Don’t go any closer. Let Ronan get her out.”
She nodded. It was probably for the best.
Ronan opened the door and just walked straight in. When he returned, he had a firm hold of her mother’s arm.
He drew her into the room, forcing her to sit on the end of the bed.
Her mother glared up at him. “Who are you to treat me like this? How dare you? I will not stand for this.”
“Mother.”
Her mother’s head turned and she glared at Lily.
“What are you doing here, Clem?”
Lily frowned at her. “Mother. It’s Lily.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Clem. Lily wouldn’t treat me this way. She’s so compliant, that girl, so obedient. No thoughts of her own, of course, completely blank inside, which is just perfect for what I need her for.”
Lily shuddered, her breath coming in fast pants.
But then she realized this might work better than if her mother realized it was her. Obviously, something had broken inside her mother’s head.
“What do you need Lily for, Mother?” she asked.
Harvey hugged her against him. Her mother didn’t seem to see him. She didn’t really focus on anything; her eyes drifting from thing to thing in the room. Ronan just stood to the side, silent and quiet.
Paddy hadn’t come down with them, but she guessed there were probably cameras in here, so this was being recorded.
“I need her to marry Rick. He’s ambitious, and his family has plenty of money. All of our money is gone. We have nothing. Nothing. The only reason I’ve survived is because I’ve been selling her.”
It was a punch to the stomach.
“I found a way to make her obedient. Dr. Wallace had this special formula, these pills that we gave her, and then we could suggest anything to her, and she believed us. I made her believe that she’d attacked me, that she’d hurt me, that she needed the pills in order for me to be safe. She felt so guilty that she took those pills without a word. Not even an argument.”