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)
“Did you not have to pay Dr. Wallace for the pills? How did you afford that? You said that you sold Lily? What does that mean?” she asked. It was hard to get the questions out without being sick.
“Oh, I was going to pay for them originally, back when I still had money. But the doctor suggested another arrangement. Something about making videos of her and selling them. I just had to take her to the clinic once every two weeks. He’d drug her more deeply so she wouldn’t remember a thing. He’d get what he needed, and he’d pay me. It was all a win-win situation.”
A win-win situation. Was she for real? She felt Harvey tense behind her.
“Except for Lily,” she said. “It wasn’t a win-win situation for Lily. She spent most of the past ten months drugged with no idea what was going on. And what exactly was Dr. Wallace doing to her? What kind of videos was he making of her? And what was he doing with them?”
Her mother waved her hand through the air dismissively. “What do I care what he was doing with her? The only stipulation I had was that he couldn’t have sex with her. Oh, and that he couldn’t harm her. I didn’t want her waking up with bruises or cuts and wondering how that had happened. I also couldn’t risk her getting pregnant before she was married to Rick.”
Wow. Was that the only concern that she’d had, that Lily might get pregnant before she married Rick?
“You’re a monster,” Lily told her. “You sold your daughter for money and because you wanted her to marry some dickhead. You never had one thought for her or her feelings. How do you think she’s going to recover now?”
Her mother started to rock back and forth, and there was a strange look on her face. “Who cares? Who cares? It’s all over. It’s all over now. It’s all over.”
“Mother, what was Doctor Wallace doing with the videos he took of Lily?” she asked.
Pretending to be Clem was surprisingly easy. Maybe it was helping her keep herself calm.
“You had me arrested, Clem. Your own mother.”
Jesus.
“What was he doing with those videos,” Ronan said.
“Subscription. A subscription service.”
Oh God. She’d known it had to be something like that . . . but it made her feel sick to hear it.
Harvey shuddered, holding her tighter. She knew he was probably barely holding himself together.
“Do you know who killed Doctor Wallace?” Ronan asked.
“He’s dead. Lily’s gone. Clem had me arrested. All gone wrong. All wrong.”
“You were so desperate to have Lily marry Rick that you were willing to sacrifice me?” she asked, still pretending to be Clem. “And for money. What about Harvey’s house? Did you go there looking for Lily and trash it?”
“No, no. Why would I do that? David did it. Got into a rage when you weren’t there. He said he was under pressure to get you back. Something about threats and owing money.”
“What would happen when Lily married Rick?” she asked. “Then he wouldn’t be able to take his videos.”
“Not happening. All wrong. All gone wrong.” Her mother started pulling at her hair. “It’s all wrong! Clem!” She tried to surge at Lily and Harvey turned with her in his arms, protecting her.
“I have her,” Ronan said.
They turned back to find that Ronan had his arms around her mother. But her mother wasn’t fighting him. In fact, she seemed defeated.
“I don’t think you’ll get anything more out of her now,” Ronan said as he set her down.
The older woman collapsed onto the floor, muttering to herself.
“What do we do with her?” she asked.
“I’ll set some things up. We’ll ensure the police know she’s broken her bail. They’ll probably haul her in and put her in a secured facility.”
“What if she tells them that you kidnapped her and locked her up down here?” she asked.
“Nobody is going to believe a word she says,” Ronan told her. “Don’t worry about her. I’ll take care of everything.”
She nodded without argument. He sounded like he knew what he was doing.
Instead, she turned to Harvey. “I want to see the video.”
He shook his head. “No. Not happening. Never.”
Harvey didn’t want her to see the video.
And yet, here he was, standing in Ronan’s office while Paddy brought up the video from earlier.
“Have you found any other videos?” she asked.
Paddy glanced back at her and she could tell from the look on his face that he had.
“And the girl upstairs? Did he do the same to her?”
“Yeah,” he said. “And a few others. It’s fucking sickening. It seems that with you he didn’t . . . he didn’t go as far as the others.”
Fucking bastard.
Harvey could guess what that meant and he knew from the way Lily tensed that she understood what he was trying to say as well.