Conquered: She Who Dares Book Two (28 page)

“Ah, there you are Princess.” He walks towards me and my body freezes. The fear grips me in a way that makes it hard to breathe, hard to move even. A tear slips down my cheek. He grabs my face roughly. “Don’t cry Princess. You’re not as beautiful when you cry.” He spits. His breathe smells of whiskey and cigarettes.

He grabs my ankle roughly and pulls my legs away from my chest. “I want to see you.” He says. I start to feel it, my mind switching off. It’s the only way I can survive him.

He pulls at my nightie until it’s up around my waist. He runs his hands up my thighs, touching me, feeling me. “So perfect Princess.” He says as he licks his lips. The bedroom door is still wide open, throwing light into the room. I prefer it when it’s dark, then I don’t have to look at him. I can see him and it makes me want to be sick. The door is open because no one will come. No one will help me. No one will save me. He will have made sure of it.

He pulls my legs apart roughly. I turn my face away from him so he won’t see the tears running down my face as my mind goes into complete shut-down. I think of Harry, of how life used to be before him. I remember a day when Harry and I were at the beach making a sand castle. Harry told me that one day he would build me a real castle, just like a real Princess.

I don’t want to be a Princess any more. I just want to be free.

There’s a loud bang and I look up through my tears to see Harry stood in the doorway. “Get the fuck off her you disgusting piece of shit!” He shouts. Harry’s lip is split and bleeding and his eye is swelling shut.

He stands and turns to face Harry. “Get out.” He says.

“You sick fuck.” Harry lunges and punches him in the jaw. His head barely even moves from the blow.

He laughs. “Looks like I need to teach you a lesson boy.” He hits Harry so hard that he lands on the other side of the room.

I scream. Not Harry. He can do whatever he likes to me if he just leaves Harry alone. “Harry!” I cry.

He reaches Harry’s slumped form and kicks him hard. I scream and scream but he kicks him again and again.

I wake up screaming, my body drenched in sweat and shaking. A sob wrenches from my throat as the images play over and over in my mind. My bedroom door swings open and Harry strides to the bed. He pulls me into his arms and holds me. I bury my face in his chest and just cry. I cry for everything we lost together, for the pain we suffered and mostly for the pain we still suffer. The inability to escape the past is the worst part of the whole thing.

“Shhh. It’s okay Lill’s.” He strokes my hair. This routine is old news to Harry. When he first took me away from that place, I used to have such bad nightmares that he would just sleep in my bed. I spent two years taking sleeping pills just so I could sleep. Harry knows the drill. He’s my anchor to the here and now. He reminds me that he’s not the scrawny teenager getting beaten half to death. He’s here in front of me. We’re in the here and now.

I pull away from his chest and he holds my face, searching my eyes. “You okay?” He whispers.

I nod. I vaguely register the door buzzer going off, but the lingering nightmare threatens to consume my mind, distracting me from anything but Harry’s eyes, his breathing. I match my breaths to his. He taught me this when I was a kid. Whenever I would have a bad dream or a panic attack, he would hold me and make me match his breaths. In and out, in and out. Slowly my mind starts to come back to me, to the here and now, in this room.

There’s a knock on the door, and then Molly pops her head in, a deep frown on her face. “Um Harry, there are some police here to talk to you.”

He glances at me quickly and gets up. I follow behind him. Why the hell are the police here? I stand in the living room and watch as my brother greets the two police officers, a middle aged woman and a younger guy. Molly comes to stand next to me. Her fingers gently wind through mine until she’s clasping my hand in hers.

“Mr. Parker. There have been some very serious allegations brought against you.” The woman says. “In light of these allegations you are under arrest.”

The guy steps forward and pulls out a pair of handcuffs. “You have the right to remain silent…” Oh my god. My knees threaten to give out as they read Harry his rights. Oh my god, do they know? Did he do something to our mother? He knew about the money, so he must have spoken to her today. Did he do more than speak to her? Did she speak to the police? Did she know what we did?

The police woman comes toward me. “Lilly Parker?” I nod weakly. “We’ll need to question you in the morning.” Fuck, they know. My eyes fly to Harrys, panic welling up inside me. I’m going to prison. He shakes his head at me almost imperceptibly.

“Call the solicitor Lill’s.” That’s all he says before they guide him out the door.

My knee’s finally give out and I hit the floor. What do I do now? I hear Molly’s voice on the phone but I don’t register her words. She’s shouting at someone. Then she’s kneeling in front of me, her voice soft. “George is going to come back here and stay with you okay? I’m going to go and see if I can get Harry some help. Figure out what’s going on.” I don’t respond. I can’t. “I’ll handle the solicitor. Hang in there Lill’s.” She cups my cheek and then wraps her arm around my waist, helping me up. “Come on.” She leaves me on the sofa and goes to the kitchen. She comes back with a glass of vodka. I take it from her and down it wordlessly. My already destroyed world just imploded and I have no idea what to do or how to help Harry.

George comes in and exchanges some hushed words with Molly before she leaves silently. “You okay babe?” He sits next to me. I don’t respond to that. Of course I’m not okay. The only person I have left in the world is behind bars, and I know nothing. “Um, so I called the police station on the way over. I pretended to be your boss, you know big wig solicitor. Anyway, apparently he’s been arrested for kidnapping, namely kidnapping you.” My gaze swings to his.

“What?” I whisper.

He nods. “Kidnapping of a minor. Your mum must have sold him out. No one else knows.”

I scream. Years of carefully controlled anger and anguish pour out of me, and I want to destroy everything around me. Pain cripples me as I realised that the one person I value above all others may be taken from me. That woman has taken everything from me, and now she’s taking Harry. I suddenly can’t bare sitting in this perfect flat whilst inside I’m fucking destroyed. A sob wrenches from my throat and tears stream down my face. I’m not conscious of my actions, only the burning need to raze to the ground everything around me.

Chapter Twenty One

Theo

It’s nearly midnight. I can’t sleep, so I’m working out in my home gym when my phone rings. The screen flashes ‘HUGO’.

“Hey.” I answer gruffly.

“Hey. Look I need you to come over here. Molly’s here. Some shit just went down and…”

“Is Lilly okay?” I cut him off.

“Uh, yeah, look just come over here will you. Molly’s coming over here now, but she said she needs you here as well.” He’s being really cagey.

“Give me ten minutes.” I don’t even bother changing. I just throw a hoody on over my top and head for the garage.

Hugo answers the door looking far too serious for Hugo.

“What’s going on?”

“Molly needs to speak to us.” He says as he leads me through to the lounge. Molly is sat on one of the sofas. Her eyes are red and puffy like she’s been crying. My first thought is Lilly.

“Molly what’s wrong? Is Lilly okay?” I can hear the trace of panic in my voice.

“Yeah, she’s okay.” She nods weakly. “I uh, I need to speak to you guys. Well ask a favour really.”

“Just tell us what’s going on babe.” Hugo sounds just as impatient as I am.

She takes a deep breath. “The police arrested Harry this evening.” What the hell?

“Why?” I frown, I don’t know what I was expecting but it certainly wasn’t this.

“Apparently they’ve arrested him for kidnapping.” She looks down at her hands in her lap. “Look, I can’t tell you much, because it’s not my story to tell, but Harry ran away from home when he was sixteen and he took Lilly with him. She was only fourteen at the time. Harry was legally an adult, and Lilly was a minor taken from her legal guardian without permission. That must be what this is about.” Her eyes meet mine, glassy with unshed tears. “You have to help him. He took her to save her.” She whispers. I have no doubt of that. I don’t have a clear picture of the situation between Lilly and Harry, and their mother, but I can see enough.

“How’s Lilly?” I ask.

She shrugs. “As well as can be expected.”

I drag my hands through my hair. “I’ll make some calls, see what I can find out and what I can do.” I turn and look at Molly again. “I know you won’t tell me much, but just tell me, does Lilly know something that might get Harry off?”

She presses her lips together. “Let’s just say there were very good reasons for Harry doing what he did.” She frowns.

“Okay. I’ll help him.” I say.

“I can make some calls.” Hugo shrugs.

She breathes out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” Molly’s phone starts ringing in her bag, blasting some rock music. She answers it, her features marred with a frown. In the silence of the room I can hear George on the other end.

“I don’t know where the fuck you shot off to, but you need to get home now.” He snaps.

“Why? What’s going on?” She asks.

“It’s Lilly, she’s fucking losing it. I don’t know what to do.” He sounds panicked.

“Okay, just hold on. I’m coming.” She stands picking up her bag as she hangs up.

“I have to go.” She says as she rushes for the door.

“I’m coming with you.” I say.

She frowns at me. “Theo, I appreciate your help, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I’m coming Molly.” I leave no room for argument.

I pull up outside Lilly’s flat. I’ve beaten Molly here.

I knock on the door, taking a deep breath. The door swings open to reveal a very pale George. “Oh hell no, not the time man.” He tries to slam the door put I throw my arm out and push it open.

“Where is she?” I bark.

“Look, I know you love her, and I’m usually on your side, but now is not the time.” His jaw clenches as he moves to block the doorway.

“Where is she?”

“Theo, seriously, she won’t want you to see her like this.” His eyes plead with me to walk away. The rational part of my mind knows that it’s the kindest thing to do. The selfish part of my mind says I need to see her, I need to be here for her. Molly rushes past me into the flat, swinging the door wide.

My eyes go wide as I glimpse the inside of the flat. The sound system has been thrown across the room. There’s a load of smashed glasses, by the breakfast bar. What looks like red wine is currently running across the work surface, splashing onto the floor. The glass coffee table is now in a thousand pieces scattered all over the living room. Sat amongst the broken glass on the floor is Lilly, and what I see breaks me in half. Her hands are covered in blood, as is her white tank top. Her knees are pulled to her chest. Blood is running down her shins as she wraps her arms around her legs. What disturbs me more than all of this though is her face. She still has that jaw dropping beauty, but it’s morphed to something so dark and painful to look at. She looks broken, and when I say broken I mean the kind of broken you can’t come back from, the kind of broken that changes someone. Her eyes are fixed on nothing, just staring.

“Holy shit.” Molly whispers. She walks cautiously toward Lilly. “Lill’s are you okay?” She asks, her voice breaking slightly. It’s a stupid question. Anyone looking at her eyes can tell she is so far away from okay right now, not to mention the fact that she’s bleeding all over the place. Molly gets no answer. Lilly just continues to stare blankly.

I approach her and crouch down in front of her. “Lilly?” She doesn’t move. It’s as though her body and mind have gone into shut down. I stroke her cheek and she doesn’t even seem to acknowledge my touch. My beautiful, strong, feisty Lilly has been reduced to this and it hurts so fucking much, I can barely breathe. I stand and turn around. I take a deep breath. I pinch the bridge of my nose as my eyes start to prickle. I need to pull it together, broken or not, the last thing she will want is pity.

I turn back around to her, she hasn’t moved. “Molly, can you get me some warm salty water and some cotton wool?” I don’t take my eyes off her crumpled form.

“Uh, yeah sure.” Her voice is husky and strangled.

I crouch down in front of Lilly again. “Lilly I need to clean your hands.” Nothing, no response. I gently wrap my fingers around one of her slim wrists and pull it away from her leg. She doesn’t fight me. Her palm is showered with glass splinters. I wince at the sight of them all. I start to pick the tiny bits of glass out of her palm, she doesn’t move.

“And some tweezers.” I say to Molly.

One enormous shard sticks out of the centre of Lilly’s palm. I look up at her, still staring blankly. I pull it out, cringing at how much it must hurt. She doesn’t so much as twitch. I swallow the lump in my throat as I continue to work. I trace the line of a pink scar that runs from the base of her wrist and across her palm, a painful and stark reminder of the day I lost her.

Eventually I’ve managed to remove the glass, wash and bandage her hands.

“We need to move her.” I turn to Molly and George, both of whom look almost as broken as Lilly. Their faces are that of horror and helplessness. George just nods his head.

“I’ll take her to her room.” I bend and gently pick Lilly up with one arm under her thighs and one on her lower back. She looks at me for a moment, her cold dead stare boring into me. It feels as though she’s screaming for help from some terrible untouchable place, but I can’t reach her. I walk her into her room and lay her on her bed. I bite my lip as I feel a tear roll down my cheek. I stroke her face, silently begging her to come back to me, but she’s long gone. I press my lips to her forehead.