Liam’s Lily Read online

  “I wonder how much he gave up on his own and how much other people helped him,” Liam said in a dark tone.

  She cast him a sideways glance. “I don’t like what you’re implying.”

  “You haven’t liked anything I’ve had to say in the last twenty-four hours. That doesn’t mean I’m wrong to say it.”

  She winced. “No, you’re right. I do need to hear it, and we do need to get to the bottom of this. But, so far, all you’ve said is that my brother-in-law went into my cabin and searched it. Well, potentially my brother-in-law. There are other men on the place.”

  “Exactly.”

  She pulled the hair tie from her hair, letting waves of long dark hair hang down; then she ran her fingers through it as she sat down on the edge of her father’s bed. “I need a shower, a change of clothes and some answers,” she said determinedly. She glanced out the window. “Where is North?”

  “Standing watch at the cabin still.”

  “Why bother now?” she asked. “Somebody has already been there. Surely not more than one person would search it.”

  “I can’t be sure of that. Would anybody else know you weren’t there? Could your sister have told someone else?”

  She shrugged. “My sister could’ve told someone, and, of course, anybody who works here in the home could have seen both of us here.”

  He nodded. “I talked to Katie. She said that generally this place has no problems. It’s considered to have a very high quality of care.”

  Lilianna nodded. “Which is why I trusted them with my father,” she said sadly. “Maybe I shouldn’t have.”

  “Let’s just say, it’s a good thing that we’re doing what we’re doing now.”

  Just then the bathroom door opened, and her father stood there a little taller, yet still shaky. Liam walked over and gave an arm for him to use to get to the bed. Jim hesitated. Lilianna held her breath. But then he took hold of Liam’s rock-solid arm and allowed himself to be helped to the bed.

  As soon as he sat down again, Lilianna said, “Do you want to stay in bed or do you want to get dressed?”

  Her father looked at her. “I want you to tell me what the hell’s going on.”

  Even Liam appeared startled to hear the strength in Jim’s voice. Maybe he was finally waking up from the stupor he’d been in for the last couple years.

  “What’s the last thing you remember?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “Things I don’t want to remember. Lots of it’s just a dream state. Lots of it’s just mixed up.”

  “You remember Keith?”

  He glanced at her and gave a sad nod. “I do.”

  “Good, then we don’t have to go through that again,” she said quietly. “Do you remember walking away from life because of Keith?”

  He stared at her, and his eyebrows rose. “What do you mean, walking away from life?”

  “You were so despondent that you basically became so depressed and so locked inside of yourself that nobody could talk to you. You wouldn’t do anything. You wouldn’t look after yourself. You wouldn’t eat. You barely got dressed or left the house anymore.”

  Liam watched Lilianna’s dad’s lower lip tremble.

  “It wasn’t that bad, was it?” he asked, clearly hoping for a different answer than what he saw in her face.

  “It was worse,” she said firmly. “I did everything I could to bring you back. But, as far as you were concerned, without your son, there was no reason to live anymore.”

  Lilianna felt her heart break. There was as much joy as sadness racing through her. All of a sudden her father was back the way he had been. She squatted in front of him. “I need you back,” she cried out. “I need you back to being a normal living, happy human being. Not the shell of a man you were before you were brought here.”

  He looked around the room. “I have to admit,” he said quietly, “I don’t remember a whole lot.”

  “When you stopped looking after yourself, you were brought here for treatment, but, instead of getting better, you got worse. Four months ago, you attacked a nurse, and they drugged you to make sure you were more amiable to being looked after. But Keith …” She took deep breath. “He died two years ago.”

  Her father stared at her, the color bleaching from his face. He shook his head. “No. No. No.”

  She grasped his fingers firmly and said, “Yes. And that’s enough now. I need you back.”

  He lay down as if the shock was too much.

  She pulled the covers over him. “It’ll take a little while for the drugs to completely leave your system. I sent all your medical records to another specialist. But I’m damn glad to hear you speak and that you recognize me.”

  “Prove that you’re Lilianna,” he said, his voice weak.

  She froze and looked down at him. “How do I prove that?”

  He stared at her, but something in the back of his gaze made her wonder. She leaned forward. “I’m the quiet one. I’m the one who always stood behind a little. Brianna and Mom do whatever they want. You weren’t even at the wedding.”

  “What wedding?”

  “Carlos married Brianna.”

  He stared at her, his head shaking almost in fear now. “No. He was supposed to marry you.”

  “He was supposed to, yes,” she said. “But then Brianna slept with him. … After that, apparently he preferred her.” She told the news in a matter-of-fact way, but inside she knew it wasn’t a matter of fact. There was just so much pain. That simple betrayal had clearly annihilated her self-confidence. Up until she’d found them in bed, she’d been positive Carlos had loved her and only her.

  She’d been completely taken in. She had wanted to believe Carlos had made the switch out of love, but now she wondered. The question now was, why had he gone to her cabin? What was he after? She didn’t have anything special, and she certainly didn’t have anything valuable. They had more than she had.

  She straightened and looked at her father. “Do you believe me?”

  His eyes closed. He nodded his head. “I need to sleep,” he said faintly. “I need rest.”

  She looked at Liam, a question in her gaze.

  He nodded and stepped forward. “Go ahead and rest. We will talk to the doctors.”

  Her father’s eyes popped open, and he glared at Liam. “Sounds like people should have been talking to the doctors all along.”

  Lilianna felt a stab a guilt. “I did,” she snapped back. “Look. This isn’t the time to argue about that. I’m just glad to have you a little more cognizant and aware of your surroundings.”

  A heavy sigh heaved out of her father’s chest, and he seemed to cave in on himself. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “It’s a little hard to realize you’ve lost a couple years of your life.”

  “Even harder for those who watched you willfully step away,” Liam said, his voice curt.

  A whisper of pain crossed her father’s face.

  She shook her head. “Handing out blame won’t help anybody. But I want to make sure you aren’t given any more drugs.”

  Her father rolled to his back. “Is that likely?”

  “I’m not sure,” she said. “We’ve put an awful lot of legal stuff in play now to stop more of that from happening.”

  “You were supposed to have power of attorney,” he said. “You knew that.”

  “I only have POA over your medical needs. Nothing else.”

  Her father turned to her. “What the hell’s happened in the last couple years?”

  “I’m not sure,” she said. “I contacted Gunner for help because it seemed like the sanctuary was being attacked, our name besmirched, all the charity funds were drying up. But when Liam and North arrived, they cut to the chase and saw right to the bigger problems. And that is, your medication had been changed without my knowledge, and what I thought was a natural decline in your condition—this according to your doctors—was actually them drugging you,” she said boldly. “And then we found out Brianna has been trying to set up power o
f attorney behind my back for control of your estate.”

  Alarmed, her father struggled to sit up in the bed. “No. I would never have given her that.”

  “Why not?” Liam asked.

  He turned to look at Liam. “Do you know Brianna?” Jim challenged.

  Liam shook his head. “No, I’ve only met her once.”

  “She’s my daughter, and I love her dearly, but that doesn’t mean I have to like who she is as a person. Most of the time she’s fine. But once she gets close to her mother, things go bad.”

  “I haven’t seen Mom in months,” Lilianna said quietly. “I don’t think she’s part of the issue.”

  Jim snorted. “Better not be. I told that woman she’d never get her hands on my sanctuary.”

  “And yet that could be what’s going on,” Liam said into the sudden silence.

  Lilianna wasn’t sure what Liam was up to, but surely this much confusion and stress wasn’t good for her father. She patted her father’s hand. “You need to stay calm and focus on getting better.”

  He smiled. “Sounds like I need to focus on getting back on my feet.”

  Her face lit up in delight. “Yes, please.”

  He leaned forward. “And my elephants?”

  She grinned. “All five are doing just fine. I still have the dogs, so that is at least normal.” And then she remembered his house. “More or less, that is.” She winced.

  He stared at her. “What don’t I know yet?”

  “After Brianna and Carlos married, they moved into the main house.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “My house? And you?”

  “I didn’t want to live in the same house with them,” she snapped. “I moved into the old worker’s cabin.”

  “Where’s my stuff then?”

  She exchanged a look with Liam and looked back at her father. “I’m not sure. I haven’t been welcome in the main house since.”

  His gaze narrowed. “I know I’m still weak, and I’m certainly not back in fighting form, but I want to have a talk with my lawyer and doctor. I want to get discharged.”

  “You have to understand the argument for the POA is that you’re not of sound mind to handle your own business affairs.” Liam filled in some of what they had found out so far. “With the change in the medications, sir, that made it easy to push this through. They did have to wait a reasonable time for medications to be changed and for doctors to make a final diagnosis.”

  “What time is it?” her father asked.

  Liam looked at his watch. “It’s seven-thirty.”

  Her father sighed. “So still too early to call anyone?”

  “If you’re trying to call the lawyer, I should tell you that I fired him last night.” Lilianna’s voice was calm, low but hard. “He didn’t tell me about Brianna’s attempt at getting power of attorney.”

  Her father stared at her in growing alarm. “But if our lawyer is not on our side …”

  “Exactly. But you’ve missed a lot in two years,” she said. “You need to take some time to get caught back up.”

  “What lawyer have we got now then?”

  “Gunner’s lawyer,” Liam said. “And I expect all hell to break lose any minute.”

  He frowned at Liam, his mind obviously processing if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

  Just then the door opened. Lilianna turned and watched as her sister walked in the door.

  Brianna stopped in the doorway, turned and slammed the door closed behind her. “Just what are you doing here?” she snapped at Lilianna.

  Lilianna raised an eyebrow. “I stopped in to see Dad. Why? When were you here last?”

  “I’m here a lot,” she said stiffly.

  Lilianna turned her head to the side. “Really? I’m not so sure about that.”

  But her sister glared at her. She looked over at Liam and snorted. “What the hell is he doing here?”

  Liam gave her a brief smile. “I have every right to be here. What are you doing here?”

  The question stopped Brianna midstride. “What’s going on?”

  But it was her father who spoke up. “That’s a good question, Brianna. Why is it you’re trying to exert power of attorney over me?”

  She turned to stare at him, and her jaw dropped. “You’re awake?”

  “Not only am I awake,” he snapped, “but I’m pissing mad.”

  *

  Liam grinned. If there was one thing he was glad to have seen, it was Brianna’s wind taken out of her sails. She shoved her hands in her jeans pockets as she studied him. “When did this happen?”

  “Not soon enough.” Jim glared at his daughter. “Are you responsible for the drug that kept me docile?”

  She stared at him. “We didn’t have any choice,” she said, her voice supergentle. “Let’s not forget you attacked a nurse.”

  “Says who?” Lilianna challenged. “As if he’d attack anyone.”

  “I have to wonder about that too,” her father said. “I’ll be waiting to hear the full report on that incident.”

  Brianna shrugged as if it had nothing to do with her. “I’m sure there’s paperwork somewhere,” she said airily. She glared at Lilianna. “I want to visit with my father alone,” she said stiffly.

  “Too bad,” Lilianna said cheerfully. “We’re here. We’ll be here all day.”

  Brianna stared at her. “Why?”

  “To make sure nobody else drugs him, at least for the moment.” Lilianna gave her a big smile. “And, of course, we have a lot of legal documentation to deal with.”

  “What are you talking about?” Brianna’s voice became irritable.

  “Well, I have always had power of attorney.” Lilianna’s smile gentled. “But somebody tried to pull a fast one.”

  Brianna stared at her, her bottom lip trembling. She firmed it up, and her nose rose several inches. “I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. Of course you have POA over Dad’s medical care. So?” She studied her sister, her chin rising higher. “Besides, it’s not like you’d have the guts to do what needed to be done.”

  “That’s not true,” Lilianna cried out. “I’ve always done what’s right. Unlike you.”

  “You’re still holding Carlos against me, aren’t you?” It was said with a dramatic waving of her hands.

  Lilianna snorted. “He’s an asshat. And you’re welcome to him.” She gave a dismissive wave of her hand.

  But, if anything, that just made Brianna’s back go up. “You will not speak about my husband that way.”

  “Well, as he’s my ex-fiancé, I’ll speak about him any way I want.” Lilianna stood, drawing herself up to her full height.

  Liam was surprised. He had yet to see that side of Lilianna. Maybe it was a good thing. He wasn’t sure where it was coming from, but, if there was ever a time to find a backbone, it was right now and over the next twenty-four hours. Because there would be shit hitting the fan.

  Brianna said, “I know it was a terrible shock for you, such a major rejection to realize he never did love you.”

  “I understood a long time ago that Carlos doesn’t love anyone. So he doesn’t love you either. You just haven’t seen the light yet.” Lilianna now had a saccharine smile. “And, if you think you’ll pull any fast ones over on me and try to take the place away from Dad, you’ve got another think coming.”

  And that seemed to shock Brianna. Liam studied her face intently. He also had his cell phone on Record, in case anybody said anything of interest.

  Brianna took several steps away, looked at her father and said, “I’ll come back and visit you later.” She turned and walked out.

  Liam said, “Stay here with your father. I’ll follow her outside.”

  Lilianna nodded, but he could see her bravado was already waning. She sagged onto the bed beside her father, who reached out a hand and grabbed her fingers.

  “Thank you for being my champion,” he said softly.

  She shook her head. “Don’t thank me. Apparently I did a shitt
y job.”

  “That’s the trouble with being innocent,” he said. “We aren’t prepared for the wolves in the world.”

  *

  That was the last Liam heard as he walked out of the room and down the hall. He could see Brianna ahead, strutting forward, her voice loud and strident as she spoke on the phone.

  “She knows something about the paperwork and the property. And the nurse situation. No, I don’t know how she knows. We need to get it resolved now.”

  He raced behind her, and, as she stepped through the front doors, he stepped in front of her and smiled. “The cops want to speak with you by the way.”

  She froze when she heard his words, shrieked and dropped her phone. He put his foot on top of it. She stared at him, glanced at the phone, and he smiled.

  “You’re not going anywhere. And you’re certainly not meeting dearly beloved Carlos, who’s trying to push the paperwork through for you.” He bent down and snatched up her phone, keeping it away from her. He checked the number. “Interesting.” He lifted the phone and said, “Hello?”

  A man’s voice said, “Who’s this?”

  “The man who’ll take you down,” Liam said. He hit End Call. Instead of giving her the phone back, he pocketed it. “We need that for evidence.” He grabbed her by the arm. “Let’s go sit on a bench.”

  She shrugged his hand off, speaking furiously. “Unless you’re a cop, you let me go right now.”

  He pulled out his own phone and said, “You’ll stay here on a citizen’s arrest until the cops do arrive.” Levi answered his call immediately. “I have Brianna here. She’s been caught on her phone trying to push paperwork through now that Lilianna’s father is awake.”

  “He’s my father too, damn you,” Brianna cried out.

  “I’ve told her the cops want to talk to her, and she’s being difficult,” Liam said in a mild tone.

  “Not a problem,” Levi said. “She stays right where she is in front of you. North is on his way, as is Detective Olson.”

  “How do I know that name?”

  “He’s the man who investigated Lilianna’s brother’s death.” There was silence for a long moment, then Levi said, “ETA for both of them is ten minutes and five minutes, respectively.”

  “As long as you are sure Detective Olson is clear, that he’s not taking a bribe in regard to her brother and his accident. I also have confiscated her phone. I’m sure a shit ton of damaging evidence is on that.”