Loving Lily

by Marie E. Blossom

  She flinched again when another peal of thunder shook the building. Clearly her attempts to calm down weren't working.

  "Okay, time to do something constructive," she said out loud. She drained her cup and put it in the sink. Just as she was about to open the refrigerator to make some sandwiches, she heard a thump from near the door. Was Matt done already? She wasn't expecting him back for a while—he'd told her the local fire department had to set up portable generators at the two traffic lights in town and that it usually took at least an hour. He'd only left thirty minutes ago. The doorknob rattled and relief washed through her. He must have finished earlier than he'd expected!

  Lily headed toward the apartment’s entrance. I'll just help him with his gear and then we can eat, she thought, smiling. When the door burst inward, splintering around the knob, she frowned. Why didn't he just use his key? she thought, confused for a split second, and then the reality of the situation rushed in on her. Three men surged into the apartment. One grabbed her before she could run, twisting her arms together and wrenching them behind her. She gasped, struggling, but then one of the men waved a gun in her face and she froze.

  "Don't," he warned, eyeing her harshly.

  Fuck, she thought, heart banging on her ribs. She drew a shaky breath. None of the men wore masks. That was bad, wasn't it?

  "Finally, we meet," one of them said, capturing her attention. He was blond, maybe in his early fifties. She eyed his scraggly goatee with distaste. The dim light from the windows was just enough to give her an idea of the shape of his face. His blue eyes were flat and cold. They looked her over as though she were a particularly loathsome piece of trash. The other two men were larger. One held her so tight she was sure he'd break her wrists with no regret if she struggled. She couldn’t see his face. The other one had black hair and black eyes. He lingered near the door, scanning his surroundings tensely.

  "Who are you?" she asked, forcing herself to speak calmly. She'd be damned if she'd show how frightened she was.

  "Why, I'm your long-lost cousin, Laura," the blond man said.

  Lily stopped breathing. No one alive knew that name anymore. She'd legally changed it to Lily after her husband died, when she'd finally accepted that someone was killing off her family, one by one. She'd hoped it would keep her safe, but apparently not.

  The man shoved his gun into the waist-band of his jeans, like a bad guy from some B-movie. He shifted it slightly, playing grimy fingers along the handle, trying to intimidate her. It was working.

  "I don't have a cousin," she said, stalling for time. If she could keep him talking, eventually Matt and Alex would come back, right? She glanced at the wrecked door, hoping to see one of the men on the landing.

  The blond laughed. "If you think your boyfriends are coming back anytime soon, you can forget it. Last I saw them, they were heading toward a house fire at the other end of town. " He snorted. "Lucky we had all that extra gas, eh? It really helps fuel the flames when it’s pouring outside. "

  The dark-haired man near the door grunted. "We need to move. "

  "Who are you?" Lily asked again, ignoring the burning in her arms.

  "Oh, sorry. I never did tell you my name, did I, little rich girl?" He smirked as lightning flashed over the sharp angles of his face. "I'm Roy Brownstone. Your grandpa's youngest cousin. The one he threw out of the family thirty years ago. "

  Lily stumbled, not for the first time, as the men dragged her up the alley that ran parallel to Main Street. She twisted her hands, trying to loosen the plastic zip-ties they'd used on her wrists, but it was no use. She knew she'd broken the skin already and the plastic hadn't stretched at all. Her wounds stung in the rain, not that it mattered. She was much more worried about what the men intended to do with her than with a few small cuts on her wrists. She stumbled again, gasping as the man yanked her upright by her elbow. Her joints were killing her, but she made no sound. She'd tried to scream when they first pulled her from the apartment. The man holding her had hit her across the face so hard she'd seen stars for over a minute. Her jaw still hurt.

  "We're almost there," the quiet, dark one said.

  She looked down the alley, but there was no one outside in this weather, especially not around the backs of the houses and shops. Just ahead of them, the swollen river rushed past, light brown and ominous. A flash of green churned for a moment in a whirlpool near the shore. With a stab of horror Lily realized it was a huge tree branch, caught in the current. Oh my God, that river is extremely dangerous right now. I’m screwed. She began to panic, jerking her hands frantically before giving up again when her wrists burned with pain. It did no good. The men didn’t even notice her freaking out.

  "We need to get closer," Roy said, grabbing her by the front of her shirt and forcing her to walk faster.

  Lily couldn't tear her eyes away from the water. The storm had let up a little, but lightning and thunder still rolled over the town. An eerie blue light filtered down from the west where the clouds were starting to thin, while the darker ones hung over the street ominously.

  "We'll throw her in near the bridge," Roy said, dragging her along. "That way it'll look like an accident. "

  Lily's exhausted fight-or-flight reflex flared back to life with those words and she began struggling again, trying to run away this time. Roy punched her in the stomach and she doubled over, fighting to breathe. God, please help me. I don't want to die, she prayed, eyes darting around, looking for a way out. What is Matt going to do when he finds out? she wondered, despairing, as Roy hauled her forward again. They'd had so little time together.

  "We need to hurry," the man holding her arms behind her said.

  Roy nodded. "Bring her. "

  "Why are you doing this?" Lily wheezed, unable to stop herself from asking. "You don't know me. I didn't even know you existed. "

  Roy turned to her. "You're so stupid. I can't believe you ended up with all the money. "

  Money? she thought. This is all about money? "What are you talking about?"

  He shook his head. "You're worth over five million dollars and you have the audacity to stand there looking confused. I hate you. I hated your whole family. "

  Lily forced herself to think. "You want my money?"

  "It's not your money, bitch. It was supposed to be mine. Of course, when your dear grandpa caught me making moves on your mother, he overreacted. He had me arrested. Written out of the inheritance. I don't know how he managed to convince the courts that I no longer had any legal rights to the money my dad left to me, but he did it. Somehow. "

  Lily struggled to put it all together. "You killed Jack. And mom and dad. And my brother. " Her voice broke on that. He'd killed her little brother, Brian. Oh my God, she thought. I have to get away from him. She renewed her struggles. A blow to the side of her head caught her unexpectedly.

  "Settle down," the man holding her arms growled.

  Lily's face was wet and it wasn’t from the rain. She stared at Roy. The lightning made her cousin look like a gargoyle. His eyes were no longer cold and dead, rather, they glowed with a light so evil she shuddered, struggling instinctively. The man behind her hauled her arms up until she couldn't move at all.

  "This is taking too long," the dark-haired man said, grabbing her around the waist. He hauled her against him, carrying her like a sack of potatoes.

  Lily moaned as the concussion she'd only suspected she'd received roared in protest. Her brain felt like it was too big for her skull. Her gut heaved and though she tried to hold back, she threw up as he tightened his arm around her waist. He didn't seem to notice as he carried her, but she saw Roy grinning at her as she gave one last dry heave, all the tea she'd drunk earlier becoming nothing but more wet on an already drenched ground.

  "Let me go," she whispered hoarsely. Her ribs ached. No one heard her. She tried again, but ended up coughing. That hurt even more. Her throat felt like sandpaper. The man holding her didn't even seem to notice.

  "Bring her over. We can toss her
in the water here. They'll think she fell off the bridge and drowned," she heard Roy say.

  The man carrying her heaved her around and dumped her on the ground. The wet grass soaked right through her jeans, but she was too out of it to care. She felt them finally take off the plastic ties, but it didn't matter anymore. She couldn't even stand up on her own at this point. Everything looked fuzzy: the water, the dark sky, even the lightning was blurred around the edges, no longer sharp.

  "Goodbye, Laura," Roy said as the man shoved her down the bank.

  Lily groaned as she rolled, ribs protesting. She scrabbled weakly at the ground, trying desperately to hold onto something, but her momentum was too great. She hit the river too fast to do anything except take a big breath and hope she could somehow keep her head above water.

  ****

  "What's that?" Alex pointed down the river.

  Matt frowned, leaning on the steel guardrail. They'd just finished putting up the "Road Closed" signs on the southern end of the bridge and were standing near the edge of the road, discussing what to do next. The old house that had inexplicably caught fire in the middle of a downpour hadn't taken long to put out, but they'd had to hurry back to the bridge and set up the cones before anyone tried to drive over it. People almost always thought they could make it across, even when the water was obviously too deep for their cars.

  "What's what?" he asked, squinting. The light was fading fast. He could barely make out the water from the bank anymore.

  "Is that someone in the water?" Alex pointed. "There, just at the bend.

  Matt pursed his lips, then hopped over the railing. He slid on the wet ground, but managed to catch himself before he lost his footing. "I'll go check it out. "

  "Careful," Alex said.

  Matt nodded, hitching the coil of rope he was carrying higher on his shoulder. He slipped and slid down the embankment, then carefully worked his way downstream. The usual trail along the side of the river was completely flooded, making the going rough. When he'd gone about ten yards, he realized that his brother had seen a shirt stuck to a branch jammed against a large downed tree, probably uprooted from the force of the water. He walked closer, then began to run, splashing through the shallow water at the edge of the flooding. It wasn't a shirt. It was a woman. Shit!

  "Get help!" he yelled back at his brother. "It's a woman!"

  Working quickly, he uncoiled the rope and slipped it around a tree, then threaded the end through his harness. Thank God I have my gear, he thought, using the rope to control his descent into the water. The current was strong and debris hit his legs, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. He was trained for this. He paused for a moment, thinking about how to approach her. He didn't want to get snarled in the branch. When he plotted out the best course, he started walking again, letting the water carry him just past her. The closer he got, the more familiar the woman began to look. Her face was turned away from him, but her hair was the same brown as Lily's. He carefully let out more rope, hoping she was okay. The water was up to his chest now.

  "Matt? You okay?" Alex yelled from somewhere behind him.

  He lifted his free hand in a thumbs-up, knowing his brother wouldn't be able to hear him. The woman's hands were clenched on the branch, but her skin was very pale. She must have been in the water for a while and he hoped she wasn't hypothermic. The water wasn't that cold…

  "I've got the EMT's here," Alex called.

  Matt didn't let his brother's news distract him. The branch the woman had her fingers wrapped around didn't look very stable. He carefully made his way down current from her, then slid a hand under her waist. "Easy there, I've got you," he murmured when she jerked. Good, she was alert enough to feel him. That meant she would be easier to get out of the water than a dead weight.

  He concentrated on slinging his extra safety harness around her, but when she turned her face up, he froze for a split-second, training deserting him. "Lily?" he whispered, horrified.

  Her eyes fluttered open.

  "Oh my God," he said, working frantically to get her secure. "Lily, Jesus. "

  "Matt," her lips said, but she wasn't making any sound.

  "Hang on, Lily. I'll have you out of here in a moment. " Her eyes weren't focusing correctly. What the hell had happened? His heart was going a million miles an hour, but he forced himself to concentrate. When he got her into the harness, he hooked it to his and grabbed her with his free hand, carefully keeping her face out of the water.

  "I knew you would come," she murmured. She sounded like someone had run sandpaper over her vocal cords.

  "Shh. Don't try to talk. You're safe now. " Matt looked up, thankful that Alex had made it to the tree where he'd anchored the rope. He breathed a sigh of relief when his brother began to haul them back onto solid ground.

  Lily struggled in his grasp, and he tightened his hold. "Lily—"

  "No, you don't understand. " She coughed.

  Matt was happy to see her becoming more awake, but he was worried about getting them out of the water. "Lily, hang on. We're almost there. " He could feel the current easing as he kept walking them out of the dark water.

  Lily cleared her throat, eyes growing more lucid. "Matt, you have to be careful. He's still out there. "

  Matt almost stumbled. "Someone did this to you?" Belatedly he realized that her wrists were bruised. So was her face, but he'd assumed that she'd fallen and hurt herself.

  She nodded, then winced. "My cousin. Two other men. They pushed me in. "

  Matt's heart seized up. "Someone tried to kill you," he said flatly.

  She closed her eyes, seemingly relieved that he understood. "Yes. "

  "Fuck," he muttered under his breath, hardly able to take it all in, and then his brother was there.

  "Matt, holy shit," Alex said, taking her from his arms.

  Matt didn't want to let go, but he knew she was in good hands. "I think she hit her head. Or was hit," he said in a low voice.

  Alex gave him a startled look, then nodded grimly as he saw the marks on her wrists. "I won't leave her alone. You get dry and meet us at the hospital. "

  Matt nodded, already unclipping himself. "Five minutes," he said tersely. When Alex went to carry put her on the stretcher, Matt stopped him, leaning over and kissing her gently on the forehead. "Hang in there, Lily. "

  She smiled, but didn't open her eyes.

  Three hours later, Matt sat in a chair next to her hospital bed, hand threaded with hers. His back was killing him leaning over like this, but he didn't give a shit. Someone had tried to kill Lily, the love of his life. He'd just found her, and here she was, nearly lost. His fingers tightened, and then he took a deep breath and stuffed the rage back down into a hot little ball in his gut. He had to be patient. He vowed to protect Lily at all costs if it came to it. He knew he would kill the person responsible for hurting her if whoever it was tried again.

  After Alex and Matt had gone with her to the hospital, Alex had gone home to get dry clothes for Matt, only to find that his place had been broken into. Nothing had been stolen, so they were forced to conclude that whoever was responsible had come there for Lily. Even the sheriff's long-standing hatred of Matt had been put aside in light of the evidence.

  "Matt?" Lily stirred for the first time since passing out near the river.

  "Lily, thank God," Matt said, standing up. He leaned over the bed and gently smoothed the hair out of her face.

  "Where am I?" she asked, trying to sit up. She grimaced as she swallowed. Her throat must be hurting her.

  He adjusted the bed, then held a cup of water with a straw close enough for her to take a sip. "You're in the clinic here in town. You're safe. "

  "My head is killing me," she muttered, rubbing her eyes.

  He gently urged her hand away. "You've got a mild concussion. Bruised ribs. And a spectacular black eye. "

  She frowned. "Where's Roy?" She looked around. "And his thugs?"

  Matt's heart gave a sick thud. "Who is Roy?"
<
br />   She looked at him, eyes glittering. "He's the man who tried to kill me for my money. "

  Chapter Eight

  Lily sighed and leaned her head back against the pillow. She felt like crap. Matt had gone scarily quiet when she explained how Roy had broken into Alex's apartment and taken her to the river. When she told him about her inheritance and why Roy wanted her dead, she thought he was going to lose it and slam a fist into the wall, but he controlled himself.

  "I'd go hunt him down and make him sorry he ever laid a hand on you, but I'm not leaving your side," Matt said, not for the first time.

  Lily put a hand on his arm. "Matt, I'm okay. I'm here. You saved me. " She couldn't get past that part, actually. She'd grown so used to relying on herself, she couldn't believe Matt had actually saved her life, but he had. He was her own personal hero.

  He leaned in and rested his forehead on hers, careful not to push too hard. "I felt my whole life flash before my eyes when I found you in the river," he muttered. "I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you. "

  She squeezed his arm. "I know," she whispered. She knew exactly how he felt.

  He sat up then and ran a hand through his hair. When he looked at her again, she could tell he'd forced himself to calm down.

  "So," he began, eyes twinkling. "You're kind of rich?"

  She blinked. "Um—"

  "I mean, I have money from my books, but I certainly don't have millions and millions like you do. "

  "Is that a deal breaker?" she asked, running a finger along her engagement ring. It wasn't the largest diamond she owned, but it was precious because he'd given it to her.

  "I'm already planning on buying a private jet," he joked, winking at her.