When Lily meets Max again at his sisters wedding, she still feels the crush she had on him when she was fifteen. However, even when things seem to be looking up for Lily when Max reciprocates his feelings for her, his ex fiance Sarah does not like t...
When I arrive on Lily's apartment floor, I immediately notice the heavy police presence. Some are knocking on people's doors asking if they have seen or heard anything while others come and go out of Lily's apartment, carrying evidence bags with them. Luckily Lily could ring ahead with the number they provided her to let them know I'm coming to pick up a few things, and after showing some identification, the young officer notifies me he will escort me inside, informing me not to touch anything before he's given the okay for it.
I agree to follow his rules and as I follow behind him along the corridor; I brace myself for what I'm about to witness, though when I see the apartment in vivid detail, I realize nothing could have truly prepared me for this. To an outsider, someone could easily construe it as a brutal homicide from the pool of blood swimming across the hardwood floor right in front of me, and I'm just grateful that none of it belongs to Lily. Flashes of light go off towards the back of the apartment and my gaze lands upon an officer dressed in a white forensic suit taking pictures of the couches that have deep gashes running through them.
The young officer glances up at my set jaw and he quietly warns me that the bedroom is like what's out here. My brow furrows as I recall how Lily mentioned nothing about her bedroom, which must mean that she hasn't seen it for herself. My fists clench together tightly as I step around the drying blood and trace the officers' footsteps to the bedroom to see what mess awaits me in there.
When the officer walks into the bedroom, he moves to the side so I can step into the room and I immediately suck in a breath as my eyes land on the words, 'You stole my life bitch and you will pay for this!' painted in thick blood on the wall above Lily's bed.
"Fucking hell," I curse.
As my horrified eyes take in the warning, I can't help but think that they have already made good on their promise by hitting Lily unconscious, and it makes me wonder if the sound of Lily's neighbor coming to the rescue stopped the person from striking her again. I tentatively take a couple of steps closer to the damaged bed and discover that, just like the previous room, the ripped duvet is covered in photos, with Lily's eyes stabbed out. My stomach convulses and I have to swallow down bile as I realize that whoever we're dealing with is seriously twisted in the head.
"Has Sarah been arrested yet?"
"She is at the station as we speak."
"Good," I breathe out as my eyes get sucked back to the writing on the wall again.
The knowledge of Sarah being locked up in jail right now eases some of my worries that she can't get to Lily and possibly finish what she started. I just pray that she confesses to doing this to the police when they interrogate her or that the evidence they are collecting proves she's the one doing this. Until either of these happens, though, I will not take any chances and will make sure Lily has security watching over her until I know she's safe again.
Wanting to get back to Lily, I grab a brown duffel bag from her closet and quickly pack as much of her clothes and personal items into it as I can. I'm not sure if I have everything she needs, but I'd rather buy her anything I've missed than have her come back here and seeing the rest of the apartment in this state as I know it will upset her. On my way out, the officer confers with another of his colleagues and they let me know that they'll be finished in another hour. I thank them for the work they're carrying out to help nail this psycho and leave them to it, slinging the bag over my shoulder as I search for a locksmith on my phone who can come out and fix a brand new lock in case Sarah has had her key copied.
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Lily
My legs are curled underneath me on the couch with Milo's head resting in my lap as I stroke my hand down his soft chocolate fur. Bailey is asleep on the floor beneath me, and I can't help but have a ghost of a smile on my lips as I think of the two of them watching over me in their own way.
I take another glance out of the window and watch my mom in the front yard as she continues to talk to Johnson. As soon as we arrived here, he informed us to wait in the car while he did a sweep of the grounds and house. Once he was finished, he helped me inside as I was still feeling a little lightheaded and I laid on the couch until the room stopped spinning enough so that I could have a shower to wash the remaining blood off my body. Since then, I've been resting on this couch wearing my mom's white gown, waiting for Max to arrive.
I continue to stroke Milo until he lifts his head off my lap and his ears prick up. A second later, I hear the soft hum of an engine and when I look outside again, I see a familiar red Aston Martin pull off the lonely road and up to the house. When Max climbs out of the drivers seat and slams the door shut, Milo gives a small bark and jumps off the couch, waking Bailey in the process as he plods to the window and places his two front paws on the windowsill so he can see outside. A small smile forms on my face as I watch him get out of the car, greeting my mom before reaching into the car and pulling out my duffel bag. I attempt to lift off the couch to go outside and meet him, but my head goes a little dizzy from moving too fast and I slump back on the couch, deciding that it's probably best to stay where I am.
Milo barks happily again by the window and continues to watch Max with me as he talks intently to Johnson and my mom for the next few minutes before heading for the front door. When Milo sees this, he quickly scampers to the front door with his tail wagging madly as he waits for Max to walk through. Bailey soon lifts off the ground and stretches his body before joining Milo by the front door and as soon as the handle turns, the dogs bark in sync and shuffle on the spot, eagerly waiting for him. Max doesn't even stand a chance when he opens the door and steps inside as Milo and Bailey bounce up at him energetically, trying to lick his face. He has to drop the bag to the floor so he can try to wrestle his way around them and I grin as I call their names to get off him. After a few tries, they behave themselves and allow Max enough room to squeeze by them.
"Some guard dogs," he snorts as he strokes Milo's head before crossing the room to greet me.
"I know. I'm sorry about them jumping up at you. They're excited to see a new face."
"It's fine," he replies, bending down to kiss my forehead before settling on the couch next to me. "How are you feeling now?"
"I'm okay. I took some Tylenol when I got in, so that's helped shift this headache a bit."
"That's good."
"Yeah." I snuggle into his side and glace at the bag by the front door, which Bailey is sniffing with interest. "Thank you for picking up my things, by the way."
He kisses the side of my head and wraps his arm around my waist. "It's no problem. I also thought it was best to have the locks changed as a precaution. The guy will drop the new set of keys off here later once he's changed them."
"Good idea," I murmur, as I think about how I should have thought of that as well.
"I think you're right that Sarah's the one doing this and after what I saw in your bedroom, I'm not taking any chances of her being able to get to you again."
My nose scrunches and I lift my eyes to meet his. "What did she do in my bedroom?"
He's deathly quiet for a few seconds, and just from his reaction, I can tell it will not be good. He pulls his top lip between his teeth and then he tells me about the threat written on my bedroom wall.
I'm a little surprised in myself that I'm so calm as he tells me this, though it's probably because I'm growing used to Sarah's crazy antics that it doesn't surprise me she'd leave a threat. I just hope that the police charge Sarah so that my life can go back to normal and Max and I can be around each other without having to worry about Sarah being out there somewhere and plotting against us.
