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...
By the afternoon, two detectives arrive at the house and introduce themselves as Detective Danes and Detective Styles. They quickly get to business and tell us that because of these recent incidents involving the police, they are opening a case and give us an update on how it is going so far.
Lily squeezes my hand tightly on the couch as they inform us that, despite questioning Sarah for the last few hours, she is refusing to cooperate. I'm frustrated that this is the result we are getting, though I'm not completely surprised by it because Sarah is already in enough trouble for the vandalism of my car, and if they charge her with this as well she'll be given jail time for sure. I wish the detectives came to us with better news though, as I hate seeing Lily stressed like this. She has enough on her plate with the concussion from the assault itself, and I don't want this bleak outcome to add to her stress.
Placing my free hand on top of Lily's, I ask the detectives if they are still going to keep Sarah in overnight, regardless of not getting a confession from her. When they confirm they are still holding her for the full 24 hours until they have to release her, I feel Lily loosen the grip on my hand as she visibly relaxes beside me. "At least it means Johnson can go home now." Even after everything she has been through today, she still thinks of others.
As the detectives wrap things up here, I show them outside. They promise to call us in the morning to provide us with an update before leaving, and once their car heads out of the drive, I head over to Johnson and update him on the reduced threat level and let him know he can leave. Heading back inside the house, I lock the front door behind me. Even though I know Lily will be safe tonight, I don't feel comfortable leaving her for the first night while she's still recovering from a head injury and thankfully Julie kindly offered to let me stay the night.
With Lily's childhood bed being too small for us both to share, I take to the couch for the night with Milo and Bailey for company. It will not be my most comfortable night's sleep as I have Milo sleeping on my legs and Bailey snoring beside me on the floor, though I doubt I'll sleep much anyway, even if they weren't with me. My mind can't help but analyze the last 24 hours repeatedly, wondering if things would have been different if I had gone back to the apartment with Lily. If I had then maybe she wouldn't have gotten hurt and I may have been able to stop Sarah from fleeing the scene, and could have ended this once and for all. The longer I torment myself with these thoughts, the worse I feel and I know it's not a mistake I want to make again. I roll onto my back and stare up at the ceiling as I try to will sleep to come.
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"What do you mean, you let her go?" I ask in disbelief as I stare at Detective Danes and Styles on the couch opposite us.
When they arrived at the house, I could tell from their stoic expressions that they weren't coming with good news, but I wasn't expecting to hear that Sarah had been released from jail so soon. I hear Julie from across the room quietly telling the dogs to shush so that we can hear the detectives better and they soon settle down and lay on the floor by her feet.
"Unfortunately, we had no choice," Detective Danes replies solemnly, looking at Lily and I. "With Miss Peters not confessing to the crime, and with forensics not finding anything in the apartment, we had to release her."
Lily throws her arms in the air and huffs. "But you just said she lied about being in the area when I was attacked. Surely that must mean something to you?"
"Even though CCTV footage shows she was driving her car less than half a mile from the scene just before the incident took place, it's not enough to charge her with."
I hate this, yet I know he's right. Just because a camera picked up Sarah being close to Lily's apartment, it doesn't prove that she was heading there. Though, with Sarah having no job right now, and her parents living in Washington, I can't see a reason why she'd be out so early in the morning close to where Lily lives, considering she lives on the other side of town. The fact that she also lied about being at home when Lily was assaulted, only to change her story once they showed her the footage, is suspicious enough. "What excuse did she even give for being in the area?" I ask.
Detective Danes' face turns into a grimace and, for the first time, Detective Styles speaks instead. "Miss Peters claims she was out on a drive because she couldn't sleep."
Even as he tells us this, I can hear the doubt in his voice. "That seems like a bullshit excuse to me."
"She's clearly lying," Lily sniffles, agreeing with me.
I can tell this is upsetting her, and I stroke my hand up and down her arm to calm her.
"It is questionable, but right now, it's her word against yours," Detective Danes tells us straight. "And with there being no evidence to support the theory that she was involved somehow, we can't press charges."
"This is insane!" Lily cries, lifting off the couch.
She wobbles slightly on her feet, possibly from the effects of the concussion, and I quickly help her find her balance before she moves away from my grip and begins pacing the floor, biting her thumb as she processes this information.
I grip the nape of my neck as the four of us watch Lily pace back and forth and I glance over to Julie and see that she's also watching Lily with worried eyes. I can only imagine how she must feel, seeing her only daughter confused and scared over something that she has no control over.
After a minute of doing this, she halts her movements and looks down at both officers with tears rimming at the bottom of her eyes. "Now that she's been released, what's stopping her from trying something again?"
Detective Styles moves to the edge of the couch and clasps his hands together as he holds Lily's gaze. "We've told Miss Peter's, we'll be watching her closely. We've also sent an application to the court on your behalf to have a restraining order in place. It would be very naïve of her to try something."
Lily releases a shaky breath and wipes the first set of tears away from her face. "But do you really think that's going to stop her when she's clearly unhinged?"
Tears flow down her cheeks at a faster rate, and I quickly jump up from the couch and cradle her in my arms. Her body slumps against mine and I stroke my hand down the back of her head, wanting to take the pain away. "I won't let her hurt you," I whisper against her ear. "She'll have to go through me to do that."
"But I'm not just worried about me," she hiccups, gripping my shirt with the tips of her fingers. "I don't want her to hurt you, either."
"Hey," I murmur. I place my hands on either side of her face and tilt her head back so that I can see her face. "You don't need to worry about me. Right now, all you need to focus on is getting better."
"He's right, honey. You need to build your strength up," Julie concurs.
"Okay," she says in a low voice.
"Everything will be all right, Lily. Trust me."
"I trust you. It's just her I don't trust."
As I hold on to her, knowing that her mind is in torment because of my past actions, I decide that enough is enough. I will not let Sarah anywhere near Lily or give her the chance to hurt her again, and if I have to go over to her place myself to tell to her keep the fuck away from Lily, I will.
