Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 137144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Fuck, sometimes being around his family was like dealing with a bunch of toddlers. They could be the most loyal, amazing people, and they could also be the most infuriating.
“Fine. There’s someone in my life. I’m not ready to introduce her to you guys. You’ll overwhelm her. She’s not feeling very well at the moment, and I want to help her get better.”
“Well, well, well. Of all of us, I didn’t think you’d fall first, Harvey boy.”
“Well, it definitely wasn’t going to be you,” he replied.
Paddy started laughing. “No, that’s for sure. So, she’s been seeing this doctor? Did he do something to her?”
“Her mother took her to see this doctor at a private clinic when she had some issues, and there’s not a lot of information about him that I can find. However, we tested some of the medication that she was given by him, only to find out it’s been laced with some black-market drugs.”
“Jesus. Just as well you came to me, brother.”
“So you do have some information.”
“Oh, yeah. So, our doctor friend was asked to leave his job in Chicago. I’m still trying to find out the specifics, but from what I can gather he was involved in something shady and it was covered up.”
Jesus what had that shady motherfucker done?
And had Lily’s mother known any of this?
“But he was allowed to open up a clinic here in Boston?”
“Yeah, well, he wasn’t charged with anything,” Paddy said. “So his medical license never got taken off him, although he probably would have found it hard to find another job.”
“So he opened up his own small hospital here in Boston?”
“Seems that way. Can’t be a big hospital, though, as he’s the only doctor listed as on staff. The website had very minimal information about what he does there. Which doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
That did seem odd.
“Have you found out anything else? Anything about him having any ties to black market drugs?”
“Not sure how I can figure that out unless we get our hands on him, or I physically get into the building to go through any records.”
“Sounds like I’m going to have to talk to this doctor.”
Even if he wasn’t the one who had laced the pills with Devil’s Breath, it didn’t seem like he was innocent.
“What were the pills laced with?” Paddy asked.
“Devil’s Breath.”
Paddy whistled. “Jesus. That stuff is nasty and expensive. You could try to find the supplier. I can talk to Ronan if you want. See if he knows anyone that supplies that shit in the area. But I’m pretty sure it must come from further afield.”
Yeah, Ronan had his pulse on pretty much everything that went down in Boston.
“Not yet. Let me think about it.”
“DB has a high price tag so somebody was paying through the roof for those pills, and for what reason?”
To make Lily more compliant? But it did seem excessive.
And how would her mother have been able to afford it? No, there was something else going on here, something that he didn’t understand
As soon as he felt comfortable leaving Lily, he was going to go and have a little chat with that doctor.
“Thanks, Paddy. Keep me informed if you find out anything else about the doctor. I’ve got someone watching the clinic and him.”
He also had someone else on her mother, just in case she decided to run. He wasn’t taking any chances with any of this.
Not when it came to Lily. She was too important.
And he needed to go back and check whether she was still sleeping peacefully.
“Ahh, Miss Lily, your mother wishes to speak to you,” James said as she entered the house.
Crap.
She should have snuck out the back door, then James wouldn’t have found her.
“I’m actually on my way out, James. And please, call me Lily.” At thirty-one, she really wasn’t a ‘miss’ anymore.
And it was kind of embarrassing being called one.
“I’m afraid she was very insistent, Miss Lily.”
Of course she was.
Lord forbid her mother didn’t get her own way.
Lily glanced at the door. She could just leave. Walk out and never look back.
Sure, she had nothing. No money, no skills, nothing more than a high school diploma.
But other people did it.
Only problem was, she also didn’t have any friends or anywhere to stay. Her mother kept her birth certificate and passport locked up along with all important documentation.
Trapped.
She was trapped.
The only person she had was her sister who didn’t really like her.
Not that Lily blamed Clem. Her sister was everything she wasn’t.
Brave. Outspoken. Resourceful. Fun.
Clem could make friends wherever she went. She wasn’t afraid to be different.
Whereas Lily had spent all her life trying to please others, to fit in, to make her mother proud.
And for what?
A life of fucking misery.
But rocking the boat would do her no good, it never had. If she could keep her mother happy, then she was less likely to pick on Clem.