Page 58 of Liberating Lily

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.

Lily couldn’t stand listening to her mother go on and on at Clem. About her weight, her looks, her intelligence.

Clem had always been an easier target for their mother because she didn’t play the game.

Lily played it a bit too well.

Well, Clem had enough going on right now and Lily was going to do what she could to make sure that their mother didn’t bother her.

After checking her appearance in the mirror, she brushed back a few stray hairs and walked to her mother’s study.

She hadn’t intended to see her mother today, so she wasn’t certain she’d be dressed to her satisfaction. But she didn’t have time to run upstairs and get changed.