Chapter 21
Harvey’s phone rang the next morning, and he picked it up, frowning slightly as he saw it was his sister.
“Bea? Everything all right?” he asked.
A soft sob greeted him, and he sat up immediately.
Last night he’d slept on the floor again. And gotten barely any sleep
He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or not, but he’d thought that Lily had looked rather disappointed when he’d chosen to sleep on the floor instead of in the bed with her last night.
He’d wanted to explain that it was better this way, that he wasn’t sure that his control extended to lying in bed with her.
Yeah, he’d managed one night, but that had resulted in them kissing. And he wasn’t sure he had the control to stop that happening again. He was trying to claw back some of his control, and to do that he needed at least a few feet of distance between them.
So lying on the floor had really been better for both of them.
But he’d barely slept, and by five this morning, he’d had to get out of the room before the last of his control snapped and he ended up in that bed with her wrapped up in his arms.
He’d made them breakfast this morning, which she’d barely eaten.
He was starting to get really concerned about her so he’d shut himself in his office before his mouth could run away on him.
But something had to change. She needed to start taking better care of herself, or he’d have to step in.
Despite the fact that she might think him too controlling over her.
Her health still had to come first, right?
Fuck, but then there was her emotional safety.
Pushing all of those thoughts out of his mind, he concentrated on his baby sister. “Bea, what’s going on? What’s wrong?”
“They’re all dead,” she wailed.
For a moment, his heart stopped. What was she talking about? Who was all dead? Their family? Had something happened to Ronan, Paddy, and Fiadh?
But he’d only just heard from Ronan about twenty minutes ago.
“Your worms. Oh my God, Harvey. I’m so sorry. Your worms are all gone. I think they’ve all died.”
“Thank fuck.” That was his first response, relief that his family was fine.
Then he felt a strange sadness. Huh, that was surprising. He must have been more attached to the worms than he’d realized.
He was surprised by their death. He wondered what had happened. “How?”
“Somebody’s been in your house. They’ve trashed it. Harvey, it’s a complete wreck.”
He stood, his heart pounding. “What are you talking about? Bea, what do you mean somebody’s trashed my house?”
“When I arrived, the door was slightly ajar. I pushed it in and rushed inside, thinking they might still be in there. I came in before work, so it was still kind of dark outside. And I didn’t notice how bad it looked inside for a moment.
Then I turned on all the lights and saw that the worm farm had been tipped over. ”
Jesus bloody Christ.
Ronan had done his best to protect their sisters from everything, but that meant that they didn’t have the greatest sense self-preservation, or awareness of the fact that they could get hurt.
“Bea, listen to me. This is very important. Are you still in my house?”
“Yes, of course I’m still in your house. I can’t leave it this way. I don’t know what to do about the worms, though.”
“Bea, don’t worry about the worms,” he said urgently.
“I need you to leave the house, all right? Get out of there right now. Go to my neighbors, the Farrars. You’ve met them, remember?
Knock on the door, tell them what’s happened, ask them if you can come in and stay with them. Then stay with them.”
“Why do you sound so angry? Oh, is it because you’re upset about the worms?” Bea asked. “I’ll get some new worms, okay? And we can replace everything in the house. Don’t worry, I’ll start tidying up now.”
“Bea, for the love of God, if you don’t listen to me . . .” He didn’t know what to threaten her with. There wasn’t much he could do that Ronan wouldn’t kill him for. “Bea, please, please, go next door.”
“Why?”
“Because the person that did this could be watching. They could come back.”
“But it’s probably just some sort of random robbery. We don’t even know if it happened recently. Like I said, I haven’t been here for the last few days.”
“Or it could be really recent, okay? We don’t know. Please wait next door. I’m on my way.”
He sent a quick message to Paddy before gathering up his car keys and rushing out of the office. He nearly banged straight into Lily, who was standing on the other side of the door.
“Lily, is everything okay?”
“Um, yes, sure, are you all right?” she asked.
“Not exactly. I’ve had a break-in at my house, and I need to get over there quickly. Will you be all right?”
“A break-in? Yes, of course. But can I come with you?”
“No, you don’t want to be around this, and it’s safer for you to stay here. I’ll have Trey keep watch outside.”
“All right. If there’s anything I can do to help. . .” she trailed off.
He felt bad about leaving her, and he wondered if he should take her with him.
But something about it didn’t feel safe.
Maybe he was being too overprotective. However, the desperation that both Dr. Wallace and her mother had shown gave him pause.
It made him want to keep her safely here, tucked away under lock and key.
He headed out to his car and drove to his house.
Who the hell would have broken into his place?
When he pulled up outside, he saw Paddy’s car already there. He rushed up the stairs and walked into his house.
“Fuckers really did a number on this place,” Paddy said as he stared down at the worm farm with his hands on his hips. “Poor worms. I mean, take all the ugly decor that you’ve got in here. Sure, smash it up if you’re feeling a bit angry, but leave the fucking worms alone.”
Harvey sighed, staring sadly at the worm farm. He may not have loved those worms, may not have wanted those worms, and let’s face it, worms didn’t always have the longest lifespan. But he hated that they were treated like this.
He also wondered where they had gone. Maybe they’d just slithered away.
“Bea is gonna be upset since she got the worms for you.”
“Shit, Bea. She’s next door. I’ve got to go rescue the Farrars from her,” he said.
“Bea’s next door?” Paddy asked. “How’d that happen?”
“She’s been coming in to check on the worms and water my plants.”
Plants that had been given to him by his other sister, Fiadh. He had a feeling that his sisters were working together to drive him nuts.
Then again, they had been driving us nuts for his entire life, hadn’t they?
“You should have come and got me once you arrived home.” They glanced over to find Bea standing there with her hands on her hips as she tapped her foot against the floor. Behind her stood his neighbor.
Mac Farrar gave him an exasperated look and he winced, giving him an apologetic one back.
He knew that his sister could be a lot. She was spoiled and used to getting her own way, but she was also sweet and kind and would give people the clothes off her back.
Ronan had stepped in a number of times to stop Bea from giving away everything she owned because she wanted to help other people.
“Thanks, Mac, for looking after Bea,” he said.
“No problem,” Mac told him, glancing around. “Boy, they really did a number on this place.”
“Exactly what I said,” Paddy said.
“We didn’t hear a thing. Have you got any idea about when it happened or what they took?” Mac asked.
“Just got here, so I haven’t got a clue. I’ll take a look at the cameras, see what I can find out.”
“Well, I’ll keep an eye out as well and make sure that I’m home with Angie at night. I’ve got to get to work. Bea, be more careful if something like this happens again.” Mac pointed a finger at Harvey’s sister who just nodded.
“Bea, are you okay?” Harvey asked.
She nodded, but he saw her lower lip wobble, and he held open his arms. She shot into them, and he held her briefly before she pulled back and slapped her hand down on his chest.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were here? Why’d you send me next door? I’m not a child, you know.”
“I know you’re not a child, but I didn’t want you here on your own. It’s dangerous.”
“How could it have been dangerous? There was no one here.”
“But I didn’t know that, did I?” he said, as Paddy returned from searching the house. “There could have been someone in the house, hiding. Or outside, watching. All of this is just stuff. But you are not.”
“The worms aren’t stuff! They were tipped over. We’ll never recover them!”
“It’s all right, we can get new worms,” he soothed. Even though he’d rather strip naked and run down the street. Then he turned to Paddy. “All clear?”
“Yeah, but it’s the same in every room. You pissed someone off lately?” Paddy asked as he walked over and messed up Bea’s hair.
She snarled at him. “Stop messing up my hair.”
“Nah, don’t want to.”
She huffed out a breath and straightened her hair. “Wait, why did you ask Harvey if he’d pissed anyone off lately? Isn’t this just a random robbery? They must have realized he wasn’t home, right? Or is something going on?”
Shit.
Paddy and his big mouth.
“Nothing is going on, Bea,” he said.
Although he did wonder if this break-in was related to what was going on with Lily.
But they couldn’t rule it out either.
“And why don’t I believe you? Do you know why? Because you’re lying to me.” She waggled her finger at him.
“What’s going on in here?”
Oh, fuck. Could this day get any worse? Harvey managed to cover his groan with a cough as Ronan stepped into the room.
Who had called him?
Then as Bea spun and threw herself into Ronan’s arms, he had his answer. Of course, she’d called Ronan. Both of his sisters called their oldest brother for everything they needed.
Ronan’s dark eyes flashed to Harvey. “You should have called me instead of leaving it up to your little sister.”
“It’s just a break-in, Ronan. It doesn’t require your attention,” Harvey told him.