“The thing is I don’t have the addr

“The thing is I don’t have the address. I pick her up and drop her off at the bus stop nearest her place. She refuses to let me take her to the actual house. I don’t like doing it that way but she always calls me when she’s inside and at least I get her as close as possible.” Tom wasn’t happy about the arrangement but Amy was strong willed and he took what little bit she was willing to give him.

On the other end of the line Lucas was barely keeping his temper in check. He’d figured out that she’d lied to him about where she was living. That had been easy enough. He’d simply called the management company of the apartments and asked them if she lived there.

They’d told him she wasn’t currently living there but at the beginning of the week she’d put in an application for one of their apartments. They had a unit coming available in three weeks and she’d reserved it. Her being new to the workforce had been a negative but they’d spoken to his father earlier in the week and since Joseph backed her up they were thrilled to have her for a tenant.

“Look Mr. Anderson, I really have to get going. I know that she’s in a really crappy place right now but I’m going to offer her a place to stay for a few weeks until she gets her new apartment.

She told me she just finished up with college and got hired to your company and was really excited to have her first nice place,” Tom spoke quickly before Lucas was able to cut him off.

“Thank you Tom. I appreciate the information. I will speak with Ms. Harper personally.” He hung up the phone without bothering to say goodbye.

Tom was forgotten about the second the phone touched its receiver. All he was thinking was that he would be finding her that day. After about an hour of speaking to various people Lucas had the information he wanted. He had grown up with money, but had been taught from a young age not to use it against people. But there were times when having money made life simpler and being able to gain information that was needed was one of those times.

He was uneasy as he neared her house. The neighborhood wasn’t somewhere he would hang out in comfortably in the daytime and never at night. By the time he saw the actual place she was living in he was appalled and beyond angry. What was she doing there? How could she so casually risk her own safety? He wouldn’t wish his worst enemy in the house or the neighborhood that she was residing in. When he saw places like the home she was staying in, it was a humbling experience for him and he knew that he needed to make more time for his volunteer work because there were so many people out there who needed time and money. It was easy to forget about those things when they were out of sight, but not when it was right in front of his face.

He’d been doing volunteer work since he was a young boy, as had his brothers. The busier he got in his day to day life the easier it was for him to forget about people in need, but as he looked upon the sad excuse for a house, he made a vow to himself that he would make the time no matter what else was going on in his life.

Lucas carefully walked up the steps, afraid he was going to fall through the rotten porch at any moment. The door looked no better and he would’ve been grateful to have some Lysol on him after placing his hands anywhere near it. He reluctantly raised his fist and knocked loudly so he could be heard above the screeching of animals, which seemed to be coming from every which direction.

Chapter Three

After about five minutes the door was answered by a man reeking of alcohol and wearing nothing but a pair of dirty boxer shorts. “Hey dude, you sure don’t look like the pizza boy. Did I win something?” the man blubbered.

“I’m looking for Amy Harper please,” Lucas said with disgust.

“It figures that the first person to visit that snob is a suit,” the intoxicated man mumbled. He looked Lucas up and down and then muttered, “I should’ve been charging her more rent. She’s obviously doing well.” He then turned around and shouted for Amy.

“Amy, you have some high and mighty guy here to see you,” he said before walking away from the door. Lucas hoped that was the last he would see of the man. He couldn’t understand how she could feel safe with him nearby.

Lucas heard a door creaking open somewhere in the house and then Amy was standing before him. There were no other words to describe the look she gave him other than horrified. She looked like a deer caught in the hairs of a crossbow and he knew that she would rather sink through the floor than stand there in the filthy house and speak to him.

Amy felt her heart pounding. She was sure that he could see it through the thin shirt she was wearing. How had he found the place? She was sure that he was horrified that she could live in such horrible conditions but she’d been willing to do anything and everything to get through school, even if that meant sleeping in a place she wouldn’t want to even give to an animal for shelter.

Lucas