Chapter 179

I awoke the next morning alone in Andrew’s bed. I sighed and rubbed my eyes. With the nightmares constantly waking me up and Andrew being in no condition to comfort me, I had slept horribly.

With a good, long stretch, I climbed out of bed and slipped on my robe. I reluctantly dragged my bare feet toward the dining room as I mentally prepared myself for the conversation that was about to occur.

I knew what I had to do if I wanted to avoid another fretful night like that. I just wasn’t looking forward to eating crow. Hopefully, Andrew was not at work already; I didn’t think that I could do this over the phone or hold it in until he got home that night.

I entered the dining room to find him still eating breakfast. To my relief, a place had been set beside him for me. Andrew had also remembered that I preferred to put my own food on my plate, ever since the drugging incident.

My eyes widened in surprise as I saw that Noah’s roses still stood in the center of the table. After the previous night, I had expected them to end up in the garbage by the time I got up that morning.

I hesitantly sat down and piled food onto my plate. After I had a plethora of scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon, I prepared my coffee. The entire while, I felt Andrew’s eyes on me.

“Something on your mind?” I asked quietly.

“Something on yours?” he asked in return.

I stirred my coffee, watching the cream-colored concoction swirl around hypnotically in my mug. Andrew’s eyes still did not leave me, and I knew that he was waiting for me to respond. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, trying to muster up the courage to say what needed to be said.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” I finally said as I set my spoon aside. “I shouldn’t have brought Noah’s flowers into your house. It was disrespectful, and I should have known better.”

I glanced up at Andrew. He arched a brow at me, as though he knew that that was not all that I had to offer.

“And I’m sorry that I lied to you,” I continued. “I shouldn’t have promised to stay away from Noah and the case against Bob if I didn’t mean it. I owe you that much, especially after everything that we’ve been through together.”

Andrew took a deep drink of his coffee before replying.

“I understand why you did it—why you lied to me and continued with the case, that is,” he said. “You’re desperate to get Bob put away, and you don’t want to wait for whatever solution I have to come to fruition.”

He sighed and looked down at his coffee.

“You don’t have the time to wait for some magical solution. That’s why…I’m sorry that I didn’t at least let you know that I was conducting an investigation on Bob. It might have assured you that I had everything handled.”

“It would have been nice to have been in the know.”

Andrew cringed.

“Like I said, I only wanted to protect you. You see…I received a note that threatened you—that threatened everyone I love, actually—if I continued digging into Bob. I couldn’t take the extra risk of dragging you into the investigation.”

I could feel the color draining from my face.

“There was another threat against me?” I barely kept my voice from squeaking.

Andrew nodded.

“Against you, against Lisa…against the private investigator, against his family…”

My eyes fell to my plate. I suddenly didn’t have an appetite anymore.

“What are you going to about it?” I asked quietly. “Stop the investigation?”

“No,” Andrew replied firmly. “This only means that we are getting too close to the truth for Bob’s liking. I’m not going to stop now.”

“But Lisa—”

“She will be safe under my protection.”

Andrew grabbed my chin and gently lifted my head so that I was staring him in the eye. The sincerity I saw there nearly melted my heart.

“You will be, too,” he said, his voice simultaneously firm and reassuring. “I swear that to you.”

I didn’t say, “I know.” I had said that too many times before only to turn around and do something to disprove my trust in his ability to protect me. I wanted to believe him, though.

So, instead, I said, “Thank you.”

I leaned forward and kissed him tenderly on the lips. He returned the gesture, twining his hand in my hair to hold my head in place as he explored my mouth with his tongue. After a couple minutes, we broke apart, breathless.

“I love you,” Andrew said. “Never forget that.”

I smiled slightly.

“I love you, too.”

We returned to our breakfast, but I could not get myself to do more than tear my bacon into little pieces. Something ate at me. I needed to know more about this investigation into Bob; I just wasn’t sure what Andrew would be willing to share with me.

“Do you have enough evidence yet?” I asked.

“What?”

“Do you have enough evidence to put Bob away yet?”

Andrew chewed a piece of bacon slowly as he thought over his answer. For a moment, I was certain that he wasn’t going to tell me anything useful.

Then he swallowed and said, “We have a solid case. A paper trail that connects him to a car bomb manufacturer around the time of the attack against Lisa, video of him talking to the Hannigan Brothers and Ciaran Murphy before your kidnapping, things like that.”

My eyes widened. Even though it was just two pieces of evidence, they sounded pretty damning to me.

I was almost afraid to ask, but I said, “Anything else?”

Andrew nodded.

“Yes. There is a slew of evidence. If you want, I can arrange for you to meet with Mr. Smith—”

“Mr. Smith?”

“The private investigator that I’m using. Anyway, I can arrange for you to meet with Mr. Smith, and he can walk you through what we have.”

I nodded.

“That would be nice.” I bit my bottom lip. “So, does this mean that you’re going to be able to move in and arrest Bob soon?”

Andrew hesitated.

“Not yet.”

My heart sank.

“Why?”

“We need more physical evidence. We have to close up all the possible loopholes that Bob could take advantage of before we strike.”

Andrew must have seen my stricken face because he grabbed my hand, rubbing the back soothingly.

“We have one chance at this, my love. We need to ensure that it’s foolproof. I’m not taking any chances when it comes to your safety.”

I tried to smile, but it faltered.

“I know, my love. I just wished that it could happen more quickly.”

Andrew chuckled dryly.

“Movies and TV have certainly given us unrealistic expectations about the process, haven’t they?”

I forced a laugh. I felt like I was going to be sick.

“Yes, they really have.”

“But we have to be patient and secure solid physical proof before we proceed.”

I nodded numbly.

“Yes. We’ll be patient.”

I just hope that we won’t be too late.