Chapter 186

I tried not to worry about Lisa after my last conversation with her. I could tell that Andrew was still frustrated over not being able to protect her from Bob, but I continued to assure him that we had warned her of the danger. Short of dragging her into the investigation, it was all that we could do.

Repercussions were the last thing on my mind.

A few days after my talk with Lisa, I sat in the dining room of the mansion, busying myself by making calls to confirm various appointments for Ever After Weddings. It was a tedious task, especially since there had been no slip-ups since I had taken over as majority shareholder and Terri had assumed my position as Head Wedding Planner. Still, it was necessary to keep the ship running smoothly.

I had just finished talking to the florist who would be responsible for Lisa’s wedding when I received a call from Eliza.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Crystal? Is that you?”

Eliza’s tone immediately set my heart aflutter. My mind went straight to the worst, thinking that Nikolas had had another heart attack and was back in the hospital or that maybe his sons had broken out of prison and set their house on fire.

“Yeah, Eliza, it’s me. What’s wrong? Is Nikolas okay?”

My heart froze as Eliza sniffled.

“Yes, Nikolas is fine.”

She seemed to hesitate.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

Eliza sniffled again. Her voice cracked with tears as she spoke.

“No, I’m not. It’s Donner. He’s really hurt.”

I paled. That dog was Eliza’s baby. It would kill her if something happened to him.

“What happened?”

“I…you’re not going to believe me.”

“Of course, I’ll believe you.”

I heard Eliza take a deep breath. I let her have all the time that she needed to collect herself. I couldn’t imagine the anguish that she had to be going through.

“I was walking Donner when a man approached me,” she began. “He seemed like an ordinary person. He wore a plain t-shirt and jeans, and he was very clean.”

I waited patiently for Eliza to get to the point of her story.

“I thought that he was just going to walk by me, so I made room for him on the sidewalk. Then he just stopped in front of me and looked me straight in the eye. That’s when Donner started growling at him, but before Donner could attack, this man grabbed me by the arm and threw me to the ground.”

Eliza’s voice quavered. I could hear her body shaking as she took another deep breath.

“Then the man started kicking me in the back and in my legs. I curled in the fetal position to cover my vitals, but he just kept at it. I asked him why, why was he doing this, and I even offered to give him my purse, but he wouldn’t answer me or stop for a second.

“That’s when Donner…he…Donner jumped at the man and started to attack him. I was so afraid, but I knew that Donner would be able to protect me, so I uncurled enough to see what was going on. The man then threw Donner off of him and…”

Eliza started to sob.

“He pulled a gun out of his pants and shot Donner!”

I gasped.

“Oh my god! Donner…is he…”

“He’s in bad shape,” she said, “but they’re optimistic that he’ll make it through.”

I sighed in relief.

“I’m so glad. What about you, though? What happened after he shot Donner?”

Eliza sniffled.

“The man just…stopped. He dropped this note by me, and then he left.”

I furrowed my brow.

“A note? He left a note? What did it say?”

“That’s the weird part, Crystal. It was addressed to you and Andrew. It said that you two need to stay out of Bob and Lisa’s relationship, or else.”

My blood ran cold.

Bob.

Of course, Bob had something to do with this.

“Crystal, please tell me what’s going on,” Eliza said, her voice sounding desperate. “I’m so scared. I don’t know what to do.”

I didn’t know what to tell her. There was only so much that I could tell anyone about the situation with Bob, and I knew that Andrew wouldn’t want me to drag Eliza or Nikolas into it.

“Eliza, all I want you to do is to worry about yourself. Andrew and I will take care of everything else, okay? Have you been to the hospital for your injuries yet?”

“No. I had to take care of Donner first, and then I was too scared…”

“I want you to go to the hospital, and when the police come to ask you about what happened, let them know exactly what you told me. Describe the man in great detail and give them the note as well. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“It’s going to be all right. I promise.”

“If you say so.”

We said our goodbyes, and we hung up so that Eliza could go to the hospital.

I took a moment to collect myself. I leaned back in my chair and pinched the bridge of my nose with my index finger and thumb, my eyes closed tightly. It was bad enough when Bob was just going after me, but now he was going after the people that I cared about, too.

Enough was enough. I couldn’t just sit on the sidelines and let him hurt innocent people…or animals.

I sighed and dialed Andrew’s number.

“Hello?” Andrew answered.

“Hi, Andrew,” I said, my voice sounding as strained as I felt.

“Hey, Crystal. Is something wrong?”

“Yeah. I just got off the phone with Eliza. She and Donner were attacked by some stranger while out on a walk.”

“Dear Goddess! Are they all right?”

“Eliza is going to the hospital to get checked out right now. Donner is at the vet in serious condition from a bullet wound, but they think that he should pull through.”

“Geez, what happened? Was it a mugging or something?”

My grip on my phone tightened. This was the part that I wasn’t looking forward to.

“No. It seems like it was a message…for us.”

“A message? For us?” Andrew asked, his tone sounding suspicious. “How do you figure that?”

“The man left a note with Eliza that was addressed to us. It warned us to stay out of Bob and Lisa’s relationship, or else.”

Andrew growled.

“Bob, of course. I should have known that he was involved.”

“We can’t let this go, Andrew. We have to confront him about this.”

Andrew hesitated.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Crystal.”

“What do you mean? He’s going after people we care about! We can’t let him get away with that.”

“But we also can’t do anything to compromise our investigation.”

I ran my hand through my hair, close to pulling out a clump.

“How much longer is this going to take? We’re putting other people—innocent people—in danger now, all in the name of not compromising our investigation.”

Andrew sighed, frustrated.

“I know that it’s hard, but it won’t be much longer. I’ll meet with Mr. Smith and see if there’s a way to expedite the investigation in any way. I’m just as worried about this as you are.”

I knew that this was as hard on Andrew as it was on me. He was close to losing his daughter, after all. I just didn’t want anyone to get in the process as well.

“All right, Andrew. I trust you.”