Chapter 264

Andrew sat in his home office, examining the blueprints for Bob’s apartment building. There was nothing special about the building; the only problem with getting to Bob’s apartment to capture Bob was the fact that it was on the third floor. Tricky, but not insurmountable.

Andrew stroked his chin as he scratched out some notes on a piece of college-ruled paper. Fortunately, there seemed to be a balcony that wrapped around the entire building, allowing access to almost every window of the apartment. If they could get up there while making minimal noise, they might just get the drop on Bob.

That was, if no one leaked the plan to Bob first.

Andrew sighed and rubbed his eyes with his forefinger and thumb. He had no idea whom he could trust anymore or how far Bob’s reach stretched, so he needed to keep his plans to capture Bob on a need-to-know basis. The problem was deciding who needed to know.

At least Andrew knew that he now had public opinion on his side…for the moment. He just needed to keep it there.

A throat clearing forced Andrew to look up from his notes. He was surprised to see Parker standing there, his arms wrapped around a shuddering Lisa. The young woman shrunk into herself and wore nothing but a towel provided to her by Parker.

“Lisa!” Andrew exclaimed. He rushed over to his daughter before Parker could undergo his routine announcement of the guest, but both men appeared too concerned to care about procedure and etiquette.

“She came to the door shaken and nude, Your Highness,” Parker explained as best he could. “I thought it best to get her something to wear, but she insisted that she wanted to see you. It was all I could do to get her to accept a towel first.”

Andrew stroked Lisa’s hair and face, coaxing her into looking up at him. As soon as she did, he could see that her lips and teeth were stained crimson with blood. Her eyes were wide and shined with unshed tears.

“Oh, Lisa, what did you do?” he asked, cupping her cheek gently.

“I had to, Father,” Lisa replied, her voice shaking. “Bob…he’s gone crazy.”

Andrew’s felt his heart tighten.

“What, sweetheart? What did you have to do?”

“I injured him, badly.” Lisa trembled and began to sob. “He was going to kill us both.”

Internally, Andrew sighed in relief. His daughter was not a killer, not yet.

Then a switch flipped inside him.

Bob had just tried to kill his daughter. There were no “maybe’s” this time; Bob had just tried to murder the most precious person in Andrew’s life. His blood boiled.

Andrew’s grip on the side of Lisa’s face tightened. When she whimpered, he loosened his grasp and stroked her cheek.

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” he whispered. “You’re safe now. Come, sit down and tell me what happened.”

With Parker’s help, Andrew took Lisa to the nearest chair and eased her into it.

“Parker,” he said to the butler, “why don’t you go get Lisa some nice hot tea to drink? And maybe have one of the other servants bring her some clothes?”

“Of course, Your Highness.”

Parker rushed out the door. When the butler was gone, Andrew returned his attention to Lisa.

“Now, love, why don’t you tell me what happened?” he said, tucking a strand of Lisa’s hair behind her ear.

Lisa stared straight through Andrew, as though she wasn’t really seeing him. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it encouragingly, but she barely squeezed back. With a deep, shaking sigh, she started to speak.

“Bob went to Grandma and Grandpa looking for help in case you decided to press charges against for that…‘Vampiric Conspiracy’,” she began. “When he came back to the apartment, he told me that they had turned him down.”

Andrew nodded, trying to show her that he was listening. He was not surprised that Bob had gone to the Beaumonts for help, but he was more than a little relieved that they had refused him. It only meant that Bob’s reach wasn’t quite as strong as Andrew once thought it was.

“We were talking about what we could possibly do next—” she laughed dryly— “more like lamenting what we couldn’t do. Then he pulled a gun on me and told me that he wasn’t going to let you take us alive.”

Andrew’s hold on Lisa’s hand tightened, and Lisa squeezed his hand back subconsciously. His neck and back muscles tensed, and he felt ready to pounce at some unseen threat. It killed him that he could not eliminate the thing causing Lisa so much distress right at that moment, but he knew that all he could do was be there for her and listen to her story.

“My wolf took over and saved us,” Lisa continued. “Bob was hurt, but he has probably started to heal by now.”

“What about the gun?” Andrew asked, keeping his voice as calm and level as he could manage.

“He accidentally shot the couch once, and I took out the over bullet.”

“Does he have other bullets?”

Lisa’s eyes widened, as though she had not even thought about that prospect before.

“I…I don’t know,” she admitted. “Do you think…?”

Andrew shrugged and ran his thumb over the back of her palm.

“I don’t know, sweetheart. I just want to be prepared.”

“Be prepared for what?” Lisa asked suspiciously.

Andrew eyed Lisa for a moment, assessing her mental state, before deciding that she could handle—and deserved—the truth.

“For capturing Bob.”

Lisa’s lower lip trembled.

“You’re not going to hurt him, are you, Father?” she asked, her voice small.

Andrew wanted to be mad. He wanted to be mad at how much Bob had brainwashed his little girl, to the point that she would still be concerned about physical well-being even after he tried to kill her. Yet he couldn’t be, not when his daughter was in such a fragile state.

“Lisa,” he said, firmly but kindly, “I will do everything I can to ensure that he does not get harmed by anyone, including himself.”

Lisa smiled slightly, genuinely, and threw her arms around Andrew’s neck.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

Andrew smiled as well. Lisa had not called him “daddy” in so long that he could not help how it pulled on his heartstrings.

A knock on the door pulled Andrew and Lisa out of their moment.

“Come in!” Andrew called as they parted.

Parker walked in with a cup of tea in one hand and a bundle of clothes tucked under his other arm.

“Thank you, Parker.”

Andrew looked at Lisa.

“Is there anything else you would like to talk about?”

Lisa shook her head as she accepted the tea from Parker.

“Then Parker, I would like you to take Lisa to her room, if you would not mind.”

Lisa shrank beneath her towel, holding her tea close to her.

Andrew reached out and patted her on the shoulder.

“You’ll be perfectly fine, dear,” he assured her. “I’ll post Jeffrey right outside your door, if you’d like.”

Lisa relaxed and nodded slightly.

“I’d like that,” she said, sipping at her tea.

“Good.” Andrew glanced at Parker. “Parker, if you would.”

“Of course.” Parker bowed and turned to Lisa. “Princess Lisa.”

Lisa stood and walked out the door, Parker following close behind her.

Andrew waited for the resounding click as the door closed before he picked up his phone and hit the number 7 speed dial.

“Hello, Lucca?” he said. “I need the Gamma Warriors. Tonight.”