Chapter 65
In the garden, with Yvette guiding the way, Athena arrived at the spot where Lucky had gone missing.
The sprawling garden boasted elaborate rockeries and pavilions, adorned with a variety of rare and exotic plants. Margaret loved bringing Lucky here the most. Lucky could romp freely to his heart’s content, while she tended to her beloved flowers and plants; it was the best of both worlds.
Athena searched everywhere along the way, but there was still no sign of Lucky. Servants filled the courtyard, calling out “Lucky!” repeatedly. But the little puppy was nowhere to be found. Athena combed through every inch of the garden, even peered between the plants, but still no trace of Lucky.
As time ticked by, cold sweat beaded on Athena’s forehead. Faces fell all around; no one had found Lucky.
Athena took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay calm. She thought, "Lucky is so small and so attached to Margaret; there’s no way he would just wander off on his own. Unless someone deliberately lured him away."
Suddenly, something occurred to Athena. "Yvette," Athena called sharply.
Yvette came running, her face flushed with exertion and sweat. Gasping anxiously, she said, “Yes, my lady, I’m here.”
“Go find another dog, now!” Athena urged anxiously.
Yvette looked confused but immediately complied. Before long, Yvette brought over a big yellow hound. Athena had Yvette unleash the big yellow dog. The dog sniffed around intently before trotting forward. Seeing this, Athena immediately followed behind.
The big yellow dog trotted over to a crevice behind the rockery and darted right in, nose first. Yvette started to reach out to stop it, but Athena quickly gestured for her to let the dog be.
At this moment, Athena became increasingly convinced the hound must have picked up a scent. Just as expected, the big yellow hound started barking at the crevice in the rockery. While barking, it frantically pawed at the gap, desperate to dig something out, its tail wagging excitedly all the while.
Athena’s expression hardened. She snapped at the servants, "Take the hound away, and smash that rock open, now!"
The servants exchanged fearful glances. An elderly servant stepped forward and bowed deeply to Athena. "My lady," he said nervously, "this boulder was brought from a distant province at great expense by His Grace Henry. If it were to be damaged… we could never bear the responsibility."
Athena’s resolve hardened. "I’ll take full responsibility, just smash it!"
A deep, urgent voice suddenly rang out, “Stop right there!”
The Monson brothers hurried over from not far away, their footsteps quick and faces tense.
“Athena, what in heaven’s name are you doing?” Nicolas’s face turned livid as he jabbed a finger at the rockery. "Father paid a fortune for that Fortune Stone! The stone alone cost thousands of dollars, and with transport, it totaled over three thousand dollars. One swing of that hammer and you'll render it completely worthless!"
“Lucky’s trapped inside! I must save him!” Athena insisted stubbornly, her eyes locked on the rockery.
Nicolas looked stunned. “Lucky’s in the rockery?”
Nicolas glanced around but found no trace of Lucky. He turned to Athena, his voice tinged with doubt. “How can you be so sure he’s in the rockery? If he isn’t, how will you answer to Father?”
Three thousand dollars was a fortune for them.
“I’m sure Lucky’s in there,” Athena insisted anxiously to Nicolas. “He loves dried meat; someone must have lured him here. Look, that’s his paw print right there.”
She pointed at the rockery, where a faint paw print was barely visible unless you looked closely. It was almost impossible to spot unless you paid close attention.
“After seeing how the hound reacted, I’m even more certain Lucky must have fallen in from here,” she added, her voice tight with conviction.
“If Lucky dies and Grandmother falls ill again, then what? Tell me, Nicolas, which matters more? Grandmother’s health or this damn rock?” Athena’s words hit him like a sledgehammer, leaving Nicolas speechless, his face flushing then paling.
Ignoring him, Athena wheeled around decisively and barked at the assembled servants, "Smash it, now!"
Yet only dead silence answered her; not a single person dared to move a muscle. After all, this was a stone worth three thousand dollars. No one in their right mind would dare smash it.
Athena’s gaze swept across the paralyzed onlookers, her eyes seething with indignation and bitter disappointment. She said, “Fine! If none of you dare act, I’ll do it myself.”
Gritting her teeth, Athena strode forward, grabbed the hammer nearby, and swung it with all her might at the rockery.
Athena wasn’t particularly strong. Each time she swung the hammer against the unyielding stone, the force jolted painfully through her hands. She barely noticed the pain; stubbornly, relentlessly, she kept swinging the hammer, blow after blow.
Soon, her palms were torn and bleeding, crimson streaks trickling down the hammer’s handle as her hands became a mess of blood. Blow after blow, the crack in the stone grew wider.
Heart pounding with anxiety, Athena hurried to the crack and desperately peered inside. Just as she feared, Lucky was slumped motionless in the narrow crevice, so still that it was impossible to tell whether he was alive or dead. Athena’s heart clenched at the sight.
“Lucky! Lucky!” Athena called frantically into the crevice, her voice trembling with desperation.
It felt like an eternity before Lucky finally gave the faintest twitch of his tail, weakly responding to her.
Seeing this, Athena let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “Thank heavens, Lucky’s still alive!”
Seeing this, the three brothers exchanged astonished glances. Joseph couldn’t help but mutter, “He really is here?”
Athena thrust her arm into the narrow crevice, the jagged rocks leaving her forearm mottled with purple bruises and cuts. She thought, ‘But compared to finding Lucky and giving Margaret Duchess hope for recovery, these wounds mean nothing.’
After a Herculean effort, she finally managed to pull Lucky out of the crevice. By the time she finally pulled Lucky free, fresh scrapes and cuts crisscrossed her arms. Blood oozed from the wounds, staining her sleeve crimson.
Carefully, Athena cradled Lucky in her arms, her hands trembling as she gently ran them over his small body. Her heart sank; she could feel several broken ribs, and his leg was fractured. For such a tiny puppy to survive a fall into that narrow crevice, it was nothing short of a miracle.
Seeing Athena’s gruesome injuries, Nicolas couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pity. Nicolas took a step forward, reaching out to Athena; in a gentle voice, he offered, “Let me hold him.”
Athena shot him an icy glare and, without a moment’s hesitation, replied flatly, “I can manage.”
‘I don’t trust a single soul here,’ she thought coldly.
As Athena staggered into Starling House with Lucky cradled in her arms, Eloise and Willow immediately sprang up from their seats and hurried over to greet her. When they saw Athena, battered and disheveled, holding Lucky who was barely clinging to life, a look of concern immediately appeared on Eloise’s face. “Athena, you’re hurt,” she said.
Willow quickly reached out to her. “Let me take Lucky,” she urged. “Go get your wounds treated right away.”
Athena completely ignored their overtures, treating them as if they were air. Turning urgently to Gwen, Athena said, “Go quickly and tell Grandma that Lucky has been found!”
Henry also heaved a sigh of relief. “Found him? Good, good!”
The next second, Henry abruptly changed tack and asked, “Where was he found?”
“That dog fell into a crack in the rockery,” Joseph sneered. “Athena smashed the whole structure just to fish it out.”
He thought, ‘The Fortune Stone is believed to keep the household’s fortune flowing smoothly. When it was installed, we even performed rituals for it.'
“With that single blow, Athena wasn’t just smashing a stone; she was obliterating the very fortune of the Monson family.”