Chapter 2 - The Dog at the Door.
Sophia grabbed Emma before the darkness had fully settled.
Bruno moved faster than his injured body should have allowed.
The old Cane Corso planted himself between mother and child and the sound of breaking glass, his growl rolling through the black dining room like distant thunder.
"Nobody move," Alessandro ordered.
A narrow beam from Marco's flashlight cut across the room.
Sebastian Vale stood beside the door with one hand raised.
His silver medal flashed once in the light.
"Backup power should have engaged," Marco said.
"It didn't," Alessandro replied.
Another crash sounded from the west wing.
Emma buried her face against Sophia's shoulder.
"Bruno scared?"
Sophia whispered, "Bruno is helping us."
The dog backed toward them without taking his eyes off the doorway.
Alessandro drew his phone, saw no signal, and looked at Marco.
"Inside system."
"Has to be."
Sebastian gave a faint sigh.
"Before everyone begins accusing everyone else, perhaps we should get the child somewhere secure."
Sophia's head snapped toward him.
"Don't talk about my daughter."
Sebastian's expression remained polished.
"Mrs. Carter, I understand that you're frightened."
"You don't understand anything about me."
Alessandro's voice cut through the exchange.
"Marco, east corridor."
Marco opened the dining room door and disappeared into darkness with two security officers waiting outside.
Alessandro turned to Sophia.
"Come with me."
"Where?"
"A room with reinforced doors."
"And him?"
She pointed at Sebastian.
Alessandro did not look away from the lawyer.
"Sebastian stays here."
The lawyer smiled thinly.
"Am I under suspicion now?"
"At this moment, everyone is."
Sebastian's eyes cooled.
"Even me?"
"Especially people who ask that question."
Alessandro guided Sophia toward a hidden service passage behind a paneled wall.
Bruno followed Emma without command.
The old dog limped badly, but he refused to fall behind.
They reached a small reinforced sitting room used during severe weather and security emergencies.
Sophia stepped inside with Emma and turned immediately.
"You're staying too."
Alessandro raised an eyebrow.
"That wasn't a request," Sophia said.
Against all logic, amusement touched his face.
"You have an interesting understanding of employment."
"Fire me tomorrow."
"I may."
"Fine."
The emergency lights flickered on.
Emma slid from Sophia's arms and sat beside Bruno on the carpet.
The dog lowered himself with a groan.
She put Mr. Buttons beneath his chin like a pillow.
"You need rest."
Alessandro watched the gesture.
"That bear seems important."
"Daniel bought it the day Emma was born," Sophia said.
Her voice softened despite herself.
"She sleeps with it every night."
Emma corrected her.
"He sleeps with me."
"Of course he does."
The girl's small fingers worked through Bruno's wet fur.
Alessandro looked at Sophia.
"Tell me everything your husband said during the last month of his life."
"I don't remember everything."
"Then remember what you can."
The command in his tone brought her anger back.
"You don't get to order memories out of me."
"Someone photographed your child."
"I know."
"Someone just disabled my estate from inside the property."
"I know."
"And your dead husband appears to have known the name of a man who has advised my family for twenty-seven years."
Sophia stepped closer.
"Then maybe you should be asking why your family lawyer frightened my husband enough to leave warnings in the middle of our kitchen."
Alessandro held her gaze.
"I am."
A buzz sounded from his radio.
Marco's voice broke through static.
"Boss, west greenhouse window is broken."
"Entry?"
"No footprints inside."
"Then it was staged."
"Looks that way."
"Power?"
"Someone pulled the manual disconnect in the old boiler corridor."
Alessandro's jaw tightened.
Only staff and senior security knew that switch existed.
"Seal the gates."
"Already done."
Sophia stared at him.
"So whoever did this is still here."
"Possibly."
"That's not comforting."
"It wasn't intended to be."
Emma looked up.
"Mommy, can Bruno sleep at our house?"
Sophia nearly laughed from the sheer absurdity of the question.
"Baby, we have bigger problems."
"He is a big problem."
Alessandro actually smiled this time.
It vanished quickly.
The radio buzzed again.
Marco said, "We found something in the boiler corridor."
"What?"
"A red thread tied around the disconnect handle."
Sophia's breath caught.
Alessandro noticed.
"What does red thread mean?"
"Daniel used red thread."
"For what?"
"When he was studying for his accounting exams, he tied red thread around files he thought contained mistakes."
"Did anybody else know that?"
Sophia hesitated.
"His partner at the consulting firm did."
"Name."
"Owen Mercer."
Alessandro looked at Marco's radio as though he could see through it.
"Find Mercer."
Marco answered, "Already searching."
Sophia shook her head.
"Owen came to Daniel's funeral."
"That doesn't make him innocent."
"It doesn't make him guilty either."
"No."
Alessandro's voice lowered.
"But being alive makes him available for questions."
Sophia hated how casually dangerous that sounded.
"You are not going to hurt him."
"You seem convinced I solve every problem by hurting people."
"Your reputation is not exactly built on conflict resolution seminars."
He almost answered, then stopped.
Emma had fallen asleep against Bruno's side.
Her small chest rose and fell beneath the red sweater she still wore from dinner.
Bruno remained awake.
His eyes were fixed on Alessandro.
"He doesn't trust you," Sophia whispered.
"He trusts almost nobody."
"He trusts Emma."
"Yes."
Something in his voice made Sophia study him differently.
This was not simply a feared man annoyed that his dog had chosen a child.
He looked wounded by it.
"How long have you had him?"
"Since he was eight weeks old."
"Sixteen years is a long time."
"Longer than most people have stayed."
The answer came before he could stop it.
Sophia's anger eased by one degree.
"Maybe that's why he stayed."
Alessandro looked at Bruno.
"Maybe."
Power returned forty minutes later.
The estate lights came back in waves.
Security teams cleared every room.
No intruder was found.
Sebastian Vale had disappeared.
His car was still in the garage.
His coat remained on a chair in Alessandro's study.
But the lawyer himself was gone.
Marco found a narrow service gate open behind the kitchens.
The snow beyond it showed one set of footprints leading toward the road.
Alessandro ordered every available man to search.
Sophia packed a bag.
When he entered the staff apartment and saw the suitcase, his expression hardened.
"Where are you going?"
"Away."
"No."
Sophia turned.
"That word may work on your employees, but not on me."
"Leaving the estate makes you easier to reach."
"Staying here put a photograph of my child on your dinner table."
"The threat may have followed you here."
"Or it may have come from here."
Neither of them had an answer to that.
Emma sat on the rug tying a blue ribbon around Bruno's collar.
"Pretty," she announced.
Bruno tolerated the decoration with dignity.
Alessandro lowered his voice.
"Give me forty-eight hours."
"For what?"
"To find out what Daniel knew."
"And if you don't?"
"Then I will personally take you anywhere you want to go and put security around you that doesn't answer to this house."
Sophia stared at him.
"Why?"
He glanced at Emma.
"Because somebody used a child to send me a message."
"It wasn't sent to you."
"It was left at my gate."
The distinction unsettled her.
A knock sounded at the apartment door.
Marco entered carrying a tablet.
"We found Owen Mercer."
Sophia stood.
"Where is he?"
Marco looked at Alessandro first.
"Cook County morgue."
The room went silent.
Sophia's face drained of color.
"What happened?"
"His body was recovered from the river this morning."
Sophia gripped the table.
Marco hesitated before continuing.
"There was something sewn into the lining of his coat."
Alessandro said, "What?"
Marco turned the tablet around.
On the screen was a photograph of a thin red thread tied around a small brass key.
Sophia stared at it.
She knew that key.
Daniel had worn one exactly like it on his key ring for years.
The police had never returned it after his accident.
The news of Mercer's death forced Sophia to remember details she had spent two years trying to forget.
After Daniel's funeral, a stranger had called their apartment three times and hung up whenever she answered.
A week later, somebody had left a bouquet of white lilies outside the door with no card.
Sophia had assumed they came from Daniel's office.
Now she remembered a thin red thread tied around one stem.
She told Alessandro.
He did not dismiss it.
Instead, he wrote the date down himself and ordered the florist records located.
That small act unsettled Sophia because it meant he believed every forgotten detail might matter.
Emma wandered into the kitchen during the conversation and climbed onto Bruno's side as if he were a couch.
The dog tolerated it with a sigh.
Sophia nearly told her to get down.
Then she saw how Bruno angled his body between Emma and the window.
Even resting, he was watching the perimeter.
May you like
The child had gained a guardian without anyone assigning him the job.
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