Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO HURT BRUNO
Bruno struck Gideon before he could fire again, knocking the gun across the floor.
The groomer screamed as the Cane Corso pinned him against the wall.
“Bruno!” Matteo shouted.
The dog stopped with his teeth inches from Gideon’s throat.
His entire body shook with rage. His injured leg trembled beneath him, but he did not release the man.
Clara saw a knife fall from Gideon’s sleeve.
Before he could reach it, she grabbed a heavy flashlight and struck his wrist.
The knife clattered away.
Gideon stared at her. “You little—”
Matteo hit him once in the stomach.
Gideon folded against the wall.
Then another figure appeared at the top of the stairs.
Mrs. Vale.
The house manager held a flashlight in one hand and a knife in the other.
Clara froze.
Mrs. Vale looked at Bruno without fear.
“He was becoming difficult,” she said.
“He was in pain,” Clara replied.
“Pain makes animals unpredictable.”
“No,” Clara said. “People make animals afraid.”
Mrs. Vale’s eyes hardened.
“You have worked here six days. Do not pretend you understand this family.”
Matteo stepped toward her.
“Put down the knife.”
“You still speak as if this is your house.”
“It is.”
“Your father would disagree.”
The words changed Matteo’s face.
Clara had heard whispers about Anton Moretti, the man who had built the family empire through violence and fear. But no one spoke about him directly.
Matteo’s voice became quiet.
“Did my father order this?”
Mrs. Vale smiled.
“Your father left instructions.”
“For whom?”
“For the person who would eventually understand that power is not inherited. It is taken.”
“What instructions?”
Mrs. Vale glanced at the scratched photograph.
“Find the girl before she remembers who she is.”
Clara’s skin prickled.
“What girl?”
Mrs. Vale looked directly at her.
“You should ask your mother.”
“My mother is dead.”
“That is what they told you.”
Before Clara could respond, an alarm began ringing above them.
Mrs. Vale threw the flashlight at the ceiling. Darkness swallowed the room.
When the emergency lights returned, she was gone.
Matteo ordered the estate locked down.
A guard rushed into the room holding a broken phone.
“Sir, we found this near the east gate.”
Clara recognized the blue case.
It was hers.
She checked her pocket.
Her phone was gone.
Matteo looked at her. “Who did you call?”
“No one.”
The screen lit up.
An incoming message appeared.
STOP LOOKING FOR THE GIRL, CLARA.
A second message arrived.
OR BRUNO DIES FIRST.
Bruno growled at the screen.
Matteo took the phone and turned toward Clara.
“From this moment on, you do not go anywhere alone.”
“You mean I am a prisoner?”
“No.”
“Then what am I?”
His eyes shifted toward Bruno.
May you like
“The person he trusts most.”
That answer frightened her more than being called a prisoner.
