Chapter 5 - A Different Kind of Threat
I reached for my phone.
“What do you want?”
“Open the door.”
“No.”
The handle moved once.
Then stopped.
For a long moment, all I could hear was Bruno breathing.
“You think he’s protecting you,” Isabella said.
I didn’t answer.
“Dogs bite, Emma. Especially dogs that have been badly handled.”
“He hasn’t bitten anyone.”
“Not yet.”
My fingers went cold.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you should stop teaching him to growl at me.”
“I’m not teaching him anything.”
“Then explain it to Luca tomorrow. Tell him you misunderstood what happened near the greenhouse.”
Bruno stood.
“Leave,” I said.
“You’re making a mistake.”
“So are you. Mrs. Alvarez is calling Luca.”
It was a bluff.
It worked.
Her footsteps moved away.
I called the housekeeper with shaking hands.
Ten minutes later, Luca stood outside my room wearing yesterday’s shirt, his phone still in his hand.
“She came here?”
I nodded.
“She said Bruno might bite someone.”
He looked down at the dog.
Then at the lock.
“I told Victor to deactivate her staff keys.”
“Apparently, he missed one.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
He called the head of the night security shift directly.
By morning, Isabella had moved to the downtown apartment she shared on paper with nobody but herself.
Her engagement ring remained on her finger.
Luca said the wedding was suspended.
Not canceled.
I noticed the difference.
He noticed me noticing.
“There are business agreements attached to it,” he said.
“Was my ankle attached to one?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t know why you’re telling me.”
He took that without defending himself.
At breakfast, Bruno refused his usual food.
I blamed the strange night.
Then Victor came into the kitchen with a printed report.
“Incident in the south corridor,” he said.
My fork stopped halfway to my mouth.
“What incident?”
“A delivery contractor says Bruno lunged at him.”
“He was with me.”
“Earlier this morning.”
“He was with me then too.”
Victor placed a photograph on the table.
A torn sleeve.
A scratched forearm.
Below it was a statement claiming I had lost control of the dog.
The report carried my name.
And a signature that looked almost like mine.
Luca picked up the page.
“Emma didn’t sign this.”
May you like
Victor’s expression barely changed.
“The transport company has already been booked.”
