Chapter 2 - The Secret Inside Titan’s Collar
The phone kept ringing in my hand.
I couldn’t move.
The basement lights flickered once.
Then again.
The only thing I could hear was Titan’s breathing beside me and the low hum of the backup generator somewhere beneath the mansion.
Adrian Voss stared at my phone like it was a weapon.
Not like it was a message.
Like it was a threat.
"Who sent that?" I whispered.
He didn’t answer.
That scared me more than anything.
A man like Adrian always had an answer.
Always.
He was the kind of person who could walk into a room and make everyone stop talking without saying a word.
But now he was silent.
His eyes stayed fixed on those five words.
Ask him about your father.
My fingers tightened around the phone.
"Why do you look like you know what this means?"
Adrian finally looked at me.
His expression was unreadable.
"Because whoever sent that message knows things they shouldn’t know."
The way he said it made my stomach twist.
Not because he was angry.
Because he was worried.
And I had never imagined a man like Adrian Voss could be worried about anything.
One of his guards stepped forward.
"Boss, we should take the phone."
Adrian didn’t look away from me.
"No."
The guard stopped.
"Nobody touches her."
The words hung in the air.
I noticed the guards exchange a look.
They were surprised.
So was I.
Adrian Voss protected himself.
Not strangers.
Not employees.
Not a night housekeeper who had been in his basement for less than an hour.
I looked down at Titan.
The giant dog was still sitting calmly in the sink.
His head rested against my arm.
The same animal everyone feared was acting like I was the only safe thing in the room.
Adrian noticed.
His jaw tightened.
"You said you found him."
"I did."
"Where?"
"In the storage room."
"That door was locked."
I looked at him.
"Then someone locked him in there."
The room went quiet.
Because we both knew what that meant.
Someone inside the mansion had put Titan there.
Someone wanted him hidden.
Or someone wanted him dead.
Adrian slowly removed the metal tag from Titan’s collar.
He turned it over again.
The symbol was small.
Almost invisible.
A circle with a line through the center.
I had seen it before.
Not on Titan.
Somewhere else.
A memory flashed.
My father’s old notebook.
A symbol drawn on the last page.
I was sixteen when he disappeared.
Everyone told me the same story.
He left.
He ran away.
He didn’t want to be found.
But I never believed that.
My father was many things.
Complicated.
Quiet.
Sometimes distant.
But he never abandoned me.
Not without saying goodbye.
I stared at the symbol.
"Where have I seen that before?"
Adrian looked up sharply.
"You recognize it?"
I immediately regretted speaking.
His expression changed.
Not anger.
Calculation.
"Answer me."
I hesitated.
"My father drew something similar."
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
Adrian’s fingers stopped moving.
"Your father’s name."
I looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because I asked."
There was the man everyone feared.
The cold voice.
The command.
But something underneath it felt different.
Almost desperate.
"My father was Daniel Reed."
For the first time since I met him, Adrian Voss looked genuinely shocked.
Not surprised.
Shocked.
He stepped back.
"No."
I frowned.
"What?"
He looked at Titan.
Then at me.
"That’s impossible."
"Why?"
He didn’t answer.
That was becoming a habit.
A dangerous one.
I stepped away from the sink.
"Everyone keeps acting like my father was some kind of secret. Nobody tells me anything. Everyone just says he disappeared."
Adrian watched me carefully.
"You don’t know what your father was involved in."
The words hit harder than I expected.
"What does that mean?"
"It means Daniel Reed wasn’t the man you thought he was."
My chest tightened.
"You didn’t know him."
Adrian’s eyes darkened.
"I knew him better than you did."
Silence.
I stared at him.
The man standing in front of me was a stranger.
A dangerous stranger.
But he was talking about my father like he had known him.
Like there was an entire part of my life hidden from me.
"What happened to him?"
Adrian looked away.
For a second, the mask disappeared.
I saw something else.
Pain.
Then it was gone.
"Your father saved my life."
I froze.
"What?"
"He saved my life twelve years ago."
The basement suddenly felt smaller.
"You’re lying."
"I wish I was."
I wanted to believe that.
I wanted to call him a liar.
But Adrian Voss didn’t look like a man making up a story.
He looked like a man carrying one.
Titan suddenly moved.
The dog lifted his head and looked toward the basement door.
A low growl escaped his throat.
Adrian immediately noticed.
The entire mood changed.
His hand moved toward the gun hidden beneath his jacket.
"What is it?"
Titan stood.
Water dripped from his fur onto the floor.
He stared at the door.
Waiting.
Listening.
I looked at Adrian.
"What’s happening?"
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he motioned for the guards to move.
Two men positioned themselves near the entrance.
Another turned off the remaining light.
The basement fell into darkness.
I could barely see Adrian’s silhouette.
Then came the sound.
A soft click.
The basement door handle moved.
Someone was trying to open it.
Adrian whispered.
"Stay behind me."
I almost laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because five minutes ago, I was afraid he would hurt me.
Now he was standing between me and whoever was outside.
The door opened slightly.
Nobody entered.
A piece of paper slid across the floor.
Then the door closed again.
The guards moved immediately.
Adrian stopped them.
"Wait."
He walked forward.
Slowly.
Carefully.
He picked up the paper.
His face changed as soon as he read it.
I stepped closer.
"What does it say?"
He didn’t answer.
"Adrian."
That was the first time I had said his name.
His eyes lifted.
Something about hearing his name from me made him pause.
Then he handed me the paper.
My hands shook as I read the words.
It wasn’t a threat.
It wasn’t a warning.
It was a name.
A name I hadn’t heard in twelve years.
Daniel Reed.
Underneath it was one sentence.
"He didn’t disappear. He was taken."
I looked at Adrian.
The room felt like it was spinning.
"Who wrote this?"
Adrian didn’t respond.
Because he was looking at something else.
Something behind me.
Something that made every guard in the room freeze.
I slowly turned around.
Titan was no longer looking at the door.
He was staring at the old storage cabinet in the corner.
The same cabinet where I had found him.
The same cabinet everyone thought was empty.
And then Titan walked toward it.
He pressed his nose against the locked metal door.
And started scratching.
Adrian’s face went pale.
May you like
Because he recognized what was inside.
The cabinet lock suddenly clicked open from the inside.
