Chapter 4 - The Man Titan Killed
His name was Victor Hale.
Officially, Titan had killed him during an attempted break-in.
Unofficially, Victor had been Dante’s financial investigator.
Dante had hired him to identify money disappearing from the Castellano companies.
Victor entered the kennel one night.
Security cameras failed.
Minutes later, he was dead.
Titan was found standing over him.
Everyone assumed the dog had attacked.
Except Nonna.
“I found that badge after Victor died,” she admitted.
“Where?” Dante demanded.
“Alessandro’s study.”
“You hid evidence from me?”
“I hid it because I did not know whom you could trust.”
Dante looked wounded in a way anger could not conceal.
“Not even me?”
“Especially you. You were grieving.”
His father had died six months before Victor.
Heart attack.
At least officially.
Nonna looked at me.
“Evelyn told me that if anything happened to Alessandro, Titan would eventually find Rosalind.”
“How?”
“The dog was scent-trained.”
My initials.
My mother had placed something carrying my scent with Titan during training.
“He was trained to find me?”
“Yes.”
A chill moved through me.
“Why?”
Nonna’s answer was quiet.
“Because your mother knew you would help an injured animal even if you were afraid.”
That sounded so exactly like her that I almost cried.
Dante asked about Victor.
Nonna explained that Victor had discovered the traitor was using dead employees’ credentials.
He came to the mansion to confront someone.
He entered Titan’s kennel because he believed evidence was hidden there.
But Victor’s autopsy had been strange.
Few dog bites.
One catastrophic neck wound.
The official conclusion said Titan had killed him.
I requested the report.
The photographs told another story.
Victor had a puncture wound beneath his jaw.
Small.
Precise.
Likely a narrow blade.
Titan had bitten Victor afterward.
Maybe trying to pull him.
Maybe reacting to blood.
“He didn’t kill him,” I said.
Dante stared at me.
“You’re certain?”
“No. But the injuries don’t fit.”
Dante ordered Victor’s body exhumed.
The next morning, the cemetery called.
The grave was empty.
Someone had removed Victor’s body.
That afternoon, Marcus finally broke part of my mother’s damaged recording.
Her voice returned for eleven seconds.
“Marcus was never supposed to become involved. His father—”
Static.
Then:
“—is why Alessandro agreed to protect us.”
Marcus stared at me.
Our father, Daniel Whittaker, had died in a construction accident when Marcus was a baby.
At least that was the story.
I suddenly realized how many stories my childhood had contained.
That evening, Dante found me sitting outside Titan’s kennel.
“You should sleep.”
“I’m beginning to hate people who tell me what I should do.”
He sat beside me.
For a man who commanded rooms, Dante could be surprisingly quiet.
“I’m sorry about your mother.”
“You didn’t know her.”
“No.”
“But your father did.”
“Yes.”
I looked at him.
“Did you know your father?”
He considered that.
“Not enough.”
Titan rested between us.
Dante touched the scar behind his left ear.
“He became aggressive after my father died.”
“Trauma can do that.”
“Everyone told me to put him down.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Dante looked at Titan.
“Because he looked at me like he knew something I didn’t.”
For the first time, I saw the frightened son beneath the feared man.
Then Dante said something quieter.
“When I told you that you couldn’t leave, I was wrong.”
I turned.
“You’re free to go whenever you want.”
“Why now?”
“Because staying became more dangerous than leaving.”
I should have accepted.
Instead, I looked toward the mansion.
“My mother built this trail expecting me to finish it.”
“You don’t owe the dead your life.”
“No.”
I stood.
“But I owe Marcus the truth.”
That night we searched Alessandro’s study.
Behind a false panel we found ledgers.
One contained my father’s name.
Daniel Whittaker.
Beside it:
NORTHSTAR — FOUNDING PARTNER.
Marcus read over my shoulder.
“Our dad?”
Dante turned another page.
Daniel had received millions.
Not as a victim.
As an owner.
Then we found the final entry.
D. WHITTAKER — TERMINATION AUTHORIZED.
Signed:
A. CASTELLANO.
Marcus backed away.
“Your father killed ours.”
Dante’s face went blank.
I looked at the signature.
Then at him.
Everything between us changed.
Before anyone could speak, Titan began barking at the study door.
Three knocks came from the other side.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Dante raised his gun.
May you like
The door handle turned.
And a man who had been dead for three months said, “Dante, don’t shoot. It’s Victor Hale.”
