Chapter 8 - The Night Titan Chose
Dante knew the voice.
Rosie could see it before he spoke.
“Who is it?”
Dante looked at her.
“My father.”
Victor Castellano had been dead for eleven years.
Yet suddenly the entire story reorganized itself around him.
Dante's father had not been an innocent investor deceived by Voss.
He had controlled the money.
The facilities.
The cover-ups.
Matteo hadn't protected the family from an outsider.
He had protected his brother's crimes.
Dante sat down.
For once he had nothing to say.
Rosie understood.
The truth didn't always arrive like liberation.
Sometimes it arrived like demolition.
Vale's arrest produced warrants.
The old kennels were searched.
Financial records surfaced.
Voss was located in Virginia and detained for questioning.
But the most important evidence came from Margaret Whittaker's recorder.
She had documented Victor's involvement.
She had also documented something else.
Victor had eventually tried to shut the operation down.
Not from conscience.
From fear.
Elena later discovered the surviving network.
Vale wanted it preserved because wealthy clients still paid for falsified records.
Voss wanted protection.
Matteo wanted silence.
Everyone had different motives.
But the victims were the same.
Animals.
Employees.
Witnesses.
Families.
Rosie sat beside Dante in the warehouse office after the police left.
“You didn't do what your father did.”
“I inherited everything he built.”
“That's not the same thing.”
“Isn't it?”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“How can you be certain?”
“Because when you found out, you didn't bury it.”
That mattered.
Dante looked toward Titan.
The dog lay near the door.
“For years I thought he killed Samuel.”
“And you kept him.”
“Elena loved him.”
“Maybe that's why.”
Dante shook his head.
“No. I kept him because everyone else wanted him destroyed.”
Rosie smiled slightly.
“There you go.”
“What?”
“Evidence.”
Dante understood.
He reached for her hand.
Rosie let him.
Three days later, Voss confessed to falsifying Titan's behavioral history.
Samuel publicly confirmed what little he remembered.
Titan had protected him after the crash.
The dog hadn't caused his injuries.
The legend of the killer pitbull had been built from lies.
Rosie cried when she heard.
She did it privately.
Titan found her anyway.
He pushed his enormous head against her stomach until she laughed through the tears.
“You're innocent.”
Titan wagged his tail.
“You always were.”
Dante stood in the doorway.
Rosie looked at him.
“You could knock.”
“I did.”
She pointed toward her left ear.
He smiled.
“Right.”
He moved where she could see him.
“I have something for you.”
“If it's employment, I'm suspicious.”
“It isn't.”
“If it's money, I'm offended.”
“It isn't.”
“If it's another dog—”
“Would that actually be bad?”
Rosie considered it.
“No.”
Dante handed her an envelope.
Inside was a letter from the state veterinary board.
Her case had been reopened.
The evidence against her had been formally withdrawn.
Her license would be reinstated pending routine review.
Rosie stared at the paper.
“You did this?”
“I sent them the evidence.”
“You said you wouldn't interfere.”
“I didn't. I gave them facts.”
Rosie's eyes filled.
Dante looked suddenly uncomfortable.
“Please don't cry.”
“Why?”
“I don't know what to do.”
“You own thirty-seven companies.”
“Thirty-nine.”
“And crying defeats you?”
“Completely.”
Rosie laughed.
Then hugged him.
Dante froze.
Only for a second.
Then his arms closed around her.
Titan shoved between them.
Rosie laughed harder.
“Jealous?”
Dante looked down.
“Absolutely.”
“Of me or him?”
“Yes.”
For the first time since Rosie entered the Castellano estate, happiness didn't feel borrowed.
But there was unfinished business.
Matteo.
Dante found him at Elena's grave.
Rosie didn't go with him.
That conversation belonged to Dante.
Matteo confessed everything.
He had hidden evidence.
Paid witnesses.
Protected Victor.
But after Elena died, he had secretly helped Elias rescue the remaining dogs from Voss.
Cowardice and redemption had lived inside the same man.
Dante didn't forgive him.
Not then.
Maybe not ever.
But he gave Matteo the opportunity to testify.
Matteo accepted.
That testimony dismantled what remained of Voss's network.
Rosie returned to the estate that evening.
She found Titan sitting outside the laundry room.
“The scene of the crime.”
Titan wagged his tail.
She entered.
The stainless-steel basin had been cleaned.
Dante appeared behind her.
“Rosie.”
She turned her right ear toward him.
He noticed.
He always noticed now.
“I owe you an apology.”
“For?”
“The first day.”
She smiled.
“‘You're mine’?”
“I said, ‘You're on mine.’”
“You're still claiming that?”
“Yes.”
“I remain unconvinced.”
He stepped closer.
“Then let me correct the record.”
Rosie waited.
“You belong to nobody.”
Her smile disappeared.
Not because she was upset.
Because he understood.
Dante continued.
“Not me. Not this house. Not your old employer. Nobody.”
Rosie swallowed.
“And if I stay?”
“I'll be grateful.”
“That's all?”
“No.”
He smiled.
“I'll also be terrified of saying the wrong thing for the rest of my life.”
“That seems healthy.”
He laughed.
Then became serious.
“May I kiss you?”
Rosie looked at him.
This man frightened half of Baltimore.
Yet he was waiting for her answer.
“Yes.”
The kiss was gentle.
Brief.
Titan barked once.
They separated laughing.
Then Titan suddenly stopped.
His head turned toward the hallway.
Rosie followed his gaze.
Someone was standing at the far end.
Elias.
His face was pale.
He held a file in one hand.
“Dante.”
Something in his voice erased the happiness from the room.
“What?”
Elias approached.
“They found another numbered dog.”
Rosie stared.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
He handed her the photograph.
A scarred female dog stared back.
Her ear carried the number 418.
But that wasn't what made Rosie freeze.
Around the dog's neck hung a silver identification tag.
May you like
Rosie recognized it.
It had belonged to her mother.
