Chapter 3: The Secret Inside Bruno’s Collar
“Who are you?” Luca demanded.
“My name is Daniel Hale,” the caller replied.
“I was your head of security until Vanessa had me dismissed.”
Vanessa lunged for Emma’s phone.
Luca caught her wrist before her fingers reached it.
“Don’t touch that phone.”
“She’s being manipulated!” Vanessa cried.
“Daniel has been trying to punish me for firing him.”
Daniel’s voice remained steady.
“I wasn’t fired for misconduct, Luca.
I was fired because I saw Vanessa lead Bruno into the garage.”
Luca released Vanessa’s wrist as if it had burned him.
“You told me Bruno escaped through the garden gate.”
“That’s what the staff told me,” Vanessa said.
“Daniel is lying.”
“Then why did you recognize his number?”
Vanessa opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
Emma shifted Bruno’s weight in her arms.
The dog gave a weak whine and pressed his head against her shoulder.
“Mr.
Hale,” Emma said, “why did you contact me instead of Mr.
Luca?”
“Because Vanessa controls Luca’s household calls.
She blocked my number on his phone and told security never to admit me.”
Luca took out his phone.
He searched Daniel’s name, then turned the screen toward Vanessa.
The number appeared beneath a red blocked symbol.
“You had access to my phone,” he said.
“I manage your schedule,” Vanessa replied.
“You asked me to remove distractions.”
“My dog was not a distraction.”
“He was keeping you trapped in the past!”
Luca’s face tightened.
“Bruno belonged to Sofia.”
At the sound of the name, Bruno lifted his head.
Luca’s late wife had chosen him as a puppy, and after she was gone, the dog had slept beside Luca’s bedroom door every night.
Vanessa pointed at Bruno.
“Every time you looked at that animal, you looked through me.
I was tired of competing with someone who wasn’t coming back.”
A guest near the table lowered her glass.
“So you locked him away?” Luca asked.
“I arranged for him to be cared for elsewhere.”
“With no water?”
“I didn’t do that!”
Daniel interrupted.
“Luca, examine the brass plate on Bruno’s collar.
Slide it to the left.”
Emma lowered Bruno carefully onto a chair.
Luca knelt and turned the worn leather collar until Sofia’s engraved words appeared: BRUNO—BRING HIM HOME.
His thumb pressed against the brass plate.
It shifted open.
A tiny memory card dropped into his palm.
Vanessa’s chair scraped against the floor.
“That belongs to me.”
Luca closed his fist around it.
“Why would something hidden in my dog’s collar belong to you?”
“Because Daniel put it there.
This is a setup.”
Daniel exhaled through the speaker.
“I found Bruno in the garage this afternoon.
When I heard Vanessa and Martin Cole enter, I started recording.
I hid the card in the collar before I was forced out.”
“Martin?” Luca asked.
“My financial adviser?”
Vanessa seized her handbag.
“Where are you going?” Luca demanded.
“I won’t stand here while a dismissed employee humiliates me.”
Luca moved between her and the door.
“You’ll stay until I hear that recording.”
Emma found a card reader in the office cabinet and inserted the memory card into Luca’s laptop.
Static filled the banquet room, followed by Vanessa’s unmistakable voice.
“By tomorrow, the dog will be gone—and Luca will sign whatever I put in front of him.”
Then Martin answered, “Once he signs, you’ll control the foundation.”
May you like
Luca slowly turned toward the unopened engagement papers beside Vanessa’s plate.
“What exactly were you planning to make me sign tonight?”
