Chapter 2 - Sophia’s Secret
“Titan.”
The tiny voice came from behind Elena.
Every adult in the hallway froze.
Elena turned so quickly that her shoulder struck the doorframe.
Sophia stood ten feet away, clutching her stuffed bear beneath one arm.
“Sophia.”
Elena’s voice came out sharper than intended.
“Go back.”
But Sophia wasn’t looking at her mother.
She was looking at Titan.
The dog had stopped growling.
Not completely.
The sound remained somewhere deep in his chest, but his ears had shifted toward the child.
Sophia took one step.
Dante reached for her.
Titan’s head snapped toward him.
“Don’t,” Sophia said.
Dante actually obeyed.
Elena’s heart hammered.
“Sophia, sweetheart, come to Mommy.”
“He’s scared.”
“That dog is not scared,” Dante muttered.
Sophia frowned at him.
“Yes, he is.”
She took another step.
Titan watched.
Dr. Reynolds whispered, “Nobody move.”
Sophia reached the study doorway.
The dog’s massive body remained between her and Adrian.
Sophia lowered her teddy bear to the floor.
Then she sat down.
Elena nearly stopped breathing.
Sophia began humming.
It was the same tuneless melody she had been humming in the linen closet.
Titan’s growl faded.
His head tilted.
Sophia held out her hand, palm down.
“You remember me.”
Elena stared.
Remember her?
Titan moved.
Not forward.
Sideways.
Just enough to expose Adrian’s shoulder.
Sophia crawled closer and touched the dog’s enormous head.
Titan lowered it.
A collective breath moved through the hallway.
Sophia scratched behind his ear.
“That’s a good boy.”
Titan sat.
Dr. Reynolds moved instantly.
He passed Sophia carefully, knelt beside Adrian, and checked his pulse.
“Elena, get the child out.”
But Sophia refused to leave Titan.
The dog refused to leave Adrian.
So for the next four minutes, the strangest medical emergency in Moretti history unfolded with a five-year-old girl sitting on the carpet, one hand resting on a lethal guard dog while a doctor worked beside her.
Adrian finally inhaled sharply.
His eyes opened.
Titan immediately bent toward him.
Adrian blinked.
His gaze moved from the dog to Sophia.
Then to Elena.
“What happened?”
“You collapsed,” Reynolds said.
Adrian tried to sit.
“Don’t.”
“I’m fine.”
“You were unconscious.”
“I said—”
“You can argue after I determine whether your heart intends to keep participating in this conversation.”
Sophia giggled.
Every armed man stared at her.
Nobody laughed at Adrian Moretti.
Apparently Sophia Castillo had missed the orientation.
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
Then something unexpected happened.
His mouth twitched.
Barely.
“What are you doing here, little one?”
“Helping Titan.”
“I see.”
“He thought everybody was trying to hurt you.”
Adrian looked at his dog.
“And you convinced him otherwise?”
Sophia nodded seriously.
“I told him doctors are annoying but useful.”
Reynolds stared at her.
Dante coughed into his fist.
Elena wanted the marble floor to swallow her.
“Sophia.”
“What? You said that when Grandma had surgery.”
Adrian laughed.
It was quiet and rough, but unmistakable.
Elena had worked in his house for eight months.
She had never heard that sound.
Neither, judging from Dante’s face, had anyone else.
Reynolds examined Adrian and eventually concluded the collapse was likely caused by a dangerous combination of exhaustion, dehydration, and medication Adrian had been taking after an old shoulder injury.
But something bothered Elena.
While Reynolds checked Adrian, Titan sniffed the broken water glass.
Then he backed away.
His lips curled.
Elena noticed.
Nobody else seemed to.
Later that afternoon, Adrian was taken upstairs under strict instructions to rest.
Sophia was finally persuaded to leave Titan by promising him she would return.
Elena immediately packed their things.
Mrs. Bellini found her near the servants’ entrance.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“You have three hours left.”
“I know.”
Elena swallowed.
“I’m probably getting fired anyway.”
“For what?”
“Bringing Sophia. Letting her get near Mr. Moretti. Existing in the general vicinity of this disaster.”
Mrs. Bellini almost smiled.
Before she could answer, Dante appeared.
“Mr. Moretti wants to see you.”
Elena’s stomach dropped.
Five minutes later she stood inside Adrian’s bedroom.
He sat against dark pillows wearing a black shirt with the collar open.
Titan lay beside the bed.
Sophia immediately ran to him.
Adrian watched the child bury both hands in Titan’s fur.
“How does she know him?”
Elena blinked.
“She doesn’t.”
Adrian’s gaze hardened.
“Titan doesn’t allow strangers to touch him.”
“I know.”
“He allowed your daughter.”
“I can’t explain it.”
Sophia looked up.
“Yes, you can.”
Elena slowly turned.
Sophia scratched Titan beneath the chin.
“I’ve been visiting him.”
Silence.
Elena stared at her daughter.
“What?”
“Outside.”
“When?”
“When you clean the gold room.”
The gold room was Elena’s name for the east salon.
Sophia continued innocently.
“He sits by the kitchen garden. I give him crackers.”
Adrian raised an eyebrow.
“Crackers?”
“He likes the square ones.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Sophia, you are never supposed to wander away from Mrs. Bellini.”
“But Titan was lonely.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“Why would you think that?”
Sophia looked at him as if the answer were obvious.
“Because he waits outside the room where the lady used to sleep.”
Nobody moved.
Adrian’s face became unreadable.
Elena knew enough about the household not to ask.
Adrian’s wife had died three years earlier.
Nobody spoke of Isabella Moretti.
Sophia reached into her pocket.
“I found this near Titan’s place.”
She produced something small.
Silver.
Adrian went perfectly still.
It was a pendant.
A tiny silver crescent moon.
He reached for it.
His fingers trembled.
“Where?”
“Behind the bench.”
Adrian stared at the pendant.
Dante stepped closer.
“What is it?”
Adrian’s eyes lifted.
“My wife was wearing this the night she died.”
Elena felt the temperature of the room change.
Dante frowned.
“That’s impossible.”
Adrian closed his fist around the pendant.
“Why?”
“Because Isabella died in Providence.”
Sophia looked between the men.
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“And this necklace disappeared with her.”
Titan suddenly stood.
He walked to Adrian.
Then sniffed the pendant.
A growl rolled from his chest.
But this time, the dog wasn’t looking at the necklace.
He was staring through the open bedroom door.
At someone standing in the hallway.
Vincent Moretti.
May you like
Adrian’s older cousin.
And for the first time Elena had ever seen him, Vincent looked afraid.
