Chapter 2 - The Empty Kennel
Luca did not shout.
That frightened everyone more.
He stepped into the hallway and called Daniel, his security chief.
“Bring the car.”
“Already outside.”
“Call the clinic again.”
“They aren’t answering.”
“Keep calling.”
Luca walked past me.
Then stopped.
“You stay here.”
“No.”
He turned.
I surprised myself.
“I’m coming.”
“Emma.”
“They think Bruno attacked me.”
Luca stared at me.
“If they need someone to confirm he didn’t, I need to be there.”
Dr. Harris protested from behind me.
“Her shoulder—”
“I’m fine.”
I wasn’t.
But Bruno had tried to crawl behind me when the transport worker dragged him toward the carrier.
I could still hear his nails scraping the kennel floor.
I could not sit safely in a mansion while he disappeared.
Luca studied my face.
Then nodded.
“Get her a coat.”
Five minutes later we were racing through the gates.
Rain had begun to fall.
Daniel drove.
Luca sat in the back beside me, phone pressed to his ear.
Nobody spoke unless necessary.
The clinic was eighty-seven miles away.
Too far.
Every red light felt like cruelty.
Every minute felt stolen.
Finally someone answered.
Luca put the phone on speaker.
“Riverside Veterinary Center.”
“This is Luca Moretti. You have my dog.”
There was a pause.
“Sir?”
“Golden retriever. Bruno Moretti.”
More silence.
“I need you to stop whatever procedure has been scheduled.”
The receptionist’s voice changed.
“Please hold.”
“No.”
“Sir—”
“Do not put me on hold. Walk to whatever room that dog is in and tell the veterinarian his owner did not authorize euthanasia.”
My hands trembled.
The receptionist disappeared.
We heard footsteps.
A door.
Muted voices.
Then silence.
Too much silence.
Luca’s eyes fixed on the phone.
“Hello?”
Nobody answered.
“Hello?”
Finally the receptionist returned.
“Mr. Moretti?”
“Yes.”
“I’m getting Dr. Lane.”
“Is my dog alive?”
A pause.
The whole car seemed to stop breathing.
Then:
“Yes.”
My eyes closed.
Luca lowered his head.
Just once.
Then he became himself again.
“Do not touch him until I arrive.”
The veterinarian came onto the phone.
“Mr. Moretti, your dog was presented with paperwork stating you requested humane euthanasia due to aggressive behavior and severe quality-of-life concerns.”
“I requested nothing.”
“I understand.”
“No. I don’t think you do. Someone forged my authorization.”
Dr. Lane went quiet.
“He has already been sedated lightly for examination.”
My hand flew to my mouth.
“But we have not begun euthanasia.”
“How long?”
“Twenty-five minutes ago.”
“We’re forty minutes away.”
“We’ll stabilize him.”
Luca stared out into the rain.
Then he asked the question neither of us wanted to ask.
“Would he have been dead already if I’d called ten minutes later?”
Dr. Lane did not answer immediately.
“Yes.”
Luca ended the call.
Daniel’s hands tightened around the steering wheel.
I stared at the passing darkness.
Eleven minutes.
That was all that separated Bruno from disappearing forever.
Back at the mansion, Vanessa was still entertaining guests.
She texted Luca three times.
Are you coming back?
Everyone is asking where you went.
This is incredibly embarrassing.
Luca read each message without responding.
Then a fourth arrived.
It was different.
Did the maid tell you something?
Luca showed Daniel.
“Screenshot it.”
Daniel did.
Another message appeared.
She lies when she wants attention.
Then:
You know how lower-class people can be around money.
I looked away.
Luca did not.
He read the sentence twice.
Then locked his phone.
“She threatened your job?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
“My mother.”
His eyes shifted toward me.
“She knew my mother had been sick. She said if I lost the job, my mother would become my problem instead of yours.”
Luca’s expression hardened.
“I pay employee medical assistance through the estate fund.”
“I know.”
“Vanessa has no authority over it.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“That was deliberate.”
Rain hammered the windows.
For the next thirty miles, Luca said nothing.
When we finally reached Riverside Veterinary Center, Dr. Lane was waiting at the door.
Bruno lay on a padded blanket inside an examination room.
His eyes were half closed.
An IV ran into one front leg.
“Bruno.”
Luca’s voice broke on the name.
The dog’s ears twitched.
Then his tail moved.
Once.
Barely.
Luca knelt.
His expensive black suit touched the floor.
He didn’t care.
“I’m here, old man.”
Bruno slowly lifted his head.
When he saw Luca, something changed.
His tail moved again.
Harder.
Luca pressed his forehead against Bruno’s.
I looked away.
There are moments so private that witnessing them feels like trespassing.
Dr. Lane showed us the papers.
The surrender form.
The euthanasia request.
The statement claiming Bruno had bitten an employee.
My name was listed.
Emma Collins.
Victim.
I felt sick.
“That’s false.”
“I believe you,” Dr. Lane said.
“I never gave permission for my name to be used.”
“We’ll document that.”
Luca examined the signature.
It looked like his.
Almost.
Daniel photographed everything.
Then Dr. Lane brought another document.
“This was emailed directly to us at 8:51 tonight.”
Luca read it.
His face changed.
“What?”
I moved closer.
Attached to the email was a photograph.
My injured shoulder.
Taken from behind.
At the kennel.
Before I had even cleaned the wound.
Beneath the photograph Vanessa had written:
Employee injured during unprovoked attack. Owner requests immediate euthanasia before dog harms another person.
My stomach turned.
“She photographed me.”
Luca looked at me.
“Without you knowing?”
I shook my head.
Daniel zoomed in.
Then frowned.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“The image metadata.”
Luca looked over.
Daniel’s voice became quieter.
“This photo was taken four minutes before the transport van arrived.”
Nobody spoke.
The meaning settled over us slowly.
Vanessa had photographed my injury before the supposed attack she claimed caused it.
Which meant she hadn’t invented the lie afterward.
She had prepared it in advance.
Luca stared at the screen.
“This wasn’t impulsive.”
“No,” Daniel said.
I felt suddenly cold.
Vanessa hadn’t simply wanted Bruno gone.
She had planned the entire thing.
And if that was true, there was one terrifying question left.
Why was she so desperate to remove an old dog from the estate before the wedding?
Daniel’s phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Then looked at Luca.
“We found something in the kennel security archive.”
“What?”
“The cameras didn’t malfunction today.”
A pause.
“They were manually disabled.”
Luca stood.
“By whom?”
Daniel’s expression told us the answer before he said it.
“Vanessa’s access code.”
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And that was when the rescue of Bruno stopped being the end of the story.
It became the beginning.
