Chapter 5 - The Night Titan Chose a Side
The first gunshot came from the south entrance.
The second came from inside the house.
Sophie sat upright.
Titan stood beside her bed.
His entire body became rigid.
“Luca.”
The name left Sophie’s mouth before she could stop it.
Titan ran to the door.
Sophie followed.
The hallway lights were dead.
Only moonlight entered through the windows.
A man appeared at the far end of the corridor.
Not one of Luca’s guards.
Titan growled.
The man raised something.
Sophie saw metal.
“Down!”
She dropped.
The gun fired.
The bullet struck the wall.
Titan charged.
The attacker stumbled backward.
Sophie heard shouting below.
Then Titan stopped suddenly.
He looked at Sophie.
For one second she understood.
He wanted to chase.
But he refused to leave her.
“Go.”
Titan remained.
“Titan, go find Luca.”
Nothing.
Sophie’s heart pounded.
Then another figure appeared behind the attacker.
Luca.
He moved quickly.
A brief struggle.
The weapon hit the floor.
Marco arrived seconds later.
The attacker was restrained.
Luca ran toward Sophie.
“You’re hit?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
His hands moved to her shoulders.
He checked her face, her arms.
Sophie stared at him.
“I’m fine.”
Luca stopped.
Their faces were close.
Something changed between them.
Then Titan pushed his enormous head between their bodies.
Sophie laughed shakily.
Luca looked down.
“Apparently I require permission.”
Even in the middle of chaos, Sophie smiled.
The attack lasted eleven minutes.
Three men entered the estate using outdated security credentials supplied by Peter Lang.
Two were captured.
One escaped.
No staff members were killed.
One guard suffered a shoulder wound.
But the attackers had reached the second floor.
Too close.
Far too close.
By sunrise, Luca had made his decision.
Sophie would leave the estate temporarily.
When he told her, she refused.
“No.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
“Someone shot at you.”
“And someone shot at you.”
“This is my life.”
“Apparently it’s mine now too.”
Luca’s expression hardened.
“That is exactly what I’m trying to prevent.”
Sophie stared.
He regretted the words immediately.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you shouldn’t be involved.”
“Involved in what?”
“In me.”
Silence.
Luca looked away.
Sophie’s heart beat strangely.
“That sounds less like a security decision.”
“It is.”
“Then look at me when you say it.”
He did.
Sophie wished he hadn’t.
There was too much in his eyes.
Fear.
Not fear for himself.
For her.
Luca Romano, who made rooms quiet simply by entering them, was afraid.
Sophie’s anger softened.
“You think sending me away fixes that?”
“It makes you safer.”
“Maybe.”
“Not maybe.”
“Where would I go?”
“I have a house north of the city.”
She almost laughed.
“You’re relocating your maid to another mansion?”
“You’re not my maid.”
The words came quickly.
Both became silent.
Sophie looked at him.
“What am I?”
Luca had no answer.
Titan stood between them.
Eventually Sophie left.
Not because Luca ordered her.
Because Mrs. Turner convinced her the estate needed several days to rebuild security.
Titan went with her.
That decision was not Luca’s.
He attempted to keep Titan at the estate.
Titan refused to enter the kennel.
When Sophie entered the vehicle, Titan climbed in beside her.
Luca stood in the driveway.
“Traitor.”
Titan looked through the window.
Sophie smiled.
“He says you’ll survive.”
“I wasn’t talking to him.”
Her smile disappeared.
Neither spoke.
Then the vehicle left.
The estate felt wrong without them.
Luca discovered this within twenty minutes.
By dinner, the silence irritated him.
By midnight, he had walked past Sophie’s empty work station three times.
Marco found him in the kitchen.
“You know we employ people to make coffee.”
“I know.”
“You’re holding the machine manual upside down.”
Luca looked at it.
Then at Marco.
“Leave.”
Marco smiled.
For the first time in years, Luca understood loneliness as something separate from solitude.
He had always chosen solitude.
It was efficient.
Safe.
Predictable.
Then Sophie had arrived, dropping trays and apologizing to furniture after bumping into it.
She filled silent spaces without trying.
Titan had recognized something before Luca did.
The dog had chosen her because she made him feel safe.
Luca had spent years believing control created safety.
Sophie used patience.
Choice.
Trust.
And somehow those things had begun affecting Luca too.
Two days later, he drove north.
He told himself he needed to check on Titan.
When Sophie opened the cottage door, she wore jeans and a green sweater instead of her maid uniform.
Luca forgot what he intended to say.
Sophie smiled.
“You found him again.”
Titan appeared behind her.
Luca looked at the dog.
“I’m getting better.”
She laughed.
They walked through the snowy woods behind the house.
Titan moved ahead.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Then Sophie asked:
“Why did you rescue him?”
Luca stopped.
“Mrs. Turner talks too much.”
“She likes you.”
“That makes one person.”
“Titan likes you.”
“He abandoned me.”
Sophie smiled.
“He didn’t abandon you.”
“What would you call moving into your bedroom?”
“Good judgment.”
Luca laughed quietly.
Sophie looked at him.
“There it is again.”
“What?”
“Human behavior.”
He shook his head.
Then his expression changed.
“The people who had Titan used dogs for fighting.”
Sophie’s smile disappeared.
“When I found him, he was chained behind a warehouse. He attacked everyone who approached.”
“Except you?”
“He attacked me too.”
Sophie stared.
“I sat outside the chain for nine hours.”
“Nine?”
“He stopped growling after six.”
“And after nine?”
“He let me cut the chain.”
Sophie looked toward Titan.
“That’s why he trusts you.”
“I thought so.”
“You sound uncertain.”
Luca watched the dog.
“I gave him freedom that night.”
Then he looked at Sophie.
“Somewhere along the way, I started confusing obedience with trust.”
Sophie said nothing.
Luca continued.
“I do that with people too.”
She understood.
“Because obedience is easier.”
“Yes.”
“And safer.”
“I thought it was.”
Sophie stopped beneath a snow-covered oak.
“Trust feels unsafe.”
Luca looked at her.
“Exactly.”
For several seconds neither moved.
Then Sophie touched his hand.
Not romantic.
Not quite.
But Luca’s entire attention dropped to the contact.
“You don’t have to control everything for people to stay.”
His voice lowered.
“People leave.”
“Some do.”
“Everyone eventually.”
Sophie shook her head.
“That’s fear talking.”
Luca looked toward Titan.
“The dog seems to agree with you.”
Titan had returned and sat beside Sophie.
Luca sighed.
“You’ve corrupted him.”
“He was emotionally intelligent before I got here.”
Luca laughed.
Then he looked at Sophie differently.
She saw it.
The moment stretched.
He moved slightly closer.
Then Marco called.
Luca answered.
His expression changed immediately.
“What?”
Sophie watched the warmth disappear.
Marco’s voice came through faintly.
They had identified the escaped attacker.
And he was not running away.
He was coming north.
Toward Sophie.
Luca ended the call.
“We’re leaving.”
“What happened?”
“He knows where you are.”
Titan stood.
Sophie’s face went pale.
“How?”
Luca looked toward the road.
A black vehicle appeared between the trees.
Too early to be Marco.
Luca reached for Sophie.
“Inside.”
The vehicle accelerated.
Titan’s growl erupted.
And for the second time in less than a week, Luca realized the danger had followed Sophie because of him.
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This time, however, Titan would force them both to decide exactly who they were willing to protect.
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