The Dog Remembered

PART 3 — THE MAN BEHIND THE LOCKED DOOR

The following morning, Damian prepared to leave the mansion.

Sophia was sitting on the living-room carpet, brushing Bruno’s enormous head with a pink hairbrush.

“Mr. Cruz?”

Damian stopped.

“Yes, princess?”

She held up a small drawing.

It showed a little girl, a giant black dog, and a tall man standing beside them.

“That’s you,” she explained, pointing at the tall figure. “And that’s Bruno. Mommy says I shouldn’t bother important people, but Bruno likes you, so I think you’re nice.”

Damian stared at the drawing.

Nobody had ever given him something so simple.

He crouched and accepted it carefully.

“Thank you, Sophia. I’ll keep it.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“Can you find my daddy?”

The question struck harder than any threat Damian had ever received.

He glanced at Rosa, who stood silently near the doorway.

Then he looked back at Sophia.

“I’ll do everything I can.”

Sophia smiled.

“Bruno will help you. He remembers my daddy.”

Damian gently touched the dog’s head.

“I think you’re right.”

Two hours later, Damian’s convoy arrived at an abandoned warehouse twenty miles outside Chicago.

The building looked deserted, but Marco’s men had discovered fresh electricity usage and recent deliveries.

Damian entered first, followed by four armed guards.

“Daniel!” he called.

Silence.

Then came a faint metallic sound from somewhere behind the storage rooms.

Damian followed it.

At the end of a narrow corridor stood a steel door with a heavy lock.

Marco examined it.

“Someone’s been living behind here.”

Damian raised his hand.

“Open it.”

The lock snapped.

The door slowly swung inward.

Inside was a small room containing a narrow bed, a table, medical supplies, and dozens of photographs.

Damian stepped forward.

His eyes immediately landed on one photograph.

Sophia as a newborn.

Beside it was a handwritten note:

My little girl. I hope I get to see you grow up.

Damian’s chest tightened.

Then a weak voice came from the darkness.

“Damian?”

He froze.

A thin man stepped out from behind a curtain.

His hair had turned gray, his face was scarred, and he leaned heavily on a walking stick.

But Damian recognized those eyes.

“Daniel?”

The man stared at him for several seconds before tears filled his eyes.

“You came.”

Damian crossed the room and grabbed his old friend by the shoulders.

“You son of a gun. We buried you.”

Daniel gave a weak laugh.

“Not successfully, apparently.”

Damian pulled him into a fierce embrace.

For several moments, neither man spoke.

Then Damian stepped back.

“Why didn’t you come home?”

Daniel’s expression changed.

“Because Victor made sure I couldn’t.”

He reached beneath the mattress and pulled out a small black notebook.

“Six years ago, I discovered that Victor was selling our weapons routes to a rival organization. He was planning to take over everything after arranging your assassination.”

Damian’s jaw tightened.

“And the night you disappeared?”

“He shot me. His men left me in a warehouse, believing I wouldn’t survive. I managed to escape, but I was badly injured. When I finally recovered enough to move, Victor had already threatened Rosa and the baby.”

Daniel looked down.

“I stayed away because I thought it was the only way to keep them alive.”

Damian’s expression softened.

“Your daughter is safe.”

Daniel stopped breathing.

“What?”

“She’s with Rosa. She’s six years old now.”

Daniel’s eyes filled with tears.

“Sophia?”

Damian nodded.

“She has your eyes.”

Daniel covered his face with both hands.

“My little girl…”

Then, from the corridor, came a familiar sound.

A deep, excited bark.

Bruno.

Damian turned as the enormous Cane Corso rushed through the doorway. The dog stopped in front of Daniel, staring at him.

For one terrifying second, nobody moved.

Then Bruno let out a heartbreaking whine and pressed his massive head against Daniel’s chest.

Daniel dropped his walking stick and fell to his knees, wrapping both arms around the dog.

“You remembered me, old friend.”

Bruno licked his face and wagged his tail furiously.

Damian looked away, hiding the emotion in his eyes.

But Daniel suddenly grabbed his arm.

“Damian, listen to me. Victor knows I’ve been alive. And he knows about Sophia.”

Damian’s expression hardened.

“What do you mean?”

Daniel pointed toward the black notebook.

“He has someone inside your mansion. Someone who has been reporting everything about Rosa and the little girl.”

Before Damian could respond, his phone vibrated.

A message from Marco’s second-in-command appeared.

BOSS. EMERGENCY. VICTOR HAS RETURNED TO THE MANSION. ROSA AND SOPHIA ARE MISSING.

Damian’s blood turned cold.

Another message arrived.

This time, it contained a photograph.

Sophia was sitting in the back of a black car, clutching her pink hairbrush.

Below the photograph were seven words:

Bring Daniel’s notebook, or the girl disappears.

Damian slowly raised his eyes toward Daniel.

His old friend was trembling with rage.

“Don’t give him that notebook,” Daniel whispered. “It’s the only evidence that can destroy him.”

Damian picked up his gun.

He looked at Bruno, who was already standing beside him.

“Then we’re going to bring my little girl home first.”

And for the first time in six years, Daniel Cruz was going back to war.

To be continued…