Chapter 1
“Don’t touch him.”
Emily planted herself between the armed men and the massive black Cane Corso pressed against her legs.
One of the men reached for the dog’s collar.
The growl that came from the animal was so deep it seemed to vibrate through the floor.
The man stopped.
Then the front door of Happy Tails opened.
Every armed man inside the shop stepped aside.
The newcomer wore a charcoal suit and carried himself with the calm certainty of someone who had never needed to repeat an order.
His eyes went first to the dog.
Then they moved to Emily.
“Move,” he said.
Every instinct told her to obey.
The men surrounding her were armed.
The stranger’s security detail blocked the windows and the door.
Even the customers outside had stopped walking.
Emily stayed where she was.
“No.”
One of the guards stared at her as if she had just volunteered to step in front of a moving train.
The stranger’s expression barely changed.
Emily noticed something else.
The dog had been shaking when the men cornered him near the grooming counter.
Now he was no longer looking at them.
He was watching only the man in the suit.
The stranger stepped closer.
“Brutus.”
The dog’s ears lifted.
The name carried authority.
Not anger.
Expectation.
Emily finally recognized the man.
Dante Valente.
His shipping companies, hotels, construction firms, and security businesses were worth billions.
Newspapers called him a private industrialist.
People who knew more called him something else.
Emily looked at the armed men again.
Then she looked at the enormous dog leaning against her.
Apparently, she had chosen a terrible morning to become brave.
“What did you do to him?” Dante asked.
“Nothing.”
“He has never ignored a command.”
“Then maybe something is different today.”
The guard nearest Dante shifted uncomfortably.
Dante silenced him with one glance.
Emily crouched beside Brutus without touching his collar.
She watched his breathing.
His muscles were tight, but he was not trying to escape.
His eyes never left Dante.
“He isn’t afraid of you,” she said.
“I know.”
“Then stop ordering him around.”
The shop went still.
Dante looked at her as if nobody had spoken to him that way in years.
“You are telling me how to handle my dog.”
“I’m telling you what your dog is trying to tell you.”
“He isn’t telling you anything.”
Brutus pressed harder against Emily’s leg.
She glanced down.
“He’s making a convincing argument.”
For one dangerous second, Dante said nothing.
Then he gave the guards a small nod.
All four men stepped back immediately.
Emily almost laughed at the contrast.
Four armed men obeyed Dante Valente without hesitation.
His dog still had not moved.
The extra space changed Brutus’s breathing.
His shoulders slowly relaxed.
Dante crouched several feet away.
This time, he did not reach for the leash.
He simply held out one hand.
His face remained controlled, but Emily saw something beneath it.
Concern.
Then Dante spoke the command that Brutus had obeyed thousands of times.
“Brutus, come.”
The dog looked directly at the most powerful man in the room.
May you like
Everyone waited for him to cross the floor.
Instead, Brutus slowly lowered his body beside Emily.
