Chapter 2 - The Photograph That Shouldn't Exist
Nobody moved Diesel.
Nobody needed to.
The supposedly uncontrollable bulldog remained beside Sofia as if he had spent his entire life protecting her.
Elena approached slowly.
"Sofia."
The girl looked up.
"Mommy, he's nice."
Elena nearly laughed from fear.
"Come here."
"But Dee—"
"Now."
Diesel lifted his head.
Vincent immediately watched the dog's posture.
No growl.
No tension.
Sofia stood and walked toward her mother.
Diesel followed.
Every guard stepped backward.
Vincent didn't.
"Diesel."
The bulldog stopped.
For years, Vincent had been the only person Diesel consistently obeyed.
Now the animal looked from Vincent to Sofia as though deciding which of them mattered more.
Finally, he sat.
Elena pulled Sofia into her arms.
"Don't ever do that again."
"I didn't do anything."
"You walked into a courtyard with a dangerous animal!"
"He wasn't dangerous."
"Sofia."
"He was scared."
Elena looked toward Diesel.
For once, the dog looked almost peaceful.
Then she remembered.
"Why did you call him Dee?"
Sofia shrugged.
"That's his name."
"No. His name is Diesel."
"I know."
"Who told you to call him Dee?"
The girl frowned.
"Nobody."
Vincent turned toward Arturo.
The old man avoided his eyes.
That was answer enough.
"Study," Vincent said.
Arturo shook his head.
"Not now."
"Now."
Elena looked between them.
"What is happening?"
Vincent's voice hardened.
"That's what we're going to find out."
Ten minutes later, the adults gathered in Vincent's study while Sofia remained downstairs with Rosa.
Diesel refused to return to his courtyard.
He lay outside the kitchen instead.
Waiting.
Arturo stood by the window.
Vincent closed the study door.
"Start talking."
"I don't take orders from you."
"You do in my house."
"Stop it," Elena snapped. "Both of you."
She faced her father.
"What did you mean when you said Sofia remembers him?"
Arturo remained silent.
"Papa."
Nothing.
Elena stepped closer.
"Look at me."
Slowly, he did.
"Has Sofia seen that dog before?"
Arturo's answer came quietly.
"Yes."
Vincent felt something inside him turn cold.
"When?"
"Seven years ago."
Elena stared at him.
"That's impossible."
Arturo looked exhausted.
"No."
"She was a baby."
"Yes."
Vincent moved closer.
"Diesel wasn't mine seven years ago."
"I know."
The room became silent.
Vincent remembered exactly when Diesel had entered his life.
Six years earlier.
A stormy November night.
One of Vincent's men had found the injured dog chained inside an abandoned warehouse.
Diesel had been starving.
Beaten.
Terrified.
Vincent had taken him home.
Nobody knew where the dog had come from.
Until now.
"You're telling me you knew him before I did?"
Arturo nodded.
"Who owned him?"
The old man closed his eyes.
"A man named Gabriel."
Elena stopped breathing.
Vincent saw it.
"Who is Gabriel?"
"My husband," Elena whispered.
Vincent knew Elena had been married.
He also knew her husband had died before Sofia's first birthday.
He had never known the details.
Arturo continued.
"Gabriel found Diesel as a puppy. He raised him."
Elena shook her head.
"No."
"Elena—"
"Gabriel never owned a bulldog."
"Not at your house."
Her face changed.
"What does that mean?"
Arturo sat.
"Gabriel was involved in things you didn't know about."
Elena's voice dropped.
"What things?"
"Things he was trying to escape."
Arturo explained slowly.
Gabriel had been doing financial work for men connected to organized crime.
Not Vincent.
Another group.
He discovered money moving through shell companies.
Then he discovered something worse.
Those accounts weren't merely hiding money.
They were paying people.
Police officers.
Judges.
Businessmen.
Gabriel copied records.
He planned to expose everything.
Diesel had stayed at a property Gabriel secretly used while collecting evidence.
"And Sofia?" Elena asked.
Arturo looked at his granddaughter's mother.
"Gabriel took her there once."
Elena's knees weakened.
"Why?"
"You were in the hospital overnight with pneumonia. Gabriel didn't trust anyone else."
"He told me Sofia stayed with you."
"He lied."
Vincent understood.
"So Sofia met Diesel."
"For several days."
"She was barely one."
"Eleven months."
Elena shook her head.
"She couldn't remember."
"Maybe not consciously."
Vincent thought of Diesel lowering his head.
Animals remembered scent.
Voices.
People.
Perhaps Sofia didn't remember Diesel.
Perhaps Diesel remembered Sofia.
But that didn't explain "Dee."
Arturo reached inside his jacket.
He removed an old photograph.
Elena took it.
Her hand began trembling.
The photograph showed Gabriel sitting on a porch.
Beside him was a much younger Diesel.
And on the dog's back, supported by Gabriel's hand, sat baby Sofia.
On the back of the photograph someone had written:
Sofia and Dee — best friends already.
Elena covered her mouth.
Vincent stared at Arturo.
"Why keep this secret?"
"Because Gabriel died for what he knew."
Elena's grief became anger.
"You told me his death was an accident."
Arturo looked at her.
"I lied."
She slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Nobody spoke.
Tears filled Elena's eyes.
"Seven years."
"I was protecting you."
"You stole seven years of truth from me."
"I kept you alive."
"From whom?"
Arturo looked toward Vincent.
"Men who may still be looking for what Gabriel took."
Vincent's jaw tightened.
"What did he take?"
"A ledger."
"Where is it?"
"I don't know."
Elena laughed bitterly.
"Of course you don't."
Arturo reached for her.
She stepped away.
Then a bark thundered downstairs.
Once.
Twice.
Vincent immediately recognized the difference.
Diesel wasn't angry.
He was alerting.
Marco's voice came through Vincent's earpiece.
"Boss, we have a problem."
"What?"
"A black SUV stopped outside the south gate."
Vincent walked toward the security monitor.
"License plate?"
"Covered."
The SUV suddenly accelerated away.
Vincent looked at Arturo.
"Who knows Elena is here?"
"No one."
"Wrong answer."
He enlarged the camera footage.
A man had lowered the passenger window.
He was holding a phone.
Taking photographs.
Of the house.
Of the courtyard.
Of Sofia.
Elena's face went white.
"Why would anyone photograph my daughter?"
Arturo said nothing.
Vincent turned.
"There's more."
Arturo looked defeated.
"What?"
"Gabriel didn't simply steal the ledger."
He looked toward the photograph of baby Sofia sitting on Diesel.
"He hid it."
"Where?"
Arturo's next words changed everything.
"He left a message saying the dog would lead us to it."
May you like
And downstairs, Diesel suddenly stood, walked directly toward Sofia's backpack, and began scratching at it.
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