The mafia boss’s deadly Cane Corso obeyed only one man for years, so why did he suddenly abandon him to protect a trembling maid?

Not flickering. Not failing room by room.

Cut.

A house built on money, stone, and secrets was swallowed by darkness as if someone had closed a hand around it.

For half a second, no one moved.

Then Titan barked.

A child screamed from the sitting room.

“Sofia,” Gabriel said.

Evelyn was already running.

She did not think about her bleeding palm or twisted knee. She followed the sound of Sofia’s fear through the dark foyer, one hand out, shoulder striking a table, hip colliding with a chair. Behind her, Gabriel shouted orders. Officers cursed into radios. Somewhere outside, sirens continued flashing blue against dead windows.

The sitting room door was open.

A paramedic lay on the carpet groaning.

Rosa was on her knees, gripping Sofia by both shoulders.

The window stood open.

Cold air poured in.

Evelyn reached them. “Is she hurt?”

Sofia shook her head violently. “A man tried to pull me.”

Gabriel entered behind Evelyn, gun drawn but lowered. His eyes went to the window.

Detective Harris spoke into her radio. “Suspect fled east side, possible accomplice inside, perimeter now.”

Titan pushed past everyone and leapt through the open window into the snow.

“Titan!” Evelyn shouted.

Gabriel caught her before she could follow. “No.”

“He will get hurt.”

“He is hunting.”

“That is exactly why he will get hurt.”

Their eyes locked in the dark.

Then Sofia whispered, “He knows the tunnel.”

Gabriel turned slowly. “What tunnel?”

Sofia pointed toward the floor. “The one under Mama’s room. Calvin used it when Uncle Gabriel was home.”

Rosa covered her mouth.

Gabriel looked like the house had betrayed him personally.

“There is no tunnel under the east wing,” he said.

Sofia’s voice became very small. “There is.”

Evelyn touched his arm. He looked down at her hand on his sleeve, surprised by the contact. She removed it quickly.

“Believe her first,” Evelyn said. “Doubt the maps later.”

Detective Harris had already pulled out her flashlight. “Show us.”

They moved fast.

Gabriel carried Sofia despite her initial stiffness, and though she did not relax in his arms, she did not ask to be put down. That seemed to matter to him more than anything else. Evelyn followed beside them with Rosa and the detective.

In Lucia’s room, Sofia pointed to the wardrobe.

“Behind.”

Gabriel set her down.

The wardrobe was huge and old, carved walnut, too heavy for one person to move easily. But when Gabriel pressed his shoulder against it, Evelyn saw hidden wheels beneath the base. The wardrobe shifted with a low groan.

Behind it was a narrow iron door.

Gabriel stared. “Impossible.”

Detective Harris said, “That word has had a difficult night.”

The door had no handle on their side, only a keyhole and scratches around the frame.

Sofia reached into the pocket of her oversized sweater and pulled out a brass key.

Everyone stared at it.

“Where did you get that?” Gabriel asked.

“Titan brought it.”

Evelyn looked down the corridor into darkness. Somewhere beneath the house, the dog was chasing the men who had hurt him, the men who had caged a child, the men who had made Gabriel’s grief into a weapon.

Gabriel took the key.

His hand shook once before he controlled it.

The tunnel beyond the door smelled of damp stone and lake water. The air moved, meaning it opened somewhere outside.

Gabriel went first. Detective Harris followed. Evelyn wanted to keep Sofia back, but the girl panicked at the idea of being left in the room, so Rosa wrapped an arm around her and they descended together.

The stairs were narrow and steep.

At the bottom, the tunnel split.

One path led toward the old boathouse. The other toward the service cottages.

Evelyn’s stomach dropped.

“My cottage,” she whispered.

Gabriel looked at her.

The shot through her window had not required anyone to enter the estate.

They had already been inside its bones.

A growl echoed from the left tunnel.

Then a man screamed.

They ran.

The tunnel opened into a stone chamber beneath the boathouse. Titan stood over a masked man whose arm was pinned beneath one paw. The dog’s jaws were bloody, but the blood was not his. Victor stood near the far exit, one hand pressed to his ribs, a gun in the other.

Vanessa was behind him.

Her silk robe was gone. She wore black beneath it, her hair tied back, her face transformed from wounded socialite into something colder and far more honest.

She held a gun to Calvin Pike’s head.

Calvin was crying.

Gabriel aimed his weapon.

Detective Harris aimed hers.

Vanessa smiled.

“Everyone calm down,” she said. “Or the man who can explain everything dies before he speaks.”

Evelyn looked at Calvin.

Then at Vanessa.

Then at Titan.

The dog’s eyes were not on the gun.

They were on the wall behind Vanessa.

A second tunnel door stood open.