Chapter 1 - THE DOG BOWL
"Daddy... but I'm a human being."
Lucy D'Angelo's voice was so small that Vittorio almost missed it.
He stood in the breakfast-room doorway, one hand still on the brass handle, staring at his eight-year-old daughter beside a silver dog bowl on the marble floor.
Bianca Moretti, his fiancee, was behind her.
Marcus Hale, his oldest family adviser, was laughing.
Vittorio's vision narrowed.
"What happened?"
Bianca answered too fast. "Lucy was being difficult. It was a joke."
Lucy looked at the floor.
Near the doorway, housekeeper Emma Clark stood trembling with a smartphone clutched in both hands.
"Mr. D'Angelo," she whispered. "You need to see this."
The video had started eleven minutes earlier.
On the screen, Bianca repeatedly forced Lucy toward the dog bowl while Marcus laughed and shut the breakfast-room door.
"Stop," Lucy said in the recording. "Please stop."
Marcus suddenly lunged for Emma's phone.
Vittorio moved Lucy safely behind Emma, caught Marcus's arm, and shoved him backward. Marcus crashed through an antique map rack with a violent crack of wood.
Bianca reached for Lucy.
Vittorio knocked her hand away and sent her stumbling onto the leather ottoman.
Then he picked up the dog bowl and placed it in front of Bianca.
"Enjoy your last meal in my house."
Her face went pale.
"Vittorio, listen to me."
He did not.
He was looking at Emma's phone.
The video had started before Bianca entered the room.
Before Marcus locked the door.
Before Lucy was cornered.
Emma hadn't been surprised by what happened.
She had been waiting.
Vittorio looked at her. "Why were you already recording?"
Emma swallowed.
"Because this wasn't the first time."
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The room went completely still.
Then Lucy whispered, "Daddy... she has another video."
