Chapter 7 - THE UNRAVELING TENSION
The silence in the grand clubhouse reception room was thick, suffocating, and absolute. The only sound was the low, continuous vibration of Pino’s growl, echoing off the high stone walls like a distant engine revving in the dark.
Marcus sat frozen on the leather sofa, his thick, tattooed hands locked around his knees. He tried to maintain a neutral expression, but the rapid pulsing of the vein in his temple betrayed the sheer terror seizing his body.
"Lorenzo..." Marcus stammered out, forcing a nervous, tight laugh that sounded entirely fake in the quiet room. "What's... what's with the dog? Why are you holding the housekeeper's kid?"
Lorenzo didn't answer him immediately. He took three slow, deliberate steps forward, his heavy boots sinking into the thick carpet, bringing himself and Sophia right to the edge of the glass table. Pino walked at his hip, his upper lip still curled back over his fangs, his eyes glued to Marcus's shaking hands.
Lorenzo turned his head slightly toward the two prospects standing near the corner.
"Let her go," Lorenzo commanded, his voice quiet, flat, and carrying a terrifying weight.
The two prospects didn't hesitate for a single second. They immediately stepped away from Sophia’s mother.
The young woman let out a choked sob, running across the hardwood floor toward Lorenzo. "Mr. Duca... I swear on my life, I didn't touch your watch! I didn't—"
"I know you didn't," Lorenzo interrupted gently, keeping his eyes fixed entirely on Marcus. "Go sit in my private office, Sarah. Take a glass of water. Your daughter is safe."
Sophia’s mother looked up at her little girl held securely in Lorenzo’s muscular arm. Sophia offered her mother a tiny, reassuring nod from behind her battered stuffed rabbit. Relieved beyond words, the young mother nodded quickly and hurried down the private hallway toward the President's office, closing the door behind her.
Lorenzo turned his full, undivided attention back to the four senior men sitting at the table.
"Thirty minutes ago," Lorenzo said softly, his voice echoing through the vast space, "my gold watch went missing from my private nightstand. Ten minutes later, Marcus... you came to me in the hallway and suggested we check the domestic staff's lockers before looking anywhere else."
May you like
Marcus swallowed hard, his throat dry as bone. "I... I was just trying to help, Boss! I thought it was logical—"
"Pino doesn't lie, Marcus," Lorenzo cut him off sharply, his gray eyes flashing with lethal clarity. "Pino was in my suite all morning. He knows whose hands were on my table. And he knows whose scent was on that watch."
