Chapter 1 - The Dog That Chose HerDalia kept her hand on Bobby’s massive head longer than she should have.
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She knew it the moment she heard footsteps beyond the kitchen door.
Not hurried. Not uncertain. Controlled, measured, impossible to mistake.
Rowan Fiero entered the kitchen in a dark shirt with the sleeves rolled to his forearms, looking nothing like the untouchable billionaire whose photograph appeared in financial magazines. At five in the morning, beneath the cold kitchen lights, he looked more dangerous than polished. More real.
His eyes moved first to Bobby.
Then to Dalia’s hand resting between the mastiff’s ears.
Every warning the staff had given her flashed through her mind.
Do not approach him.
Do not call him.
Do not touch him when Rowan is present.
Dalia removed her hand as if the dog had burned her.
“I’m sorry, sir,” she said, rising so quickly the chair scraped the floor. “He came in on his own. I didn’t—”
“Sit down.”
The words were quiet.
That made them worse.
Dalia froze.
Rowan’s gaze shifted from her pale face to the untouched piece of toast on the plate, then to the glass of water she had not been able to finish. She saw the calculation move across his face, smooth and silent.