Chapter 5 - The Trap Built Before Titan Arrived)
The timestamp changed everything.
Victor had accused Emma of stealing Titan before Titan had appeared at her door.
Which meant someone had chosen her in advance.
Emma sat at Nora's kitchen table while Elias called a legal team.
Roman stood by the window.
"Why me?" Emma asked.
Roman turned.
"We find that out before Victor does anything else."
Emma began reconstructing the previous day.
She had opened the store at nine.
Accepted deliveries at eleven and two.
Closed the grooming room at six.
At eight thirty the storm intensified.
At nine twelve, Titan had slammed against the glass front door hard enough to set off the motion alarm.
Emma had opened it.
He had entered soaked, shaking, and dragging part of a broken leash.
Twenty minutes later black SUVs arrived.
"How did they locate him?" she asked.
Roman looked toward Elias.
"Tracker."
Emma shook her head.
"The harness receiver?"
"Probably."
"No. If Victor wanted Titan found, why let him reach my store?"
Roman understood.
"He didn't."
Elias lowered his phone.
"What if the tracker was meant to prove Titan came here?"
Emma looked at him.
The pieces aligned.
An accusation filed before the supposed theft.
A dog deliberately released.
A tracking system hidden in his harness.
A store owner with veterinary experience.
Roman spoke first.
"Someone chose you because you would take him inside."
Emma felt a chill.
"Then what?"
Roman's expression darkened.
"Victor arrives. Claims you stole Titan. Maybe money changes hands. Maybe police find something planted in your store."
Emma remembered Victor moving toward the light controls.
"Or Titan reacts violently."
Elias nodded.
"And the story becomes simple. Unstable dog. Reckless store owner. Billionaire's security team forced to intervene."
Emma stood.
"Why?"
Roman looked at Nora's ledger.
"Because three nights from now Titan was supposed to create an incident at the gala."
Emma understood.
"If Titan disappeared first, then suddenly showed up there..."
"They could control the narrative."
Roman's phone rang again.
This time his corporate attorney.
He listened for thirty seconds.
Then his eyes narrowed.
"When?"
Another pause.
"Send it."
He ended the call.
"The board has called an emergency meeting."
"About Victor?"
"About me."
Emma stared.
Roman handed her his phone.
A news alert showed security footage from outside Emma's pet store.
The video had no context.
Only Titan entering.
Then Roman's convoy arriving.
The headline accused Roman Calder's private security team of conducting an illegal recovery operation involving a dangerous animal.
Another article claimed Calder Global had used foundation money for secret canine experiments.
Emma looked at him.
"That part is true."
"Yes."
"Did you know?"
"No."
"Will anyone believe that?"
Roman's silence was answer enough.
The board meeting began at noon.
Roman insisted Emma attend.
The Calder Global headquarters occupied thirty two floors of a glass tower overlooking Boston Harbor.
When Emma entered the executive conference room beside Roman, twelve directors stared as if she were a stray dog he had brought in from the rain.
A silver haired man named Malcolm Voss sat at the far end.
Chief financial officer.
Thirty one years with Calder companies.
He looked at Emma and smiled politely.
"So this is Ms. Reed."
Emma immediately disliked him.
Roman sat.
"Where's Victor?"
Malcolm folded his hands.
"Missing."
"His access was suspended."
"We know."
"He filed a false police report against Emma before Titan reached her store."
A woman near the window spoke.
"Roman, this meeting is not about a pet store."
Emma leaned back.
It was exactly about a pet store.
They simply did not understand that yet.
Malcolm slid a folder across the table.
"We have found irregularities in the Calder Foundation."
Roman did not touch it.
"I already know."
"Do you?"
Malcolm's tone remained gentle.
"Because the contracts were approved under your signature."
Roman looked at him.
The room changed.
Emma saw it.
Malcolm continued.
"Northbridge received millions through programs authorized by your office."
Roman opened the file.
His signature appeared repeatedly.
He looked at Elias.
Elias whispered, "Sir, those look real."
Roman turned pages.
"They are."
Emma watched Malcolm.
He was too calm.
Roman looked up.
"I approved umbrella funding. I did not approve these vendors."
"The board may not find that distinction comforting."
Malcolm leaned back.
"We are voting to suspend your direct operational authority until an independent investigation is complete."
Roman's expression did not change.
"You planned this."
Malcolm smiled faintly.
"Your own signatures planned it."
The vote passed eight to four.
Roman was temporarily stripped of operational control.
Victor had vanished.
Northbridge had been emptied.
The dogs were missing.
And every financial trail pointed toward Roman.
Outside the conference room Emma expected an explosion.
Roman simply loosened his tie.
"That went badly."
Emma stared at him.
"That's all you have to say?"
"I have several less polite observations."
Elias approached.
"Security has disabled your executive access."
Roman nodded.
"Expected."
"And the foundation legal office has ordered Titan transferred to an approved corporate facility pending the investigation."
Roman stopped walking.
Emma's voice turned cold.
"No."
Elias looked at her.
"Emma."
"No one is taking him."
Roman turned.
"Agreed."
Elias blinked.
"Sir, the order is legally valid."
Roman looked back through the glass conference room wall.
Malcolm Voss was speaking quietly to two board members.
Roman's eyes narrowed.
"Then we'll need to make it legally invalid."
Emma followed his gaze.
"Do you trust him?"
"Malcolm?"
"Yes."
Roman considered the question.
"Yesterday I would have said completely."
Emma folded her arms.
"You're having a bad week with that word."
For the first time since the board vote, Roman smiled.
It disappeared quickly.
"Let's find Titan."
They returned to the veterinary clinic.
The front door was open.
One of Roman's guards lay conscious but dazed on the floor.
The second guard was gone.
Leah came running from the examination room.
"Emma."
Emma's heart dropped.
"Titan?"
Leah pointed.
The examination room was empty.
On the metal table lay a forged corporate transfer order.
And beside it was one object.
A black remote.
The same type Victor had used.
Roman picked it up.
A strip of masking tape had been placed across the back.
Three words were handwritten on it.
SEE YOU FRIDAY.
May you like
The gala was Friday.
Two days away.
