Chapter 3 - The Secret Ingredient"Get me raw beef, bone broth, fresh liver, and a clean ceramic bowl," Briar commanded, her voice suddenly stripping away all the timidity she had shown in the clinic.
Damien blinked, momentarily stunned by the sudden shift in her demeanor, before snapping his fingers at a terrified-looking butler. "Get it. Now."
Within minutes, an elaborate spread fit for a king was placed before the dying dog. Goliath didn't even sniff it. He kept his head flat against the floor.
Briar didn't use a spoon or a syringe. Instead, she picked up a piece of the raw liver, ignored the blood, and sat directly on the expensive Persian rug, crossing her legs. She didn't push the food toward the dog.
Instead, she began to talk.
"They tell you that you're fierce, don't they?" Briar murmured, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "They look at your size, your teeth, your strength, and they think you're a weapon. They lock you in rooms, they expect you to protect, to bite, to intimidate. But when you break down, when your spirit cracks under the weight of their expectations... they call you broken."
Damien stood in the shadows, his chest tightening. Every word she spoke felt like a physical blow, striking chords he hadn't allowed to resonate in decades.
Briar pressed the piece of meat gently against her own palm, holding her hand out, palm-up, mere inches from the dog's massive snout. She closed her eyes. "I'm tired too, big guy. I get it. But if we die here... they win."
A wet, hot breath hit Briar’s palm.
Slowly, agonizingly, Goliath’s heavy eyelids fluttered open. A giant, pink tongue darted out. He licked the meat from her hand. Then, with a shuddering gasp that sounded like a sob, the one-hundred-and-fifty-pound beast began to devour the food.
The guards held their breath. Damien stepped out of the shadows, his breath catching in his throat.
May you like
Briar opened her eyes, smiling through her tears as Goliath rested his massive, heavy head directly in her lap.
Damien looked down at the girl from Brooklyn, and in that exact second, a dark, dangerous obsession was born. She cures my dog. She calms my demons. She is never walking out of this penthouse.
