Chapter 14 - The Dog Who Saved My Family Took His Final Walk Through the EstateNero lived fourteen years.
More than anyone expected.
On his final morning, snow covered the courtyard again.
Exactly like the morning everything had begun.
He couldn't walk far.
So I carried him beneath the stone archway.
Elsie, now a young teenager, walked beside me.
Sienna held the old teddy bear.
The same one Elsie had carried when she was three.
We sat together in the snow.
Nero rested his head against Elsie's leg.
She cried quietly.
"You saved me."
He looked up at her.
His tail moved once.
I placed my hand on his fur.
"You saved all of us."
Nero closed his eyes.
For a long time, none of us spoke.
Then his breathing slowed.
And stopped.
Elsie buried her face against him.
I held her.
Sienna held both of us.
The most feared dog in my city had died peacefully surrounded by the people he had protected.
We buried him beneath the old oak tree.
A simple stone marked the grave.
It said:
NERO
LOYAL UNTIL THE END
May you like
But I added something underneath.
HE CHOSE LOVE OVER FEAR.
