Chapter 6 - Emma Knew the Room

The rehabilitation residence had closed six months earlier.

Officially for renovations.

Unofficially because the ownership company had collapsed.

Emma knew the back entrance.

She knew which stairwell cameras had blind spots.

She knew which therapy rooms had no windows.

Luca noticed.

“You worked nights?”

“Yes.”

“For how long?”

“Three years.”

They found Paolo in the hydrotherapy wing.

Alive.

Weak.

Locked in an old treatment room.

He had been there nine days.

Marco freed him.

Paolo looked at Luca.

Then at Emma.

“You.”

Emma frowned.

“You know me?”

Paolo nodded.

“You were here the night they brought him.”

“Who?”

Paolo looked at Luca.

“The SUV driver.”

The room went silent.

The man who forced Luca’s car through the barrier.

The man police claimed died at the scene.

Had lived.

At least briefly.

Emma’s memory shifted.

A midnight admission.

No name.

No paperwork.

A badly injured man moved through a service entrance.

She had assumed private security.

She remembered now.

One nurse had told her not to ask questions.

The patient disappeared before morning.

Paolo continued.

“He told me the crash was staged.”

Luca stared.

“Why tell you?”

“Because he thought he was dying.”

“Who hired him?”

Paolo looked at Belini.

She went pale.

Then he shook his head.

“Not her.”

Luca waited.

“Carlo.”

Belini exhaled.

Paolo continued.

“But Carlo wasn’t alone.”

“Who?”

“Someone from Luca’s medical team.”

Serrano had already been cleared.

Emma thought of the residence.

Doctors.

Therapists.

Private consultants.

Then she remembered a name.

“Dr. Vale.”

Luca looked at her.

“Who?”

“Neurologist. He consulted here twice a month.”

Marco searched.

Dr. Adrian Vale.

Private neurologist.

One of the doctors Belini had recommended after the crash.

Luca’s face hardened.

Belini whispered:

“He told me the nerve damage might be permanent.”

Emma looked at her.

“He also worked here.”

Belini stared.

She had not known.

Marco pulled payment records.

Vale had received money from a Bellori company.

Before the crash.

After the crash.

Every month.

Paolo said:

“He designed the injury target.”

Emma felt cold.

“What does that mean?”

“He told them what kind of trauma could make Luca look permanently impaired without killing him.”

Luca’s voice went flat.

“Where is Vale?”

Marco checked.

“Scheduled to leave for Zurich tonight.”

Luca looked at his right hand.

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Then at Emma.

“Not anymore.”