Chapter 6 - The Night Catherine Died

Martin Rourke refused to come to New York.

He agreed to a recorded interview with attorneys present.

Emma watched from Luca’s library the next afternoon.

Rourke appeared on the screen older than she expected.

Sixty-three.

Gray hair.

Tired face.

A man who had spent years waiting for a knock at the door.

He looked at Emma first.

“You look like her.”

Emma’s stomach turned.

“Did you kill my mother?”

Luca glanced at her, but he did not interrupt.

Rourke looked down.

“I was responsible for what happened.”

“That is not the same answer.”

“No.”

He breathed out slowly.

“I was told to follow Catherine Carter after work. Scare her. Take the documents if I could.”

“Who told you?”

“Alessandro Valenti.”

Belini closed her eyes.

She had chosen to sit beside Emma for the interview.

Emma had not invited her.

She had not asked her to leave either.

Rourke continued.

“Catherine realized she was being followed. She tried to lose me in the rain. I stayed behind her.”

Emma’s hand moved protectively over her belly.

“What happened?”

“She stopped near an intersection. I pulled behind her. I got out.”

His voice became rougher.

“She locked the doors. I hit the window with my hand. I told her to give me the bag.”

Luca’s jaw tightened.

Rourke stared at the desk in front of him.

“She drove away. I followed. Too close.”

Emma already knew.

She did not want the next sentence.

It came anyway.

“Her car left the road.”

Silence.

No graphic detail.

None was needed.

Emma saw her mother’s funeral instead.

The closed casket.

The rain.

The neighbor holding her hand because there had been nobody else.

“You caused it.”

“Yes.”

“Did you call for help?”

Rourke’s eyes filled.

“Yes. Anonymous call. Then I ran.”

Emma looked away.

Belini whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Emma turned on her.

“Don’t.”

Belini went silent.

Luca asked, “What happened to Catherine’s bag?”

Rourke swallowed.

“I took it.”

Emma’s eyes snapped back to the screen.

“There was no red file inside. Only a notebook and receipts.”

“Where did they go?”

“I gave them to Alessandro.”

“And the payment?” Dante asked.

“Two hundred thousand through Orion.”

The forged Belini authorization.

Luca leaned closer.

“Why use her name?”

Rourke gave a bitter laugh.

“Alessandro said every family needs a spare person to blame.”

Belini’s face went white.

Emma understood then.

Her father had not merely controlled her.

He had built an escape route through her identity.

Rourke continued.

“I kept one thing.”

Dante’s attention sharpened.

“What?”

“A voicemail Alessandro left me that night.”

“Why keep it?”

“Insurance.”

“Do you still have it?”

“Yes.”

Emma’s heart started pounding again.

Rourke looked directly into the camera.

“But before I give it to anyone, I want protection.”

Luca’s expression barely changed.

“You’ll speak to prosecutors.”

“I already agreed.”

“Then give them everything.”

Rourke nodded.

The interview ended twenty minutes later.

Emma remained seated after the screen went dark.

Belini stood slowly.

“I should go.”

Emma looked at her.

“Where?”

Belini almost smiled.

“That is the first question anyone has asked me in years that I don’t know how to answer.”

Luca entered from the hall.

“Your father is looking for you.”

Belini’s face hardened.

“He can keep looking.”

“He knows Rourke talked.”

“How?”

Dante answered from behind him.

“Because someone accessed the Valenti emergency legal account thirty minutes after the interview began.”

Belini looked genuinely frightened.

Emma saw it.

Luca did too.

Then Dante’s phone rang.

He answered.

Listened.

And looked at Luca.

“Rourke just sent the voicemail.”

They played it once.

Alessandro’s voice was clear.

Take the papers. Frighten her if you have to. I don’t care how. Just make sure Catherine Carter stops tomorrow.

Emma closed her eyes.

There it was.

Not an accident anymore.

Not in any way that mattered.

When she opened them, Belini was crying silently.

Then her phone lit up on the table.

One message from her father.

COME HOME. NOW.

Belini stared at it.

Luca said, “Don’t answer.”

She looked at him.

“I wasn’t going to.”

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