Chapter 4 - THE WIDOW THEY TRIED TO BLAMEClaire spent five hours in a police interview room.
Printed emails were placed before her.
They appeared to show Daniel demanding money from Bellini Urban.
Claire stared at them.
"He didn't write these."
"How do you know?"
"Because I knew my husband."
Then she produced Daniel's recording.
The room changed after the detectives watched it.
For the first time, someone outside Claire's circle saw what she had seen.
Daniel had not been extorting Bellini.
He had been documenting corruption.
By the time Claire left the station, reporters were waiting.
Questions exploded.
"Did your husband steal Bellini files?"
"Are you working with Luca Moretti?"
"Why was Arturo Bellini staying in your apartment?"
Claire looked at the cameras.
"My husband died three months ago because safety warnings at his workplace were ignored."
The reporters went silent.
"I did not steal anything."
She took a breath.
"I will cooperate with every lawful investigation until I know why Daniel died."
Luca watched from beside the car.
Later, at Arthur's safe house, another secret surfaced.
Arthur possessed the original Bellini ledger.
Fifty years of names.
Payments.
Judges.
Inspectors.
Politicians.
Criminals.
Arthur admitted he had once helped build that world.
"I told myself disappearing was enough," he said.
Claire looked at him.
"It wasn't."
"No."
"People paid for your silence."
Arthur lowered his head.
"Yes."
Then another photograph appeared.
Daniel.
Alive.
Standing beside Luca three weeks before his death.
Claire turned toward him.
"You knew my husband."
Luca remembered.
Daniel had approached him about corruption.
Luca had dismissed him.
He thought it was a trap.
He had sent Daniel away.
And Daniel died soon afterward.
Claire's voice became quiet.
"You could have helped him."
Luca didn't defend himself.
"Yes."
That honesty hurt more than an excuse.
Then Arthur's phone rang.
His face went pale.
Vincent had Grant.
A video appeared.
Grant was tied to a chair.
Vincent stood behind him.
"Claire Bennett," Vincent said into the camera.
"You want to know who killed your husband?"
His smile was terrifying.
"Come hear it from the man who watched him fall."
Claire understood immediately.
May you like
It wasn't an invitation.
It was bait.
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