Chapter 4 - The Night Catherine Fought Back
The first hearing took place 3 days later.
Catherine walked into the courthouse alone.
Luca wanted to send security.
She refused.
“I won't let him turn me into someone who can't walk into a building by herself.”
Luca understood.
He waited outside.
Daniel handled the legal arguments.
The prosecutor presented documents.
Bank records.
Signatures.
Transfers.
Everything seemed designed to bury Catherine beneath numbers.
Then Daniel stood.
“We have a problem.”
He placed a document on the screen.
“The signature is not my client’s.”
An expert confirmed it.
Then another.
The so-called authorization had been created digitally.
The court ordered an investigation.
Jason's attorney demanded a delay.
The judge granted it.
Outside, reporters surrounded Catherine.
“Did your husband abandon you?”
“Are you dating Luca DeLuca?”
“Did you steal company money?”
Catherine kept walking.
A reporter stepped directly in front of her.
“Mrs. Bennett, do you have anything to say?”
Catherine stopped.
She looked straight into the cameras.
“Yes.”
The crowd quieted.
“My marriage is ending.”
She paused.
“But my life is not.”
Then she walked away.
The clip went viral.
For the first time, the public narrative shifted.
Catherine wasn't a helpless wife.
She was a woman fighting for herself.
That evening, someone entered Luca’s townhouse.
Not through the main door.
Not through the windows.
Through an old service tunnel beneath the building.
Luca discovered it at 2:00 a.m.
He woke Catherine.
“Get dressed.”
“What happened?”
“Someone breached the property.”
She immediately became alert.
“How many?”
“Unknown.”
He handed her a small flashlight.
“Stay behind me.”
Catherine looked at him.
“No.”
He stared.
“I won't stay behind anyone.”
The sentence caught him off guard.
He almost smiled.
“Fine.”
They moved through the hallway.
A shadow appeared.
Catherine stepped sideways.
The attacker lunged.
She blocked his wrist.
Elbow.
Shoulder.
Trip.
The man hit the floor.
Luca stared.
“You really are the woman from that report.”
Catherine breathed heavily.
“I told you I wasn't helpless.”
Another attacker appeared.
Luca handled him.
Security arrived seconds later.
The first attacker had a message.
A photograph.
Catherine’s childhood home.
On the back:
YOU ARE NEXT.
Luca's jaw hardened.
Catherine looked at it.
“Who is Helena Russo?”
“A rival.”
“What does she want?”
“Control.”
“Of what?”
“Everything.”
“Why use Jason?”
“Because he had access to you.”
Catherine frowned.
“He married me for my money.”
“He married you because your mother left you something.”
“What?”
“Not money.”
Luca opened an old file.
Inside was a legal document.
A trust.
Catherine Bennett had inherited a dormant company from her grandmother.
It had been quietly receiving royalties for decades.
The annual income was substantial.
But there was more.
The company owned land.
Waterfront land.
Land Jason had been trying to sell.
Catherine stared.
“He couldn't access it because I refused to transfer the trust.”
“Exactly.”
“What is on the land?”
“Nothing.”
She looked at him.
“Then why does everyone care?”
“Because someone thinks there is something beneath it.”
The next morning, Catherine visited the property.
It was an old industrial warehouse near Brooklyn.
The trust documents described nothing unusual.
Then Luca found an underground floor.
Behind a sealed wall were old storage containers.
Inside were boxes.
Photographs.
Letters.
Ledgers.
Her mother’s handwriting.
Catherine opened the first letter.
Catherine,
If you are reading this, I failed to tell you the truth.
Your father was not the man you believed he was.
Catherine stared.
Her father had disappeared when she was young.
Everyone told her he had left.
The letter said otherwise.
He had been killed.
By someone inside Charles Bennett’s network.
Another letter revealed the worst secret.
Jason's father had been involved.
Catherine sat down.
“My husband’s father killed my father.”
Luca nodded.
“And your mother knew.”
“So Jason knows?”
“He may not.”
Catherine looked at him.
“Or he does.”
Inside another box, she found a ledger with several names.
One was Helena Russo.
Another was Charles Bennett.
Another was a name Catherine did not recognize.
Luca did.
“Your attorney.”
Daniel Brooks.
Catherine stared.
“No.”
Luca shook his head.
“I'm not saying he's guilty.”
“He helped me.”
“He also had access to every document.”
Catherine's stomach turned.
Daniel called at that exact moment.
She answered.
“Catherine, we have a problem.”
“What kind?”
“Jason filed an emergency motion.”
“About?”
“He says you stole confidential company property.”
Catherine looked at the boxes.
“How did he know?”
Daniel did not answer.
Luca looked at her.
She ended the call.
“I don't know who to trust.”
Luca stepped closer.
“You can trust yourself.”
“What if I'm wrong?”
“Then we investigate.”
“What if everyone betrays me?”
“I won't.”
She looked at him.
“You can't promise that.”
“I just did.”
Silence fell.
Catherine's eyes softened.
Then Luca kissed her.
It was not possessive.
It was careful.
Almost asking.
When they separated, Catherine rested her forehead against his.
“This is a terrible time to fall in love.”
He smiled.
“I've had worse timing.”
She laughed.
Then her phone vibrated.
A text from an unknown number.
Your husband knows where the final ledger is.
May you like
Catherine looked toward the boxes.
One was missing.
