Chapter 6 - NATALIE
Natalie Ames was thirty-two.
A branding consultant.
She had met Dominic fourteen months earlier.
He told her our marriage existed only on paper.
He told her I lived separately.
He told her we were delaying divorce because of finances.
Then he told her he loved her.
“How far along are you?” I asked.
“Thirty-one weeks.”
Dad looked away.
Rebecca remained expressionless.
I felt strangely calm.
Maybe there are limits to shock.
After the first few betrayals, your mind starts stacking them instead of reacting.
“Is the baby his?”
Natalie swallowed.
“I believed so.”
“Believed?”
She opened her handbag.
“Three weeks ago, I found out he’d been seeing someone else too.”
I almost laughed.
Of course.
“He told me your baby wasn’t planned,” she continued. “He said you got pregnant to stop the divorce.”
Leo made a tiny sound from his bassinet.
Natalie’s face crumpled.
“I didn’t know.”
I believed her.
Not because I wanted to.
Because I knew Dominic’s voice.
The slight lowering.
The concerned expression.
The way he turned lies into favors.
“What is Northstar Advisory?” Rebecca asked.
Natalie froze.
“That’s my company.”
Martin leaned forward.
“What services did you provide Vale Strategic Holdings?”
“Brand strategy. Investor materials. Communications.”
“Two hundred twelve thousand dollars’ worth?”
Natalie’s face went pale.
“No.”
“How much?”
“Maybe sixty.”
Martin and Rebecca exchanged a look.
Natalie stared between them.
“What?”
“Did Dominic control your company accounts?”
“He had access because we were planning—”
She stopped.
“Planning what?” I asked.
Her eyes met mine.
“A new company together.”
There it was.
The transfer.
“What was he transferring?”
Natalie slowly reached into her bag.
“He asked me to sign preliminary paperwork last month.”
She handed Rebecca a folder.
A holding company.
Northstar Vale Group.
Dominic intended to move selected assets from his failing company into the new entity.
Including intellectual property.
Client contracts.
Equipment.
Investor commitments.
And, somehow, money derived from my inheritance.
“He said the money was his,” Natalie whispered.
Rebecca flipped pages.
“When was this supposed to close?”
“After the baby.”
My hand tightened around the armrest.
“Which baby?”
Natalie stared at me.
Then both of us understood.
He had been waiting for Leo to be born because he assumed I would be exhausted.
Distracted.
Dependent.
Easier to pressure into signing things.
Rebecca looked at the loan documents.
“Did you ever see Audrey sign anything?”
“No.”
“Did Dominic ever ask you to witness signatures?”
Natalie’s face changed.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“One document.”
She looked at me.
“He brought it to my apartment.”
My heart started pounding.
“What did it say?”
“I didn’t read everything. He showed me the signature page and said you had already signed.”
“Did you witness it?”
Natalie whispered, “Yes.”
Dad swore under his breath.
Rebecca remained frighteningly calm.
“That matters.”
Natalie began crying.
“I thought you signed it.”
“I believe you.”
She looked up sharply.
“You do?”
“I know how convincing he is.”
My phone rang.
Dominic.
Then Natalie’s phone rang.
Dominic.
We looked at each other.
Both screens lit up with his name.
Rebecca’s eyes narrowed.
“He knows she’s here.”
“How?”
Then Dad’s security chief appeared in the doorway.
“Sir, we found a tracking device.”
My stomach dropped.
“Where?”
He looked directly at Natalie.
“Under Ms. Ames’s car.”
Natalie went white.
And for the first time that night, I understood something worse than infidelity.
Dominic wasn’t just lying to both of us.
May you like
He was watching one of us.
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