Chapter 11 - NATALIE'S AGREEMENT
Claire finally understood why Mark had panicked at the photograph.
Natalie Greene had not simply been a former vendor employee.
She had been paid $250,000 to remain silent about the father of her child.
The obvious conclusion was Mark.
Claire refused to make it without proof.
She asked Priya to contact Natalie through counsel.
Natalie agreed to speak.
The video call happened the following afternoon.
Natalie looked exhausted.
Older than in the photograph.
A toddler’s toys were visible behind her.
“I’m sorry,” Natalie said immediately.
Claire remained calm.
“For what?”
“For letting your family turn me into part of this.”
“Is Mark your child’s father?”
Natalie looked directly at the camera.
“No.”
Claire blinked.
The answer stunned her.
“Then why did Lorraine pay you?”
“Because she thought Mark was the father.”
Claire frowned.
“But he wasn’t?”
“No.”
“Did Mark believe he was?”
“For about two weeks.”
Natalie explained.
She and Mark had kissed once during a work trip.
Nothing more.
Claire felt the betrayal, but it was almost minor compared with everything else.
Natalie had been secretly seeing someone else.
When she became pregnant, Lorraine discovered the situation and assumed the baby was Mark’s.
She panicked.
She paid Natalie to stay silent.
“Who is the father?”
Natalie hesitated.
“Gregory Pike.”
Claire stared at her.
Gregory.
Lorraine’s former husband.
Rachel’s father.
The man approving fraudulent loans.
Natalie nodded.
“He told me he was divorced and unattached.”
Claire almost laughed from disbelief.
“How old is Gregory?”
“Sixty-eight.”
“And you?”
“Thirty-two.”
Natalie looked ashamed.
“I know how it looks.”
Claire shook her head.
“That isn’t my business.”
“What happened after Lorraine found out?”
“She threatened me.”
“With what?”
“My career. Lawsuits. Anything she could invent.”
“So you took the money.”
“I was pregnant and scared.”
Claire understood fear.
She did not excuse deception, but she understood it.
“Why tell the truth now?”
Natalie looked toward the toys behind her.
“Because Lorraine stopped paying the mortgage she promised to cover.”
The San Diego condominium.
Suddenly Claire understood.
It had not been bought for Lorraine’s retirement.
It had been part of Natalie’s settlement.
Lorraine had later taken control of it.
Natalie handed over messages, contracts, and recordings.
One recording mattered more than all the others.
Lorraine’s voice said clearly:
“If Claire ever discovers where the trust money went, Mark will take the blame.”
Claire replayed it.
Mark had betrayed her.
But Lorraine had always intended to sacrifice her own son if necessary.
Then Natalie revealed the last piece.
“Lorraine isn’t the person who started taking money from you.”
Claire froze.
“Who did?”
Natalie swallowed.
May you like
“Your husband did.”
“And he started two years before Lorraine ever knew about the trust.”
