Chapter 4 - THE BABYSITTER WHO WANTED TO TAKE IT BACK
Sandra looked terrified.
She sat in the hotel conference room with both hands wrapped around untouched coffee.
Natalie remained across from her.
Melissa sat beside Natalie.
A security officer waited outside.
Lily stayed upstairs with Melissa’s assistant.
Natalie had no intention of letting another adult speak near her daughter without control.
Sandra began:
“I’m sorry.”
Natalie said nothing.
“I didn’t know it would go this far.”
Still nothing.
Sandra’s eyes filled.
“Please say something.”
Natalie finally spoke.
“You signed a statement saying I neglected Lily.”
Sandra looked down.
“Yes.”
“You knew it was false.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“They paid me.”
The honesty hurt.
“How much?”
“Five thousand.”
Natalie stared.
“For a lie about a child?”
Sandra started crying.
“I needed money.”
“Everybody needs money.”
“I know.”
“No, Sandra. You apparently don’t.”
Natalie leaned forward.
“You don’t get to turn my daughter into evidence because rent was difficult.”
Sandra covered her face.
“I’m sorry.”
Melissa intervened.
“Who paid you?”
“Madison.”
Expected.
“Cash?”
“Half cash. Half transfer.”
“From what account?”
“I don’t know.”
“Show us.”
Sandra did.
The transfer came from Holloway Residential Care LLC.
Natalie almost laughed.
The planned business had already been paying witnesses.
“Who told you what to say?”
“Patricia.”
“Not Derek?”
Sandra hesitated.
Natalie noticed.
“Tell the truth.”
“Derek was there.”
There it was.
“He said they needed proof you were becoming unstable.”
“Why?”
“He said you refused to admit you were overwhelmed.”
Natalie’s hands stayed flat on the table.
“What else did they ask you to do?”
Sandra’s eyes moved toward Melissa.
“Can I get in trouble?”
Melissa answered:
“Yes.”
Sandra started shaking.
“But cooperating matters.”
That was enough.
“They asked me to say you forgot Lily at school.”
Natalie’s pulse jumped.
“That never happened.”
“I know.”
“Anything else?”
“That you once left medication where Lily could reach it.”
False.
“That you drank when you came home late.”
False.
“And that you told me you wished you never had a child.”
Natalie felt rage so clean it almost calmed her.
Sandra sobbed.
“I never submitted that part.”
“Why not?”
“Because I couldn’t.”
Natalie stared.
“So there was a line even you wouldn’t cross.”
Sandra looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
Melissa asked:
“Why are you here now?”
Sandra wiped her face.
“Because they asked me to do something yesterday.”
“What?”
“To come back.”
Natalie frowned.
“To the house?”
“Yes.”
“As Lily’s caregiver.”
Natalie stopped breathing.
“Why?”
Sandra looked at her.
“Because they said you were going away.”
The conference room went silent.
Natalie heard the air-conditioning vent hum.
Nothing else.
“What exactly did they say?”
“Patricia said you’d be out of the house soon.”
“How?”
“I asked.”
Sandra’s voice dropped.
“She said the court would handle it.”
Melissa and Natalie exchanged a look.
Conservatorship.
Custody.
Asset control.
They planned to remove Natalie legally.
Sandra continued.
“She said Lily would need someone familiar.”
Natalie’s stomach turned.
“Did Derek agree?”
“Yes.”
“Did he say where I would go?”
Sandra hesitated.
Then whispered:
“A facility.”
Natalie stared.
“What facility?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“Something with Valley in the name.”
Melissa started searching.
There were several.
Then Sandra remembered.
“Silver Valley.”
Natalie’s blood went cold.
Silver Valley Behavioral Wellness Center.
Private inpatient psychiatric facility outside Riverside.
She knew it because Hawthorne Biotech—her employer—had once contracted with its parent company for employee health services.
“Why would they put me there?”
Sandra whispered:
“They said you were having a breakdown.”
Natalie laughed once.
Hard.
Empty.
She had worked sixty-hour weeks while Derek used her money.
She had investigated fraud quietly.
She had protected Lily.
And now her composure itself could be repackaged as hidden instability.
Melissa asked:
“Did they discuss how they would get her admitted?”
Sandra shook her head.
“No.”
“Any doctor?”
“No.”
“Medication?”
Sandra froze.
Natalie saw it instantly.
“What?”
Sandra’s face collapsed.
“Patricia asked if you still drank chamomile tea before bed.”
Natalie’s heartbeat slowed.
She did.
Almost every night.
“Why would she ask that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did it scare you?”
Sandra’s voice became barely audible.
“Because Madison said, ‘If she sleeps through the episode, none of this works.’”
The room went silent.
Melissa immediately stood.
“We’re calling police.”
Natalie didn’t move.
“What episode?”
Sandra shook her head.
“I swear I don’t know.”
Natalie thought about the last six months.
Three times, she had woken unusually groggy.
Once, she found a broken glass in the kitchen and Derek insisted she must have dropped it.
Another time, Patricia claimed Natalie shouted at Lily late at night.
Lily denied it.
A third time, Derek recorded Natalie stumbling in the hallway.
He laughed and told her she was “working herself into the ground.”
She had not been drinking.
Had they already tested something?
Natalie whispered:
“They drugged me.”
Sandra started crying harder.
“I don’t know.”
Melissa was already calling authorities.
Natalie looked at Sandra.
“One more question.”
Sandra nodded.
“Who told Patricia this would work?”
Sandra stared at the table.
“Calvin.”
Attorney Calvin Price.
The conservatorship lawyer.
Then Sandra added:
“But Calvin said he got the idea from Derek’s doctor.”
Natalie froze.
“Derek’s doctor?”
Sandra shook her head.
“No.”
May you like
She corrected herself.
“Your doctor.”
