Chapter 5 - Natalie Had Never Reported Bianca to Police
That surprised me.
The old business records showed missing money.
Altered invoices.
Vendor accounts redirected through a shell company.
But there had never been criminal charges.
Natalie chose a private settlement.
Bianca repaid only a portion.
In exchange, the remaining partners agreed not to pursue prosecution if she relinquished her ownership and signed an acknowledgment of financial misconduct.
Why would Natalie agree?
Caroline gave me the answer.
“Bianca’s mother was dying.”
At twenty-four, Bianca had been supporting her mother through late-stage cancer.
Some of the stolen money paid medical and housing expenses.
Not all.
There were designer purchases too.
Travel.
Personal debt.
But Natalie had seen enough desperation to choose mercy.
“She regretted it later,” Caroline said.
“Why?”
“Because Bianca started telling people Natalie invented the whole thing.”
Without a criminal case, Bianca could rewrite the past.
She claimed the business failed because Natalie was controlling.
She claimed she left voluntarily.
Eventually the original settlement paperwork disappeared from the company’s accessible files.
Natalie kept copies somewhere.
Caroline did not know where.
That immediately gave the pendant new importance.
If Bianca believed something linked to Natalie’s old evidence still existed, she had not attacked Lila merely because the toddler discovered proof of an embarrassing friendship.
She was afraid the pendant pointed toward something else.
May you like
Something she believed could still expose her.
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