Chapter 11 - Natalie Was Not the Person Chloe Needed to Defeat
For the first week Chloe hated:
Natalie.
Understandably.
“She took my place.”
Then Natalie requested through her attorney to provide:
information.
Chloe initially refused any contact.
Good.
She did not owe:
conversation.
Investigators still interviewed Natalie separately.
What emerged was not flattering.
Natalie had knowingly carried on:
an affair with a married man.
She accepted too easily Marcus’s claims that the marriage was functionally over.
She enjoyed being described as:
the woman who understood him.
But she did not know Marcus had:
taken Chloe’s phone,
wallet,
coat,
or driven her to a bus terminal.
She did not know he intended to move her into the house that night until:
the suitcase appeared.
She also did not know the house’s equity came substantially from:
Chloe’s inheritance.
Marcus told her:
“I paid for that place.”
Natalie eventually provided:
texts.
Not magical proof of assault.
Context.
Marcus had written:
Once Chloe finally leaves, we won’t have to hide anymore.
Natalie:
Is she actually moving?
Marcus:
She will.
Another:
She keeps acting like the house is hers because her dad helped with the down payment.
The lie was subtle.
Peter had not:
helped.
Chloe had inherited his money.
Marcus converted:
her separate contribution
into:
a gift from Daddy
because that made it easier to dismiss.
Natalie ended her relationship with him the morning of the terminal.
Not because:
she became a hero.
Because she saw something she could no longer reinterpret.
She later apologized to Chloe in writing.
Chloe never replied.
Eventually she said:
“I don’t hate Natalie anymore.”
I asked:
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want her taking up free space in my head.”
May you like
Good reason.
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