Chapter 9 - Natalie Had Been Protecting Isabella Too
The flash drive contained scanned emails between Natalie and Isabella.
They were not friends.
But they had once been allies.
Isabella had discovered irregularities at the clinic involving settlement funds.
A senior administrator had been routing portions of confidential payouts through temporary accounts to conceal how much the clinic was spending to resolve mistakes.
Isabella’s account was used once.
She claimed she had been pressured by her supervisor.
Then she returned the money and resigned.
Natalie helped her preserve evidence.
That explained the photograph.
That explained their connection.
It also explained why Isabella later avoided discussing the clinic.
She had been associated with misconduct she claimed she tried to expose.
But why hide that from William?
Shame.
Fear.
And something more personal.
Natalie had made Isabella promise never to contact William directly.
Why?
The emails gave no explanation.
Then William found one from six months before Natalie’s cancer diagnosis.
NATALIE: You cannot enter his life because of what happened at the clinic. He will think Ethan is the reason.
ISABELLA: Ethan is not the reason.
NATALIE: I know. But William won’t understand the distinction.
What distinction?
We kept reading.
Then an attachment appeared.
A genetic counseling report.
Not about Ethan.
About William.
During fertility treatment, William had been screened for an inherited cardiac condition.
He carried a mutation that could affect future children.
Natalie knew.
William did not.
My stomach dropped.
This wasn't about whether Ethan was his child.
May you like
It was about a medical fact his wife had hidden from him.
And Isabella had apparently helped her hide it.
