Chapter 8 - THE HALF-SISTER’S STORY
Natalie agreed to a recorded civil interview before police completed theirs.
Rachel advised me not to attend.
I did anyway.
Not in the room.
Behind glass with her consent and counsel present.
Natalie wore a navy suit instead of white.
Without the wedding dress, she looked smaller.
Still dangerous.
Her attorney began by establishing that Natalie and Caroline shared a father.
Natalie described discovering the truth at sixteen.
Thomas Monroe sent money but refused to put his name on her birth certificate until a private acknowledgment years later. By then Caroline already had the life Natalie wanted.
Family photographs.
Vacations.
Bellmere.
A father who appeared publicly.
“I hated her before I met her,” Natalie said.
Then she surprised me.
“And then I loved her.”
The college-era photographs made sense.
Caroline had invited Natalie into her life after learning the truth.
For several years they were genuinely close.
Caroline even helped Natalie finish graduate school.
Then Thomas died.
His will made the old wound financial.
“He gave me three hundred thousand dollars,” Natalie said bitterly. “Caroline got everything that proved he was her father.”
Rachel asked, “Including Bellmere?”
Natalie laughed.
“Bellmere wasn’t even his. It belonged to Caroline’s mother’s family. I knew that.”
Another payoff.
She knew her legal claim was weak.
“So why pursue it?”
“Because Thomas had promised me he would make things right through other family assets. Caroline had correspondence.”
“Did she?”
“Yes.”
“Did those letters give you legal rights?”
Natalie’s jaw tightened.
“No.”
“Then what did you want?”
“The truth acknowledged.”
That answer sounded almost sympathetic.
Until Rachel asked why she lied to me about knowing Caroline.
Natalie’s gaze shifted toward the glass.
She knew I was there.
“Because Ethan would never have looked at me twice if he knew who I was.”
The sentence hurt because it was probably true.
“How did you meet him?”
“At a bereavement foundation event.”
“By coincidence?”
Pause.
“No.”
There.
The first admission.
Natalie had known I would attend.
She had seen my name on the donor list.
She positioned herself beside a mutual acquaintance and let the introduction happen naturally.
Not an accidental romance.
An entry.
“Why?” Rachel asked.
Natalie’s eyes shone.
“I wanted to know what Caroline had told him.”
“And then?”
“I liked him.”
“You expected us to believe you pursued your dead half-sister’s husband to ask questions and accidentally fell in love?”
“I don’t care what you believe.”
“What were you looking for?”
Natalie’s answer came softer.
“A letter.”
My attention sharpened.
“What letter?” Rachel asked.
“From Thomas.”
“To whom?”
“Caroline.”
Natalie believed Thomas had written Caroline shortly before his death admitting he had promised to create a separate trust for Natalie.
Caroline said she could never find it.
Natalie thought she lied.
“And you believed Ethan possessed it?”
“I thought Caroline might have left it among her personal files.”
There it was.
A direct motive for entering my life.
Not yet Sophie’s trust.
Information.
Access.
She had searched for a letter.
Maybe the music box too.
Then Rachel asked about Caroline’s crash.
Natalie’s entire body changed.
“No.”
“You haven’t heard the question.”
“I know what you’re going to ask.”
“Were you at Bellmere?”
“No.”
“Did you follow Caroline?”
“No.”
“Did you see her that day?”
“No.”
Three answers.
Three hard denials.
By the end of the interview we had resolved another major question.
Natalie did not meet me by chance.
She entered my life intentionally because she believed Caroline left behind evidence connected to their father.
Love may have developed later.
But deception came first.
May you like
And that meant the woman I almost married had built our entire relationship on access.
📖 Natalie finally admitted she deliberately entered my life searching for Thomas Monroe’s missing letter, but her absolute denial about Bellmere now stood against Caroline’s final recorded words. 👇
