Chapter 7 - BEFORE WE WERE MARRIED
I went back through old calendars.
Charity dinners.
Hospital fundraisers.
Family cookouts.
Photographs.
Camille appeared around the edges of our lives for nearly four years.
Never close enough that I considered her Natalie’s friend.
Close enough to observe us.
Natalie died in March.
Camille brought food to our house in April.
She helped Rebecca organize Mia’s first birthday in November.
We started dating the following January.
By summer, she had moved in.
At the time, everyone said I deserved happiness.
Maybe I did.
That did not mean I had chosen carefully.
Natalie’s phone contained old messages because I had never deleted her account.
I searched Camille.
Twenty-three results.
Most were group messages about events.
One private conversation stopped me.
Six months before Natalie died, Camille wrote:
You should really make sure Grant updates beneficiaries if anything ever happens.
Natalie replied:
That’s a cheerful thought.
Camille:
Occupational hazard. I think about planning.
Natalie:
Mia gets everything. Grant knows.
Camille:
Even the settlement from your parents’ estate?
Natalie:
Especially that.
I read the exchange twice.
Camille had known about Mia’s inheritance before the truck accident added millions to it.
That was important.
But it did not prove criminal intent.
I sent copies to Thomas anyway.
Then I returned to Mia’s recordings.
File fifty-eight had been captured beneath the kitchen table.
Camille was speaking to Adrian.
“She kept everything on that phone.”
Adrian asked, “Natalie?”
“Yes.”
“What are you worried about?”
“I’m not worried.”
“You sound worried.”
A chair scraped.
Then Camille’s voice lowered.
“There were messages.”
“What kind?”
“Nothing useful to Grant.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Long pause.
Camille said, “Natalie didn’t trust me.”
My pulse quickened.
Adrian laughed softly.
“She barely knew you.”
“She knew enough.”
The recording ended.
I sat completely still.
All afternoon I had assumed Camille’s interest in Natalie was about money.
Now there was something else.
Conflict.
A history I had never seen.
Rebecca remembered that Natalie became uncomfortable around Camille during her final months.
“How uncomfortable?”
“She once asked me why Camille always seemed to know where you were.”
“What?”
“I thought she was joking.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Natalie told me not to make it a thing.”
My mind went somewhere ugly.
“Was Camille interested in me before Natalie died?”
Rebecca hesitated.
That was enough.
“I don’t know,” she said carefully. “But she watched you.”
The room felt smaller.
Then Thomas called.
He had found Haven Ridge Capital’s initial funding.
The company had received $42,000 six months before Camille and I started dating.
The sender was Camille.
May you like
She had created the financial vehicle before she became part of my family.
📖 Camille’s plan existed before our relationship, but the reason Natalie distrusted her was still hidden in messages Camille had tried to erase. 👇
