Chapter 10 - WHY NATALIE STAYED ON THE LINE
Natalie did not deny the affair.
She did not ask Claire for forgiveness.
She began with the part that mattered.
Grant had called her from the garage before confronting Claire.
He said he needed Natalie to remain on the line while Claire signed the collateral agreement.
Why?
Because Grant wanted Natalie to hear Claire say she was agreeing voluntarily.
Natalie had prepared the final document package as Westbridge’s controller. She had already told Grant she would not process anything unless Claire consented directly.
Grant promised she would.
So he called.
At first, Natalie heard Grant ask Claire to sign.
Claire refused.
Then Evelyn arrived.
The conversation changed.
Natalie muted herself but did not disconnect.
She heard threats.
She heard Claire ask to leave.
She heard Grant mention what he would receive if Claire died.
Natalie realized the “death scenarios” she modeled weeks earlier were not abstract financial planning to Grant.
She opened a recording function on her second phone and captured part of what came through the live call.
But she was not the person who brought police.
The neighbor had already called 911 after hearing shouting and seeing Claire fall near the open garage.
Natalie’s recording therefore did not create the case.
It corroborated it.
Then came the larger twist.
Natalie had tried to leave Grant two weeks earlier.
The affair had begun because Grant told her he and Claire were already separating.
When Natalie learned Claire was pregnant and the marriage was intact, she ended it.
Grant refused to accept that.
He threatened to blame Westbridge’s financial problems on her.
The call Claire assumed was proof of an ongoing romance had actually been Grant’s attempt to force Natalie back into his control as a witness.
Natalie had helped him hide financial instability.
She had slept with him.
She had prepared the spreadsheet.
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But by the night of the garage attack, she was no longer helping him.
She was afraid of him too.
