Chapter 18 - Natalie’s Last Bargain
Sofia met Natalie through thick detention-center glass.
Natalie looked smaller without designer clothes.
No makeup.
No carefully arranged hair.
Just a woman facing decades in prison.
“You saved her,” Natalie said.
“Yes.”
“I knew you would.”
Sofia stared.
“What?”
Natalie leaned closer.
“That’s why Grant chose Glasswater.”
“You’re saying you counted on me saving Emma?”
“No.”
Natalie’s mouth trembled.
“Grant did.”
Sofia felt disgust.
“He said if anything went wrong, you’d jump.”
“How could he know?”
“Laura told him.”
Sofia froze.
“Laura?”
“She once said you were the kind of person who ran toward emergencies.”
Sofia remembered a night when a customer had collapsed at Glasswater.
She had performed CPR until paramedics arrived.
Laura had been present.
Grant had learned about it later.
“So I was insurance.”
“And a scapegoat.”
Sofia’s hands curled.
Natalie whispered, “I hated you before I met you.”
“That sounds like your problem.”
“You had Laura’s trust.”
“I served her dinner.”
“She trusted you more than she trusted me.”
“You were sleeping with her brother-in-law.”
Natalie flinched.
Sofia corrected herself.
“With her husband’s brother.”
Natalie looked away.
“What secret?”
Natalie took a breath.
“Grant never intended to share control with me.”
“That’s not surprising.”
“I found documents.”
“What documents?”
“A draft merger agreement.”
Lakefront Development Partners.
The company that had reserved table six.
Natalie explained.
Grant planned to gain voting control, force through a sale of Hayes Meridian’s most valuable riverfront properties, then move the assets into a private investment structure.
“Who owns Lakefront?”
Sofia asked.
“Charles Wynn and Grant through nominees.”
“So they were selling Hayes Meridian property to themselves.”
“At below-market value.”
“How much below?”
“Almost one hundred million.”
Sofia felt sick.
“And you knew?”
“Not until last month.”
“You still pushed Emma.”
Natalie closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought if Grant controlled the company, I could force him to include me.”
Sofia stared through the glass.
“You almost murdered a six-month-old baby because you were afraid your lover would cheat you out of stolen money.”
Natalie began crying.
Sofia felt nothing.
“Where are the merger documents?”
“In Grant’s condominium.”
“Police searched it.”
“They’re not in the condominium.”
“Then where?”
“Behind the backing of a framed photograph.”
“Which photograph?”
Natalie looked directly at her.
“Laura.”
The irony was almost unbearable.
Police recovered the documents.
They showed Grant and Wynn had planned a $312 million property transfer to Lakefront Development Partners.
An independent valuation later placed the properties near $409 million.
The hidden spread would have created nearly $100 million in value for Grant’s private group.
Charles Wynn was arrested two days later.
He cooperated almost immediately.
The board reversed Michael’s suspension.
Michael refused to return as CEO yet.
Instead, he demanded an independent forensic audit.
“I should have done it years ago,” he told shareholders.
Grant’s defense began collapsing.
The burner-phone recording.
Natalie’s testimony.
Daniel’s cooperation.
Financial transfers.
Laura’s files.
Owen’s video.
Security logs.
Merger documents.
Each piece explained another.
Nothing depended on a miracle.
Only greed.
Fear.
And people who had looked away too long.
When Sofia left the detention center, Michael was waiting outside.
“You didn’t have to come.”
“I know.”
She looked at him.
“Grant planned to steal almost a hundred million through the merger.”
“I heard.”
“And Natalie knew.”
“I heard that too.”
Sofia studied his face.
“What happens now?”
“To them?”
“To you.”
Michael looked toward the Chicago skyline.
“I testify.”
“And the company?”
“I fix what I can.”
“And Emma?”
His expression softened.
“She turns one in five months and twenty-two days.”
Sofia smiled.
“You’re counting.”
“Every hour.”
He looked at her.
“And you?”
Sofia thought of Glasswater.
Her lost job.
Her legal bills.
The river.
“I want my life back.”
May you like
Michael nodded.
Then she added, “But I don’t think I want the old version.”
