Chapter 6 - The Woman on the Screen
Summit Ridge produced the remote-notary video under its internal fraud review.
Rachel insisted Elena watch it in her office.
“You can stop whenever you want.”
Elena nodded.
The video began.
A woman sat in a dim room wearing glasses and a knitted hat.
Only part of her face was visible.
The notary appeared in another window.
“Please state your full name.”
The woman answered:
“Elena Marie Hale.”
Elena’s stomach turned.
The voice was not hers.
But the rhythm was close.
The woman held an identification card toward the camera.
The image quality was poor.
The notary asked several knowledge-based verification questions.
Old address.
Birth month.
Mortgage lender.
All information Victor knew.
Then came the signature.
The woman signed electronically.
Elena leaned closer.
“Pause.”
Rachel stopped the video.
Elena stared at the woman’s hand.
A small tattoo showed beneath the sleeve.
Three black dots.
Elena knew it.
“Who is she?” Rachel asked.
Elena’s mouth went dry.
“Victor’s office manager.”
Her name was Natalie Crane.
Thirty-four.
She had worked for Hale Alpine Renovations for four years.
Elena had invited her to Sophie’s sixth birthday.
Rachel resumed the video.
Natalie said:
“Yes, I understand the property will secure the loan.”
Elena stopped it herself.
“That’s enough.”
Rachel closed the laptop.
For several seconds Elena could not speak.
Then:
“Did she use my ID?”
“Likely a copy or altered version.”
“Victor had scans.”
“For taxes or applications?”
“Yes.”
Rachel nodded.
“We’ll document that.”
Elena stood and walked toward the window.
Denver traffic moved beneath them.
“Why would Natalie do this?”
“We don’t know.”
“Money?”
“Possibly.”
“Relationship?”
Rachel looked at her.
“Possibly.”
Elena hated that possibility.
Not because infidelity would be worse than violence.
Because there were already too many secrets.
“I’m not guessing.”
“Good.”
Elena turned back.
“What happens now?”
“The lender has stronger reason to treat the transaction as fraud. Law enforcement will likely become involved separately.”
“Victor?”
“That isn’t my decision.”
Elena nodded.
She was becoming accustomed to adults saying that.
It was strangely reassuring.
No single attorney controlled everything.
No father.
No husband.
No one person could simply declare the outcome.
That evening Elena told Frank about Natalie.
He looked stunned.
“I met her.”
“So did I.”
“She came to Sophie’s birthday.”
“I know.”
Frank’s anger rose.
Then he stopped himself.
“Sorry.”
“For what?”
“I keep wanting to fix this by getting angry enough.”
Elena looked at him.
“Victor did that.”
Frank flinched.
“I know.”
The honesty softened her.
The next morning Natalie contacted Rachel.
Not Victor.
Not police.
Rachel.
She wanted immunity before speaking.
Rachel explained she could not give that.
Still, Natalie agreed to meet with her own lawyer present.
The meeting happened two days later.
Elena did not attend.
She wanted to.
Rachel advised against it.
Instead, Elena waited at a coffee shop with Mara.
Finally Rachel called.
“Natalie admits she impersonated you.”
Elena shut her eyes.
“Why?”
“She says Victor told her it was temporary.”
“Temporary fraud?”
“He claimed the lender needed a technical consent video, that you had already agreed to the loan, and that you were unavailable.”
“She believed that?”
“Initially, according to her.”
“And afterward?”
Rachel paused.
“Natalie says she learned later that you knew nothing about it.”
“What did she do?”
“Nothing.”
Elena looked out at the snow piled beside the sidewalk.
Another person who knew.
Another person who chose silence because speaking had a price.
“Was she sleeping with him?”
Rachel hesitated.
“She says no.”
Elena felt unexpected relief.
Then shame for feeling it.
Rachel continued.
“She was receiving extra cash payments.”
“So money.”
“Partly.”
“What does partly mean?”
“Natalie says Victor had threatened to blame her for bookkeeping irregularities if she refused to help.”
Elena leaned back.
Of course.
Victor’s control did not begin and end at home.
“Is she giving documents?”
“Yes.”
“What kind?”
“Company records.”
Elena’s pulse increased.
Rachel’s next words changed the shape of the entire financial story.
“Natalie says Victor’s business wasn’t merely struggling.”
“What was it?”
“He had been using new project deposits to cover losses from older projects.”
Elena understood enough to know how dangerous that could become.
“He was moving money forward.”
“Yes.”
“And when that stopped working?”
“He borrowed.”
“Using my house.”
“Yes.”
“And my father’s company name.”
“Yes.”
Elena rubbed her forehead.
Rachel continued.
“There’s something else. Victor kept a private spreadsheet.”
“What spreadsheet?”
“People he believed could expose him.”
Elena almost laughed from disbelief.
“Who was on it?”
“Suppliers. Two former employees. Natalie.”
A pause.
“And you.”
Elena became still.
“What did it say next to my name?”
Rachel answered quietly.
“**Control communication. Limit access to Frank.**”
Elena stared at the falling snow.
For months she had wondered whether she was exaggerating Victor’s isolation.
Now she knew he had written it down as a strategy.
And suddenly leaving him no longer felt like a decision made during one terrible night.
May you like
It felt like escaping a system he had been building around her long before she understood she was inside it.
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