Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN IN MY COAT
Natalie requested an interview with investigators three days later.
Not because guilt suddenly awakened.
Because Dominic blamed her first.
During questioning, he claimed Natalie controlled procurement, selected all overseas suppliers, and transferred money without his knowledge.
He described their relationship as a brief affair initiated by an unstable employee.
He denied believing her baby was his.
Natalie learned about the statement from her attorney.
Within hours, she offered access to her devices.
Her cooperation did not make her innocent.
It made the evidence more complete.
She admitted the affair began fourteen months earlier.
Dominic promised to leave me after Hartwell completed its largest contract cycle.
When I became pregnant, Natalie believed he would stay.
Then she became pregnant too.
Dominic told her the twins were “a medical disaster” that would keep me dependent and distract investigators.
He prepared the divorce papers while I was unconscious after delivery.
Natalie typed portions of the agreement.
“Why wear Audrey’s coat?” investigators asked.
Natalie looked down.
“Dominic brought it to my apartment.”
“When?”
“The night the twins were born.”
“What did he say?”
“That Audrey wouldn’t need maternity clothes anymore.”
“Did you understand it had been taken without permission?”
“Yes.”
“Why wear it to the hospital?”
Her face tightened.
“I wanted her to understand he had chosen me.”
Cruelty became clearer when no one renamed it insecurity.
She wanted a critically ill woman to see her replacement wearing clothing embroidered for premature babies.
Natalie also admitted receiving money from the joint accounts.
Dominic told her it was his share of marital property.
She knew the divorce had not been filed.
She accepted the transfers anyway.
The investigators asked about the medical-supply fraud.
At first, she minimized.
Hartwell used alternate manufacturers during a shortage.
Documents arrived incomplete.
Serial duplication might have been a factory mistake.
Then they showed her an email.
NATALIE: These certificates do not match the shipment.
DOMINIC: Change the lot numbers. Hospitals check paperwork, not boxes.
NATALIE: Audrey used to review this.
DOMINIC: Audrey is gone from compliance. Keep her pregnant and uninvolved.
Another message appeared six months later.
NATALIE: The Aurelia audit team requested source records.
DOMINIC: We’ll handle Audrey before they reach us.
Natalie lowered her eyes.
“What did ‘handle Audrey’ mean?” the investigator asked.
“Make her sign away the company.”
“Anything else?”
“Dominic said if she became unstable after the birth, nobody would trust what she claimed about the early compliance work.”
“Did you agree?”
“I didn’t object.”
“Did you help draft the custody threat?”
“Yes.”
The truth did not need her to become sympathetic.
It needed her to stop removing herself from the verbs.
She typed.
Transferred.
Altered.
Wore.
Watched.
Smirked.
Natalie’s cooperation revealed where the money had gone.
Dominic planned to move funds through a medical-distribution company in Costa Rica, then claim Hartwell had collapsed because I withdrew support during our divorce.
Two one-way tickets had been purchased for the following month.
One in Dominic’s name.
One in Natalie’s.
No ticket existed for Natalie’s future child.
When investigators asked why, she stared at the screen.
“He said we would add the baby later.”
The absence of a ticket was not proof he planned to abandon her.
His private messages were.
Dominic had written to an associate:
Natalie can take the fall on procurement. Once the funds clear, I travel alone.
Natalie read the message in silence.
For the first time, she experienced the structure she had helped impose on me.
Dominic did not build partners.
He built temporary shields.
She gave prosecutors the passwords to offshore accounts, supplier records, altered certificates, and a storage unit containing original invoices.
Her agreement reduced potential sentencing exposure but required full restitution and truthful testimony.
The divorce case remained separate.
Natalie had no claim to my marriage, apartment, coat, or children.
She did have a child who would be born into the consequences of both parents’ choices.
I refused to celebrate that.
A baby was not punishment.
The maternity coat was returned after investigators photographed it.
It arrived sealed inside a clear property bag.
I could not wear it.
The perfume remained in the fibers despite cleaning.
Inside the collar, Liam’s and Chloe’s initials were untouched.
Grandfather asked whether I wanted it destroyed.
“No.”
I sent it to the seamstress who had made it.
She removed the embroidered lining and divided it into two small cloth panels.
One went inside Liam’s keepsake box.
One inside Chloe’s.
The remaining cashmere was donated to a winter shelter after professional cleaning.
Natalie had worn the coat to declare that my place had been taken.
She was wrong.
May you like
Clothing could be stolen.
A position inside my children’s lives had to be earned.
