Chapter 12 - The Storage Unit Under Her Name
I did not trust Natalie.
That fact stayed simple even when everything else became complicated.
She had slept with my husband.
She had worn my coat into the NICU.
She had helped move money into a company she co-owned with Dominic.
She had signed a declaration calling me unstable.
And now she wanted me to believe she was afraid of him.
Fear did not erase what she had done.
But fear could make guilty people useful.
"Give me the address," I said.
Natalie hesitated.
"Not over the phone."
"Then this conversation is over."
"Wait."
Her voice sharpened.
"Dominic has access to my phone records."
"Why?"
"Northlight pays for the account."
Of course it did.
"Text the address to Mara Ellison."
"Who?"
"My lawyer."
"I don't have her number."
"I will send it."
"Audrey."
"What?"
"Do not send the police first."
I almost laughed.
"You lost the right to set conditions when you helped my husband plan to take my children out of the country."
"I did not know that part."
"Your name was on the flight."
"He told me it was for after the transfer was approved."
"You moved the departure time during the hearing."
Silence.
That fact landed.
"How do you know that?"
"You should assume I know more than you think."
She breathed slowly.
"I thought the judge would approve him."
"Why?"
"Because Peter said the medical note was enough."
There it was.
An admission.
Not complete.
But useful.
"Did you know the note was fake?"
"I knew Peter had not examined you."
My anger sharpened.
"So yes."
"I knew Dominic said you had episodes before."
"I didn't."
"I know that now."
"Stop saying that."
My voice rose for the first time.
"You keep telling me what you know now as if it changes what you chose then."
Natalie went silent.
I forced my voice back down.
"Send the address to Mara."
"I want protection."
"Talk to your own lawyer."
"Dominic froze my accounts."
That surprised me.
"The accounts were his?"
"Some."
"And Northlight?"
"I cannot access it anymore."
"Good."
She inhaled sharply.
"You think I deserve this."
"I think you deserve consequences."
"I am pregnant."
I stared at the blank wall.
"So was I when you started sleeping with my husband."
She stopped crying.
For one second, neither of us spoke.
Then she said the one thing I did not expect.
"I did not start it."
"What does that mean?"
"He did."
"That is not a defense."
"I know."
Her voice was quieter.
"But he found me the same way he found you."
Cold moved down my spine.
"Explain."
"My father represented the liquidation company that handled Rowan Clinical Systems."
"Samuel Price."
"Yes."
"You knew about my father's patents?"
"Not at first."
"When did you learn?"
"Last year."
"You have known for a year and said nothing."
"I was already involved with Dominic by then."
"That makes it worse."
"I know."
I closed my eyes.
Again.
That phrase.
"What does your father have to do with the forged sale?"
Natalie did not answer.
"Natalie."
"He is the reason I need the storage unit opened before Dominic gets there."
"Why?"
"Because my father kept copies."
"Copies of what?"
"Everything."
My pulse accelerated.
"The original Rowan files?"
"Contracts."
"Emails."
"Billing records."
"Patent correspondence."
She swallowed audibly.
"And one recording."
"Of whom?"
"Dominic."
I gripped the phone tighter.
"Saying what?"
"I have never heard all of it."
"Then how do you know it matters?"
"Because my father told me it was the only reason Dominic had not cut him out years ago."
The story widened again.
Samuel Price was not merely a retired lawyer connected to Natalie.
He had leverage.
"Where is your father now?"
Silence.
"Natalie?"
"Dead."
I froze.
"When?"
"Eight months ago."
"Dominic told me your father lived overseas."
"He lied."
"How did he die?"
"Stroke."
She answered quickly.
Too quickly.
"Was there an autopsy?"
"No."
I did not accuse Dominic of anything.
There was no basis.
But the pause between us became heavy.
"Send the address," I repeated.
"Audrey, promise me the files will not disappear into your grandfather's office."
That irritated me for a different reason.
"My grandfather has lied to me too."
Natalie went quiet.
"What?"
"You do not know as much about my family as Dominic thinks you do."
"Then who do I trust?"
"Your attorney."
"I don't have one."
"Get one."
"With what money?"
"Sell my coat."
The cruelty of the line surprised even me.
Natalie whispered.
"I gave it back."
"That was the minimum."
I ended the call.
Then I texted Mara.
She returned to the conference room two minutes later with Everett behind her.
I told them everything.
Mara did not like the idea of sending Jonah to another location without law enforcement coordination.
Everett did not like the idea of trusting Natalie at all.
I agreed with both objections.
We sent Jonah anyway.
This time he went with two detectives assigned to the financial and document investigation.
The storage facility was forty minutes outside the city.
The unit was registered to Natalie Price and prepaid for a year.
The manager confirmed that Dominic had been there twice in the past month.
Security footage preserved both visits.
The most recent visit had been three days before my emergency delivery.
"Three days," I said.
"He was packing hospital bags with me that night."
Mara looked at the storage log.
"He may have been preparing both possibilities."
The detectives obtained Natalie's written consent through a secure form Mara sent her.
At eight twenty-four that night, Jonah opened unit 318.
The video feed showed metal shelves, archive boxes, two locked file cabinets, and a folding table covered with old legal binders.
No furniture.
No clothes.
No sentimental storage.
This was an archive.
A hidden one.
"Start with the boxes marked Rowan," I said.
There were six.
The first contained patent filings.
The second contained bankruptcy correspondence.
The third contained invoices and licensing agreements.
The fourth contained photographs of industrial prototypes.
I recognized my father in two of them.
He looked younger than I remembered.
Alive.
Excited.
Standing beside a machine that resembled the scanners Sterling Axis sold to hospitals today.
I touched the screen with one finger.
"Dad."
Everett looked away.
The fifth box contained correspondence between Samuel Price and several executives at Medline Asset Recovery.
One email referred to a signature problem.
Another referred to posthumous assignment exposure.
Mara stopped Jonah.
"Photograph every page before moving anything."
He nodded.
Then he opened the sixth box.
Inside was a small digital recorder in a padded case.
A label was taped to the back.
D. - 04/18 - FULL.
"Is that the recording?"
Nobody knew.
One detective placed it in an evidence bag and documented the serial number.
Mara asked whether they could make a forensic copy before playback.
The detective agreed.
Then Jonah opened the first locked file cabinet.
It contained more contracts.
The second cabinet was different.
Inside were recent Sterling Axis documents.
Bank statements.
Board packets.
Copies of my trust letters.
And a folder labeled AUDREY.
My name looked obscene on Samuel Price's tab.
"Open it."
Jonah did.
The first page was a background report on me from six years earlier.
The second was a list of places I visited regularly.
My office.
My gym.
My grocery store.
The coffee shop where Dominic had supposedly met me by chance.
Beside the coffee shop entry, someone had handwritten a date.
The date of our first meeting.
My stomach turned.
"Keep going."
There were notes about my friendships.
My income.
My mother's death.
My relationship with Everett.
One sentence was underlined twice.
SUBJECT APPEARS ESTRANGED FROM W.F. PRINCIPAL.
W.F.
Waverly Foundation.
Dominic had believed I was disconnected from Everett before he approached me.
He had chosen me because he thought I owned valuable assets without powerful protection.
Then Jonah pulled out a final sheet.
It was a handwritten page in Samuel Price's script.
The title read DOMINIC - LEVERAGE.
Below it were three numbered items.
1. ROWAN PATENT CHAIN IS FRAUDULENT.
2. DOMINIC KNEW BEFORE COURTSHIP.
3. NATALIE MUST NEVER BECOME LIABLE FOR HIS PLAN.
The third line had been underlined.
Everett stared at it.
Mara whispered.
"Samuel was protecting his daughter."
I felt no sympathy for Natalie yet.
But I understood the storage unit differently.
It had not been built to protect Dominic.
It had been built to survive him.
The forensic technician copied the recorder.
At nine seventeen, the detective called us back.
"We have audio."
Mara asked everyone in the room to stay silent.
The recording began with two men speaking.
One was Samuel Price.
The other was Dominic.
The date was four years before our wedding.
Dominic sounded younger.
More impatient.
Samuel said, "If you use the Rowan chain, you need the beneficiary to waive future claims."
Dominic answered.
"Then I will get close enough to make sure she does."
My entire body went cold.
Samuel said something too quiet to catch.
Dominic laughed.
May you like
Then his voice came through clearly.
"If she falls in love with me, she will sign anything I put in front of her."
