Chapter 15 - THE TRAP
Marcus remembered something Natalie had said months earlier.
If everything ever fell apart, she wanted to disappear somewhere no one associated with her.
Not Paris.
Not London.
Not Miami.
Savannah.
Her grandmother had owned a small house outside the city.
Corporate investigators found that the property had been transferred to Victor Cross two years earlier.
Our lawyers notified authorities and filed emergency claims concerning stolen company information.
Two days later, Natalie appeared online.
She had made a mistake.
A photograph posted by a friend showed a restaurant patio.
A church steeple was visible behind her.
The location matched Savannah.
More important, Victor was sitting at the table.
We did not confront them directly.
Instead, our legal team sent Crownstone a notice announcing that the three contested property acquisitions were being abandoned.
It was false.
The actual transactions had been shifted to different acquisition companies days earlier.
But Crownstone believed the opportunities were disappearing.
Within hours, Victor contacted one of the property sellers.
He offered a revised price.
The number matched confidential valuation data found only in the stolen files.
The evidence was preserved.
By evening, our lawyers had enough to seek stronger court orders.
Natalie called Marcus at 8:14 p.m.
He put the phone on speaker.
“You set me up,” she snapped.
Marcus looked at me.
“No.”
His voice was quieter than I expected.
“You set me up.”
“You gave me everything.”
“I gave you access because I trusted you.”
Natalie laughed.
“Don’t become sentimental now.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Was any of it real?”
The question sounded painfully familiar.
Natalie paused.
Then she gave him the cruelest answer possible.
“You were useful.”
Marcus flinched.
I felt no satisfaction.
Only recognition.
People who treated others as tools eventually met someone willing to do the same to them.
Natalie continued.
“Isabella would never have let you become what you deserved to be.”
Marcus glanced at me.
“No.”
His voice changed.
“Isabella made me more than I deserved to be.”
Natalie went silent.
Marcus continued.
“And I was too arrogant to know the difference.”
That was the first time I heard him accept responsibility without adding an excuse.
The call ended.
Twenty minutes later, investigators confirmed Natalie had surrendered the company laptop through her attorney.
The drive followed the next morning.
May you like
The Cross scheme began collapsing.
But Marcus’s marriage had collapsed long before that.
