Chapter 26 - Before Me
Her name was Natalie Mercer.
She was forty-one.
Calm.
Precise.
And unlike the rest of us, she had married Julian.
For eleven days.
When Samantha told me that, I thought I had misheard.
“He was married before?”
“For eleven days.”
Natalie nodded over the video call.
“Eight years ago.”
I stared at her.
Julian had told me he had never been married.
Victoria had said the same.
“How did I not find this?”
“The record was sealed after the annulment because of related litigation.”
Rebecca sat beside me.
“What happened?”
Natalie inhaled.
“Julian was twenty-eight.”
“I was thirty-three.”
“My father had just died.”
“I inherited several rental properties.”
My stomach tightened.
“He proposed quickly?”
“Very.”
“Did Victoria become involved?”
Natalie laughed without humor.
“Immediately.”
She described the same pattern.
Questions about assets.
Pressure to combine accounts.
Criticism of independent friends.
Claims that marriage required financial unity.
On their second day married, Julian convinced Natalie to transfer $60,000 into a joint account for a property investment.
Three days later, most of it disappeared.
“Where?”
“A company controlled by Victoria.”
I felt cold.
Natalie discovered the transfer.
Confronted Julian.
He claimed it was temporary.
She contacted an attorney.
Then something unexpected happened.
Victoria repaid the money.
Every cent.
“Why?”
“Because my attorney threatened criminal complaints.”
Natalie looked directly at me through the screen.
“They returned everything in exchange for a civil settlement and annulment.”
“Did you sign confidentiality?”
“Yes.”
“Then how are you telling us?”
“My attorney reviewed it.”
She gave a small smile.
“The confidentiality period expired last year.”
Rebecca leaned forward.
“Do you have documents?”
“All of them.”
Bank statements.
Transfer records.
Emails.
Old settlement papers.
Proof that Julian had already participated in a marriage where a new wife’s money was quickly redirected to his family.
Eight years before me.
The room went silent.
Natalie said gently, “I saw your case mentioned in a court database.”
“I recognized Victoria’s name.”
“I kept thinking about calling.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I was ashamed.”
I understood that immediately.
“Of what?”
“Of being fooled.”
I shook my head.
“You weren’t the person who should have been ashamed.”
Natalie’s eyes filled.
“Neither were you.”
Rebecca asked whether she would be willing to speak to Detective Reyes.
Natalie nodded.
“Yes.”
After the call, I sat motionless.
The story I had believed began fourteen hours after my wedding had actually started almost a decade earlier.
May you like
I hadn’t been the beginning.
I had simply been the woman who walked away before they managed to complete the plan.
