Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN IN THE WHITE DRESS
Natalie agreed to meet Camille at a quiet café in Carmel.
Graham offered to accompany her, but she declined.
“If she has something to tell me, I need to hear it without your family standing between us.”
He accepted her decision.
“Call me when you arrive. Call me again when you leave.”
“That sounds suspiciously like an order.”
“It's a request.”
She smiled despite herself.
“Better.”
Camille was already waiting when Natalie entered the café.
She wore jeans and a gray sweater, looking nothing like the woman who had stormed into Cliffhaven in a bridal gown.
For several seconds, neither woman spoke.
Then Camille slid a folder across the table.
“I know you hate me.”
“You don't know what I feel.”
Camille lowered her eyes.
“That's fair.”
Natalie opened the folder.
Inside were copies of bank statements, emails, and a series of photographs showing Richard Vale meeting with Diane Prescott.
The dates matched the transfers in Margaret's ledger.
“Why are you giving me this?”
“Because Miles is in trouble.”
Natalie almost laughed.
“That's your concern?”
“No. It's my responsibility.”
Camille explained that she had discovered the irregular transfers while working for the Prescott Foundation. Her brother, Daniel, had helped her copy the records.
They intended to report the fraud.
Before they could do so, Daniel died in a car crash.
Camille had been told it was an accident.
She had believed that explanation until she found a message on Daniel's old laptop warning him to stop investigating the Prescott family.
She began looking into the accounts again.
That was when Miles contacted her.
“He told me he wanted to help,” Camille said. “At first, I thought he was serious.”
“Was he?”
“I don't know anymore.”
Natalie closed the folder.
“Why did you come to my wedding?”
Camille looked at her.
“Because Miles told me he would choose me if I showed up before the vows.”
“You believed him?”
“I wanted to.”
Natalie felt a bitter sadness.
Camille had not simply interrupted a wedding.
She had participated in a betrayal she had convinced herself was romantic.
“You could have told me privately,” Natalie said.
“I could have.”
“You could have refused to help him lie.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you?”
Camille's eyes filled.
“Because I was afraid that if I stopped being useful to him, he would never choose me.”
Natalie recognized the desperation in her voice.
She had spent years trying to become indispensable to Miles, believing that if she worked hard enough, loved patiently enough, and made herself easy to live with, he would eventually stop looking for something else.
It was a painful realization.
But it did not excuse Camille.
“You hurt me,” Natalie said.
“I know.”
“You humiliated me in front of my father, my friends, and two hundred people who came to celebrate my wedding.”
Camille nodded.
“I know.”
“And I won't pretend that we're friends.”
“I wouldn't ask you to.”
Natalie gathered the documents.
“But I'll listen to the evidence.”
Camille exhaled.
“There is one more thing.”
She reached into her bag and produced a small envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Miles entering a private office building with Richard Vale.
The photograph was dated the morning of Natalie's wedding.
On the back, someone had written:
The final transfer clears after the ceremony.
Natalie stared at it.
“What transfer?”
Camille shook her head.
“I don't know. But I heard Richard tell Miles that once the wedding was over, everything would be settled.”
Natalie felt the floor drop beneath her.
Miles had not merely abandoned her at the altar.
He might have been planning to use their marriage to secure a financial transaction.
“Why would marrying me matter?”
“Your father owns a small investment company,” Camille replied. “Your mother's old records suggest it once held shares in the Prescott Foundation.”
Natalie remembered her father mentioning an inheritance years earlier. She had assumed it was a modest amount of money left by a distant relative.
She had never known that her mother had retained a financial interest connected to the Prescott family.
If the shares still existed, the wedding might have changed the ownership structure of an important trust.
Camille looked frightened.
“I think Miles intended to use the marriage to gain access to those shares.”
Natalie stood.
“Then he made a terrible mistake.”
As she left the café, she called Graham.
He listened carefully.
When she finished, he said, “Come to my office. Evelyn has found something.”
“What?”
“The transfer was scheduled for noon on your wedding day.”
Natalie checked the time.
It was almost midnight.
“What happened at noon?”
“Nothing. The transaction was blocked.”
“By whom?”
Graham paused.
“By someone using your mother's old authorization code.”
Natalie gripped the phone.
“Who has access to it?”
“Only three people should have.”
“Who?”
“Me. Diane. And whoever stole the original files.”
Natalie looked back through the café window.
Camille was still sitting at the table, her head bowed over her untouched coffee.
For the first time, Natalie wondered whether the woman who had ruined her wedding might also be the person who could help uncover the truth.
Then Graham said something that changed everything.
“Natalie, I need you to understand something. If the transfer was blocked using your mother's code, someone knew the transaction was coming.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning someone inside the company has been trying to stop this for years.”
May you like
He paused.
“And I think that person is my mother.”
