Chapter 14 - WHY NATALIE DID IT
Six months later, Natalie requested mediated contact with Rachel.
No Rosie.
Rachel agreed once.
Natalie looked thinner.
Less polished.
Still defensive.
She said:
“I didn’t want to drug her.”
Rachel stared.
“You held her face.”
“I wanted her calm.”
“For Erin.”
Natalie looked down.
“Yes.”
There.
Finally.
Then:
“I knew Rosie had said things about the door.”
“How?”
“Daycare staff told me.”
“And you thought if she was sleepy—”
“I thought Erin would reschedule.”
Rachel leaned back.
“You used my daughter to buy time.”
Natalie cried.
“I was going to fix everything.”
“You had already fixed the door.”
“I mean the paperwork. Insurance. The loan. The staff. Everything.”
Rachel shook her head.
“You keep saying fix when you mean hide.”
Natalie flinched.
That was the sentence.
Not monster.
Not evil.
Hide.
May you like
Natalie had spent months turning every problem into something to conceal until she could solve it privately.
Eventually Rosie became another problem to conceal.
