Chapter 4 - Natalie Pierce
I saw Natalie for the first time on Monday.
Not in person.
In a photograph.
Tanya’s investigator found the website for Pierce Strategy Group.
The homepage showed Natalie standing in a glass office, smiling beneath the words TRANSFORMING FAMILY BUSINESSES FOR THE NEXT GENERATION.
She was thirty-one.
Blonde.
Polished.
Beautiful in the careful, expensive way Daniel had always pretended not to notice.
Her biography said she specialized in organizational restructuring and executive transitions.
I read that sentence three times.
Executive transitions.
“She wasn’t just sleeping with him,” Sophie said from across the hotel desk.
I looked at her.
“She was helping him restructure the company.”
Tanya had reached the same conclusion.
Within two hours, she obtained copies of several consulting invoices.
The first payment to Natalie had been made seven months earlier.
Seven months.
Daniel told me he had met someone “recently.”
Apparently, recently meant before our anniversary.
Before Sophie’s birthday.
Before the weekend Daniel took me to a bed-and-breakfast and spent half the trip answering emails.
Natalie’s invoices were vague.
Leadership advisory.
Operational transition.
Brand repositioning.
Executive development.
One invoice referenced succession planning.
Another mentioned equity simplification.
Tanya circled those words.
“This is what concerns me.”
“What does equity simplification mean?”
“It can mean a lot of things.”
She looked toward the ownership agreement.
“In this context, I would like to know whether your husband paid his girlfriend to advise him on reducing your role in a company you partly own.”
My stomach turned.
Tanya requested Natalie’s consulting agreement.
Daniel’s attorney objected.
Tanya requested correspondence between Daniel and Natalie regarding company ownership.
Daniel’s attorney objected again.
Tanya requested communications concerning the home equity line.
Another objection.
By Wednesday afternoon, Tanya smiled when she received the third objection.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Because nervous people object broadly.”
That evening, Sophie convinced me to leave the hotel for dinner.
We chose a small Italian restaurant where nobody knew us.
Halfway through the meal, my phone lit up.
Eleanor.
I ignored it.
She called again.
Then again.
Sophie watched me.
“You can block her.”
“I know.”
“You don’t have to keep a door open just because someone is family.”
“She was my family for seventeen years.”
“She watched Dad ask you for a divorce and then expected you to serve pie.”
That silenced me.
Eleanor called a fourth time.
I answered.
“Claire.”
She sounded relieved.
“Finally.”
“What do you need?”
The relief disappeared.
“We need to talk.”
“You’re talking.”
“This tone is unnecessary.”
I nearly hung up.
Then she said, “Daniel is under tremendous pressure.”
I looked at Sophie.
She raised both eyebrows.
“What pressure?”
“The business.”
“That is Daniel’s responsibility.”
“You always helped him.”
“I always did more than help him.”
Eleanor sighed.
“Claire, marriage problems should not destroy a company.”
“Then Daniel should have considered that before paying Natalie with company money.”
Silence.
Complete silence.
For the first time, Eleanor had no immediate answer.
“How do you know about that?”
The question told me everything.
She knew.
Maybe not the details.
But she knew enough.
“How long have you known?”
“Claire.”
“How long?”
“I knew Daniel was receiving advice.”
“From his girlfriend.”
“He didn’t describe the relationship that way.”
I laughed.
“What did he call it?”
“A complicated friendship.”
Sophie covered her mouth.
I could see fury in her eyes.
Eleanor lowered her voice.
“Daniel believes Natalie can help modernize things.”
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The reason you all thought Thanksgiving would be simple.”
“You are being unfair.”
“No.”
I stared at the untouched food in front of me.
“You thought Daniel would replace me at home and Natalie would replace me at work.”
Eleanor said nothing.
“You thought I would finish dinner, pack a suitcase, sign whatever papers Daniel put in front of me, and disappear.”
“That is not what anyone said.”
“It’s exactly what everyone planned.”
“You don’t know that.”
I felt something become very calm inside me.
“Then you won’t mind telling Tanya everything you know.”
“Who is Tanya?”
“My attorney.”
Another silence.
This one lasted longer.
When Eleanor finally spoke, her voice had changed.
“You hired an attorney already?”
“Daniel hired a replacement already.”
I ended the call.
Sophie stared at me.
Then she slowly smiled.
“What?”
“I’ve never heard you talk to Grandma like that.”
“I’ve never needed to.”
“No.”
She reached for her glass.
“You needed to years ago.”
My phone buzzed again.
This time it was not Eleanor.
It was a number I did not recognize.
The message contained only six words.
May you like
THIS IS NATALIE.
WE SHOULD TALK.
