When Laura saw doctors.
Where we shopped.
Who visited the house.
Laura discovered the invoices.
She called Marcus.
But Natalie arrived first.
“They argued,” Marcus said.
“About what?”
“Laura told her she was going to you.”
I stared at Natalie.
“What did you do?”
“She was sick already.”
My stomach turned.
“That wasn't my question.”
Natalie’s voice shook.
“She wouldn't stop.”
“Stop what?”
“Talking. Accusing. Acting like she understood me.”
Marcus interrupted.
“She tried to take Laura's phone.”
Natalie glared at him.
“You weren't even in the room.”
“I was outside the back door.”
“What happened?” I demanded.
Marcus looked at me.
“They struggled.”
My chest tightened.
“Laura fell against the kitchen island.”
Everything inside me stopped.
“She was conscious,” Marcus continued.
“She told Natalie to call an ambulance.”
I looked at Natalie.
She was crying now.
But I felt nothing for her.
“You called, right?”
Silence.
“Natalie.”
“She was always going to ruin everything.”
I could barely breathe.
“You left her there.”
“She was already sick.”
“You left her there.”
“I panicked.”
“How long?”
Natalie stared at the floor.
Marcus answered.
“Eleven minutes.”
Eleven minutes.
Laura had been alive.
Eleven minutes in which help could have been called.
Eleven minutes while Natalie decided what kind of future she wanted.
Marcus entered through the back after Natalie finally left.
He called emergency services.
But by then Laura had deteriorated badly.
Her existing heart condition complicated everything.
The hospital concluded the collapse had been medical.
No one knew about the confrontation.
No one knew Laura had fallen.
Marcus stayed hidden because he feared Natalie would destroy the evidence he had collected or come after Sophie.
Aaron knew part of the truth.
Not all of it.