Chapter 3 - CATHERINE'S PROMISE
Dominic canceled every meeting in London before sunrise.
Then he called Sarah Kim, an outside trust attorney who had never worked for the Mercer family.
She arrived at seven with two laptops and no patience for powerful men.
"You want the comfortable answer or the legal answer?" she asked.
"Legal."
"Good. The comfortable answer is usually where families get robbed."
The east cottage, twelve acres around it, and an eleven-percent block of Mercer Harbor Group belonged to a protected subtrust for Natalie and Noah.
Dominic could not sell it.
Brooke could not inherit it through marriage.
But the highlighted amendment created a loophole.
If Natalie voluntarily waived occupancy and Catherine's adult son married, the incoming spouse could become temporary administrative co-trustee during a "family transition period."
"That language is poison," Sarah said.
Dominic stared. "My mother would never write it."
"Then prove she didn't."
"Mom hated Brooke."
"She met Brooke once."
"Exactly. And afterward she called me and said, 'That woman asks about ownership before she asks about people.'"
"Uncle Dom?"
Dominic knelt.
"Hey, buddy."
"Are we getting kicked out?"
"No."
Noah looked toward Brooke's closed guest-room door.
"She said you promised her the cottage."
"I didn't."
"She said Grandma Catherine didn't really leave it to Mom."
Dominic glanced at Natalie.
"And she said Dad found out too late."
The room went quiet.
"What did she mean?" Dominic asked.
Noah shrugged. "I don't know. She was talking to Mr. Preston in the library."
"When?"
"Last week."
Preston Hale had told Dominic he had not visited Newport in two months.
Noah added, "Dad used to hide papers in the cottage."
"What papers?"
"He called them Grandma's insurance."
They crossed the wet lawn to the east cottage.
Inside, Noah led them to Catherine's old sewing room.
He pulled open a floor vent.
Under it sat a sealed metal envelope.
May you like
On the front, Owen had written:
NATALIE - IF I DIE BEFORE I CAN EXPLAIN, DO NOT TRUST PRESTON HALE.
