Chapter 7 - CATHERINE'S TRAP
Catherine Mercer had planted false copies.
Sarah found three versions of the letter in old legal archives.
Each contained different wording.
Each had a tiny handwritten marker.
Catherine had suspected someone was stealing documents before she died.
The copy Malcolm possessed came from Preston Hale's private archive.
That proved Preston leaked it.
But the real letter was still missing.
The old woman used to hide recipes inside cookbooks because Dominic's father searched desks whenever he was angry.
They went to the kitchen library.
Inside a battered copy of The Joy of Cooking, Natalie found an envelope.
The real letter.
Natalie,
If Dominic becomes what his father was, do not protect him from consequences. But do not let anyone use his reputation to steal from you either.
Catherine knew exactly what kind of man her son might become.
Not innocent.
Not beyond choice.
The letter continued.
The east cottage is yours to live in for life and Noah's after you. Dominic cannot revoke that. A spouse cannot inherit it. A trustee cannot sell it. If any document says otherwise, it is false.
Then another paragraph.
If Gregory appears after my death, listen before you judge him.
Their supposedly dead uncle again.
Catherine wrote that Gregory had discovered Michael Mercer's criminal accounts years earlier and wanted to expose them.
Michael threatened him.
After Michael's death, Gregory believed the danger ended.
It did not.
Someone else wanted the accounts.
Gregory disappeared voluntarily.
Catherine helped stage his death.
"Mom helped him vanish," Natalie whispered.
Then corrected himself.
No.
Different thing.
At the bottom was a phone number.
No name.
Sarah dialed from a secure line.
A man answered.
"Catherine?"
"No."
Silence.
Then the voice said, "Dominic."
Older.
Still unmistakable.
"Uncle Gregory."
The man exhaled.
"If you're calling from Catherine's letter, Brooke has already started the wedding transfer."
May you like
"What wedding transfer?"
"The one that makes your marriage worth four hundred million dollars to Preston Hale."
