Chapter 8 - FOUR HUNDRED MILLION
His face appeared on Sarah's laptop from an unknown location.
Gray hair.
Same sharp Mercer eyes.
"You let us bury you."
"Yes."
"You let my mother grieve you publicly."
"She knew."
That hurt differently.
Gregory explained the Mercer Legacy Trust held more than Catherine's cottage and family shares.
It also controlled waterfront land options acquired decades earlier.
A redevelopment vote after Dominic's marriage would convert those options into cash.
Estimated value: four hundred million.
The original trust split the proceeds between Natalie, Noah, the Catherine Foundation, and a protected employee pension fund.
The forged amendment redirected temporary administrative power to Dominic's spouse.
Brooke would not own the money.
But she could authorize asset sales to Harrington Development and Preston's investment partners.
Below market.
They would capture the difference.
"Why does the wedding matter?" Dominic asked.
"Because Catherine built a marriage trigger to prevent your father's girlfriends from gaining control if he remarried after she left him. Preston reversed it."
A protection had been turned into a weapon.
Gregory said Catherine discovered the forgery shortly before her death.
She confronted Preston.
Then she became ill rapidly.
"Mom had cancer."
"Catherine had early-stage lymphoma. Treatable."
Dominic's body went cold.
Their mother died six months after diagnosis.
They had been told the disease was aggressive.
"I asked for her complete medical file. Preston blocked me."
Dr. Elias Vaughn had managed Catherine's private care.
The same doctor tied to Natalie's forged psychiatric notes.
"Where is Vaughn?"
"We found him."
A state trooper had stopped Vaughn's car near the Connecticut line.
He was carrying cash, two passports, and Catherine Mercer's original medical records.
One lab report showed something the family had never seen.
Catherine's cancer was responding to treatment.
Three weeks before her death, someone changed her medication.
May you like
The new prescription was signed by Dr. Vaughn.
Authorized by Preston Hale.
