Chapter 7 - The Name Everyone Had Stopped Saying
James Mercer had once been everywhere.
Dominic remembered him from childhood cookouts, Christmas dinners, harvest parties, and the long Sunday lunches his father turned into business meetings.
Mercer had helped Charles build Bellamy Cellars from a respected local label into a profitable regional company.
Then, when Dominic was twenty-six, Mercer disappeared from the family’s life.
The explanation had always been simple.
He and Charles had disagreed over expansion.
Mercer sold his interest.
They stopped speaking.
Dominic had never questioned it.
Margaret had.
Not enough.
She remembered one detail she had dismissed at the time.
“After James left, your father stopped opening the mail at breakfast.”
Dominic looked at her.
“He started taking it directly to his office.”
It seemed small.
Until it didn't.
Evelyn obtained the archived repurchase agreement that afternoon because Margaret, as executor of Charles’s estate, was entitled to it.
The document was legitimate.
Fourteen years earlier, Charles had agreed that Bellamy Holdings would repurchase Mercer’s remaining economic interest in several vineyard assets through a deferred payment arrangement.
Most of it had been paid.
One final amount—$920,000—would become due if Charles died before a particular land transaction was completed.
Charles died first.
The payment became mandatory.
Lucian had not stolen that money.
He had paid a debt.
Dominic sat with the agreement on his lap.
“So Lucian was telling the truth.”
“About this payment,” Evelyn said.
Margaret pointed to another paragraph.
“Not about everything.”
The obligation had become due four years earlier.
Yet Lucian paid it only eleven weeks ago.
Dominic followed the dates.
For four years, Mercer or his representatives had apparently allowed Bellamy to postpone payment.
Then suddenly they demanded it.
Why?
Evelyn continued reading.
A default under the agreement allowed Mercer to seek enforcement against Bellamy Holdings’ ownership interests in two leased vineyard parcels.
That could have hurt the company.
It still did not explain why the demand arrived now.
Dominic called Lucian.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Valeria answered on the third attempt to her number.
Dominic asked one question.
“Why did James Mercer wait four years?”
Silence.
Then Valeria said, “You need to ask your mother.”
Margaret was close enough to hear.
Her expression changed.
Dominic put the call on speaker.
“What does my mother have to do with Mercer?”
Valeria sounded exhausted.
“She knows why he waited.”
Margaret shook her head.
“No, I don't.”
Valeria gave a small, bitter laugh.
“That's exactly what Lucian said you'd say.”
The call ended.
Dominic stared at his mother.
For the first time since the reception room, the uncertainty between them did not point toward Lucian.
May you like
It pointed backward.
Toward something Margaret herself had done—or forgotten doing—after Charles died.
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