Chapter 8 - The Decision That Made Valeria Panic
Margaret did not sleep much that night.
By morning she had stopped defending her own memory and started checking it.
She pulled out old calendars.
Bank statements.
Estate correspondence.
She and Dominic went through four years of files at the breakfast table.
Nothing mentioned Mercer.
At eleven, Dominic made a decision.
Bellamy Holdings could not continue operating under Lucian’s unrestricted authority while Margaret’s property remained exposed.
Under the company agreement, Dominic and Margaret together held enough voting power to require a special management meeting.
Dominic sent notice requesting temporary suspension of Lucian’s borrowing authority pending an independent financial review.
Valeria called within six minutes.
Not Lucian.
Valeria.
“You can't do that today.”
Dominic put her on speaker.
“Why?”
“Because the bank is already nervous.”
“It should be.”
“If management changes before Monday, they can review the facility.”
“That's their right.”
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain it.”
She lowered her voice.
“If they freeze availability, we miss payroll next Friday.”
Margaret stared at the phone.
Dominic had expected anger.
Valeria sounded frightened.
Not frightened of prison.
Not even frightened of losing her job.
Frightened of the company stopping.
Dominic asked why Bellamy still needed revolving funds after borrowing $3.6 million.
Valeria said they had used most of it to clear overdue accounts, meet the Mercer obligation, and stabilize supplier relationships.
“Then show us the books.”
“Lucian won't.”
“Why?”
This time Valeria did not answer.
Dominic told her the meeting would proceed.
She surprised him.
“Then don't remove him completely.”
Margaret leaned closer.
“You helped trick me into pledging my land.”
“I know.”
“Why should I protect him?”
“I'm not asking you to protect him.”
For several seconds Valeria seemed to struggle with what she wanted to say.
Then it came out.
“Protect the company from what happens when he loses control of it.”
Dominic frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“I can't tell you over the phone.”
“Then come here.”
“No.”
“Valeria.”
Her voice dropped.
“Look at the board minutes from March. Not the financial statements. The minutes.”
She hung up.
Dominic immediately searched the company portal.
March’s board minutes looked ordinary until he reached the final page.
Lucian had inserted a formal notation expressing concern about Margaret’s “increasing confusion regarding financial and property matters.”
Dominic read it twice.
Margaret read it once.
Then she reached for February.
There was another reference.
This one mentioned a missed meeting Margaret insisted she had never been told about.
January contained a note that Margaret had repeated a question during a budget call.
December mentioned an “unexplained failure to respond” to documents.
Four months of paperwork had quietly created a pattern.
Not a medical diagnosis.
Not legal incapacity.
Something subtler.
A record.
Dominic remembered Lucian standing in the reception room.
May you like
Your mother is confused.
For the first time, the sentence sounded rehearsed.
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