Chapter 17 - CATHERINE'S MISSING MILLIONS
Twelve million dollars had disappeared in pieces.
Small transfers.
False maintenance invoices.
Investment reallocations.
Charitable disbursements.
Gerald Pike had hidden them inside Catherine Mercer’s trust administration for almost four years.
Some theft began before Catherine died.
That revelation shattered Dominic.
He had believed his mother’s final years were protected.
Instead, someone she trusted had been bleeding her estate.
Samuel traced the money through shell companies.
Harrington Coastal.
Black Harbor Consulting.
Pike Advisory.
Three offshore entities.
Dominic stared at the financial map across the library wall.
“They started while she was alive.”
Samuel nodded.
“Catherine discovered irregularities eight months before her death.”
Natalie frowned.
“How do you know?”
Samuel produced an old letter.
It had been found among Gerald’s seized documents.
Catherine had written directly to him.
Gerald,
Several transactions attributed to my authorization were not approved by me.
Freeze all transfers immediately.
I will review this with Dominic personally.
The letter was dated two days before Catherine suffered the stroke that eventually led to her death.
Dominic’s expression changed.
“Did she ever send this?”
“No.”
Samuel pointed toward a handwritten notation.
Held per B.H.
Dominic looked at Brooke’s initials.
Natalie whispered.
“She intercepted it.”
Samuel nodded.
“It appears so.”
Dominic stared at his mother’s handwriting.
Catherine had known.
She had tried to warn him.
Brooke had made certain the warning never arrived.
Dominic walked out of the library.
Emma found him twenty minutes later in Catherine’s cottage.
He stood beside the old piano.
For the first time since returning, he looked less like the feared Dominic Mercer and more like a son who had failed his mother.
Emma remained near the door.
“She trusted you.”
Dominic did not turn.
“And I brought Brooke into her home.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have known.”
Emma walked closer.
“Your mother used to say suspicion destroys a family faster than enemies do.”
Dominic looked at her.
“She wanted you to trust people.”
“That was never a weakness.”
Dominic looked toward Catherine’s desk.
“What did she say about Brooke?”
Emma hesitated.
He noticed.
“What?”
“Three months before Catherine died, she asked me whether Brooke ever came into the cottage alone.”
Dominic frowned.
“Why?”
“She didn’t say.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Catherine told me not to.”
Dominic stared at her.
Emma continued.
“She said she needed proof before she risked hurting you.”
Dominic looked down.
The pattern was suddenly cruelly clear.
Catherine had suspected Brooke.
Michael had suspected Brooke.
Natalie had felt uncomfortable around Brooke.
Noah had feared Brooke.
And all of them had protected Dominic from what they could not yet prove.
He closed his eyes.
Emma spoke softly.
“You came back because Noah called.”
Dominic nodded.
“That matters.”
Dominic looked toward the window.
Outside, morning preparations for a wedding that would never happen were being dismantled.
White tents came down.
Flowers were carried away.
Tables disappeared.
But inside the house, something else was being rebuilt.
May you like
The truth.
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