Chapter 6 - THE DAUGHTER WHO KNEW NOTHING
Natalie Mercer arrived at the mansion two days later carrying one suitcase and the expression of someone who had spent an entire flight replaying a phone call she still did not understand.
She looked like Victor around the eyes. That was the first thing George noticed. The same intensity. The same tendency to scan a room before stepping fully inside.
But unlike Victor, Natalie did not enter as if she owned the place. She stopped in the foyer. “Grandpa.” George hugged her. She held on longer than expected.
Then she pulled back. “Dad said I’m involved in a property investigation.” George nodded. “He told me he used a trust in my name.” “Yes.” “He said it was legal.”
George paused. “It may not have been.” Natalie closed her eyes. “That’s what I thought.” Liam appeared at the top of the staircase. Natalie looked up. Her face changed.
She knew about the dinner. Everyone did now. Linda’s recording had been preserved by police, but before officers arrived, a relative had captured part of the confrontation on another phone. The video had circulated within the extended family. George had insisted nobody post it publicly.
Liam came down slowly. Natalie crouched. “Hey, buddy.” He stopped several feet away. She did not move closer. “I heard what happened.” Liam looked at her. “Your dad hit me.”
Natalie swallowed. “I know.” “Are you mad at me?” The question devastated her. “No.” “Uncle Victor said I take everything.” Natalie’s eyes filled. “You didn’t take anything from me.”
Liam studied her. Then he asked, “Are you going to live here?” Natalie laughed softly. “No.” “Good.” George almost smiled. Natalie did too. “Fair enough.” The tension loosened.
They went to the breakfast room. Evelyn was waiting with documents. Natalie had brought her own attorney, a young woman named Priya Desai. That impressed George. Victor would have wanted her alone.
Natalie had learned enough to protect herself. Priya opened the meeting. “My client has not signed any document knowingly acquiring the western ridge parcel.” Evelyn nodded. “We believe that.”
Natalie turned. “You do?” “We have no evidence you participated.” She exhaled. Priya continued. “Then explain how her name appears.” Evelyn placed a trust certificate on the table.
Victor had established the Natalie Mercer Investment Trust four years earlier. Natalie frowned. “I knew Dad set up an account.” “This is more than an account.” The trust gave Victor broad authority as trustee.
It allowed him to hold investments for Natalie’s benefit. “What does that mean?” Liam asked from the doorway. George turned. He had asked Caroline to keep him upstairs.
Liam ignored the plan and walked in holding a toy airplane. Natalie answered before anyone else. “It means my dad could put things in a box with my name on it even if I didn’t know what was inside.”
Liam considered that. “Like hiding stuff in my backpack?” Natalie smiled sadly. “Pretty much.” Liam climbed into the chair beside George. Evelyn continued. “The western ridge property was moved through Wellington Holdings, then into an entity owned by your trust.”
Natalie looked sick. “Why?” George said, “We’re still tracing the money.” Priya examined the records. “Was there a tax motive?” “Possibly.” “Asset protection?” “Possibly.” Natalie stared at the table.
“Or Dad thought nobody would accuse him of stealing from a child if he could say he gave the asset to his own daughter.” Silence. George looked at her.
Natalie’s expression hardened. “I know him.” The front door opened. Everyone heard it. Then Victor’s voice. “Natalie?” She stood. George immediately looked at Evelyn. “He is not supposed to contact Liam.”
Evelyn was already moving. Victor entered the breakfast room and stopped when he saw Liam. He backed up. “I didn’t know he was here.” George lifted Liam from the chair.
“I’ll take him upstairs.” Liam resisted. “I want to hear.” “No.” Victor looked at him. For once, there was no hostility in his face. Only shame. Liam looked away.
George took him to Caroline. When he returned, Natalie was standing across from her father. “Did you use my name?” Victor said nothing. “Dad.” “Yes.” “Did you tell me?”
“No.” “Did you sign anything as trustee?” “Yes.” “Did you move Liam’s property into something benefiting me?” Victor’s eyes filled with frustration. “I was trying to stabilize the estate.”
Natalie laughed in disbelief. “There it is.” “What?” “The sentence you use before every terrible decision.” Victor stiffened. “I was protecting this family.” “From what?” “Collapse.” “Then why hide it?”
He said nothing. Natalie stepped closer. “Why hide it from me?” “Because you would have overreacted.” Her face changed. “You mean I would have said no.” Victor looked away.
“That’s why you picked me.” “No.” “You knew I lived across the country. You knew I trusted you. You knew I didn’t watch the accounts.” “Natalie—” “You made me part of it.”
“I made you a beneficiary.” “You made me camouflage.” Victor flinched. The room went silent. Natalie’s voice broke. “You spent my entire childhood warning me that people would use me because of our last name.”
Victor stared. “And then you did.” George looked down. He felt the family history folding over itself. Victor had spent his life resenting George’s control. Then he became more controlling than George had ever been.
Natalie picked up her bag. “I’m cooperating with the investigation.” Victor’s face hardened. “You don’t need to do that.” “Yes.” “You’re my daughter.” “That is exactly why.” He stepped toward her.
“Don’t destroy your family over paperwork.” Natalie laughed through tears. “You shoved a seven-year-old child onto a floor.” Victor stopped. “You stole land from him.” Victor’s face went pale.
“You used me to hide it.” “Natalie.” “No.” She wiped her eyes. “You don’t get to call consequences betrayal.” George looked at her sharply. Sarah could have said that.
Perhaps she had. Natalie turned to Evelyn. “What do you need?” “Records. Emails. Access to the trust account.” “You’ll have it.” Victor looked at George. “You’re enjoying this.”
George stared at him. “No.” Victor sneered. “You always wanted her on your side.” George shook his head. “There are no sides worth winning here.” Victor opened his mouth.
George continued. “There is only damage.” That silenced him. Natalie took one step toward her father. “I love you.” Victor’s expression broke. “But I am not lying for you.”
She walked past him. Victor remained standing in the breakfast room. No one followed. For several seconds, George watched his son stare at the empty doorway. Then Victor whispered, “She sounded like Sarah.”
George nodded. “She did.” Victor sat. “I hated Sarah for being able to walk away.” George looked at him. “From what?” “This.” Victor gestured toward the mansion. “The expectations. The competition. You.”
George absorbed the blow. Victor continued. “She left, married whoever she wanted, came back when she needed help, and somehow she was still the brave one.” George sat across from him.
“You could have walked away too.” Victor laughed. “And become what?” George answered. “Yourself.” Victor stared. The answer seemed to offend him because he had no idea what it meant.
George realized that might be the saddest truth of all. Victor knew how to be George’s son. He knew how to be Sarah’s rival. He knew how to be the estate manager.
He knew how to be a man protecting “the family.” But without those roles, he did not know who remained. From upstairs came Liam’s laughter. Caroline was playing with him.
May you like
Victor looked toward the ceiling. “That house really goes to him?” “Yes.” “All of it?” “His trust controls the principal residence and protected parcels.” Victor nodded slowly. “What will you do?”
George thought of Sarah’s memorandum. “Not me.” Victor frowned. “What?” “When Liam is old enough, he decides.” Victor looked almost offended by the idea. George smiled sadly. “That’s the part neither of us was good at.” “What?” “Letting the next generation choose.”
