Chương 9 - The Old Loan
Evelyn refused to answer the phone.
Mia drove directly to Thomas’s old house.
Her mother was packing.
Suitcases stood in the hallway.
“Where are you going?”
Evelyn looked tired.
“Savannah.”
“You’re not running away.”
“I’m not running.”
“Then answer a question.”
Evelyn said nothing.
“What loan?”
Her mother’s face changed.
Only slightly.
Enough.
Mia walked into the study.
“Grant knew.”
Evelyn followed.
“He had no right to tell you.”
“Then it’s true.”
“It was years ago.”
“What was?”
Evelyn sat down.
For the first time in Mia’s life, she looked old.
“Your father’s company nearly failed in 2018.”
Mia frowned.
“That’s impossible.”
Thomas had owned a regional chain of boutique hotels in addition to Bellweather.
Those hotels had been sold before his death.
“They were profitable.”
“Mostly.”
“What happened?”
“Two properties were overleveraged. One expansion failed. We had personal guarantees.”
Mia stared at her.
“How much?”
“Eleven million dollars.”
She felt the number in her chest.
“What does that have to do with Bellweather?”
“Your father considered borrowing against the island.”
“He told me he never would.”
“He almost did.”
Mia sat down.
“Almost?”
“I stopped him.”
That surprised her.
Evelyn continued.
“I contacted Pierce Mercer.”
Grant’s father.
Mia looked at her.
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
“Before Dad changed the ownership structure.”
“Yes.”
Everything shifted.
“What did Pierce do?”
“He offered financing.”
“Against the island?”
“Yes.”
“Dad refused?”
“Eventually.”
“Why?”
“Because he discovered the loan documents included development options.”
Mia laughed bitterly.
“So this isn’t the first time the Mercers tried.”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“Your father sold two hotels instead. Paid down the debt. Then he restructured Bellweather.”
Mia understood.
“He gave me control because he didn’t trust you.”
Evelyn flinched.
“It wasn’t that simple.”
“It suddenly sounds very simple.”
“He blamed me for bringing Pierce in.”
“Were you planning development then too?”
“I was trying to save our businesses.”
“Did you know about the development option?”
“No.”
Mia believed her.
At least partly.
“So Dad protected the island from you.”
“He protected it from everyone.”
“By choosing me.”
“Yes.”
The word hurt more than Mia expected.
Not because it diminished her father’s trust.
Because it clarified it.
Thomas had not been rewarding Mia.
He had been building a lock.
And Mia had been the key.
Evelyn looked toward a photograph on the desk.
“He knew you would say no even when saying yes was easier.”
Mia swallowed.
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Because he didn’t want you to hate me.”
That sounded like Thomas.
And somehow it made Mia angrier.
“So instead I spent eight years thinking Lauren hated me over favoritism.”
“She did.”
“While you knew Dad had a reason.”
“Yes.”
Mia stood.
“Secrets do not protect families.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“Sometimes they do.”
“No. They delay the explosion.”
Her mother’s eyes filled.
“Mia, I did not know Grant intended to use this wedding to force the deal.”
“But you knew there was a deal.”
“Yes.”
“You knew they wanted me to sign.”
“Yes.”
“You helped.”
“Yes.”
“And after Lauren pushed Lily, you deleted evidence.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Mia turned away.
There were truths that created clarity.
This one created grief.
Then Evelyn spoke again.
“Grant didn’t tell you everything.”
Mia stopped.
“What else?”
“Your father left records.”
“What records?”
“Letters. Financial files. Correspondence with Pierce.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Mia turned.
“You just said—”
“I know they existed. Thomas told me he kept copies because he no longer trusted Pierce.”
“Where?”
“He said somewhere I would never look.”
Mia almost laughed.
“That could mean anywhere.”
Evelyn looked toward the shelves.
“Your father enjoyed riddles.”
Mia walked through the study slowly.
Books.
Fishing trophies.
Old nautical maps.
Framed photographs.
Then she remembered something.
When she was a child, Thomas used to hide birthday gifts inside his least favorite books because no one opened them.
She looked at the shelves.
“What book did Dad hate?”
Evelyn blinked.
“What?”
“He hated one book.”
“Mia—”
“Which one?”
Then she remembered.
Thomas had complained for years about a glossy corporate biography Pierce Mercer gave him.
Building the Coast: The Mercer Story.
It was still on the shelf.
Mia pulled it free.
The book was unusually heavy.
Inside, the pages had been hollowed out.
There was a small black key.
Evelyn stared.
“I never knew.”
Mia held it up.
“A key to what?”
Neither woman knew.
But engraved on the key was a number.
317.
Mia immediately thought of the Bellweather marina.
Three hundred numbered storage lockers lined the old service building.
There was no locker 317.
Then she remembered the safety deposit box Thomas once kept at Atlantic First Bank.
May you like
Box number 317.
And suddenly a secret her father had hidden eight years earlier was waiting to be opened.
