Chapter 4 - The Deal Behind My Back
Dad claimed the meeting with Victor Hale was innocent.
“I met him once.”
“At my house?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“What was it like?”
He looked exhausted.
“Mark asked me to come.”
I turned.
Mark immediately stepped backward.
Jenna folded her arms.
“This has nothing to do with the kids.”
“It has everything to do with why you moved twelve suitcases into my house.”
Nobody answered.
Samantha pulled county development records.
Victor Hale’s company, Ocean Crown Development, had been buying small parcels along that stretch of Malibu for eighteen months.
Their plan wasn’t public yet.
But the pattern was obvious.
Acquire access.
Purchase individual cottages.
Combine parcels.
Build a luxury coastal retreat.
My property sat almost exactly in the middle.
Victor had already approached me once.
I refused.
That was nine months ago.
He offered $1.4 million.
I declined because Eli loved the cottage.
Then my surgical schedule became brutal.
The kids used it less.
And yesterday, after Jenna told the locksmith she wanted “her own code,” I finally decided the house was becoming more conflict than refuge.
I called Claire.
She scheduled today’s showing.
I hadn’t known someone else had been planning my sale much longer.
Dad finally spoke.
“Victor offered Jenna and Mark a finder’s fee.”
“How much?”
“Robert!” Mom snapped.
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand.”
Jenna exploded.
“We were going to share it!”
“With whom?”
“The family!”
I stared at her.
“You planned to push me into selling my house so a developer would pay you?”
“You barely use it!”
“My children do.”
“They have another home!”
Eli stood near the stairs.
He heard everything.
Again.
I wanted them gone.
Immediately.
Sheriff’s deputies weren’t involved yet.
But Samantha advised me to call local law enforcement because fraudulent filings and unauthorized occupancy were escalating.
Twenty minutes later, Deputy Michael Reed arrived.
Jenna was furious.
“You called police on your own sister?”
“No. I called police because somebody forged my signature twice.”
Then Claire received an email.
Her face tightened.
“Daryl.”
“What now?”
“The title company traced the lender.”
The $600,000 loan had not closed.
Good.
But the borrower had attempted to pledge not only my cottage.
Also the rear access parcel owned by Pacific Meridian Holdings.
Combined collateral.
The borrower:
Mark Caldwell.
Jenna’s husband.
Mark sat down.
“It was temporary.”
Samantha almost laughed.
“You attempted to borrow six hundred thousand against property your wife doesn’t own.”
“We were going to resolve ownership.”
“How?”
He glanced toward Mom.
She looked away.
Then Dad said:
“Elaine told him you’d sign.”
I turned.
Mom’s face stayed composed.
“I thought once you understood how much the sale could help everyone, you’d stop being selfish.”
Selfish.
I had worked six years of extra hospital shifts to buy this place.
Paid my parents’ property taxes twice.
Covered Jenna’s twins’ private-school deposit once when Mark’s company collapsed.
And somehow I was selfish.
Then Deputy Reed’s radio buzzed.
He listened.
“Mr. Mercer?”
“Yes?”
“There’s a man at the lower beach entrance asking for you.”
“Who?”
“He says he represents Ocean Crown Development.”
Victor Hale himself walked onto the patio ten minutes later.
No bodyguards.
No arrogance.
Just a gray suit and a folder.
He looked at Mark first.
Then my parents.
Then me.
“Dr. Mercer, I owe you an apology.”
“For what?”
“For making an offer on your property based on information I now believe was fraudulent.”
Samantha stepped closer.
“What information?”
Victor opened the folder.
A signed letter.
Supposedly from me.
It promised that I would sell the cottage for $1.25 million if Ocean Crown simultaneously paid a $300,000 “consulting fee.”
To whom?
Mercer Family Legacy Trust.
I looked at Mom.
Victor continued.
“That wasn’t the only condition.”
“What else?”
His expression darkened.
“The letter says your children would vacate permanently before closing.”
Eli dropped the broken sailboat again.
May you like
And this time, I saw something in my father’s face I had never seen before.
Fear of his own wife.
