Chapter 13 - What Lydia Sold
“I needed Graham to think I was afraid.”
Claire stared at her mother.
“You leaked Dad’s settlement?”
“Yes.”
“You helped them call him guilty again.”
“For one day.”
“You had no right.”
Lydia’s voice rose.
“I had every right. I lived this too.”
Claire recoiled.
Lydia immediately regretted it.
But continued.
“Samuel was not the only person Edward threatened.”
“You should have told me.”
“You should have trusted me.”
Claire laughed in disbelief.
“Trust you? You hid Dad’s illness. You knew about the settlement. Now you leaked it.”
Marcus quietly left the room.
This fight belonged to them.
Lydia placed her phone on the table.
“I met Graham yesterday.”
Claire froze.
“What?”
“He contacted me after the article.”
“Why?”
“Because he thought I was turning against you.”
Lydia played a recording.
Graham’s voice:
“You always understood reality better than Samuel.”
Lydia replied, “I want this finished.”
“What does Claire want?”
“The vineyard.”
“She will get nothing.”
“What if I can convince her to settle?”
A pause.
Then Graham:
“Get her to withdraw the ownership petition and I will transfer three million into an account for you.”
Claire stared.
Lydia stopped the recording.
“He tried to bribe me.”
“You set him up.”
“Yes.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
Claire began crying from anger rather than grief.
“You all keep deciding what I can handle.”
Lydia looked down.
“I’m sorry.”
“No. You were effective.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
Claire picked up her coat.
“Which is exactly what every Bellamy says.”
She left.
For two days she spoke to nobody except Naomi.
Not Marcus.
Not Lydia.
Not Vivian.
She prepared for the preliminary ownership hearing.
Marcus testified first.
Naomi asked, “Did you witness Samuel Bellamy execute the 1994 waiver?”
“No.”
“Did you authorize anyone to place your signature on it?”
“No.”
“Did you benefit from the transfer?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Samuel’s twenty thousand shares were transferred to my father and later passed to me.”
“Did you discover irregularities before Claire Bennett confronted you?”
Marcus paused.
“Yes.”
Graham’s replacement counsel looked surprised.
Naomi asked, “When?”
“1997 and 1998.”
“What did you do?”
“I asked my father and Graham Voss.”
“What did they tell you?”
“That records were outdated.”
“Did you investigate independently?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Marcus looked toward Claire.
“Because the answer I was given was convenient.”
Claire’s face changed.
Naomi asked, “Do you currently claim Samuel’s shares as your own?”
Marcus swallowed.
“Not if the court determines the transfer was fraudulent.”
“You understand that could cost you twenty percent of Bellamy Estate?”
“Yes.”
“And potentially control?”
“Yes.”
“Why take that position?”
Marcus looked toward the judge.
“Because my name was used to take those shares.”
He paused.
“I would prefer not to use my name to keep them.”
Claire looked down.
Graham’s lawyers attacked him.
They argued Marcus’s current testimony was self-serving because cooperation with Claire might preserve the estate against Caskridge.
But the forensic evidence was strong.
The judge issued an interim order recognizing a substantial likelihood that Samuel’s share transfer was invalid.
Claire’s estate claim received temporary voting rights over the disputed twenty percent pending final judgment.
Power shifted instantly.
Marcus held eighty percent on paper but twenty was now contested.
He voluntarily abstained from voting those shares.
That left his uncontested stake at eighty? Wait original Marcus 20 + inherited Edward 60 + stolen Samuel 20 =100. If contested 20, uncontested 80. Yes.
Claire controlled temporary vote on 20.
At the next board meeting, she used it.
Her first vote was against Marcus.
She supported removing Adrian as interim CEO.
Adrian stared at her.
“You promised nothing.”
“I promised nothing.”
Marcus voted the same way.
Adrian’s face collapsed.
His father and cousin had joined against him.
Helen Chu became temporary CEO.
Adrian was placed on administrative leave pending investigation of the Caskridge conflict.
Vivian left the meeting in tears.
Marcus followed her.
“You voted against our son.”
“Yes.”
“You humiliated him.”
“He helped Graham.”
“He was scared.”
“So was Samuel.”
Vivian stopped.
“Do not use your brother to justify hurting Adrian.”
Marcus stared.
“I’m trying to prevent him from becoming us.”
“You may lose him anyway.”
That night Adrian moved out of the guest house.
He told Natalie he needed space.
Marcus called.
No answer.
Claire learned about it and felt no satisfaction.
Her victory had broken another part of the family.
Then Naomi called.
“The judge scheduled the Caskridge receivership hearing.”
“When?”
“Forty-eight hours.”
“Good.”
“No.”
Naomi sounded worried.
“Caskridge filed a cross-default notice.”
“What does that mean?”
“They found another Bellamy debt.”
“How much?”
“Twenty-one million.”
Claire stared.
“I thought total secured debt was fourteen.”
“This is older.”
“Who signed it?”
Naomi hesitated.
“Edward Bellamy.”
Marcus was summoned.
He read the note.
Dated 2007.
One year before Edward died.
Lender: Marrow Creek Holdings.
Principal: $21 million.
Collateral: three hundred acres of Bellamy vineyard land.
Marcus looked at Eleanor.
“Did you know?”
His mother began to cry.
Claire opened Edward’s black ledger.
Marrow Creek.
The old shell entity.
Then she found the ownership notation.
Not Edward.
Not Graham.
E.B. — beneficial.
May you like
Everyone looked at Eleanor Bellamy.
The matriarch whispered, “That land is mine.”
