“A third mortgage. He told me at the time that the bank was offering favorable terms.” Martin’s jaw clenched, and anger flared in his eyes. “The terms were not favorable. The interest rate is well above the market. The personal guarantee is unusually heavy. The repayment schedule front-loads almost all the principal into the first five years. It was structured for someone who could afford to make very large monthly payments, and your uncle could not afford them then, and he certainly cannot afford them now.”
Linda’s stomach turned slow and cold. “Why would the bank give him terms like that?”
“Because the manager at the local branch is not the man your uncle thinks he is,” Martin answered. “I had my reservations about him from the first conversation he and your uncle had together. He’s the sort who recognizes a desperate client and structures the deal to favor the bank as heavily as he can within the law. He earns a percentage commission on every loan he closes. I’m assembling a complaint to take to the regional office. I have not had the time to file it yet.”
“Then file it, Martin.” Linda’s own anger ignited. How dare someone take advantage of her uncle like that?
“I will. The day this hotel is back on its feet, I will.” Martin assured her. “Right now, I don’t want to do anything that could jeopardize our precarious position.”
“And the suppliers?” Linda asked him. “How far behind are we with them? Do you know?”
“Two months behind on the linen company. Three months behind on the food supplier. Six weeks behind on the cleaning chemicals. We’re still in the window where they will keepdelivering. Past that, and we start running short on basics, which is not a window we want to enter.” Martin gave her a quick rundown of the situation.
Linda pressed both hands flat to her cheeks. “And the staff?”
“The staff are being paid out of Tom and Maggie’s pockets at this point. They have been for the better part of a year. Both of them have insisted several times that they consider it a loan to the hotel, not a gift. I have been keeping that ledger separately. Your uncle does not know.” Martin pursed his lips. “And honestly. I don’t think Maggie and Tom are logging what they’re actually paying.”
Her eyes filled, and she did not bother to wipe them. “And now we have the added problem with the pool,” she sighed.
“And now the pool.” Martin nodded.
There was a long quiet.
“Martin,” Linda ventured. “Do you think it’s salvageable?”
“Everything is salvageable. But this is going to require a great deal of capital that your uncle does not have and cannot raise on his own,” Martin warned her.
“Give me a plan that’s workable. A real one. One that pulls us out of this. Can you do that?” Linda asked him.
“I can,” Martin answered. “I’ve been working on one quietly for the last eighteen months.”
She lifted her head.”You have?”
“I have. So have Tom and Maggie. The three of us have been telling your uncle for two years that we will put up the capital. Let us invest in the hotel. Let us own a small piece of it. Bring intwo or three trusted partners who love this town and want this hotel to survive,” Martin told her.
“And what did he say?” Linda watched Martin.
“That he’d think about it,” Martin told her.
“And let me guess, he’s still thinking about it.” Linda shook her head in frustration.”Why does he have to be so darn stubborn?”
“Because it isn’t just a hotel to him. It’s your grandfather’s hotel. It’s his late brother’s legacy. It’s what he intends to leave to you and Michael, and to Sophia and Jake and Lily and the rest. He will not have his family name on a property he doesn’t own outright. He believes accepting investment would mean breaking that promise,” Martin explained to her.
“It would not.” Linda’s brow furrowed. “It would just strengthen it.”
“I know that. But George doesn’t see it that way.” Martin gave her a small smile.
“Maggie actually has the best plan that would not touch the hotel,” Martin told her. “Just part of the grounds.”
“Oh?” Linda looked at him curiously. “She never said anything to me.”
“Then I’m probably stepping over an invisible boundary.” Martin gave a soft snort.
“You’ve never let an invisible boundary stop you before, Martin. Tell me.” Linda linked her fingers in front of her.
He smiled at that. “Maggie wants to sell the building her boutique is in. She owns it outright. Her grandfather left it to her. The land alone is worth a substantial sum, and the buildinghas been beautifully maintained. She has had two unsolicited offers in the last year that would clear all her debts and leave her with enough capital to invest in something else. She’s been waiting for the divorce to finalize before she sells. She doesn’t want her ex anywhere near the proceeds.”
“That idiot attorney of hers is dragging it out on purpose.” Linda’s anger flared again.
