Chapter 7 - The TrustRebecca Sloan arrived at the mansion on Friday afternoon carrying two leather folders.
Daniel's estate attorney had known Noah since childhood.
She looked uncomfortable when she saw him.
“Hello, Noah.”
“Hi.”
Claire appeared behind him.
“Daniel is in the study.”
Rebecca nodded.
Before she walked away, Noah said, “Am I being removed from Dad's will?”
Rebecca stopped.
Claire immediately answered.
“This is not the time.”
Noah ignored her.
“Rebecca?”
The attorney chose her words carefully.
“I represent your father.”
“So that's a yes.”
“It means I can't discuss confidential documents with you.”
Claire placed a hand on Noah's shoulder.
He stepped away.
Rebecca noticed.
Then continued toward the study.
Noah waited upstairs.
Thirty minutes later voices rose below.
Daniel.
Rebecca.
Claire.
Noah moved quietly toward the staircase.
Rebecca's voice carried through the half-open study door.
“I will not draft this provision.”
Claire responded.
“Why?”
“Because it gives you unrestricted authority over distributions intended for Noah.”
“Only if Daniel becomes incapacitated.”
“And Daniel is forty-two years old and healthy.”
Daniel said, “Rebecca.”
Rebecca continued.
“You asked for my legal opinion.”
Claire's voice sharpened.
“Noah has become unstable.”
“That isn't a legal conclusion.”
“He attacked me.”
Silence.
Noah's hand tightened around the railing.
There it was.
For the first time Claire said it directly.
Rebecca asked, “Did you report an assault?”
“No.”
“Did you seek medical treatment?”
“No.”
“Were there witnesses?”
Claire hesitated.
“Daniel saw the aftermath.”
Rebecca said, “Then don't ask me to treat an allegation as an established fact.”
Noah almost smiled.
Daniel spoke.
“What are you recommending?”
“That you make no major estate changes while your family is in crisis.”
Claire answered, “Convenient.”
Rebecca's tone cooled.
“Excuse me?”
“You've always favored Noah.”
“I represented Leah before she died.”
The name struck Noah.
His mother.
The room became quiet.
Rebecca continued.
“Leah's separate trust is not yours to modify, Daniel.”
Claire asked, “What trust?”
Another silence.
Noah leaned closer.
Daniel said, “Rebecca.”
But it was too late.
Claire had heard.
“What trust?”
Rebecca answered carefully.
“Leah established an irrevocable trust funded with her ownership interest in Reed Horizon.”
Noah's heart stopped.
His mother had owned part of the company.
Claire's voice changed.
“How much?”
“That is confidential.”
Claire looked toward Daniel.
“You never told me.”
“It wasn't relevant.”
“You're my husband.”
“It belongs to Noah.”
Noah stepped into the doorway.
Everyone turned.
“How much?”
Daniel looked furious.
“You were listening.”
“How much did Mom leave me?”
Rebecca glanced at Daniel.
Daniel sat heavily behind the desk.
“Twenty-two percent.”
Noah stared.
Claire didn't move.
Twenty-two percent of Reed Horizon was worth tens of millions.
Maybe more.
Noah finally understood why everyone had been so careful around the estate documents.
“When do I get it?”
“At eighteen,” Daniel said.
“Control?”
Rebecca answered.
“The shares are held in trust until then. Your father is trustee.”
“And after eighteen?”
“You become the voting owner, subject to certain restrictions until twenty-five.”
Claire looked pale.
Noah turned toward her.
Five months.
Her words from the pantry returned.
The documents need to be signed before his birthday.
Noah looked at Rebecca.
“Can Dad take the shares away?”
“No.”
“Can Claire?”
“No.”
Claire recovered.
“This is ridiculous.”
Rebecca remained calm.
“The trust is irrevocable.”
Claire looked at Daniel.
“So what exactly are we doing here?”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“If Noah already controls twenty-two percent, why are we rewriting your estate?”
Nobody answered.
Because suddenly the question exposed something.
Claire had been pushing Daniel to change his own holdings.
Daniel personally owned another thirty-one percent of Reed Horizon.
If he died, much of that would go to Noah under his existing estate plan.
Together, Noah could someday control more than half the company.
Unless Daniel changed the plan.
Claire wanted those shares redirected.
Noah stared at her.
“You need Dad to remove me before I turn eighteen.”
Claire laughed.
“That makes no sense.”
“It makes perfect sense.”
Daniel stood.
“Enough.”
Noah pointed toward Claire.
“She isn't trying to protect you from me.”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“She is trying to protect herself from me.”
Rebecca looked between them.
Then she quietly said something nobody expected.
“Daniel, we need to discuss the company accounts.”
Claire turned.
Daniel frowned.
“What company accounts?”
Rebecca opened her second folder.
“I received a confidential inquiry this morning regarding payments to a vendor called Cedar Ridge Consulting.”
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Claire stopped breathing.
And Noah knew the war had finally moved beyond his word against hers.
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