Chapter 13 - Trent
Trent Huxley laughed when Ethan told him.
Not because it was funny.
Because he thought the family had finally become absurd enough to require humor.
“My father was William Huxley.”
“Maybe.”
“Dad raised me.”
“That isn't in question.”
William Huxley had died nine years earlier.
Trent adored him.
He had no interest in replacing him.
Still, he agreed to DNA testing because Red Basin inheritance claims could depend on the truth.
Result:
Jonathan Reed was not Trent's biological father.
Diane's information was wrong.
Again.
But Trent was biologically related to Ethan.
More distantly.
How?
Further testing showed Trent and Ethan were maternal-side relatives through the Bells.
That made no sense because Trent's mother Rebecca was Frank's sister, not Diane's.
Unless Rebecca wasn't Frank's biological sister.
Rebecca's old records revealed she had been adopted informally by the Carter family at age two.
Her biological mother:
Margaret Bell.
Arthur Bell's younger sister.
Rebecca was Diane's biological cousin.
That made Trent part of the Bell family through his mother.
No secret Jonathan paternity required.
Diane had seen a record listing J. Reed as “guardian contact” and assumed father.
Another lesson.
Documents could mislead without being forged.
Jonathan had helped Rebecca leave Montana after her fight with Frank.
He served as emergency contact.
That was all.
Ethan almost felt relieved.
Not every line ended in another hidden child.
Then Trent produced something more important.
Rebecca's final journal.
She had spent years investigating Arthur.
One entry mentioned Ethan specifically:
Diane thinks Ethan's wealth will save him.
It won't.
He needs to know why Arthur selected him.
Selected him for what?
Bell Ridge?
No.
Rebecca wrote about an entity called Carter Continuity Trust.
Rachel searched.
Nothing public.
Then Malcolm recognized the name.
Arthur created it after Jonathan disappeared.
Purpose:
Keep Carter Machine & Tool operating if Frank became unable to run it.
Beneficiary wasn't Frank.
It was Ethan.
Why Ethan?
He was a baby.
Arthur apparently believed Frank would eventually destroy the company through anger and debt.
He wanted Ethan to inherit it at thirty.
But Carter Machine & Tool no longer existed.
It dissolved eighteen years ago.
So trust worthless?
Not quite.
Before dissolution, several patents and industrial parcels were transferred to a successor entity.
Northstar Fabrication.
Northstar later became part of—
Northline's largest supplier.
Ethan stared at Rachel.
“Which supplier?”
Mercer Industrial.
The company Northline had been negotiating to acquire for $31 million.
Carter Continuity Trust owned forty-two percent.
And Ethan was beneficiary at age thirty.
He was three years away from receiving a major stake in a company he was preparing to buy with his own money.
Who controlled the trust now?
Trustee:
Frank Carter.
Frank looked stunned.
“I don't.”
Rachel checked.
The trustee address was Frank's.
Tax documents used his Social Security number.
But distributions went elsewhere.
Someone had been impersonating Frank in trust administration for years.
Who?
The contact email belonged to:
fc_admin@bellridge...
Claire?
No.
Forensic records eventually pointed to Arthur's old accountant.
Samuel Pike.
Still alive.
Eighty-one.
Living in Arizona.
Samuel agreed to speak.
Arthur instructed him decades earlier to administer the trust under Frank's nominal trusteeship because Arthur didn't trust Frank.
“That is legally insane,” Rachel said.
Samuel nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why continue?”
“Because I promised Arthur.”
Another promise overriding law.
Samuel had reinvested proceeds.
The trust was now worth approximately $18 million.
Ethan didn't celebrate.
“Does any of that money belong to someone else?”
Samuel blinked.
That was not the question he expected.
Audit began.
Some assets were legitimate.
Some traced back to Carter Machine & Tool.
Some originated from Jonathan's abandoned shares.
Some might belong to creditors.
Some to Frank.
Some to Jonathan.
Some to Ethan.
It would take months to untangle.
Ethan refused distribution until it was reviewed.
Madison thought he was insane.
“You might have eighteen million dollars.”
“I might have eighteen million dollars containing someone else's money.”
“So?”
Ethan stared at her.
Madison stopped.
Then quietly:
“Right.”
She was changing too.
Slowly.
Then Samuel Pike asked Ethan:
“Did Arthur's letter mention your other account?”
“What other account?”
Samuel frowned.
“Northline.”
“My company?”
“No.”
Arthur had created an account called NORTH LINE in 1998.
Years before Ethan founded Northline Systems.
Ethan had chosen his company name because he liked the image of moving forward.
At least he thought he had.
Then he remembered.
As a child, Arthur used to take him hiking.
Whenever Ethan became lost, Arthur said:
“Find north. Then find your line home.”
Northline.
The name wasn't random.
It came from Arthur.
Samuel opened the old NORTH LINE file.
Beneficiary:
Ethan Carter.
Purpose:
For the day the boy builds something nobody can take from him.
Balance:
$0.
Ethan smiled.
Arthur hadn't secretly funded him.
The account was symbolic.
Then Samuel turned the page.
There had been one deposit.
$10,000.
Withdrawn when Ethan was seventeen.
Authorized by:
Frank Carter.
Ethan knew before Samuel spoke.
His teenage prototypes.
Frank hadn't merely sold them.
He had emptied the one account Arthur created specifically for Ethan's future.
Frank sat silent.
Then whispered:
“I thought I was saving the family.”
May you like
Ethan answered:
“You keep saying family when you mean yourself.”
