Chapter 2 - Northline
Ethan didn't stay for the explanation.
That surprised everyone.
Especially Diane.
For years, his parents had controlled arguments by forcing him to remain inside them until he apologized.
This time Ethan picked up his document, put it back inside his bag, and left.
Lily followed him outside.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
“Are you really a millionaire?”
Ethan almost laughed.
Of all the questions.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I built a company.”
“What company?”
“Northline.”
Lily stared.
“Northline Systems?”
Ethan nodded.
She knew the name.
Most people in their part of Montana did.
Northline designed industrial monitoring hardware used in mining, logistics, and energy facilities. Ethan had started with maintenance software he wrote after community college, then partnered with two engineers.
He never put his face on the website.
His cofounder handled publicity.
Profits went back into the business.
His parents believed Ethan was a salaried operations manager.
His paycheck—the one Frank constantly demanded pieces of—was deliberately ordinary.
“How much are you worth?”
“That's not important.”
“It feels pretty important.”
“Not tonight.”
He had purchased the Reed property because Northline needed a fabrication facility.
Nothing more.
At least that's what he had believed.
The title report showed Carter Machine & Tool once occupied the site.
Ethan recognized his father's old company name but assumed it was coincidence or an old business Frank had never discussed.
Jonathan Reed meant nothing to him.
Until now.
His phone rang.
Frank.
Ethan ignored it.
Then Diane.
Ignored.
Madison.
Ignored.
Lily's phone rang.
Mom.
Lily declined it.
“I'm coming with you.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you're nineteen and you live there.”
“Exactly.”
Ethan looked back at the house.
“You'll stay with me tonight.”
That was different.
Lily nodded.
At Ethan's apartment, she stared around.
“You're worth millions and you live here?”
“It has underground parking.”
“Ethan.”
“And good laundry machines.”
She almost smiled.
Then someone knocked.
Frank.
Ethan opened the door but didn't invite him in.
Frank looked twenty years older.
“Your mother left.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Then call her.”
“She isn't answering.”
“Neither was I.”
Frank flinched.
Good.
“What do you want?”
“To tell you about Jonathan.”
Ethan stepped aside.
Frank sat at the small kitchen table.
For several seconds he couldn't speak.
Then:
“Jonathan Reed was my best friend.”
They met at nineteen.
Started Carter Machine & Tool together.
Frank handled fabrication.
Jonathan handled engineering and sales.
Diane worked in the office.
Jonathan was brilliant, reckless, charismatic.
And Diane fell in love with him.
While married to Frank.
Ethan felt nothing at first.
Maybe shock had limits.
“When?”
“Twenty-eight years ago.”
“Before I was born.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know?”
“Not then.”
Jonathan disappeared after a car wreck near Bozeman.
His vehicle went through a guardrail and burned.
Police found blood inside but no body.
Diane told Frank Jonathan had confessed the affair shortly before the crash and intended to leave the state.
Months later, Diane discovered she was pregnant.
She insisted Ethan was Frank's.
Frank chose to believe her.
“Did you ever test me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Frank looked ashamed.
“Because I wanted you.”
That landed differently than Ethan expected.
Then Frank said:
“Jonathan owned sixty percent of the company.”
“What happened to it?”
“Your mother showed me documents saying his shares transferred to us after his death.”
“Did they?”
“I thought so.”
Ethan thought of the county document.
“Jonathan wasn't legally declared dead.”
Frank stared.
“What?”
Ethan had checked from his car before leaving the house.
No Montana death certificate existed for Jonathan Reed.
Only a missing-person report closed administratively years later.
Frank's face emptied.
“Diane told me she handled it.”
Of course she did.
Then Lily, sitting across the room, spoke.
“Dad?”
Frank turned.
“What?”
“Mom didn't leave alone.”
She had checked the exterior camera before leaving.
At 8:17 p.m., a dark SUV stopped two houses away.
Diane walked to it.
The driver never got out.
Lily enlarged the image.
A man's hand rested on the steering wheel.
On one finger was a heavy silver ring.
Frank stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
“No.”
“You recognize it?” Ethan asked.
Frank nodded.
Jonathan Reed had worn that ring every day.
Then Ethan's phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A photograph arrived.
Diane, sitting inside the SUV.
Beside a gray-haired man.
Message:
YOU BOUGHT SOMETHING THAT WAS NEVER FOR SALE.
May you like
A second message followed.
ASK YOUR MOTHER WHY SHE LET FRANK RAISE MY SON.
