Chapter 7 - Lily’s Father
Ethan refused to tell Lily based solely on Frank's claim.
He had learned something.
DNA first.
Lily agreed.
Not because she wanted Jonathan as a father.
Because she wanted Frank to stop using uncertainty against her.
Results:
Jonathan Reed was not Lily's biological father.
Frank was.
Ethan stared at Frank.
“You lied.”
Frank looked genuinely confused.
“No.”
“DNA says you're her father.”
Frank sat down.
Diane began crying.
Then she confessed.
Years earlier, during another breakdown in their marriage, Diane told Frank Lily might be Jonathan's.
It wasn't true.
She said it during an argument because she knew it would hurt him.
Frank secretly contacted Jonathan.
That was how Frank learned Jonathan was alive.
Jonathan denied having seen Diane in years.
Frank didn't believe him.
Jonathan offered money—not specifically to hide Lily's paternity, but as repayment for old business debts and in exchange for Frank not exposing his new identity.
Frank accepted.
Over time, Frank rewrote the story in his own mind.
He convinced himself the payments proved Jonathan's guilt.
They didn't.
Ethan looked at Diane.
“You invented another dead father for one son and another false father for your daughter.”
Diane said nothing.
Lily stood.
“I need to leave.”
Ethan followed.
Outside, Lily cried.
“Why do they do this?”
Ethan had no answer.
She wiped her face.
“Am I actually Dad's?”
“Yes.”
“I don't know if that makes me feel better.”
“It doesn't have to.”
Then Lily said something Ethan hadn't expected.
“Madison already knew about Jonathan.”
“What?”
“She found Mom's old emails last year.”
Madison had confronted Diane.
Instead of telling Ethan, she made a deal.
Diane paid Madison's rent.
Trips.
Car.
Credit cards.
The expensive lifestyle Ethan was constantly ordered to support wasn't funded only by Frank.
Diane used Bell Ridge income.
Madison had been blackmailing their mother.
Ethan found Madison at a hotel.
She denied it for six minutes.
Then Ethan placed copies of Diane's transfers on the table.
Madison stopped.
“I wasn't blackmailing her.”
“What would you call it?”
“She owed me.”
“For discovering a secret?”
“For everything.”
Madison's resentment had roots.
Growing up, Diane compared her constantly to Ethan.
Ethan was responsible.
Ethan was hardworking.
Ethan didn't cause trouble.
Madison learned that being difficult got her attention.
Then she found the Jonathan emails.
For the first time, she had power over Diane.
So she used it.
“Did you know Jonathan was Ethan's father?” Lily asked.
Madison nodded.
“For a year.”
Lily stared.
“And you let Dad attack him at dinner?”
“I didn't know Dad would do that.”
“You knew Mom was lying.”
“Yes.”
“And you kept asking Ethan for money.”
Madison's face hardened.
“He has millions!”
Ethan looked at her.
“You didn't know that until dinner.”
She had no answer.
He continued:
“You weren't entitled when you thought I made sixty thousand. You're not entitled now that you know I own more.”
Madison began crying.
For once, Ethan didn't rush to comfort her.
Consequences were not cruelty.
Then Rachel called.
The Reed facility's title history contained another anomaly.
The deed Ethan purchased was legitimate.
But the seller had not disclosed Bell Ridge's mineral interest because someone filed a release two years earlier.
Signature:
Ethan Carter.
Again.
Forged.
Someone had attempted to extinguish Ethan's own mineral rights before he bought the surface property.
Who benefited?
The exploration company that offered Diane $14.6 million.
Company:
Red Basin Energy.
Rachel traced its investors.
One name stood out.
Jonathan Reed.
Ethan called him.
“You tried to buy the mineral rights from Mom.”
Jonathan didn't deny it.
“You knew I owned half.”
“Yes.”
“So you offered her fourteen million for something she could only sell half of.”
“I expected her to get your signature.”
“You expected her to forge it.”
Silence.
“Jonathan?”
“I expected Diane to do what Diane always does.”
That sentence ended any remaining fantasy Ethan might have had about his biological father.
Jonathan wasn't returning to find his son.
He wanted the land.
Why?
Because Red Basin's geologists believed the deposit beneath the Reed facility extended across 2,300 acres.
Potential value wasn't fourteen million.
It could exceed $200 million.
Ethan understood.
His quiet Northline wealth had merely been the smallest fortune at the table.
And everybody except him had known there was something underneath his name.
Then Rachel sent one more document.
Red Basin had a second major investor.
May you like
Frank Carter.
Frank and Jonathan had secretly been business partners again for four years.
