Chapter 7 — The Trust Ethan Inherited
Chapter 7 — The Trust Ethan Inherited
Victor did not sleep that night.
Neither did Lily.
The Blackwood mansion had become a fortress.
Every entrance was guarded.
Every camera was being checked.
Every employee was being questioned.
But Victor knew none of it was enough.
Someone inside the house had stolen the documents from his safe.
Someone had access to the hidden cameras.
Someone had been watching them.
And somewhere beyond the mansion walls, Serena knew exactly what Victor had discovered.
The most disturbing part was not the money.
It was Ethan.
Victor stood in his study before sunrise, staring at the trust agreement.
The document had been created eleven months before Ethan was born.
That alone was strange.
But the more Victor read, the less sense it made.
Ethan had not simply been named as a beneficiary.
He had been given control over something much larger.
Something Victor's father had deliberately hidden.
Lily entered quietly.
“You're still awake.”
Victor looked up.
“Yes.”
She placed a cup of coffee on his desk.
“You should drink something.”
He glanced at it.
“Thank you.”
Lily looked at the document.
“Did you find anything?”
Victor nodded.
“More than I wanted.”
“What does the trust say?”
Victor hesitated.
“Ethan doesn't just inherit money.”
Lily sat down.
“What does he inherit?”
Victor turned the document toward her.
“The Blackwood voting shares.”
She frowned.
“I don't understand.”
“Neither did I at first.”
Victor pointed to a paragraph.
“Most of my family's companies are controlled through voting shares.”
“And Ethan owns them?”
“Not directly.”
“Then how?”
“Through the trust.”
Lily looked at the page.
Victor continued.
“The trust owns the shares.”
“And Ethan is the beneficiary.”
“Yes.”
“What happens when he turns eighteen?”
“He gains control.”
Lily stared at him.
“Of everything?”
“Almost everything.”
She was silent.
Then asked:
“And Serena?”
Victor's expression hardened.
“She becomes temporary trustee if I'm incapacitated.”
Lily's eyes widened.
“So she could control the companies.”
“Exactly.”
“Until Ethan becomes an adult.”
Victor nodded.
“Unless she can prove he is incapable of managing the inheritance.”
Lily suddenly understood.
“That was the medical records.”
Victor looked at her.
“Yes.”
“The bruises.”
“Yes.”
“The false reports.”
“Yes.”
“Everything was designed to make Ethan look unstable.”
Victor's jaw tightened.
“So Serena could remain in control.”
Lily looked at the sleeping monitor from the nursery.
“And if Ethan died?”
Victor's voice became colder.
“She would receive a separate inheritance.”
Silence.
Lily stared at him.
“How much?”
Victor looked down.
“Enough to make murder worth considering.”
At eight in the morning, Daniel arrived.
He carried a thick leather case.
Victor looked at him.
“What did you find?”
Daniel placed several documents on the desk.
“Your father's original trust agreement.”
Victor frowned.
“I already have it.”
“No.”
Daniel opened the first document.
“This is the amended version.”
Victor stared.
“Amended?”
“Yes.”
“Who amended it?”
Daniel pointed to the signature.
“Your father.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“Two days before the supposed accident that killed him.”
Lily stepped closer.
“What's different?”
Daniel opened another page.
“The original trust named Victor as sole successor.”
Victor froze.
“That isn't possible.”
“It is.”
Daniel showed him the original.
“Your father changed it.”
Victor read the amendment.
The beneficiary structure had been rewritten.
Instead of Victor inheriting the controlling shares directly, they were transferred into a protective trust.
The ultimate beneficiary was:
Ethan Alexander Blackwood.
Victor stared at his son's name.
“Why?”
Daniel shook his head.
“That's what we're trying to determine.”
Victor looked at the final clause.
There was another condition.
He read it twice.
Then his expression changed.
“What?”
Lily asked.
Victor didn't answer.
Daniel looked over.
“You found it.”
“What does it say?”
Victor finally spoke.
“If Ethan is removed from Victor's custody by court order, the trust automatically becomes independent.”
Lily frowned.
“Independent from whom?”
Victor looked at her.
“Everyone.”
“Even Serena?”
“Yes.”
“Then why would she want custody?”
“Because the next clause gives the temporary trustee authority to challenge the court order.”
Lily stared.
“So if Serena gets Ethan…”
“She can keep fighting until she controls the trust.”
“And if she loses?”
Victor looked at the document.
“She loses everything.”
Lily's expression hardened.
“Then she has a reason to destroy you.”
Victor nodded.
“She has a reason to destroy all of us.”
A few hours later, Victor met with a specialist in trust law.
Her name was Margaret Hale.
She had handled some of the Blackwood family's most complicated assets.
She entered the room carrying a single folder.
“You need to understand something,” she said.
Victor looked at her.
“What?”
“Your father designed this trust to survive a war.”
Victor frowned.
“A war?”
“Not a literal one.”
Margaret opened the folder.
“A legal war.”
She pointed to several clauses.
“He expected people to challenge Ethan's inheritance.”
“Why?”
“Because your father knew someone would eventually try to take control.”
Victor stared.
“Who?”
Margaret looked at him.
“Anyone who could benefit from Ethan losing it.”
Lily felt a chill.
Margaret continued.
“He created conditions that make the trust almost impossible to break.”
Victor asked:
“Almost?”
“Yes.”
“What can break it?”
Margaret hesitated.
“Ethan's consent.”
Victor frowned.
“He's fourteen months old.”
“Exactly.”
“So how?”
“He cannot give consent now.”
Margaret pointed to another paragraph.
“But someone can give it on his behalf.”
Victor's expression darkened.
“Who?”
“The guardian.”
Lily looked at Victor.
“And Serena was trying to become guardian.”
Margaret nodded.
“Which means she could potentially authorize changes to the trust.”
Victor stood.
“She could sell the company.”
“No.”
Margaret shook her head.
“She couldn't sell everything.”
“But she could move assets.”
“Yes.”
“Could she transfer the voting shares?”
“Not directly.”
“Then what could she do?”
Margaret looked at him.
“She could make the trust appear insolvent.”
Victor went still.
“How?”
“Debt.”
Margaret opened another file.
“Loans against assets.”
“Shell companies.”
“Intercompany transfers.”
“False liabilities.”
Victor stared.
“That explains the missing money.”
Margaret nodded.
“Your father's money wasn't disappearing.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“It was being repositioned.”
“Exactly.”
“By Serena?”
“Possibly.”
“Or my father.”
Margaret closed the file.
“Probably both.”
That afternoon, Lily remembered something else.
She had been walking past the library when Serena had entered.
Serena had been furious.
She had spoken to someone on the phone.
Lily had hidden behind a curtain.
“I can't do it.”
A man's voice answered.
“You will.”
“He won't sign.”
“Then make him sign.”
“He's suspicious.”
“Then use the child.”
Lily remembered Serena's response.
“What if the nanny talks?”
The man had laughed.
“She won't.”
“Why?”
“Because nobody believes women like her.”
Lily had been terrified.
But the sentence that followed had stayed with her.
“She doesn't know what the child is worth.”
Now Lily finally understood.
She looked at Victor.
“They knew.”
Victor turned.
“Knew what?”
“They knew Ethan was valuable.”
“How?”
“Serena said something.”
“What?”
“She said I didn't know what Ethan was worth.”
Victor's expression hardened.
“She wasn't talking about money.”
“No.”
Lily shook her head.
“She was talking about the trust.”
That evening, Victor stood beside Ethan's crib.
His son slept peacefully.
One tiny hand rested beside his cheek.
Victor touched his hair.
“Your grandfather built all of this for you.”
Lily stood behind him.
“But he also built a trap.”
Victor nodded.
“What happens if we refuse the trust?”
Lily asked.
Victor looked at her.
“Ethan would lose everything.”
“Would that make him safer?”
Victor hesitated.
“Maybe.”
“But then Serena wins.”
“Yes.”
“And your father's plan continues.”
Victor turned.
“What if the trust itself is the reason everyone is coming after Ethan?”
Lily's voice was quiet.
“Then maybe Ethan doesn't need the fortune.”
Victor looked back at his son.
For the first time, he considered the possibility.
He had spent his entire life protecting the Blackwood empire.
Maybe that was the problem.
Maybe the empire wasn't protecting his family.
Maybe it was destroying it.
At midnight, a message arrived.
Victor's phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
You have until tomorrow.
Another message followed.
Marry Serena.
Victor stared.
Then another.
Or the trust changes hands.
Lily looked at him.
“What does it say?”
Victor showed her.
Her face went pale.
“She's threatening you with the trust.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
“What?”
“Someone else is.”
He zoomed in on the message.
The number wasn't Serena's.
“Then who?”
Victor didn't know.
But one detail caught his attention.
The messages had been sent from inside the mansion.
His own Wi-Fi network.
Someone was physically inside the house.
Right now.
Victor immediately called security.
“Lock down every floor.”
Alarms sounded.
Doors closed.
Guards moved through the corridors.
Lily held Ethan.
Victor searched the study.
Nothing.
The library.
Nothing.
The basement.
Nothing.
Then he remembered the hidden camera.
He ran to the security room.
The monitor showed the nursery.
Lily was inside.
Ethan was in her arms.
Then the image flickered.
A figure appeared behind her.
Lily didn't see him.
Victor's heart stopped.
“Lily!”
She turned.
The figure grabbed her.
She screamed.
Victor sprinted toward the nursery.
But before he reached it—
the lights went out.
The monitor went black.
Then one final message appeared on the screen.
The trust belongs to Ethan.
A second line appeared beneath it.
But Ethan belongs to us.
Victor reached the nursery.
The door was locked.
He slammed his shoulder against it.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The door finally broke.
Lily was on the floor.
Ethan was gone.
Victor froze.
“No.”
Lily looked up, terrified.
“Victor…”
He rushed toward her.
“Where is Ethan?”
“I—I don't know.”
Victor's face went white.
Then he heard something.
A faint sound from the hallway.
A baby's cry.
Victor ran.
The cry became louder.
At the end of the corridor, a door slammed.
Victor reached it.
Opened it.
Empty.
Only a small white blanket remained on the floor.
And pinned to it was a note.
Victor picked it up.
Three words.
Ask your aunt.
He turned.
Evelyn stood at the other end of the hallway.
Her face was pale.
She whispered:
“Victor…”
He stared at her.
“Where is my son?”
Evelyn began crying.
“I don't know.”
Victor walked toward her.
“Then why does someone keep telling me to ask you?”
She shook her head.
“I didn't take him.”
“Who did?”
Evelyn looked toward the dark staircase.
Then whispered:
“The woman you thought was dead.”
Victor froze.
“Anna?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Your sister is alive.”
And somewhere beyond the mansion, a car disappeared into the night.
Inside it, a woman held fourteen-month-old Ethan against her chest.
She kissed his forehead.
And whispered:
“I'm sorry, little one.”
Then she looked toward the rearview mirror.
May you like
Her eyes were full of tears.
“Your father was never supposed to find you.”
