Chapter 7 - The Trustee Brielle NeededNathan looked sick.
“I didn't know.”
Silas laughed.
“You expect anyone to believe that?”
“I knew I was alternate trustee. I didn't know Brielle planned to remove you.”
Maddox stared.
“You knew you could control Ivy's shares.”
“Only if Silas became unable to serve.”
“And you were sleeping with Brielle.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Do you understand how that sounds?”
“Yes.”
Brielle interrupted.
“This was not some master plan.”
Silas turned to her.
“You literally fabricated an assault against me.”
“I panicked.”
“Because if Maddox believed you, what happens next?”
She said nothing.
Silas continued.
“He attacks me. Maybe police come. Maybe you file a report. Maybe you seek a protective order.”
Brielle looked away.
“Company board puts me on leave.”
No answer.
“Trust counsel gets notified.”
Silence.
“Nathan becomes temporary trustee.”
Maddox stared at his wife.
“Was that the plan?”
“No.”
Silas's voice hardened.
“Then why did you tell me this morning that I could ‘disappear’?”
“I meant from the company.”
“How?”
Brielle began crying again.
Maddox no longer reacted automatically.
That alone seemed to hurt her.
“Answer.”
She looked at him.
“I wanted you to stop trusting him.”
“Why?”
“Because he always gets to be the good brother.”
Silas stared.
“This has nothing to do with—”
“It has everything to do with you!”
Her anger exploded.
“You walk into our marriage whenever you want. Maddox takes your calls at midnight. You disagree with me and suddenly I'm the outsider.”
Maddox frowned.
“Silas barely comes here.”
“Because he doesn't have to!”
The words surprised everyone.
Brielle stood.
“He doesn't need to compete. He was born Mercer.”
Maddox stared at her.
“So this is about my name?”
“It's about everything.”
She pointed toward the room.
“This house belonged to your grandmother.”
“It belongs to us.”
“No. It belongs to a family trust.”
Maddox said nothing.
She was right.
“The company belongs to you and Silas.”
“Yes.”
“Ivy's future belongs to another trust I didn't even know existed.”
“It belongs to Ivy.”
“Exactly.”
Her voice cracked.
“I have spent six years inside a life where everything around me looks like mine until you read the paperwork.”
Maddox felt a complicated mix of anger and understanding.
Not sympathy for what she had done.
Understanding of the wound she had allowed to become entitlement.
“You signed a prenup.”
“Yes.”
“With your own lawyer.”
“Yes.”
“You knew the company was separate property.”
“I didn't know how completely separate I would feel.”
Silas said quietly:
“You could have told him.”
Brielle laughed.
“And say what? I'm jealous of my three-year-old?”
Maddox's face hardened.
“Don't put this on Ivy.”
“I am not.”
“You just did.”
Brielle closed her eyes.
Nathan spoke.
“Brielle wanted independent money.”
Maddox looked at him.
“So you stole it.”
“I helped structure Hartwell.”
“Why?”
Nathan's shame deepened.
“Because I believed the company owed me.”
Silas laughed.
“Finally.”
Nathan had worked for Mercer Development for fourteen years.
Everett had recruited him from accounting school.
Maddox had promoted him to CFO.
He earned seven figures in strong years.
Apparently that was not enough.
Nathan continued.
“Everett promised me equity.”
Maddox frowned.
“When?”
“Before he died.”
“Did he put it in writing?”
“No.”
“So my father allegedly promised you millions, told nobody, wrote nothing, and then died.”
Nathan's face hardened.
“You know how he was.”
Silas nodded reluctantly.
Everett did make verbal promises.
Sometimes too many.
“How much equity?” Maddox asked.
“Five percent.”
Silas did the math.
Current value: perhaps twelve million dollars.
“You believed Hartwell was repayment?”
“Not exactly.”
“What exactly?”
Nathan looked at Brielle.
She answered.
“We were going to invest the money.”
“In what?”
“Blue Hollow.”
Maddox stared.
“The company Dad secretly created.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it owns something.”
Silas leaned forward.
“What?”
Brielle hesitated.
Nathan answered.
“Land.”
“Where?”
“Outside Franklin.”
Silas's face changed.
He knew the area.
Mercer Development had tried to acquire a 120-acre tract outside Franklin for years.
Owners refused to sell.
It sat directly beside a planned highway interchange.
If development approvals changed, the property could be worth over fifty million dollars.
“Blue Hollow owns that?”
Nathan nodded.
“Forty acres in the middle.”
Maddox felt cold.
Their father had secretly acquired the most valuable portion years before dying.
“Why wasn't it in the estate?”
“Because ownership was hidden through Blue Hollow's trust.”
“Who controls the trust?”
Nathan looked at Brielle.
She shook her head.
“Don't.”
Maddox stepped closer.
“Who?”
Nathan swallowed.
“Eleanor.”
Their mother.
For the third time that day, Maddox's understanding of his family changed.
May you like
Eleanor had not merely known about Everett's secret company.
She controlled it.
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