Chapter 8 - What Gregory Saw at the Lake)
Gregory Reed was alive.
Barely.
A fisherman found him before sunrise in an abandoned maintenance shed half a mile from Lake Mercer.
He had been beaten and left unconscious.
By 7:10 a.m., he was undergoing surgery.
Mason remained missing.
Police found tire tracks near the shed belonging to a black SUV registered to one of Carter Development's security subsidiaries.
Robert denied knowledge.
His attorneys arrived before detectives finished asking questions.
By morning the story began appearing online.
Prominent Developer Questioned After Family Incident.
Robert's public relations team released a statement describing the matter as a private dispute involving "a troubled former family member."
Laura watched the report from Emily's hospital room.
"He'll destroy me publicly before the police can build the case."
Ethan had seen his father do it to competitors.
Former employees.
Journalists.
Robert rarely threatened people directly.
He created doubt around them until nobody believed anything they said.
At 9:30, Ethan received an email from the Carter Development board.
Emergency meeting.
His temporary suspension was being considered due to "personal instability affecting company operations."
Robert was attacking him too.
Emily said, "Don't go."
"I have to."
"Why?"
"Because if he removes me from the company, he'll destroy records."
Ruiz agreed.
"Go, but don't confront him alone."
Laura gave Ethan a name before he left.
Margaret Sloan.
"Who's that?"
"Your grandfather's old attorney."
"Still alive?"
"Yes."
"Why does she matter?"
"Because she wrote the original Carter trust."
Ethan found Margaret at a retirement community thirty minutes outside the city.
She was eighty-six and sharper than anyone he had met all week.
When he told her his name, she laughed without humor.
"I wondered how long Robert could keep the ceiling from collapsing."
Ethan sat across from her.
"You knew?"
"I knew enough to be frightened."
"About Daniel?"
"No."
"About me?"
"Yes."
She opened a locked drawer.
Inside were copies of documents.
"Your grandfather never trusted Robert."
"So I've heard."
"He trusted Thomas Bennett."
Ethan leaned forward.
"My biological father?"
"Thomas was the only man willing to tell him the truth about the company."
Margaret explained that Ethan's grandfather discovered portions of the early fraud shortly before his death.
He rewrote the Carter trust.
Robert could operate the business.
But major assets would eventually pass to his biological children.
"He expected you to be Robert's child," Margaret said.
"But I wasn't."
"No."
"Did my grandfather know?"
"He discovered it before he died."
Ethan frowned.
"Then why did the trust include me?"
"It didn't."
Margaret placed a copy in front of him.
Robert Carter's biological descendants.
Those words appeared repeatedly.
"Robert forged later amendments," Margaret said.
"Why didn't you expose him?"
"I tried."
"What happened?"
"My husband was arrested for tax fraud."
Ethan understood.
Robert.
"He threatened your family."
Margaret nodded.
"I retired."
"What about Thomas's trust?"
"Different matter."
Margaret removed another file.
"Thomas placed the land into trust for you. Robert became temporary administrator after Thomas died because he claimed your mother was incapable of managing the estate."
Laura had been twenty-three.
Pregnant.
Recently widowed.
"How long was temporary?"
"Until your twenty-first birthday."
Ethan stared.
"I never received control."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because the legal identity of Ethan Bennett effectively disappeared."
Ethan felt cold.
Margaret continued.
"Robert registered you in several systems as Ethan Carter. By the time you turned twenty-one, his attorneys argued that Thomas Bennett's heir could not be located."
"That's insane."
"It worked."
"Who owns the trust now?"
"Technically?"
She smiled faintly.
"You."
Ethan stared.
"And every transaction Robert made without your authorization may be challengeable."
The scale became staggering.
Robert had used Ethan's inheritance to create an empire, then hidden Ethan's legal identity so Ethan could never reclaim it.
"What happens when my son is born?"
"Your rights don't disappear. But your son becomes a direct Bennett descendant."
"Would Robert gain anything from Emily signing away the baby's future interest?"
"He might gain leverage."
Margaret hesitated.
"Unless there is another clause."
"What clause?"
"Thomas was paranoid by the end."
"About Robert?"
"Yes."
She searched the old documents.
"I remember something concerning grandchildren."
They found it on page forty-three.
Upon the birth of the first direct descendant of Ethan Thomas Bennett, an independent forensic accounting shall be initiated regarding all trust-controlled holdings since 2009.
Ethan stared.
"2009."
The year Laura disappeared.
Margaret whispered, "Robert didn't just want Emily's signature."
"What did he want?"
"To stop the audit."
Ethan's phone rang.
Ruiz.
He answered.
"Gregory woke up."
"Can he talk?"
"Some."
"Did he say where Mason is?"
A pause.
"Yes."
Ethan stood.
"Where?"
"Gregory says Mason went voluntarily."
"With who?"
Ruiz hesitated.
"Robert."
Ethan could not believe it.
"Why would Mason go with him?"
"Because Robert told him Gregory killed his real mother."
Laura.
Ethan closed his eyes.
Ruiz continued.
"Mason thinks Robert is taking him to the place where Laura is buried."
"She's alive."
"Mason doesn't know that."
"Where is Robert taking him?"
"Gregory thinks Lake Mercer."
Ethan grabbed his coat.
Margaret said, "What happened?"
He was already moving.
"My father is taking my seventeen-year-old brother to the place where he staged my mother's death."
Margaret's expression changed.
"Then you need to hurry."
"Why?"
"Because Lake Mercer wasn't only where Laura Carter died."
Ethan stopped.
May you like
Margaret looked at him.
"It's where Robert buried the original trust records."
