Chapter 31 - The Summons
Noah Carter was twenty-five years old when someone tried to take part of his inheritance.
He was not in a boardroom when it happened.
He was standing beside a plywood model of a public elementary school in Brooklyn, arguing with an engineer about whether a courtyard needed six more feet of shade.
“Mr. Carter?”
Noah turned.
A process server stood beside reception.
The man held out an envelope.
“Noah James Carter?”
“Yes.”
“You've been served.”
The entire office seemed to become quieter.
Noah took the envelope.
He already hated it.
Another envelope.
Another piece of paper carrying someone else's plan into his life.
He waited until the server left.
Then he opened it.
SUPERIOR COURT OF CONNECTICUT.
LYDIA MERCER,
Plaintiff,
v.
CARTER DESCENDANT TRUST, et al.
Noah read the first paragraph.
Then the second.
By the third, his hands had gone cold.
The plaintiff alleged that the Carter Descendant Trust had unlawfully excluded a biological descendant of Henry Carter.
Not Noah.
Someone else.
Lydia Anne Mercer.
Age twenty-nine.
Residence: Boston, Massachusetts.
The complaint alleged that Lydia's late mother, Anna Mercer, had maintained a relationship with the Carter family during the 1990s.
It alleged that Anna had repeatedly attempted to have Lydia's lineage formally recognized.
It alleged those attempts had been suppressed.
And it alleged that Margaret Carter had personally paid Anna to disappear.
Noah immediately called Daniel.
His father answered.
“Hey.”
“Where are you?”
Daniel heard Noah's voice and stopped whatever he was doing.
“Home.”
“I got served.”
Silence.
“What?”
Noah read the caption.
Daniel did not interrupt.
Then Noah said:
“She says she's Grandpa Henry's descendant.”
Daniel's voice changed.
“How?”
“The complaint doesn't say exactly.”
“Send it.”
Noah sent photographs.
Daniel remained on the phone while reading.
Noah heard nothing for almost two minutes.
Then:
“Come home.”
“Do you know her?”
“No.”
“Do you know Anna Mercer?”
Silence.
Noah closed his eyes.
“Dad.”
“I know the name.”
The office around Noah disappeared.
“How?”
“I've seen it before.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“How many years?”
Daniel exhaled.
“Before Margaret's trial.”
Noah stared through the glass wall.
“You never told me.”
“I didn't know what it meant.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Daniel's voice softened.
“No. I never told you.”
Noah sat down.
Twenty-five years old.
Independent.
Educated.
A man who had deliberately surrendered control of billions of dollars rather than let the Carter family turn him into another weapon.
And still, one pause from Daniel could make him feel seventeen again.
“What did you see?”
“A payment record.”
“From Grandma?”
“Yes.”
“To Anna Mercer?”
“Yes.”
Noah stood again.
“How much?”
“Twenty-five thousand dollars.”
“For what?”
“I don't know.”
“When?”
“Nineteen ninety-eight.”
One year before Lydia was born.
Noah's stomach tightened.
“Why didn't Samuel investigate it?”
“He did.”
“And?”
“Margaret described it as settlement of an employment dispute.”
“Was Anna an employee?”
“Yes.”
“Of Carter Global?”
“Henry's executive office.”
Noah closed his eyes.
That was worse.
“Did Grandpa know about the payment?”
“I don't know.”
“Did Uncle Robert?”
Another silence.
Noah stopped.
“Dad.”
“I don't know.”
“You paused.”
“Because Robert was on the executive committee that year.”
Noah picked up his jacket.
“I'll meet you at Samuel's.”
“Samuel's retired.”
“He'll still answer.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“You know him too well.”
Noah left the office.
Two hours later, Samuel Pierce sat at the Carter kitchen table looking furious that retirement had failed to protect him from the Carter family.
“I was promised gardening,” he said.
Daniel slid the complaint toward him.
“You hate gardening.”
“That isn't the point.”
Samuel put on his glasses.
Noah watched him read.
Daniel watched Samuel.
Neither spoke.
Page after page turned.
Then Samuel stopped.
His face changed.
Noah saw it.
“What?”
Samuel removed his glasses.
“This exhibit.”
He turned the complaint around.
Attached was a photocopy of a letter.
The original had been written by Anna Mercer.
June 4, 1999.
Mr. Carter,
I cannot continue accepting money in exchange for silence.
Lydia deserves the truth.
She deserves to know who her father is.
Noah read the sentence twice.
Then looked at Daniel.
Daniel looked equally confused.
“Henry?”
Noah asked.
Samuel did not answer.
Daniel leaned forward.
“Samuel.”
Samuel's eyes remained on the letter.
“This was not addressed to Henry.”
Noah's chest tightened.
“Who?”
Samuel turned the next page.
At the top was the recipient line.
Mr. Robert Carter.
Nobody spoke.
Robert.
Margaret's brother.
Daniel's uncle.
Adrian's father.
Noah whispered:
“Lydia isn't claiming Grandpa was her father.”
Samuel looked at him.
“No.”
Daniel's face went pale.
Noah finished the thought.
“She is claiming Robert was.”
And if Lydia Mercer could prove that—
May you like
she was not an outsider trying to enter the Carter family.
She had been born into it.
