Chapter 3 - The Petition With His Son’s Name
Grant’s attorney searched the county docket.
There it was.
A sealed family-court filing submitted two days earlier.
Petitioner:
Vivienne Cross.
Minor child:
Noah Mercer.
Grant felt cold.
Vivienne was not Noah’s mother.
She was Grant’s girlfriend of nine months.
She stayed at the house frequently.
She attended family events.
She bought Noah toys.
But she had no parental rights.
So why was she filing anything?
The attorney obtained the portions legally available to Grant.
Emergency temporary guardianship.
Vivienne alleged that Grant’s work travel made him “frequently unavailable.”
She claimed Noah’s primary caregiver was unstable and financially dishonest.
Tessa.
The petition also claimed Grant had recently shown “impaired judgment.”
Grant looked up.
“Impaired?”
Vivienne avoided his eyes.
The filing referenced an incident.
Three weeks earlier, Grant had fallen asleep in his car in the driveway.
He remembered.
He had flown overnight from Chicago after twenty hours awake.
Vivienne took a photograph.
At the time she joked:
“Workaholic billionaire sleeping in his own driveway.”
Grant hadn’t thought about it again.
Now the photo was attached as evidence.
Another photograph showed whiskey on his desk.
Grant rarely drank.
The bottle had been a client gift.
Another showed prescription pain medication.
Prescribed after shoulder surgery.
Unopened.
Everything ordinary had been reframed.
Overworked.
Drinking.
Medicated.
Unstable.
Grant stared at Vivienne.
“You’ve been documenting me.”
“I’ve been worried about Noah.”
“Then why didn’t you talk to me?”
“You don’t listen.”
His attorney turned another page.
The petition requested that Vivienne receive authority to manage Noah’s “financial and personal interests.”
Grant almost laughed.
“What financial interests?”
His attorney hesitated.
“Grant, is there a trust?”
“No.”
“Life insurance?”
“Yes.”
“Beneficiary?”
“Noah.”
“How much?”
Grant’s expression changed.
Twenty million dollars.
Vivienne knew about the policy.
Grant had mentioned it once while updating his estate plan.
But a life-insurance policy meant nothing while Grant was alive.
Unless someone expected him not to remain capable of managing Noah.
Then his attorney saw a reference to another asset.
The Mercer Family Education Trust.
Grant frowned.
“That doesn’t exist.”
His attorney pointed at the page.
“Apparently it does.”
A trust had been created by Grant’s late father.
Grant had never been told.
Noah became beneficiary at birth.
Current value:
$6.3 million.
The trustee was Grant.
If Grant became incapacitated, a successor trustee would step in.
Grant read the name.
Vivienne Cross.
His chair scraped backward.
“That’s impossible.”
His attorney looked at him.
“Did you sign an amendment?”
“No.”
Vivienne said quietly:
“You signed a lot of estate documents last year.”
Grant stared.
Last year.
Before dating Vivienne.
She wasn’t even in his life.
Then the attorney examined the document date.
Three months ago.
The signature looked like Grant’s.
But Grant had never seen it.
“You forged my name.”
Vivienne laughed nervously.
“You should be careful.”
Grant’s voice dropped.
“Who helped you?”
She didn’t answer.
Then the attorney said:
“The amendment was witnessed.”
Grant looked at the signature.
A name he recognized immediately.
Martin Keller.
Grant’s longtime financial adviser.
May you like
The same man Vivienne had been speaking to on the camera.
👉 The secret hearing was about much more than custody—Grant’s own financial adviser had apparently helped Vivienne place herself in line to control Noah’s $6.3 million trust.
