Chapter 6
Richard looked at Benjamin.
“Your son began approaching Thomas about obtaining an early inheritance.”
Benjamin scoffed.
“I asked for a business loan.”
“You asked for several,” Richard replied.
“Thomas agreed to review the proposals.
He eventually declined them because you were unwilling to provide complete financial disclosures.”
“That’s not true.”
“I have the documents.”
Genevieve leaned forward.
“Everyone makes mistakes when starting a business.”
“Of course,” Richard said.
“The problem wasn’t that Benjamin made mistakes.
It was that he repeatedly concealed liabilities, moved money between accounts without proper records, and expected his father to cover the losses without asking questions.”
Benjamin’s face darkened.
“Dad was old-fashioned.
He thought every business had to be run like his.”
“Thomas thought every business needed honest accounts.”
“Easy for him to say.
He had money.”
“He built that money over forty years.”
Richard’s answer was so calm that Benjamin seemed to have no response.
I looked at my son and remembered the boy who used to sit at our kitchen table, swinging his legs while Thomas helped him with arithmetic.
Benjamin had once cried because he accidentally broke a neighbor’s window.
He confessed before anyone asked.
Thomas had hugged him and told him that mistakes could be repaired, but dishonesty made repairs much harder.
I wondered when that boy had disappeared.
Perhaps he had not disappeared all at once.
Perhaps I had helped him change, one rescue at a time.
“After Thomas declined the loans,” Richard continued, “Benjamin approached you.”
I nodded slowly.
“He told me he needed help keeping the business alive.”
“And you gave it to him.”
“I thought that was what a mother did.”
“It is what a mother may choose to do,” Richard said.
“But Thomas worried that Benjamin had begun treating your affection as an unlimited financial resource.”
My throat tightened.
“Did Thomas say that?”
“He did.
More than once.”
Richard opened the folder.
Inside were letters, bank records, and copies of legal documents bearing Thomas’s familiar signature.
“He also asked me to prepare a trust.
The trust was funded before his death.
It holds investments, certain property interests, and the funds necessary to support you for the rest of your life.”
I stared at him.
“I thought Thomas left everything directly to me.”
“He left you the right to live in your home, control over your personal accounts, and the authority to direct the trust’s distributions for your own benefit.