The Trial Before the Trial
Chapter 09 - The Trial Before the Trial
The story exploded across the country. News helicopters circled Blackwood Estate, and millions watched the clip of Noah running across the lawn. Some called him a gold digger. Others called him the lost heir. Strangers argued about his life as if it were entertainment.
Daniel's legal team attacked first. They claimed Margaret's memory was unreliable, the cassette had been altered, and Noah had manipulated Arthur to steal the estate. Anonymous accounts posted photographs of Noah's debts and his mother's hospital bills. Someone leaked Claire's private emails to make her look dishonest.
The pressure worked. Two board members withdrew support. A judge temporarily froze Samuel's trust, leaving Noah with no access to company records. Halcyon Group filed a separate lawsuit demanding the estate sale proceed.
Then Elena woke fully from her stroke.
Noah sat beside her hospital bed and told her everything. She cried when she learned that Samuel's office still held her photograph. For years she had believed he abandoned her on the night he died.
"He called me from the lake house," she said. "He told me he had signed the trust. Then I heard another man enter. Samuel said, 'Marcus, put that down.' The line went dead."
Elena had kept one more secret. The morning after Samuel's death, Richard visited her. He offered money and warned that if she claimed Samuel's child, Marcus would make Noah disappear. Richard told himself he was protecting them, but his silence trapped Elena in fear for two decades.
Claire arranged a live press conference outside the hospital. Noah did not wear a suit. He stood in the same work boots he had worn in the garden.
"This is not only about my inheritance," he told the cameras. "Blackwood Development took homes from families who could not fight back. Any money I receive will first be used to repair that harm."
Richard then stepped to the microphone. Against his attorneys' advice, he admitted the land scheme, the cover-up, and his visit to Elena. He resigned as chairman and agreed to cooperate with investigators.
The company stock collapsed within hours.
Daniel smiled when he heard the news from jail. A failing company, he believed, would leave Noah with nothing.
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But Claire discovered one final clause in Samuel's trust: if criminal misconduct threatened the company, voting control transferred immediately to Samuel's heir.
For the first time, Noah—not Richard, Victoria, or Daniel—held the power to decide what Blackwood Development would become.
