By all accounts Trevor Lansing is a ruthless and ambitious man. Years earlier he met and had a summer affair with single mother, Adela. Adela was struggling to support her son, Sonny, after her gambling husband, Mike Corbin, abandoned them. Hoping to start over, Adela took a job as Trevor Lansing's secretary. To impress the beautiful Adela, Trevor allowed her to bring her young son, Michael Jr. with her to work. They soon began an affair and Trevor fell in love despite the fact that he was a married man. [Editor's Note: Originally, the storyline was written as follows: Adela was struggling to support her son, Sonny, after her gambling husband, Mike Corbin, abandoned them. Hoping to start over, Adela took a job for a wealthy man and his wife as a housekeeper.

For unknown reasons, Trevor never took to her young son. Things did not improve when Trevor learned that Adela was pregnant. He offered to leave his wife and marry her but it was clear that he did not want Sonny to be a part of their lives. He found the perfect excuse to force Adela's hand when one morning Adela was trying to get her 5 year old to put on his raincoat and he refused. Adela lost her footing and went flying down the staircase. She was rushed to the hospital where the doctors managed to prevent a miscarriage. Furious over the incident, Trevor tried to convince Adela that Sonny resented the baby and wished it harm. He tried to impress upon Adela the possibility that their young child would never be safe from Sonny who did not want to share his mother with another child. To drive his point home, he gave Adela an ultimatum. Send Sonny away or give up her rights to their child. Adela chose to give up the rights to her unborn child.

Trevor, never a man to make idle threats, accepted her decision and took Ric shortly after he was born. Adela moved away with Sonny while Trevor brought his son home to his cold socialite wife. Over the years Trevor carefully nurtured Ric's growing hatred of his brother. He believed every malicious and twisted lie that Trevor told which set into motion years of strife between the brothers once they would meet.

Eventually, Trevor came to Port Charles. Unbeknown to anyone, Trevor had been secretly running one of the most ruthless mob empires on the east coast. Hired as an attorney by Crime Lord, Anthony Zacchara, Trevor took over the business when Anthony's mental state began deteriorating.