Chapter 10 - NOAHI couldn't move.
Noah looked at me through the open car door.
His eyes were frightened.
But they were mine.
I stepped toward him.
“I'm your mother.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
My heart shattered.
“How?”
He held up a photograph.
It was the same photograph of me holding him as a newborn.
“They told me.”
“Who?”
“Mr. Aaron.”
I knelt.
“Did he hurt you?”
Noah shook his head.
“He tried to protect me.”
That sentence cut deeper than it should have.
I climbed into the car.
Jasmine followed.
The driver pulled away.
I stared at Noah.
He was thinner than I expected.
Eight years old.
Maybe nine.
“I thought you were dead.”
He looked down.
“So did I.”
“What?”
“They told me my mother died.”
My throat closed.
“Who told you?”
“My grandmother.”
My mother.
I closed my eyes.
“Why?”
Noah shrugged.
“She said it was safer.”
Nothing about this was safe.
The car stopped at a secure house.
Rebecca was waiting.
When she saw Noah, her face changed.
She understood immediately.
“My God.”
I nodded.
“This is Noah.”
Rebecca knelt.
“Hi.”
Noah stared at her.
“Are you my mother's lawyer?”
Rebecca smiled.
“Yes.”
“Then help her.”
“With what?”
“Stopping my father.”
The room went silent.
“Which father?”
Noah looked confused.
“Aaron.”
I looked at him.
“You call Aaron your father?”
“He says he isn't.”
“Then why?”
“Because he was there.”
I felt tears rise.
He continued:
“When I was little, he came every month.”
“To see you?”
“Yes.”
“Did he tell you about me?”
“He said you were brave.”
I closed my eyes.
Aaron had told our son I was brave.
At least one thing had survived.
Then Noah spoke again.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Dad says I'm the key.”
I stiffened.
“To what?”
“He said Grandpa left something for me.”
Rebecca stepped forward.
“What?”
Noah pointed toward the wooden airplane.
He had brought it with him.
I looked at the toy.
“The airplane?”
He nodded.
“He told me not to open it until I found you.”
We broke the wooden plane open.
Inside was a tiny key.
And a memory card.
Rebecca connected it to her laptop.
A video appeared.
My father.
Older.
Very sick.
He looked directly into the camera.
“Alyssa.”
I stopped breathing.
“If you're watching this, then my contingency failed.”
He looked down.
“Noah is alive.”
I began crying.
“I hid him because I discovered something about Asteris.”
A document appeared on screen.
“Your mother believed I betrayed her.”
My eyes widened.
“That was not true.”
My father continued.
“Roland Vale did not steal from us.”
I stared.
“He was framed.”
The video changed.
A young Eleanor Prescott appeared.
Standing beside my father.
They were discussing money.
My father said:
“If we expose him, Aaron will never survive the scandal.”
Eleanor answered:
“Then let the scandal fall on Roland.”
I covered my mouth.
Rebecca whispered:
“My God.”
The recording continued.
My father looked into the camera.
“Eleanor knew everything.”
Then:
“She was the architect.”
My blood froze.
“My mother.”
“Yes.”
My father's voice trembled.
“She wanted Aaron to control the company because she believed he could eventually access the Hawthorne Trust through marriage.”
I stared at Noah.
“She used you.”
My father looked into the camera.
“I was wrong to let the game continue.”
“That's why I protected Noah.”
The video ended.
Silence.
Then Noah asked:
“Was Grandpa a bad man?”
I looked at the screen.
“He made terrible mistakes.”
“Did he love me?”
I looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't he tell me?”
I took his hand.
“Because sometimes adults are afraid.”
Noah frowned.
“That makes them lie.”
I smiled sadly.
“Yes.”
He looked at me.
“Are you going to lie to me?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
That was when my phone rang.
Aaron.
I answered.
“Where are you?”
“Safe.”
“Is Noah with you?”
“Yes.”
He exhaled.
“Thank God.”
“You knew he was the key.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I thought if I told you, Eleanor would kill him.”
“She?”
“Yes.”
Aaron's voice cracked.
“She isn't just your mother in law.”
“What is she?”
He whispered:
“She runs Asteris.”
I stared at Rebecca.
Aaron continued.
“And she knows you have Noah.”
The lights in the room suddenly went out.
Noah grabbed my hand.
Rebecca stood.
“What happened?”
A red emergency light blinked on.
Then every phone in the room received the same message.
YOU FOUND THE BOY.
A second message appeared.
NOW FIND THE BURNER.
May you like
Then the house alarm screamed.
Someone had entered.
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