Chapter 15 - Noah Comes Home
Noah stood on the porch.
Thirty years old.
Tall.
Dark-haired.
Dad’s jaw.
Victor’s eyes.
He looked at Ethan.
Then at me.
“Hello, Claire.”
I did not move.
Police were already on their way.
Rebecca stood behind me.
“What do you want?”
“The card.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“You watched it.”
“Yes.”
“Then you finally know the family.”
“You watched Dad die.”
His smile disappeared.
“I was seventeen.”
“So was I.”
“You stabbed him first.”
The words hit.
I forced myself not to flinch.
“You let Harris finish it.”
“I was afraid.”
Again.
Always fear.
“You said nothing for six years.”
“So did you.”
“I didn’t remember.”
“I did.”
That was the difference.
He had lived with the truth.
Then allowed Mom to go to death row.
“You could have saved her.”
“She wasn’t my mother.”
Ethan grabbed my hand.
Noah looked at him.
“You don’t understand.”
I stepped in front of my brother.
“Don’t look at him.”
Noah’s expression hardened.
“The card belongs to me.”
“It belonged to Dad.”
“He stole my life.”
“He raised you when he found you.”
“For six months.”
Noah laughed.
“He spent seventeen years loving you.”
I stared at him.
“And you think that justifies murder?”
“I didn’t kill him.”
“You helped bury the truth.”
His jaw tightened.
Then police lights appeared at the end of the street.
Noah looked toward them.
“You called them.”
“Yes.”
He laughed softly.
“Good.”
That confused me.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
“Now.”
A blast sounded from the rear of the house.
Glass shattered.
Smoke filled the kitchen.
Rebecca screamed.
I pulled Ethan down.
Noah rushed forward.
Not toward us.
Toward the back door.
Police stormed the front.
A second man ran through the yard.
Noah shouted.
“Stop!”
The man fired.
Noah fell.
Officers returned fire.
The attacker disappeared over the fence.
I crawled toward Noah.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
“Who was that?”
Noah gritted his teeth.
“Polk.”
The county commissioner.
One of the names on Dad’s files.
“He knows the card exists.”
Police surrounded Noah.
He grabbed my wrist.
“Listen.”
I stared.
“Victor didn’t kill Harris.”
“Who did?”
“Polk.”
“Why?”
“Harris was going to testify.”
Noah gasped.
“And Polk knows Caroline is about to be released.”
My heart raced.
“What does Mom have to do with him?”
May you like
Noah looked terrified.
“She saw him in the kitchen too.”
