Chapter 4 - NOAH
The house in Boston was hidden behind a line of old oak trees.
Alex noticed the security cameras first.
Then the reinforced doors.
Then the man standing on the porch.
Bianca stopped walking.
Alex followed her gaze.
Her father.
Thomas Mercer.
He looked older than Alex remembered.
Much older.
"Thomas."
The older man stared at him.
Then at Bianca.
Then finally whispered—
"You're back."
Alex stepped forward.
"Where is my son?"
Thomas's eyes filled.
"Inside."
Alex's heart slammed against his ribs.
The door opened.
A little boy stepped into the hallway.
Six years old.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
A blue sweater.
He held a wooden airplane in one hand.
He looked at Alex.
Then at Bianca.
"Mom?"
Bianca knelt.
"Noah."
"Who is he?"
Alex couldn't breathe.
Bianca looked at him.
"This is Alex."
Noah studied him.
"Is he the man from the pictures?"
Alex's throat tightened.
"What pictures?"
Noah looked toward Thomas.
Thomas closed his eyes.
Bianca whispered—
"Your father."
Noah's airplane slipped from his hand.
"My father?"
Alex crouched.
He didn't know what to say.
Six years of imagined conversations suddenly became useless.
So he told the truth.
"Yes."
Noah stared at him.
"You came home."
Alex smiled through tears.
"Yes."
"Where were you?"
"Far away."
"Why?"
Alex looked at Bianca.
"Because I didn't know about you."
Noah frowned.
"Mom said you were helping people."
"I was."
"Did you know me?"
"No."
"Do you know me now?"
Alex's voice broke.
"I'm trying."
Noah took one cautious step closer.
Then another.
Finally he stood directly in front of Alex.
"You're taller than Mom."
Alex laughed.
"So I've been told."
Noah smiled.
The tension broke.
Then the front window shattered.
Thomas shouted—
"DOWN!"
Everyone dropped.
A bullet struck the wall.
Bianca grabbed Noah.
Alex pulled them behind the kitchen island.
Samuel drew a weapon.
Another shot cracked through the room.
Noah began crying.
Alex covered his body.
"Stay down."
Samuel shouted toward the hallway.
"They found us!"
Thomas looked at Alex.
"I'm sorry."
Alex glared.
"You knew this would happen?"
"I knew they were looking."
"Who?"
Thomas shook his head.
"The people who destroyed my company."
Alex stared.
"What company?"
Thomas's face changed.
"The one you were never supposed to inherit."
The shooting stopped.
Silence followed.
Samuel moved toward the window.
"They're gone."
Alex stood slowly.
He looked at his father.
"What did you do?"
Thomas took a breath.
"I discovered something."
"What?"
"Your grandfather's company wasn't built legally."
Alex froze.
Thomas continued.
"Money laundering. Offshore accounts. False contracts. Political bribes."
Alex looked at Bianca.
"Your family knew?"
Thomas shook his head.
"My family was used."
"And mine?"
"Your mother knew some of it."
Alex's face hardened.
"How much?"
"Enough to become afraid."
He handed Alex a folder.
Inside were documents.
Bank transfers.
Company names.
Photographs.
And one signature.
His mother's.
Alex felt sick.
"She was involved."
"Not willingly."
"That isn't what the documents say."
Thomas shook his head.
"Read everything."
Alex turned another page.
There was a letter from his father.
To Alex.
Dated six years earlier.
He opened it.
My son,
If you are reading this, then they failed to keep you away.
I never abandoned you.
I disappeared because someone inside our family was selling information.
I believed distance would keep you alive.
I was wrong.
The final page contained one sentence.
THE PERSON YOU TRUST MOST IS THE ONE WHO STARTED THIS.
Alex looked up.
His eyes went directly to Lena.
But she wasn't there.
She had stayed in Chicago.
For the first time, Alex wondered whether that had been deliberate.
His phone rang.
Lena.
He answered.
Her voice was trembling.
"Alex."
"Where are you?"
"At home."
"Are you alone?"
Silence.
Then—
"No."
Alex stood.
"Who is with you?"
A man's voice answered.
"Your sister."
The call ended.
Alex looked at Samuel.
"We're going back."
Bianca grabbed his arm.
"What about Noah?"
Alex looked at his son.
Then at Thomas.
"Nobody leaves him alone."
Thomas nodded.
"Agreed."
Alex picked up the folder.
May you like
The truth had finally found him.
Now he was going to find the person who had hidden it.
