Chapter 6 - Nobody Touches Noah
Helena did not scream.
Her fear became too deep for sound.
She stared at the photograph of Noah’s classroom until every detail burned into her memory.
The blue curtains.
The paper stars taped to the window.
A corner of his dinosaur poster.
Someone had been close enough to take the picture from the school courtyard.
“Call the school.”
Adrian was already dialing.
Claire answered first.
“Noah is with me.”
Helena grabbed the phone.
“Where?”
“In the hotel.”
“I picked him up twenty minutes ago.”
Helena closed her eyes.
Relief nearly dropped her to the floor.
“Do not leave that room.”
“I won’t.”
“Lock everything.”
“Helena, security is here.”
“Just do it.”
She returned the phone to Adrian.
He watched her carefully.
“He’s safe.”
“For now.”
Adrian nodded.
“For now.”
Helena looked at the evidence spread across the bank table.
“This stops being about money.”
“It stopped being about money a long time ago.”
“No.”
Helena faced him.
“You want Vanessa ruined.”
“I want her prosecuted.”
“You called people before you knew about Noah.”
“You started destroying her company because you saw me on the floor.”
Adrian did not deny it.
Helena continued.
“That was anger.”
“This has to be smarter.”
Adrian studied her.
“What are you saying?”
“We give her what she thinks she wants.”
“The key?”
“She doesn’t know we already opened the box.”
Adrian understood immediately.
“You want to bait her.”
“I want to know who is helping her.”
“You’re not meeting her.”
“I didn’t say I was.”
“You were thinking it.”
Helena folded her arms.
“You don’t know what I’m thinking.”
“I used to.”
“That was six years ago.”
A faint sadness crossed his face.
“Fair enough.”
They copied every document.
Adrian’s attorneys secured the originals in a separate legal vault.
The brass key itself was now useless.
But Vanessa did not know that.
At 5:00 p.m., Helena called Vanessa.
Vanessa answered after one ring.
“Helena.”
“You know why I’m calling.”
“I was wondering how long it would take.”
Helena’s grip tightened.
“You sent someone to my son’s school.”
Vanessa sighed.
“Don’t be dramatic.”
“Then tell me you didn’t.”
Silence.
Helena’s voice dropped.
“If anybody goes near Noah again, I take everything to the police.”
“What exactly do you have?”
“The key.”
Vanessa’s breathing changed.
Adrian listened from across the room.
Helena continued.
“I found it before the fire.”
Vanessa became very quiet.
“Where?”
“Safe.”
“You don’t understand what that key opens.”
“I understand enough.”
“Meet me.”
“No.”
“Then this conversation is over.”
Helena smiled slightly.
“You called me dramatic.”
“Now you’re the one threatening to hang up?”
Vanessa said nothing.
Helena continued.
“Tomorrow.”
“Public place.”
“I choose.”
“Fine.”
“Riverfront Conservatory.”
“Noon.”
Vanessa agreed.
Then added something that chilled Helena.
“Bring Adrian if you want.”
“I’m not afraid of him anymore.”
The call ended.
Adrian raised an eyebrow.
“She wants me there.”
“That means she has a plan.”
“She always has a plan.”
Helena looked toward the hotel bedroom where Noah was sleeping.
“Noah needs to go somewhere else.”
“I have a house outside the city.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if I know about it, Vanessa can discover it.”
Adrian considered that.
“Claire’s parents have a farm two hours north.”
“Does Vanessa know Claire?”
“She knows she works for me.”
“Then no.”
Helena thought.
“My friend Maya.”
“Who?”
“She was my roommate after you left.”
“Vanessa has never met her.”
“Where does she live?”
“Vermont.”
Adrian nodded.
“We can get Noah there tonight.”
Helena hated the idea of sending him away.
She hated the alternative more.
At 8:00 p.m., she sat beside Noah on the hotel bed.
“I need you to go on a little trip with Maya.”
Noah looked suspicious.
“Without you?”
“Just for two nights.”
“Why?”
“Because I have some grown-up problems to fix.”
“Is it because of Adrian?”
Helena hesitated.
“Partly.”
Noah looked down at his blanket.
“Is Adrian my dad?”
Helena stopped breathing.
Noah looked at her again.
“You both look weird when I ask about him.”
“Sweetheart.”
“And he said he has a boy my age but doesn’t know what the boy likes.”
Helena almost laughed and cried at the same time.
“You are way too smart.”
“So he is?”
Helena sat closer.
“Yes.”
Noah stared at her.
“My dad?”
“Yes.”
“Does he know?”
“He does now.”
“Did he leave us?”
The question cut straight through her.
“No.”
Helena chose every word carefully.
“He didn’t know about you.”
“Why?”
“Because some adults made bad choices.”
“Did you?”
Helena nodded.
“Yes.”
“I made some too.”
Noah processed that.
“Does he want me?”
Helena’s eyes filled.
Before she could answer, a voice came from the doorway.
“More than anything.”
Adrian stood there.
He had not meant to interrupt.
Noah stared at him.
Adrian stepped inside slowly.
“I’m sorry.”
“I heard the last part.”
Noah looked at Helena.
“Can I talk to him?”
She nodded.
Adrian sat on the edge of the bed.
Noah studied him.
“Are you really my dad?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have proof?”
Adrian blinked.
Helena laughed softly.
Adrian smiled.
“I can get proof.”
Noah considered that.
“Okay.”
“Do you like dinosaurs?”
Adrian glanced at Helena.
“I’m learning.”
Noah reached for his backpack.
He pulled out a plastic velociraptor.
“This is Rex.”
Adrian accepted it carefully.
“Good name.”
“He bites.”
“I’ll be careful.”
For five minutes, nobody talked about threats.
Or Vanessa.
Or stolen trusts.
They talked about dinosaurs.
And for those five minutes, Adrian finally understood what six stolen years really meant.
Later, after Noah left with Maya under security escort, Adrian stood beside Helena near the window.
“He asked if I wanted him.”
“I heard.”
“I should have been there when he was born.”
Helena looked at the city lights.
“Yes.”
“I should have heard his first word.”
“Yes.”
“I should have known his favorite dinosaur.”
“Yes.”
Adrian turned toward her.
“I’m sorry.”
Helena’s anger softened.
“I know.”
Then Adrian’s phone vibrated.
A security alert.
Someone had entered Sterling Villa through the west gate.
The camera identified the visitor.
Martin Reese.
The attorney Vanessa claimed she had not spoken to in months.
Adrian showed Helena the image.
She looked at the timestamp.
11:48 p.m.
“Why would her attorney sneak into her house at midnight?”
May you like
Adrian grabbed his coat.
“We’re about to find out.”
