Chapter 7 - Noah's Secret
Ruiz forbade Caroline from going alone.
Noah had other ideas.
He waited until the adults were occupied and slipped toward the rear exit.
Emily caught him.
“Where are you going?”
“To get my mom.”
“You can’t.”
“I have to.”
Emily stepped in front of the door.
“You’ll get caught.”
“Move.”
“No.”
Noah glared at her.
Then his anger collapsed.
“He’ll hurt her because of me.”
Emily shook her head.
“He hurts people because of him.”
Noah stared at her.
It was perhaps the first time anyone had separated his existence from Victor’s cruelty.
He sat down.
Then revealed something no adult knew.
He had memorized Victor’s emergency phone number.
More importantly, he remembered hearing Victor mention a place called Bellweather.
Ruiz traced it.
Bellweather Marina.
Police prepared an operation.
Caroline remained with Noah and Emily.
Ethan joined them.
Hours passed.
At 11:47 p.m., Ruiz called.
They had found the marina.
They had found Victor’s vehicle.
But Lily was not there.
Instead, police discovered another message.
Victor had anticipated them.
He wanted Noah.
No evidence.
No money.
No negotiation.
Noah.
Ethan finally understood.
The trust had become irrelevant.
Victor’s need for control had consumed everything else.
Then Noah revealed his final secret.
Victor had once told him that if Lily ever escaped, there was only one place she would go.
“The old train station.”
Caroline knew it.
Lily and Ethan had met there as teenagers.
Police changed course.
At 12:31 a.m., they found a locked maintenance room beneath the abandoned station.
Inside was a mattress.
Food containers.
A woman’s coat.
Blood on the floor.
But no Lily.
They had missed her again.
Then Caroline saw writing scratched into the brick.
C — HE MOVES ME EVERY FRIDAY.
Friday was tomorrow.
May you like
For the first time, they were ahead of Victor.
And Caroline intended to keep it that way.
