Her Father Called Him a Killer. Seven Years Later, She Discovered He Went to Prison for Her.
CHAPTER 5
Sophia told Eleanor everything she had hidden for a decade.
She had never died.
She had been forced to disappear.
Richard had discovered that Sophia was Noah’s mother and threatened to destroy her unless she gave up the child.
“I thought he would kill him,” Sophia whispered.
“So you left?”
“I was made to believe it was the only way.”
Eleanor looked at Adrian.
“How did you know Sophia existed?”
“Marcus told me.”
“Before he died?”
“Yes.”
Marcus had discovered that Richard wasn’t simply hiding Noah.
He was preparing to use him.
If Noah remained alive until his eighteenth birthday, the trust would become legally enforceable.
Richard would lose control of the empire.
So Richard needed Noah either dead…
or completely under his control.
Sophia revealed something else.
“Noah doesn’t know who he is.”
“What?”
“Richard raised him under another name.”
Eleanor felt sick.
“What did he tell him?”
“That his mother abandoned him.”
“And his father?”
“That he died because he was a criminal.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Seven years.
He had gone to prison to protect a child who didn’t even know he existed.
Eleanor asked:
“Where is Noah now?”
Sophia answered:
“At the mansion.”
They drove back immediately.
The mansion was dark.
Every light was off except one.
The library.
Eleanor entered alone.
Richard was waiting.
And beside him stood a seventeen-year-old boy.
Noah.
He looked at Eleanor.
Then Adrian.
His eyes narrowed.
“Who are they?”
Richard answered:
“People who want to take you away.”
Eleanor stepped forward.
“Noah, listen to me.”
“How do you know my name?”
She couldn’t answer.
Richard smiled.
“Because she’s been searching for you.”
Noah looked confused.
Eleanor saw something in his face.
Fear.
The same fear Adrian had carried for seven years.
She crouched down.
“Your mother didn’t abandon you.”
Noah’s face hardened.
“She did.”
“She didn’t.”
“Mr. Vale said she left.”
Eleanor looked at her father.
“He’s lying.”
Richard’s expression turned cold.
“Enough.”
A gun appeared in his hand.
Adrian stepped into the room.
“Put it down.”
Richard laughed.
“You spent seven years in prison for a boy you didn’t even know.”
Adrian’s eyes never left him.
“No.”
He looked at Noah.
“I spent seven years protecting a promise.”
Noah stared at him.
“What promise?”
Adrian swallowed.
“Your father asked me to keep you alive.”
Noah’s expression changed.
“My father?”
Marcus Hale.
The name meant nothing to him.
But something in Adrian’s voice did.
Richard raised the gun.
“Don’t listen to him.”
Eleanor stepped between them.
“No.”
For the first time in her life, she stood against her father.
“You’ve lied enough.”
Richard’s finger tightened around the trigger.
Then the lights went out.
A gunshot exploded through the mansion.
And when the emergency lights came back on…
Noah was gone.
