My Cute Neighbor Invited Me to Watch the Meteor Shower… Then Whispered, “Stay After Everyone Leaves.”
Chapter 3
Noah pulled Emma away from the window.
“Stay here.”
She grabbed his arm.
“Who is that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I’m not.”
Another flashlight crossed the yard.
Then another.
Two people.
Emma’s heart raced.
Noah quietly opened a drawer.
Inside was a flashlight and a phone.
He handed her the phone.
“Call 911.”
“What are you doing?”
“Buying time.”
“No.”
“Emma.”
“I’m not sitting here while you go outside.”
He looked at her.
“You don’t know what they’re capable of.”
“And you do?”
“Yes.”
That answer stopped her.
Noah moved through the hallway.
Then he disappeared.
Emma heard the back door open.
She called 911.
“There’s someone outside my neighbor’s house.”
She whispered the address.
The dispatcher asked questions.
Emma answered.
Then she heard a crash.
Her heart jumped.
“Noah?”
Nothing.
She grabbed the flashlight.
She moved toward the kitchen.
The back door was open.
Rain had begun to fall.
Noah was nowhere.
Emma stepped outside.
Then she saw blood on the ground.
She froze.
“No.”
Footsteps sounded behind her.
She turned.
Noah stood there.
A cut on his forehead.
“Go inside.”
“What happened?”
“I slipped.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Where did you go?”
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he looked toward the street.
“They’re gone.”
The police arrived ten minutes later.
They searched the property.
No intruders.
No broken windows.
No obvious signs of entry.
The officers left after taking statements.
Emma remained.
Noah sat at the kitchen table with a cloth against his forehead.
“You’re going to the hospital.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I don’t need one.”
“You were attacked.”
“I wasn’t.”
Emma stared.
“Then where did the blood come from?”
He sighed.
“Someone grabbed me outside.”
“Who?”
“I couldn’t see.”
She crossed her arms.
“You’re impossible.”
“I’ve heard that.”
She sat.
“Tell me everything.”
Noah was silent.
Then he opened the folder again.
“The people behind Crawford aren’t just stealing money.”
“What are they doing?”
“They’re manipulating companies.”
“Why?”
“To take control.”
“Of what?”
“Anything valuable.”
Technology.
Land.
Properties.
Companies.
They create financial problems.
Then buy businesses cheaply.
Emma stared.
“And your father found out?”
“Yes.”
“My father too.”
Noah nodded.
“That’s why your parents were connected.”
Emma felt sick.
“But why didn’t they tell us?”
“Because they were afraid.”
“Of who?”
Noah pulled out another photograph.
A man stood beside their fathers.
Emma recognized him.
“That’s Thomas Crawford.”
Noah nodded.
“The founder.”
“The CEO.”
“Yes.”
“But he’s dead.”
“That’s what everyone thinks.”
Emma stared.
“What?”
Noah looked at her.
“I don’t think he’s dead.”
“Then where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
Another silence.
Then Emma noticed something.
The photograph had a date.
Twenty years earlier.
Her father.
Noah’s father.
Thomas Crawford.
And one more person.
A little girl.
Emma.
She felt cold.
“Why am I in this photograph?”
Noah stared.
“I don’t know.”
Emma looked at him.
“This isn’t a coincidence.”
“No.”
“Someone brought our families together.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Noah didn’t answer.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Hello?”
A distorted voice spoke.
“You were warned.”
Noah said nothing.
The voice continued.
“Leave Emma out of this.”
Noah’s jaw tightened.
“She has nothing to do with you.”
“She has everything to do with us.”
The call ended.
Emma stared at him.
“What did they mean?”
Noah looked at her.
“I think your father left something.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Emma remembered something.
Her mother had given her a small locked box before she died.
It had been in her closet for fifteen years.
She had never opened it.
She suddenly knew where it was.
She called home.
The box was still there.
Noah looked at her.
“We need to get it.”
They returned to Emma’s house.
She opened the closet.
Found the box.
The key was hidden inside an old photograph.
When she opened it, there was a letter.
Her father’s handwriting.
Emma,
If you ever meet the son of Daniel Bennett, trust him.
Emma’s hands shook.
She looked at Noah.
“Your father knew my father.”
Noah nodded.
The letter continued.
The truth was hidden because the people watching us were too powerful.
When the time comes, the meteor shower will show you where to look.
Emma stared.
She looked at Noah.
“The meteor shower?”
Noah’s expression changed.
“That’s why I invited you.”
