Chapter 15 - Noah's Secret
I found Noah in the kitchen, staring into a glass of water.
"Did Vanessa call you?" I asked.
He shut his eyes.
"When?"
"Three weeks ago. Before you went to the gala."
Anger rose in my throat. "You should have told me."
"She said Dad's death wasn't an accident. She promised she'd give me proof if I got her the key from his jacket."
"Did you?"
"No. I found the key, but I put it back. Then she said she'd pay off my student loans."
I gripped the counter. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I thought you'd go after her, and you did."
He was nineteen. Dad had been dead for years, yet Noah still looked like a kid whenever the subject came up.
"I was scared," he said. "She knew where I lived. She knew our mother's name. She knew things nobody outside the family should know."
"You didn't cause this," I said. "But keeping secrets from me can get us both hurt."
He nodded, wiping his face with his sleeve.
Noah gave Simone the call history and a voicemail Vanessa had left. In it, she promised him proof of Elliot's involvement in the warehouse death, then demanded the key as the price.
"That puts her in contact with you before the gala," Simone said. "It's important."
Adrian heard the voicemail and sat with his head in his hands.
"She knew about Daniel," he said. "I thought she was being manipulated."
"She might be manipulated and guilty," I told him. "Those things aren't opposites."
By midnight, the accountant working under court supervision flagged an emergency transfer scheduled from the foundation to Northstar Civic Partners. The amount was eleven million dollars. It would leave at 8 a.m.
Ortiz filed for a freeze order. The bank put a temporary hold on the transfer while the court reviewed it.
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At 7:42 a.m., Elliot Price called me directly.
"Tell your friend Adrian to stop," he said. "Or I'll release the recording that proves his father killed yours."
