The Night Noah Was Taken
Chapter 10 - The Night Noah Was Taken
The court allowed Jax one supervised visit with Noah at the foster home.
He arrived carrying nothing but the old photograph in a new frame.
Noah sat at the kitchen table, refusing the cookies the foster mother had made. The brave boy from the diner looked smaller now.
Jax sat across from him.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For what?”
“For not knowing. For not being there. For every birthday you had without me.”
Noah stared at the table. “Mom said you didn’t know.”
“That does not make the missing years disappear.”
“No.”
Jax accepted the answer.
He pushed the framed photograph forward. “This is the first picture of us. It will not be the last.”
Noah’s eyes filled.
“Are you going to fight Daniel?”
“I’m going to fight for you. Those are different things.”
The foster mother, Mrs. Alvarez, looked away to hide her emotion.
Noah touched the frame. “Mom said Daniel makes people angry so they look guilty.”
“Your mom is smart.”
“She also said you would be angry.”
“She knows me.”
For the first time, Noah almost smiled.
The visit ended at six.
At eight thirty, Sarah called Jax.
Noah was gone.
Daniel had produced a revised emergency order claiming the foster placement endangered the child because Jax knew the address. A judge had signed it after business hours. Noah had been transferred to Daniel’s custody under private supervision.
Jax drove to Daniel’s house, but Sarah intercepted him at the gate.
“He wants you here,” she warned. “He wants another video.”
A light flickered in an upstairs window.
Jax saw Noah standing behind the glass.
The boy lifted one hand.
Jax raised his own.
Then Daniel appeared behind Noah and closed the curtain.
Jax’s body moved before his mind did.
Sarah stepped in front of him.
“Break that gate and he wins.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Become the man Lila believed you could be.”
Jax stood in the rain, fists clenched, breathing until the urge to destroy something passed.
Then his phone rang.
It was Officer Ruiz.
May you like
Willow Ridge had confirmed Lila was a patient.
She had been admitted involuntarily by Daniel three weeks earlier.
