What Emma Had Been Hiding
Chapter 07 - What Emma Had Been Hiding
Emma asked Noah to meet her at a coffee shop near campus.
She arrived without makeup, wearing jeans and an old Westbridge sweatshirt instead of the polished clothes her father preferred.
Noah barely recognized how tired she looked.
“What did you say to him?” he asked.
Emma wrapped both hands around her coffee.
“I told him he was pushing you too hard.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
She closed her eyes.
“I told him I was worried.”
“About my father?”
“About what your father’s situation would do to you.”
Noah leaned back.
“So he wasn’t lying.”
“He twisted it.”
“How?”
Emma lowered her voice.
“Three months ago, I heard my father talking about Ridgeway.”
Noah went still.
“He said they were behind on payroll. He said some workers had been kept off the official books to lower costs.”
“My father works for them.”
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“I found out last week.”
Noah stared at her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I was trying to confirm it.”
“Or because your father told you not to?”
Emma’s face answered before her mouth did.
Noah stood.
She reached for his wrist.
“Please.”
He pulled away.
“Noah, my father said if the subcontractor failed, hundreds of people could lose work. He said exposing it too early would make everything worse.”
“My father is losing his house.”
Emma looked shocked.
“He borrowed against it for my education. And if Ridgeway hasn’t been paying him properly…”
“I didn’t know.”
“No. You just knew enough to stay quiet.”
The words hurt her.
Noah saw it.
For a moment, he almost took them back.
Then Emma reached into her bag.
She placed a flash drive on the table.
“I copied these from my father’s home office.”
“What are they?”
“Emails. Payment schedules. Internal reports.”
Noah did not touch it.
Emma’s eyes filled.
“I was going to give them to you after graduation.”
“Why after?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of your father?”
She shook her head.
“Of losing you when you found out who he really was.”
Noah looked at the flash drive.
Then his phone buzzed.
It was a message from Henry.
SON, DON’T COME HOME TONIGHT. I TOOK A JOB OUT OF STATE. I’LL CALL WHEN I GET SETTLED.
Noah read it twice.
May you like
Henry had disappeared.
And this time, Noah knew his father was running toward another sacrifice.
