He Stole Her Bouquet and Brought Her Brother's Name

CHAPTER 4 - WHAT NOAH KNEW

Emma opened the envelope with numb fingers.

Inside was a folded letter and a photograph worn soft at the edges.

The picture showed two children on a dock. Emma at ten, Noah at sixteen. She was crying over a split knee. He was crouched beside her, tying a blue-and-white bracelet around her wrist.

On the back he had written: I promised I'd come back for you.

Her vision blurred.

She unfolded the letter.

Emma, If Leo found you, then I ran out of time. I did not abandon you. I found out something about Daniel six months ago. He came to Marseille looking for records about our father. He wasn't looking for family history. He was looking for the harbor property our father hid under another name before he died. When I confronted him, he paid someone to frighten me off. I left because I thought I could expose him first. Then my heart failed. He doesn't love our history. He wants what comes with it.

Emma read it twice. Then a third time.

Daniel stepped toward her. "This is insane. A sick man writes a paranoid note, and suddenly your whole life changes?"

Clara lifted her chin. "I was there when Noah met with him."

Daniel turned cold. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"No," Emma said quietly. "I think I finally do."

He exhaled hard. "Your father did own that land. But I wasn't stealing anything. It was tied up in legal debt. I was trying to settle it before someone else took it."

"Then why hide it from me?"

He had no answer that came fast enough.

Just then a doctor approached. "Family of Noah Bennett?"

Emma stepped forward.

"He's conscious," the doctor said. "But weak. Only one visitor."

Daniel moved as if he belonged in that sentence.

Emma put a hand out and stopped him.

"If Noah spent twenty years trying to come back to me, you can wait ten more minutes."

She entered the room alone.

And the first thing Noah whispered was, "Did he tell you what happened to Dad that night?"