CHAPTER 8: THE BOY WHO CALLED EMILY "MOM"
Three days later...
Margaret agreed to testify.
For the first time in twenty years...
Someone inside Richard Ashcroft's organization was finally willing to speak.
Federal prosecutors immediately prepared arrest warrants.
International authorities joined the investigation.
News outlets across the world covered the scandal.
Richard Ashcroft became the most wanted billionaire on Earth.
Yet...
He never seemed worried.
Because he was already one move ahead.
Emily returned home believing Lily was finally safe.
She couldn't have been more wrong.
At exactly 8:42 that evening...
The doorbell rang.
Samuel checked the security cameras.
Nobody.
Only a small gift box sat on the front porch.
Ross immediately stopped him.
"It could be dangerous."
The bomb squad inspected it.
No explosives.
Inside...
Only a small wooden music box.
When Emily opened it...
A lullaby began playing.
She instantly recognized the melody.
It was the song she used to sing while pregnant.
No one else should have known it.
Hidden beneath the music box...
Was a photograph.
A newborn baby wrapped in the same hospital blanket.
On the back were five handwritten words:
"He's waiting for his mother."
That night...
Emily couldn't sleep.
Around midnight...
The security alarm suddenly activated.
Movement detected.
Samuel rushed outside with officers.
Nothing.
Except footprints leading toward the nearby woods.
Emily looked through her bedroom window.
A teenage boy stood beneath an old oak tree.
He couldn't have been older than twenty-two.
He wasn't running.
He wasn't hiding.
He was simply watching the house.
Emily stepped outside before anyone could stop her.
The boy smiled gently.
His eyes filled with tears.
Then he spoke.
Softly.
Almost like he'd waited his whole life.
"Mom..."
Emily froze.
The world seemed to stop.
Her knees nearly gave out.
"What... did you say?"
The young man walked one step closer.
"I've waited twenty-two years to say that."
Samuel drew his weapon.
"Don't move!"
The boy slowly raised both hands.
"I'm not here to hurt anyone."
He looked directly at Emily.
"My name is Noah."
"I think..."
"I'm the baby they took from you."
Emily couldn't breathe.
Lily quietly stepped onto the porch beside her mother.
She looked at Noah.
Then smiled innocently.
"Are you my brother?"
Noah's eyes filled with tears.
"I've dreamed of hearing someone ask me that."
Before Emily could embrace him...
A red laser sight suddenly appeared on Noah's chest.
Samuel shouted,
"Sniper!"
One deafening gunshot echoed across the night.
Emily screamed.
Noah shoved Lily out of the way—
The bullet struck him instead.
He collapsed into Emily's arms.
As chaos erupted around them, Noah reached into his jacket with trembling fingers and handed Emily a small brass key stained with blood.
"There isn't much time..."
He coughed violently.
"The key opens Vault Seven..."
"Everything Richard fears..."
"It's in there."
His breathing became weaker.
Then he whispered one final sentence into Emily's ear.
"The man you thought was the villain..."
"...was trying to save us."
Emily looked toward the darkness where the sniper had fired.
The shooter was already gone.
Far away, aboard his yacht, Richard Ashcroft watched the live drone footage with a satisfied smile.
He quietly said,
"Now she'll finally open the vault."
He turned off the screen.
Unaware...
Someone else had been secretly watching him.
And this time...
May you like
Richard had become the target.
END OF CHAPTER 8
