CHAPTER 5 – My Brother Stole My Son… But He Didn't Know Noah Had Already Remembered Everything
The helicopter disappeared into the storm.
Its blades carved through the rain while Victoria screamed Noah's name until her voice broke.
She tried to run.
A police officer grabbed her.
"Ma'am, you'll die!"
"My son!"
"You don't understand!"
She fought like a woman possessed.
Emily cried uncontrollably behind her.
"Mom! Please!"
Only when the helicopter became nothing more than a tiny blinking light did Victoria collapse onto the wet pavement.
Her hands were bleeding.
She hadn't even noticed the glass cutting through her palms.
Two hours later.
Ashford Memorial Hospital.
Victoria refused treatment until she knew Emily was safe.
Only after seeing her daughter asleep did she allow the doctors to stitch the cuts on her hands.
James Carter arrived carrying three thick boxes of documents.
His face was pale.
"I found the rest."
Victoria looked up.
"The rest of what?"
"Your father's secrets."
He placed a faded leather journal on the hospital bed.
"This belonged to Harold."
Victoria hesitated before opening it.
The first page made her stomach turn.
Every page contained dates.
Photographs.
Medical reports.
Children's names.
Some were crossed out.
Some were circled in red.
One page was different.
At the top was a single name.
NOAH.
Beneath it, Harold had written in neat handwriting:
"Subject possesses the strongest genetic compatibility. He must survive at all costs."
Victoria frowned.
"Compatibility?"
James nodded gravely.
"It wasn't about inheritance."
"It was about biology."
He opened another folder.
Inside were confidential medical files.
"Three years ago, Daniel was diagnosed with a rare genetic blood disorder."
Victoria stared.
"He needed a perfect stem-cell donor."
James nodded.
"The only confirmed match..."
"...was Noah."
The room became silent.
Victoria suddenly understood everything.
"They never wanted him back because they loved him."
James looked away.
"They wanted him because they needed him alive."
Her entire body trembled.
"My own brother..."
"...planned to harvest my son's bone marrow?"
James answered quietly.
"It gets worse."
He slid one final photograph across the bed.
Victoria froze.
The picture showed Daniel standing beside Victor Laurent.
They were shaking hands.
The photograph had been taken fifteen years earlier.
"They've known each other this whole time."
Victoria whispered.
"My God..."
James nodded.
"Your father sold Noah."
"Victor raised him."
"And Daniel has been paying Victor millions every year..."
"...to keep Noah alive until he became medically useful."
Victoria felt physically sick.
The child everyone believed had been abandoned...
Had actually been imprisoned.
Kept alive.
Like insurance.
Meanwhile...
Forty miles outside Chicago...
Noah slowly opened his eyes.
Everything smelled like disinfectant.
Bright lights blinded him.
His wrists were strapped to a hospital bed.
Machines beeped beside him.
He tried to move.
A calm voice answered.
"Don't struggle."
Daniel Ashford entered wearing a white lab coat.
Noah immediately recognized him.
"You."
Daniel smiled.
"You've grown."
"I don't know you."
"Oh..."
Daniel laughed softly.
"But I know everything about you."
He sat beside the bed.
"You've cost this family a fortune."
Noah stayed silent.
Daniel leaned closer.
"Tomorrow morning..."
"...you're going to save my life."
Noah looked directly into his eyes.
"No."
Daniel chuckled.
"You don't have a choice."
Then Noah said something that erased Daniel's smile.
"I remember Maria."
Daniel froze.
"I remember Victor."
Silence.
"And..."
Noah's gray-blue eyes filled with hatred.
"...I remember you."
Daniel slowly stood.
"What did you say?"
Noah smiled for the first time.
It wasn't a child's smile.
It was the smile of someone who had survived monsters.
"You came every birthday."
"You watched."
"You never stopped them."
Daniel's heartbeat quickened.
Impossible.
The sedatives...
The trauma...
The psychiatrists had all agreed Noah's memories would never return.
May you like
But they had.
Every single one.
