Chapter 9 - He Took Noah
I was out the door before Melissa finished the sentence.
Julian was allowed scheduled visitation.
But not that day.
And he had never picked Noah up from school without telling me.
I called him.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
I called Noah.
Straight to voicemail.
My hands shook so badly Melissa took my keys.
“You’re not driving.”
Police were notified.
The school security video showed Julian signing Noah out at 1:17 p.m.
He told the receptionist there was a family emergency.
At 1:42, my phone rang.
Julian.
“Where is he?”
“Calm down.”
“Where is my son?”
“Our son.”
“Put him on the phone.”
“He’s fine.”
“Put him on.”
A muffled sound.
Then Noah.
“Mom?”
“Baby, are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Where are you?”
Julian took the phone.
“We need to talk.”
“No. You need to bring him back.”
“You’re poisoning him against me.”
“You asked him to destroy evidence.”
A long pause.
“So you’re recording me now?”
I looked at Melissa.
She nodded.
Everything was being recorded.
“I want my son.”
“And I want my family back.”
The sentence was so absurd I almost screamed.
“You’re getting married in two weeks.”
“That wedding doesn’t matter anymore.”
Somewhere in the background, Noah said:
“Dad, I want to go home.”
My blood went cold.
“Listen to him.”
Julian lowered his voice.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
“No.”
“The USB.”
“It doesn’t belong to you.”
“You don’t understand what you’re dealing with.”
“I understand enough.”
“If that material goes public, dozens of innocent people lose their jobs.”
There it was.
Not I’m innocent.
Not you misunderstand.
Just consequences.
“Bring Noah home.”
“Give me the drive.”
Melissa wrote something on a notepad.
ASK LOCATION.
“Where are you?”
“No.”
“Then there’s nothing to discuss.”
I hung up.
It was the hardest thing I had ever done.
Nine minutes later, police located Julian’s car through a traffic camera.
A shopping center twelve miles away.
Officers found Noah sitting inside a coffee shop.
Alone.
Julian was gone.
He had left his own son at a table with a hot chocolate and disappeared through the rear exit.
When Noah saw me, he ran so hard he nearly knocked me down.
“I’m sorry.”
I held him.
“No. No, baby.”
“I told him I wouldn’t go with him.”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“He said you were going to destroy him.”
I closed my eyes.
Noah whispered:
“Then he said maybe you deserved what happened.”
Something inside me went completely still.
That night, an emergency custody order suspended Julian’s unsupervised visitation.
His attorney called it an unfortunate misunderstanding.
The police called it interference with custody.
Federal investigators called it something else.
Witness intimidation.
The following morning, Julian finally texted me.
YOU HAVE WON. CONGRATULATIONS.
I stared at those words.
May you like
Then a second message appeared.
BUT ASK VICTORIA WHAT SHE DID BEFORE YOU START THINKING SHE’S YOUR FRIEND.
