His Secret [Completed]

Chapter Forty-Three

The lights in the boathouse flicked on and Sophia strained her eyes to see. She had been slowly drifting off to sleep when the lights came on and jolted her awake. She squinted, trying to focus her eyes on the figure standing in her room frantically running around packing her clothes into her bag. "You need to go," he growled and she realised it was Noah.

"I thought things changed between us," she said as he continued to cram clothes into the suitcase she'd just recently emptied of her vacation clothes. "Will you just stop for one minute!"

His head snapped in her direction and his eyes were full of something she didn't expect. They were filled with terror. She hadn't seen him like that before, he was terrified of something. Pure fear radiated as he locked eyes with Sophia. "I won't let him take you."

"Who? Brad? I know everything Noah, please just talk to me," she pleaded with him.

"If any of this stuff is important to you, I suggest you start packing or it's staying here."

Sophia didn't budge. "Talk to me," she pleaded. "I know about your brother. I know about James and I know you know about my grandmother's money and that Brooke took it. Just talk to me."

He stopped what he was doing and walked a little closer to her. "Bradley wants you. I've heard him speak disgusting things about what he did to you. He wants you back and he'll do anything to get what he wants. Brooke wanted your money and in exchange for Bradley's help, she agreed he could have you. She bargained for your life and your freedom. You need to trust me, you'll be safer if you go."

He'd given her the information in a state of panic that she'd been wanting all along. He told her with such ease in that moment, and it angered her that it was such a struggle before. "Why couldn't you have told me this before!" She yelled at him. "You kept me in the dark for so long and for what reason? What difference has it made?"

"I thought it was safer." He turned and continued to pack her things.

"You throw that word around like it means something to me. I'll have no one, Noah! No friends, no family... no you!" she cried.

Her words struck him and she was sure he realised how difficult starting fresh was, but he quickly recovered, ignoring her and said, "let's go."

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me the truth. The whole truth."

He sighed and placed her bags he'd finished packing by his feet. "I overheard a conversation between Brooke and Brad. He talked of taking you to a foreign country where laws are pretty much non-existent and marrying you so you could never escape him again." He flinched at his words. "He's sick in the head, and giving you a whole new identity was the only way I knew he couldn't find you again, at least for a few years while I try to fix this. You'll be a whole new person with a new phone number, new bank account. You'll have a whole new everything. You'll be able to start fresh. So please, I need you to go."

There was one last question she felt the need to ask him before they parted ways forever. "Back at your apartment. Did you really believe I'd steal from you, that I only wanted your money?"

Noah shook his head. "I always knew that my money wasn't important to you, but making you believe that's what I thought made it easier for me to let you go. I kicked you out because I thought it would be easier. I thought that they couldn't carry on with the plan if you were no longer living under my roof, but as usual, there was nothing I could do and they told me the original plan would go ahead. That watch, it was never really there. I'm sorry," he told her and turned to walk out of the boathouse.

She followed him without any hesitation with her bag of precious photographs, and they walked out to the car. Sophia took one last look at the boathouse, a place she would never step inside again. Noah placed the bags into the trunk and opened the door to the passenger's seat for her. The mansion, the place she'd called home over the past few months, would no longer be a home to her, and she knew it was a mistake allowing it to feel that way. She knew she should never have settled, knowing what she knew, knowing that a real family isn't possible as long as she's fighting a past that always caught up to her.

The car journey was silent and she wondered where Noah was taking her, as he hadn't told her yet, and that somehow made her feel more at ease. Sophia's heart felt as though it was breaking into a million pieces as they pulled out of the McKenzie estate; she didn't have the chance to say goodbye to the people she loved. They'd gone to bed, agreeing to speak of the Brooke situation in the morning, but didn't know Sophia would be gone when they woke. Of course, Sophia didn't know that either, but she hoped that they would simply get on with their lives and forget about her. It was the way she wanted to picture them waking in the morning, she wanted to picture them going downstairs and having breakfast as a family. She wanted them to wonder where she'd gone, but not be heartbroken when they find out she had left. Throughout the car ride, Sophia thought up a dream scenario: 'Where's Sophia?" Sherry would ask. 'I'm not sure, the boathouse is empty,' Kelly would reply with a smile on her face. 'She's probably moved on and I'm happy for her.' Sophia didn't want them to care about her leaving, but it hurt her knowing that it wouldn't be this way. It hurt her knowing she'd disappointed the people who'd come to love her as a daughter, and regretted acting the part.

"I've set you up in a hotel for today. Your flight is tomorrow evening, so you'll have time to get things in order." He handed over a small booklet with a one-way plane ticket inside. "It's your choice where you want to go, that'll take you anywhere in the states, but I hear Pennsylvania has some of the best newspaper companies." Noah helped her bring her bags up to the hotel room and placed them by the door. "I'm sorry it had to be this way, believe me when I say I didn't want this to happen. I hoped I could fix everything, but my time frame has run out and there isn't much more I can do with you still here and in danger. I'm sorry, Sophia," he confessed. They stared at each other for a second as he closed the gap between them. His lips brushed hers briefly, but before anything could come of it, he pulled away.

Noah turned around, walked down the corridor and pressed the button on the elevator. He stepped inside and just as the doors were closing, Sophia sprinted down the hall calling his name. "I forgive you!" she shouted as tears streamed down her cheeks and not caring if she woke the entire hotel.

"Just know I'll never stop trying to make things right!" The doors continued to slide close and just before they came to a close, he gave her a warm smile. "I love you, Sophia Jenkins. I always have." The doors closed smoothly and met in the middle, just as Sophia yelled at the top of her lungs that she loved him too. She wasn't sure whether Noah had heard her, but there was one thing she was sure of. Everything Noah had done, he had done it for the people he loved; and she was a part of that.

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What an emotional chapter.
Let me know what you think :)