Part 4 — My son told me that he wanted to move in with his father, but one phrase heard at the door wiped the smile off Jessica’s face

Elena’s phone almost slipped from her hand.

Matt immediately looked toward the door.

“Who knows about this?” I asked.

“The one who was taking the money,” Elena answered. “And who may now be near your house.”

Jessica took Noa’s hand.

“Let’s leave through the back door.”

“No,” I said. “We are all going together. To the police.”

“Rachel,” Matt said, calming his voice, “let’s talk.”

For six years he had never had such a calm voice. It always appeared when he was trying to hide something.

“We have talked enough already.”

“If you leave now, you will ruin Noa’s life.”

Noa looked directly at his father for the first time.

“You ruined it when you forced me to lie to Mom.”

Matt’s face changed.

The sound of car tires was heard outside. I looked toward the window and saw a black car stopped at the corner of the street.

Elena called the police.

“I’m sending you the address. The child is here. We have a recording, bank documents, and a threatening message.”

Matt took out his phone.

“I’ll call my lawyer.”

He connected the call, but for a long time no one spoke on the other side.

“Dato, this is all a misunderstanding. I need you to come here.”

The lawyer’s voice sounded clearly in the room because Matt had accidentally left the phone on speaker mode.

“Matt, I have already seen the bank statements. I am no longer participating in this case.”

“You are my lawyer!”

“I’m not anymore. Tomorrow morning I will go to the police myself and hand over everything.”

The call ended.

Matt put the phone on the table and sank into the chair.

At that moment it seemed as if he heard his own words for the first time. Elena played the recording again.

“If we portray Rachel as a bad mother, Noa will stay with us…”

Matt’s face slowly emptied of color.

!!! When I was nineteen, my father threw me out of the house because I chose my child, and ten years later he turned pale when he saw the envelope

“That’s not what I meant,” he said.

“But that’s what you said,” I answered.

“Rachel, I was simply trying to preserve the family.”

“The family? By frightening a child?”

“You won’t understand.”

“No. Now I understand very well.”

The police arrived in fifteen minutes. The black car had already fled, but the cameras recorded its license plate. The investigator took possession of the recording, the bank statements, and the messages.

They did not put handcuffs on Matt then. They presented him with a search warrant for the house and told him that he could not leave the city. Jessica gave a statement. She cried the entire time, but not once did she say that she was innocent.

Noa stood beside me and held the red compass so tightly as if he were drawing strength from it.

“Mom, will you take me home?”

I knelt down.

“I’ll take you wherever you want. Only this time you will not make the decision out of fear.”

That night I left the light on in his room at my house. Noa lay on the bed, and his new shoes were arranged at his feet.

“Will I go to school tomorrow?” he asked.

“If you want.”

“I do. I just don’t want everyone to know.”

“No one has the right to tell your story instead of you.”

He nodded.

The next morning the smell of pancakes filled the kitchen. Noa sat at the table and was drawing something in my old notebook.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“A new compass.”

“You don’t like the old one anymore?”

He looked at the small red object.

“I like it. I just know now that a tool alone should not show me the direction.”

The case continued for months. At first Matt denied everything. Then he admitted opening the account, but said that he had taken the money temporarily. The investigation established that he had forged my signature on the bank documents and used the warehouse money to cover his own debts.

!!! Part 4 — My mother announced before everyone that my sister was moving into my house, but after my answer Mariana’s smile disappeared from her face

I was also at the court hearing.

Matt did not look toward me.

The judge did not grant him conditional release. He was sentenced to imprisonment, repayment of the money, and restriction of any contact with Noa until the psychological assessment was completed.

Jessica admitted her own responsibility and received the right to communicate with Noa only under supervision. The first time I met her, she held a simple paper cup in her hand.

“I don’t expect you to forgive me,” she said.

“Nor should you expect it.”

“But I want you to know that at the last moment I still tried to protect him.”

“I know. Noa knows too.”

That was enough.

Four months later we moved into a new apartment. On the other side of the city, on a small street where the smell of bread rose in the morning and birds made noise by the windows.

I was still working at the school as a librarian. Noa went to football practice and every evening sat beside me in the kitchen while I made tea.

One December morning the first snow came.

Noa drew a small house, two people, and a red dot above them on the window.

“What is that?” I asked.

“North,” he answered. “So that we know which way to go.”

That same day I received a message from Matt.

“I want you to talk to me at least once. Everything could have been different.”

I looked at the screen for a long time.

Then I wrote:

“You could have chosen the truth. I will no longer help you hide the consequences of your choice.”