Chapter 30 Noah
Aiyana's P.O.V
Nothing about the morning made sense.
The boy’s arms were still wrapped around my legs, his cheek pressed against my knee like he belonged there, like I was a piece of furniture he’d known his whole life. He smelled like soap and sunshine and childhood, things that didn’t fit in Jerome Black’s world.
And yet…
“Uncle Jerome!” He said again, voice bright, turning his head just enough to beam at the man behind me.
Uncle.
The word echoed in my skull, sharp and disorienting.
Jerome stood at the foot of the bed, arms crossed, expression unreadable in that infuriating way of his. He looked… calm. Not surprised. Not tense. Not worried about what this revelation might do to me.
Which meant this wasn’t new.
This wasn’t an accident.
My heart began to beat too fast.
I looked down at the boy again.
“Hi.” I said softly, forcing a smile that felt brittle. “What’s your name?”
“Noah!” He announced proudly. “I’m six. Uncle Jerome says I’m not allowed to tell people where I live, but I can tell you my name because you’re nice.” He said chirpy, with his eyes shining in happiness.
Nice.
My throat tightened.
Because I knew that name.
I knew his face too, now that I was really looking, really seeing him.
The night rushed back to me in violent fragments.
The alley.
The shouting.
Men in black, laughing too loudly.
The small body trembling behind me as I stood in front of him with nothing but instinct and fear holding me upright.
“Please.” I had begged that night. “He’s just a child.”
I had thought I was protecting a stranger.
I had thought the beating that followed was random cruelty, unfortunate timing, the cost of doing the right thing in a city that punished kindness.
But Cortez’s men had known who that boy was.
Which meant…
My stomach dropped.
I slowly lifted my gaze to Jerome.
He was watching me now. Closely. Like he was measuring something shifting behind my eyes.
Noah tugged gently on my trousers. “Are you staying forever?” he asked hopefully.
Forever.
The word nearly knocked the air from my lungs.
“I…” I glanced at Jerome again, searching his face for answers I wasn’t brave enough to ask for out loud. “I’m… staying for now.”
“That’s good!” Noah declared. “Uncle Jerome doesn’t sleep good when he’s worried.”
Jerome shot him a look. “Noah.”
“What?” the boy shrugged. “You don’t.”
My chest tightened painfully.
So it wasn’t just me who’d noticed.
The room felt suddenly too small, too full of unspoken truths pressing against my ribs.
I gently peeled Noah’s arms from my legs and stood. “I’m going to get ready for the day, okay?”
“Okay!” he said cheerfully, already distracted, running over to Jerome and grabbing his hand like it was the most natural thing in the world.
I walked past them both without looking back.
~=•=~
The thought followed me everywhere.
This is not a coincidence.
Jerome Black was too careful. Too calculated. Nothing in his life happened by accident.
Not people, not places, not timing.
Which meant the boy I had saved… was his nephew.
Which meant Cortez hadn’t just attacked me because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
They attacked me because I interfered with something deeply personal.
Something that belonged to Jerome.
And suddenly, everything shifted.
Had Jerome known who I was from the start?
Had he recognized me that night at the gates, not just as a woman left for dead, but as the woman who protected his blood?
The idea made my skin prickle.
I replayed that first night over and over in my head. His car. His gaze. The way he’d looked at me like he was trying to place something he already half-knew.
Was I saved because of compassion?
Or because of obligation?
Because if it was the second…
I didn’t know how to breathe with that as I felt somewhat betrayed but couldn't even say it was that.
I didn’t feel like I had the right to ask him. Not after everything he’d done. Not after the way he’d kept me alive, protected me, stood between me and men who wanted me broken or dead.
So I did what I’d always done best.
I bottled it up.
I withdrew.
By the time Gerald found me in the yard for training, my mind was a thousand miles away.
“You’re late.” He said mildly.
“Sorry.” I responded looking away from him as I could see him studying my face, with his sharp eyes that missed nothing. “You’re elsewhere.”
“I’m fine.”
He snorted. “That’s a lie.” I responded but he didn't swell on it
The training yard felt different today.
My body moved through the drills automatically, muscle memory carrying me through strikes and blocks I barely registered.
Gerald circled me, correcting my stance, barking instructions I followed half a second too late.
“Focus.” He snapped. “You hesitate again and you’ll eat dirt.”
“I am focused.” I insisted.
He lunged.
Normally, I would have seen it coming. Normally, my arms would have come up on instinct, but my mind flashed with Noah’s face.
With the word uncle.
With the possibility that my entire life since that night had been shaped by a truth I didn’t know.
I missed the block.
The blow caught me across the shoulder, spinning me off balance. My foot slipped on gravel, and the world tilted violently.
I went down hard.
My face hit the ground with a sharp crack of pain, dust filling my mouth, breath punched from my lungs. Stars exploded behind my eyes.
“Aiyana!” Gerald exclaimed, already moving toward me. “Shit! are you…”
He didn’t finish the sentence.
Because suddenly, there was a sharp yelp.
Gerald jerked backward, swearing loudly.
“What the?!...”
I pushed myself up just in time to see Noah clamped onto Gerald’s forearm with his teeth, small face twisted in pure, furious determination.
“Hey!!!” Gerald shouted, trying not to shake the boy off. “What are you doing?!”
Noah snarled, actually snarled, and bit harder.
“How dare you hurt her?!” He yelled, voice cracking with outrage. “You’re bad! You’re not allowed!”
I stared at them, stunned and didn't know whether to laugh or be scared at the sight in front me because he was serious.
Very serious.
“Noah!” I scrambled to my feet, pain forgotten. “Let go!”
The boy released Gerald instantly and ran to me instead, wrapping his arms around my waist protectively, glaring up at the grown man like he was ready to fight him again.
Gerald stared at his arm, then at me, then at the child, completely dumbfounded.
“Well.” He muttered
“that’s a first.”
Jerome appeared at the edge of the yard like he’d been summoned by the chaos.
“What happened?” He asked calmly.
Noah pointed an accusing finger at Gerald.
“He hit her!”