Chapter 9 - The Porch Camera
Noah did not know how he reached the front door.
His arm hurt.
His face was wet.
Behind him, Travis shouted that he was not allowed to leave.
Noah pulled the handle.
The door opened only a few inches because Travis’s foot blocked it.
The boy dropped to his knees and crawled through the gap.
That was when the doorbell camera activated.
It captured Noah emerging onto the porch.
It captured Travis standing inside with the bat.
It captured Lena behind him, crying but not intervening.
“Get back inside,” Travis ordered.
Noah crawled toward the steps.
A car door slammed.
Derek ran into view.
He reached the porch as Noah’s injured arm gave out.
“Uncle Derek… he hit me.”
Derek lifted him carefully.
On the open phone call, Aaron heard his son’s voice.
Derek checked the child’s head and breathing the way Aaron had taught him.
Noah remained conscious.
His arm was swelling, but he could move his fingers.
Derek called 911 on a second line.
Travis stepped onto the porch.
“This is a family matter.”
“Put down the bat.”
“He fell.”
Noah buried his face against Derek’s chest.
Travis moved closer.
Derek backed toward the railing, keeping his body between the bat and the child.
Then he saw the doorbell camera blinking.
“It’s all on camera.”
Travis froze.
He had forgotten the device existed.
Years earlier, Aaron had installed it himself.
After the separation, he remained the administrator of the security account because Lena never changed the ownership.
The footage was already uploading.
Travis looked at Lena.
“Turn it off.”
“I can’t.”
“Delete it!”
“I don’t have the password.”
Derek sent the live link to the 911 dispatcher.
A female officer responded through his phone.
“We’re at the house.”
Police lights washed over the windows.
Travis moved back into the living room.
The bat lowered.
Derek held Noah more tightly.
“Daddy’s coming,” he whispered.
A truck turned onto the street behind the patrol car.
Aaron had arrived.
He saw his son in Derek’s arms.
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And for one terrible second, all the noise around him disappeared.
👉 Aaron reached the porch ready to fight, but Noah needed him to make a different choice.
