Noah's Adventure - 5. Chapter 5 The unwanted visitors

The backyard went silent the moment my Uncle Mark stepped through the gate.

“Mark,” Grandma said, moving past Matt, Nathan, and Nick. Her voice was sharp as broken glass. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s my nephew’s graduation,” Mark said, chin lifted. “I have every right to be here.”

“You may be his uncle,” Grandma replied, “but you were not invited. You need to leave.”

I’d heard rumors that my uncles and Mark used to be close — best friends even — before something shattered everything. No one ever told me what.

And then, of course, like it had been rehearsed, she walked in.

My mother.
Carly.

Strutting into the yard like she owned it. Peter followed behind her, sweating like he regretted agreeing to this already.

“Congratulations, Noah!” she called out, all bright and sugary and fake.

My jaw clenched. Judging by the sudden hard stares from my uncles, I wasn’t alone.

Shawn, Shane, and Shiloh looked confused, mid-conversation frozen. They didn’t know the history. Not yet.

I stood. “You need to leave.”

“You don’t speak to your mother that way,” Mark snapped.

“She stopped being my mother the day she signed away her rights,” I said, my voice steady and cold.

Grandpa stepped forward — slowly — but with the kind of presence that makes the air tighten around your ribs.

“Get. Out.”

Mark’s face blanched. Carly’s faltered. Even Peter hesitated.

But Peter tried anyway.

“You don’t get to talk to us like that—”

He never finished.

Because Brody — my cousin, not my uncle — launched himself full speed and slammed his head directly into Peter’s crotch.

Peter hit the ground wheezing.

Carly scrambled toward him.

“Remember you lost the last court case,” Mark sneered. “Try again and we’ll—”

“This time there’s nothing to try,” Grandma cut in. “We adopted Noah. Legally. Permanently. You have no claim. Now leave. Or things get unpleasant.”

As if on cue, a team of men and women in Black Hawk Corporation polos flooded the yard. Efficient. Silent. Controlled. They surrounded Carly, Mark, and Peter with practiced precision.

“Mrs. Jacobs,” the lead agent said, “we’ll take it from here.”

“No need to kill them,” Grandma said, pausing just long enough to make every hair on my neck stand up. “Yet.”

The team escorted them out. Armed guards took positions at the gates.

I swallowed. Everyone always joked that my family was “well-connected.” But it was more than that. Black Hawk was powerful — government-level security, political connections, international contacts. And Grandma ran it.

This wasn’t just protection.
This was war readiness.

The lead agent returned. “We apologize for the breach. We had no intelligence suggesting they were coming.”

“See that it does not happen again,” Grandma said.

He nodded to her — and to Uncle Nick — before leaving.

“Mom,” Uncle Matt said quietly, “I thought you said we’d never see them again.”

“There were complications,” Grandma murmured. “Things outside our control.”

Uncle Ted exhaled. “When we lost the case against Carly, we had to make concessions.”

“What case?” I asked, my voice barely audible.

Grandma looked at me — really looked at me.

“We tried to get custody of you when you were two,” she said softly. “We tried everything. But the judge said she was your mother.”

“Egg donor,” I corrected.

A few of my uncles snorted approvingly.

Grandma’s phone rang. She excused herself and stepped inside.

Taylor came to my side. “Hey… you okay?”

“I think so,” I said, though I wasn’t sure. “I just didn’t expect them.”

“Your mom is so dramatic,” Jay muttered.

“I think she thrives on it,” I said, and some of my uncles nodded grimly.

I turned to Brody. “Okay, dude. Where did that flying head-butt to the balls come from?”

“From me, silly!” Brody chirped. A ripple of laughter relieved the tension.

“No, I mean where’d you learn that?”

Brody shrugged. “Tristan told me to.”

Every adult in the yard froze.

“Who’s Tristan?” I asked.

Before he could answer, Grandma stepped back outside, her face grave and unreadable.

“I know why they were here,” she said.