Chapter 4 - The Promise He Could Not Buy
Luca stared at the tests.
Naomi watched him with a stillness she recognized from another life.
It was the stillness that came before she began explaining herself.
Apologizing.
Trying to make someone else’s reaction easier.
She stood instead.
“I need you to say something.”
He looked up.
“How do you feel?”
The question surprised her.
“Terrified.”
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
“And happy,” she admitted. “Which makes being terrified more confusing.”
He sat on the closed toilet lid, hands braced on his knees.
Naomi waited.
At last, he said, “I am happy. I think the fear arrived first.”
She felt her eyes fill.
“That sounded more honest than reassuring.”
“I’m trying to make sure I don’t confuse the two.”
She sat beside him on the edge of the bathtub.
For a while, they looked at the little plastic tests.
Then Luca reached for her hand.
“What do you want?”
She answered without looking away.
“This baby.”
He nodded.
“All right.”
“Not as an obligation.”
“No.”
“Not as something you agree to because you think I’ll leave.”
He turned toward her.
“I want a life with you. I’m frightened of failing at it. Both things are true.”
Naomi leaned against him.
They remained there until her legs went numb.
The following weeks were not magically easy.
Luca read too much.
He asked questions during appointments and once brought a notebook so large that the nurse smiled.
Naomi became nauseated by coffee, which felt particularly unfair in a bakery.
Tessa took over the espresso machine without making a speech.
Evelyn understood the news on a good afternoon.
“A baby,” she said, touching Naomi’s cheek.
“Yes.”
“Well. We’ll need more bread.”
Naomi laughed through tears.
The first ultrasound picture went into her purse in a protective sleeve.
She looked at it on the subway.
In the bakery office.
Once while waiting for a shipment of flour.
The image was unclear to anyone else.
To Naomi, it already looked like a future.
Then Colin called.
She knew his voice before he finished saying her name.
Her body reacted faster than thought.
Shoulders tight.
Breath shallow.
One hand flat against the desk.
“How did you get this number?”
“Don’t start.”
She almost hung up.
Then he said, “Your little bank dispute is about to get complicated.”
The fraudulent loan was still being contested. Luca’s attorneys had made progress, but old records, disputed authorizations, and missing documentation had slowed everything.
Colin knew exactly where to press.
“What do you want?”
“A settlement. You stop accusing me of fraud. I provide documents showing how the money was used. Everyone moves on.”
“No.”
“You haven’t heard the amount.”
“I don’t need to.”
His tone changed.
“There are records with your name on them, Naomi.”
“Then send them to the attorneys.”
“Your husband’s attorneys?”
She went cold.
“Yes.”
A pause.
“I’d be careful about how much he knows.”
She ended the call.
For several minutes, she sat motionless.
Then she told Tessa.
Then Luca.
His expression darkened, but he did not demand her phone or announce that he would handle it.
“What do you want to do?” he asked.
“Make him stop being a shadow over every good thing.”
“Then we’ll speak to your attorney.”
The attorney advised preserving messages and routing communications through counsel.
For several days, Colin complied.
Then he sent an image of a document.
It appeared to show Naomi authorizing the commercial loan.
Beneath it was a message.
You want the original? Meet me before my attorney sends it where it belongs.
Naomi forwarded everything.
An exchange of documents was proposed at a café near the attorney’s office, with counsel joining her there.
It was supposed to be brief.
Public.
Documented.
She did not intend to arrive alone.
But on the morning of the meeting, Colin appeared early.
He was already at a table when she entered.
Her attorney was eight minutes away.
Naomi considered leaving.
Then Colin lifted a folder.
“Sit down. Unless you’d rather your husband find out what you actually signed.”
She remained standing.
“I’m waiting for my attorney.”
“Of course you are.”
He smiled at her coat.
“Bellini’s money looks good on you.”
Naomi sat only because the café was busy, the counter was close, and she wanted to stop feeling afraid of a man who had already taken too much.
It was a decision she would examine afterward.
But Colin’s choices were the ones that made it dangerous.
When she reached into her purse for her phone, the ultrasound picture slid out.
May you like
Colin saw it.
And the expression on his face changed.
