Chapter 1: Forty-Nine Calls Too Late
“Three years together… and he still doesn’t know who I am.””
The words echoed inside Naomi Carter’s mind as the private jet crossed the dark sky.
She didn't speak them aloud.
She didn't need to.
Golden cabin lights softened the edges of her face, illuminating her voluminous curls and the pale pink designer dress she had chosen for the flight. Beyond the oval window, the city lights shimmered like distant stars.
Her four-year-old daughter, Zuri, slept against her chest.
A tiny stuffed rabbit rested beneath the little girl's chin. Her cream-colored blanket had slipped halfway down her shoulder, and one small hand curled around the fabric.
Naomi held her daughter with her left arm.
Her right hand held her phone.
Across from her, Simone, her executive assistant, sat quietly in the opposite seat. She had been with Naomi long enough to recognize the difference between her employer's ordinary silence and the kind that came after something inside a person finally broke.
Simone didn't ask questions.
Not yet.
Naomi scrolled through her call history.
Adrian.
Adrian.
Adrian.
Every missed call came from the same name.
Forty-seven.
Forty-eight.
Then her thumb stopped.
Forty-nine.
For several seconds, she stared at the number.
Forty-nine calls.
Her husband had called forty-nine times since she had left.
She almost laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because three years ago, she would have given anything for Adrian to call her once without being reminded.
She remembered sitting at their dining table on her birthday, watching the candles melt while the food grew cold.
She remembered the night Zuri had a fever and she had spent four hours in an emergency room alone.
She remembered the anniversary dinner she had canceled because Adrian had promised to come home early.
He hadn't.
And when she finally confronted him, he had looked at her as though she were asking for something unreasonable.
You're making a big deal out of nothing, Naomi.
That sentence had followed her into more nights than she could count.
Now, suddenly, Adrian couldn't stop calling.
Naomi stared at his name.
A tear slipped down her cheek.
"Bốn mươi chín cuộc gọi…" she whispered, her voice barely audible.
"Quá muộn rồi, Adrian.""
Forty-nine calls.
Too late.
She opened her phone settings.
Her thumb hovered over the airplane mode symbol.
For one brief moment, she hesitated.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, the woman she used to be still wanted to answer.
She wanted to hear him say he was sorry.
She wanted him to explain why he had waited until she was gone to start acting like he might lose her.
But the woman holding her sleeping daughter knew something the other woman hadn't understood.
An apology was not the same as change.
Naomi tapped the screen.
Airplane mode activated.
She placed the phone face down on the small table beside her.
The cabin fell quiet again.
Zuri stirred.
"Mama?""
Naomi immediately lowered her gaze.
"I'm here, sweetheart.""
"Are we going home?""
Naomi adjusted the blanket around her daughter's shoulders.
"Yes, baby. We're going home.""
"Is Daddy coming?""
The question landed harder than any of Adrian's forty-nine calls.
Naomi brushed a curl away from Zuri's forehead.
"Not tonight, sweetheart. You just sleep.""
Zuri nodded sleepily and buried her face against her mother's chest.
Naomi kissed the top of her head.
Then she looked across the cabin.
"Simone.""
Simone straightened.
"Yes?""
"Change my phone number.""
Simone nodded, reaching for her tablet.
"Of course.""
"And call my attorney.""
Simone paused.
"Do you want me to tell him you're requesting an emergency appointment?""
Naomi looked down at her daughter.
Her tears hadn't stopped.
But something in her expression had changed.
"Tell him I want every communication with Adrian handled through legal counsel. And I want to discuss temporary custody arrangements.""
Simone slowly lowered her tablet.
"Understood. Is there anything else?""
Naomi looked at her.
"Yes.""
Her voice was steady now.
"Make sure Adrian cannot use my old number to reach Zuri through me. I want a separate, documented arrangement for anything involving our daughter.""
Simone nodded.
"I'll arrange it.""
For a moment, neither woman spoke.
Then Simone asked quietly, "Are you sure you're ready for this?""
Naomi glanced at the phone lying face down.
"No," she answered honestly.
"But I'm more afraid of what happens if I keep waiting.""
Simone reached for her phone.
Naomi turned back toward the window.
The city disappeared beneath the clouds.
She had spent three years trying to convince a man to notice her pain.
Tonight, she had finally stopped asking.
And Adrian still didn't know that the woman he had called forty-nine times was no longer planning to come back.
But there was something Naomi hadn't told Simone.
Something she had discovered only hours before boarding the jet.
May you like
Something that made those forty-nine calls feel less like love and more like panic.
And when her attorney opened the envelope she had packed in her handbag, he would understand why.
