Chapter 49
Naomi
BACK IN LOS ANGELES…
“The Math Wasn’t Mathing”
My guest bathroom smelled like lavender and nerves. I sat on the edge of the tub staring at the plastic stick on the counter like it might start talking back to me.
Two pink lines.
That’s all it takes to change your life.
My hands were shaking a little, because I didn’t already know.
I’d been feeling it for weeks.
The nausea in the mornings.
The heaviness in my chest.
The way my body just felt… different.
Women know.
We always know.
The problem was the math.
And the math wasn’t adding up the way I needed it to.
I rubbed my temples.
Because if I were being honest with myself…
It didn’t feel like Trevon’s baby.
Trevon.
My man.
Or at least the man who thought he was my man.
Three months ago.
That’s the last time Ares touched me.
Three months since I let myself get pulled back into something I knew I should’ve stayed away from.
I never deleted our messages.
That was my mistake.
Trevon found them a couple of weeks ago.
And nothing in our house had been peaceful since.
It was late.
Almost midnight.
I had just come out of the shower when I saw him sitting on the edge of the bed.
My phone was in his hand.
Unlocked.
My stomach dropped immediately.
“Trevon…”
He didn’t look up.
Just kept scrolling.
“You really stupid enough to keep this shit?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
He laughed.
But there was no humor in it.
“Not like what?”
He read one of the texts out loud.
Ares’ name right there on the screen.
“Miss you. Need a cut.”
Trevon stood up so fast the chair behind him tipped over.
“You fucking him while I’m at work?”
“I wasn’t—”
His hand slammed against the wall beside my head. “Don’t lie to me!”
I flinched. “I ended it! Check my log. I haven’t answered him.”
“That ain’t the point!” His voice echoed through the apartment. “You make me look stupid. Everybody knows you belong to that billionaire nigga.”
“Trevon—”
Before I could finish the sentence, his hand cracked across my face.
The sound rang in my ears.
The room went silent after that.
He looked shocked for a second.
Like he didn’t mean to do it.
But I didn’t move.
Didn’t scream.
Didn’t leave.
Because the truth was…
I deserved some of that anger.
I cheated.
And he knew it.
He threw my phone across the room.
“We gonna keep talking about this until you tell me the truth.”
Now here I was.
Sitting in the same apartment.
Holding a pregnancy test.
Trying to figure out how the hell I was supposed to fix this.
My plan had been simple.
Take the test.
Confirm it.
Then go quietly handle it.
Abortion clinic.
No baby tying me to a man who didn’t belong to me.
I stared at the test again.
My heart pounded.
And that’s when the bathroom door opened.
I froze.
Trevon stepped inside, holding a bouquet of roses.
His expression softened when he saw me sitting there.
His eyes moved to the counter.
He stopped walking.
For a second, the entire world felt like it paused.
His face changed.
Hope?
“You pregnant?”
My mouth went dry. “Yes.”
He stepped closer. “You serious?”
“Yes. But if you are not ready, we can discuss options.”
He grabbed my hands before I could even answer. “Naomi, I would never make you do that…”
His voice sounded different.
Soft.
Excited.
“You carrying my baby?”
I didn’t answer.
Because I couldn’t.
He pulled me up into a hug anyway.
“I knew something was off with you.”
He laughed a little.
“I knew it.”
His hands rested on my stomach like it already belonged to him.
“We fixing everything,” he said.
“We getting married.”
My heart sank into my chest.
Because standing there in his arms…
All I could think about was one thing.
This baby might not be his.
But what threw me off was that later that day, when Malik went to work, I got invited to a Delacroix event with no return address on the envelope…