Novels by naomiebhomen122

NADIA’S POVEzra is on his feet before I even process what I’m seeing.“You’re not on the docket,” he says, his voice low and controlled in a way that somehow scares me more than if he’d shouted. “You have no standing in this hearing, Cassandra. You’re not family. You’re not counsel. What exactly do you think you’re doing here.”“I have every right to be present when a public figure’s private life becomes a matter of public record.” Cassandra folds her hands neatly on top of her folder, calm as still water, and turns her gaze toward me like I’m something interesting she’s studying rather than a person sitting six feet away from her. “And I thought Nadia deserved to see exactly who filed the request that moved this hearing up two hours early.”My stomach drops straight through the floor.“That was you,” I say quietly, though somewhere deep down I already knew it the second Marcus said someone requested the expedited slot.“I did what I thought was best for everyone,” Cassandra says, un

NADIA’S POVTen minutes. I look at Ezra and he looks at me, and for a second neither of us says anything, because there isn’t time left for anything except moving.“I have to put Patrice away for now,” I say, sliding my phone into my coat pocket with hands that won’t stop shaking. “I can’t think about Marcus and a hearing at the same time. I don’t have that much room left in me this morning.”“You don’t have to think about any of it right now,” Ezra says, taking my hand and squeezing it once, firm and certain. “You just have to walk into that room and be exactly who you already are. That’s all a judge needs to see.”“That’s easy for you to say. You’ve spent your whole life walking into rooms like that one.”“I’ve spent my whole life walking into rooms pretending I belong there,” he says quietly, opening the conference room door for me. “You don’t have to pretend anything. You’ve already earned every bit of the room you’re about to walk into.”Something in his voice steadies me more th

NADIA’S POVAn hour.The word sits in the air between us like something breakable neither of us wants to drop. I don’t cry. I don’t have time to cry, and some stubborn part of me refuses to let this be the moment I finally fall apart after holding steady through everything else tonight.“Okay,” I say, and my voice comes out steadier than I feel. “Okay. Tell me what to do.”“Get dressed. Get Miles dressed, something warm, something he’s comfortable in.” Ezra is already moving, pulling a fresh shirt from a drawer, buttoning it with hands that are shaking just slightly even as his voice stays even and calm for my sake. “I’ll call the lawyer on the way. Marcus is meeting us there with everything he has.”“Is everything he has enough?”He stops buttoning for just a second and looks at me, and I see the honest answer flicker across his face before he manages to smooth it back into something reassuring.“It has to be,” he says. “So we’re going to make it enough.”I wake Miles as gently as I

NADIA’S POVI stare at the words until they stop looking like a sentence and just look like a threat sitting flat on a screen.I’ll be there too.“Who is that from,” I ask, though some tired, worn-down part of me already suspects I know the shape of the answer even without a name attached.“No number I recognize.” Ezra’s thumb hovers over the screen, like touching it again might make the message worse somehow. “It could be Victor. About the hearing. It could be Cassandra, about the gala. I genuinely can’t tell, and I hate that I can’t tell.”“Does it matter which one it is?” I wrap my arms around myself, suddenly cold in a kitchen that felt warm two minutes ago. “Either way it means someone’s watching. Either way it means Saturday and tomorrow morning both just turned into something we have to survive instead of something we get to have.”He sets the phone down and reaches for me instead, pulling me gently against him, and I let him, even though some old stubborn part of me wants to k

NADIA’S POVI freeze the second I hear it, my whole body going rigid against Ezra’s chest, and he pulls back just enough to look toward the hallway, listening the same way I am, both of us braced for whatever’s about to come through that gate.He checks the screen by the door again, thumb moving fast, and this time his shoulders drop almost immediately.“It’s Marcus,” he says, exhaling. “He’s early. I told him to bring the guardianship paperwork the second he had it, I just didn’t expect him to actually show up at my house at two in the morning instead of emailing it.”Relief floods through me so fast my knees go soft again, and I press a hand flat against the wall just to stay upright. “I think my body has officially run out of adrenaline for one night.”“Mine too.” Ezra laughs, tired and real, and reaches for my hand again like it’s the most natural thing in the world now, like our fingers have already learned the shape of each other after only one night. “Come on. Let’s let him in

NADIA’S POVI’m down that hallway before I even feel my feet start moving.Miles is standing at the window in his dinosaur pajamas, one hand pressed flat against the glass, staring out into the dark with an expression I never want to see on his face again as long as I live. I scoop him up before he can say another word, pulling him back from the window, and I feel his heart racing fast against my chest, quick like a bird’s.“I’ve got you,” I whisper into his hair. “I’ve got you, baby.”“There’s a car,” he says again, muffled against my shoulder. “It’s just sitting there. It’s not moving.”Ezra is right behind me, already crossing to the window himself, and I watch his whole body go still as he looks out into the dark.“Stay back from the glass,” he says quietly, and something in his voice makes me obey instantly, pulling Miles further into the room, further from that window and whatever’s parked beyond it.Ezra pulls his phone out and taps it fast, and a moment later the outside flood