Chapter 2 - The Return to LoganThe flight to Italy lasted six hours. Elliot spent five of them staring blankly into the dark cabin interior, listening to Camille sleep fitfully beside him, her breathing shallow and controlled. He didn’t open his phone once, but the single sentence from Naomi echoed in his mind like a drumbeat: There’s a reason I never told you.
What reason could possibly justify hiding a child? Was it money? His family’s suffocating corporate legacy? Or something darker?
When the landing gear slammed against the tarmac of Logan International Airport, the passengers around unbuckled with tired sighs. They had turned right back around. Elliot had quietly booked a private return ticket the moment they touched down in Rome, ignoring Camille’s icy fury as she packed her bags to stay at her family's villa in Tuscany alone.
"We are done," she had told him at the gate in Fiumicino, her eyes devoid of tears, only cold calculation. "Do not bother calling my lawyers."
Now, standing back under the blinking departure boards of Logan, Elliot felt like a ghost haunting his own life. It was midnight. The terminal was quiet, save for the hum of floor buffers. He pulled out his phone, dialed the number he had memorized a decade ago, and pressed call.
It rang twice before a soft, breathless voice answered.
May you like
"Elliot?"
"I’m back," he said, his voice rough. "Where are you, Naomi?"
