Chapter 210: White Knight

Dorian stared at her in disbelief.

This was resentment.

Naomi had escaped.

That was the unforgivable crime.

Naomi had grown up, walked out of Richard’s control and somehow found a life Diana clearly believed she had not earned.

A husband who loved her. A family that welcomed her. A career that was beginning to become something real.

Freedom.

Diana looked at all of that and didn’t see her niece finally finding happiness after years of struggling. She saw injustice. "Why does she deserve that?!" she demanded. "Where is karma when you need it?"

Dorian’s face went completely still.

There were moments when anger burned hot enough to make him reckless. Then there were moments like this, when it became so cold that every word came out perfectly controlled.

Naomi had spent years believing these people had saved her. She had talked about Diana with affection. Worried about her. Loved her children as though they were her own. Naomi had separated Diana from Richard in her mind.

And all this time, Diana had been keeping score against a child for the sins she believed Marianne had committed.

"You enjoy being the victim. Whatever you believed Marianne did to you, whatever resentment you had toward her, Naomi was a child."

"And yet, she was taken care of."

"Was she? I came here because I thought you needed help," he said. "I thought maybe you were too afraid of Richard to admit what was happening. I feel no pity whatsoever for you. None! You will be hearing from CPS soon anyway. I may not give a shit about you but I care what happens to your kids because believe it or not, Naomi adores them."

"Aren’t you the fine knight?" Diana sneered. "Wanting to save everyone. Is that the only way to get anyone to love you? Compensating for something?" Her gaze dropped pointedly toward his crotch.

Dorian’s jaw locked.

Every instinct in him wanted to answer her with the kind of brutality he usually reserved for people who had made the mistake of becoming his enemies in court.

The vein in his jaw pulsed visibly as he fought to rein his anger in. It became clearer than it had ever been before.

Naomi had never truly had anyone in her corner.

Not really.

She had believed she did.

He realised coming here had been a mistake. Dorian looked at her, and whatever sympathy had still been lingering inside him disappeared. "Just so you know, Naomi did not make a mistake marrying me." he stepped closer, making damn sure she heard every word. "I will spend the rest of my life proving that she deserves everything good in this life."

"She deserves the happiness you so graciously starved her of," Dorian continued, "and I will flaunt it in your face until you die of jealousy and envy."

Naomi had once worried that marrying him had complicated her life.

Maybe it had.

He wasn’t exactly easy. He came with baggage, a career that attracted enemies.

But he would never make her question whether she deserved love. And if Diana hated watching Naomi become happy, then Dorian was suddenly very interested in making their marriage disgustingly joyful for the next several decades.

"To hell with you!" she screamed.

Dorian turned toward the door.

"To hell with both of you! To hell with all of you!!" Her voice followed him through the house.

Dorian had heard enough.

By the time he stepped outside, he felt as though even breathing the air inside that house had meant inhaling hate.

He exhaled deeply as the door closed behind him. He walked toward his car, trying to bring his temper under control while replaying the conversation in his mind.

Every direction he looked, something was wrong. And Dorian was done pretending he didn’t see it.

He pulled out his phone before he even reached the car and put a call through to CPS.

Whatever Diana wanted to believe about her husband, Dorian had seen enough. If there was even a possibility those children were living in danger, someone qualified needed to look into it.

After making the call, Dorian got into his car but didn’t start driving immediately. There was another problem.

Diana had been useful to them because she was close to everything surrounding Marianne’s case.

Or at least, Dorian had believed she could be useful. Not anymore. Anything Diana said about Marianne was contaminated by years of resentment.

She hated Marianne.

And she seemed to have blamed Naomi for Marianne’s supposed sins too.

Dorian needed to contact Adrian immediately and pull Diana out of their witness lineup before her involvement damaged anything. He rubbed a hand over his face. He finally started the car and headed back to work.

The closer he got to Heathcliffe & Associates, the heavier the conversation waiting for him at home felt.

Naomi loved Diana.

How was he supposed to tell her that the woman resented her happiness? How was he supposed to break it to his wife that her aunt was even more rotten in the soul than her despicable husband.

*****

Naomi didn’t understand why her husband was so quiet.

Dorian had told her he was tired, and she believed him because the man had been running around all day with a schedule that sounded exhausting even when he described it casually. Still, this felt like more than tiredness. He was withdrawn.

Almost depressed.

Normally, even when Dorian was exhausted, Naomi could get something out of him. A sarcastic comment. Something.

Tonight, she was getting almost nothing.

They had met with the accounting consultant earlier, and Naomi had explained everything she knew about the debt from beginning to end.

How she had first been told about it. What Richard had explained to her. How the payments had started.

How Richard had always been the one managing everything behind the scenes.

Dorian had mostly listened. Then he had handed the consultant additional documents Naomi hadn’t seen before, documents that supported his theory that her father had owned an investment worth ten million dollars and that the investment should rightfully have transferred to Naomi after his death.

Ten million dollars.

Naomi still couldn’t wrap her head around that number because it was the same amount she supposedly owed.

The consultant had asked questions, taken copies of documents and promised to start tracing the financial trail.

Naomi assumed the meeting to be the thing weighing most heavily on Dorian. She kept glancing at him while they drove home, wondering if the entire situation was finally getting to him.

He had even let her drive.

Both ways.

Dorian rarely surrendered control of the car when they were together unless there was a very good reason. He wasn’t one of those men who announced that women couldn’t drive or anything equally ridiculous. He simply liked driving.

So when he had handed her the keys without argument, Naomi had immediately known something was wrong.

The second they arrived home, Dorian went straight upstairs.

Dorian went straight to his safe. He unlocked it and reached inside and pulled out the burner phone. He switched it on.

A message was already waiting from Adrian.

His entire body went rigid. "Fuck!"