Chapter 211: Breaking Point

Dorian hurled the phone across the room. He growled under his breath and dragged both hands over his face.

Naomi hurried into the room then. "Okay, that’s it." She planted herself firmly in the doorway. "You tell me what’s going on or I am calling your mother!"

He lowered his head and chuckled.

Only she could find a way to make him laugh in a situation such as this. Threatening a thirty eight year old with his mother.

Dorian turned fully to look at her.

There she stood, arms folded, expression serious, clearly prepared to drag Eleanor Heathcliffe into the situation if necessary.

"I’m glad that amuses you, but I am serious," she said.

"I didn’t want you distracted before we headed to the auditor’s office," he began.

"This has to do with me?" She stepped toward him before he could answer, worry already sharpening her voice. "What did I do?"

Dorian’s face softened at once. "You... didn’t do anything, babe. Nothing." He crossed the small space between them, but Naomi was already bracing herself for whatever came next. "You’ve just trusted the wrong people all your life."

Her brows pulled together. "What?"

Dorian exhaled slowly.

There was no elegant way to tell her this.

"I went to see Diana today."

"You did?"

"I wanted to offer my help, you know, if she wants to leave and she’s afraid. Maybe she thinks she can’t afford to go, or she’s worried about providing for herself and the kids. Funding, housing, legal help, whatever she needed."

Naomi’s shoulders lowered slightly. "She’ll never leave. She loves him too much."

"I know that now." His tone made Naomi uneasy. "But she isn’t exactly the sweet aunt you think her to be."

"I don’t understand."

Dorian hated this part. He hated that, in the space of a few days, Naomi’s entire understanding of her family seemed to be collapsing piece by piece.

Every time he uncovered something, it felt less like helping and more like ripping another piece of stability out from under her feet.

"She resents you, Naomi," he said. "For being happy. She believes you do not deserve it."

"She said that?"

"Without mincing words."

She took a small step backward.

The movement was instinctive, like her body needed distance from something she couldn’t even see.

"Why?"

Dorian watched the confusion spread over her face.

"Why?" she repeated, louder this time. "Why would she feel that way?"

"Because of what happened with your father."

Naomi gasped. Her hand flew to her chest as though the pain had landed there physically. "No..."

Dorian moved toward her immediately. "Baby, I’m sorry."

Naomi shook her head. "No."

"You don’t deserve any of this. You are the most beautiful-hearted woman I know."

Naomi pulled away on instinct, not because she didn’t want him to touch her but because her shield was going up protecting herself.

Too much was happening inside her at once.

Naomi swallowed hard.

It didn’t make sense. And yet, somehow, it did. Little things began pushing their way into her memory.

Comments she had ignored. The constant excuses for Richard. The bitterness Naomi had mistaken for concern.

Had Naomi simply refused to see it because Diana was the only family she had?

"Naomi..."

"You know what, enough of this." Her voice trembled as she shook her head, her eyes filling even as she fought against it. "Just enough." She pressed her fingers against her forehead. "I can’t... I don’t want you anywhere near this anymore."

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because..." Naomi struggled to get the words out. "I don’t want the darkness around me tainting us. I just... ahhh... let’s just let it be. Let’s let them be. We get feedback about the debt and... and... and I know what next to do. I just... it’s... it’s too much..." Her voice broke with every word.

Dorian watched her trying so hard to keep herself together.

"I can’t take any more," she cried. "I can’t."

That was the moment whatever strength she had been clinging to finally gave way.

Her knees weakened beneath her, but Dorian was already there. He caught her before she could drop to the ground and pulled her tightly against his chest.

Naomi clutched at his shirt. "I... I love you," she sobbed. "I swear I do. You know I do, but... this is too much for anyone. So just please..."

Dorian held her while she cried and bawled against him.

Years of carrying things she had never been meant to carry seemed to come pouring out of her at once, and Dorian could do nothing except hold her through it.

"Hey... hey..." he murmured, pressing one hand firmly against her back. "It’s going to be over really soon, I promise. And if you don’t want to have any contact with them, that can be handled. Everything can be done through lawyers."

"What did I ever do wrong?"

"Nothing. Nothing, love. You did nothing."

"Why do you even love me? What... what is there to love about me? Why, Dorian? What’s so special?" Naomi shook her head. "I wouldn’t love me!"

"Don’t you ever do that." His tone changed so sharply that Naomi went still. He cupped her face and made her look at him. "Don’t you ever let what other people do make you feel small about yourself."

Naomi tried to glance away.

He didn’t let her. His eyes locked onto hers. "You are Naomi Bennett Heathcliffe. Chef Bennett."

A tear rolled down her cheek.

Dorian wiped it away with his thumb. "You own who you are. You be proud of who you are."

The way the power sounded in his voice was so controlled that Naomi was forced to believe it.

"Because you are a formidable woman. You work hard. You smile when the world is wrong. You spread laughter even when you are hurting. You built something out of nothing. You kept moving when other people would have folded. You carried responsibilities that should never have been yours and somehow still found enough of yourself left to care about everyone around you."

"You love your family even when they don’t deserve you. You show up for your friends. You take care of people. You bring warmth into a room without even trying. And you have the audacity to stand here and ask me what there is to love? Naomi, I could spend the rest of the night answering that question and still not be finished."