Chapter 135: Serial Husband

Laughter rolled through the room. Even Naomi smiled. That was such a Dorian answer. Completely unapologetic, very arrogant and unfortunately true.

Camille laughed politely with everyone else, but her eyes stayed sharp.

"The issue actually is whether the people in your life agreed to suffer with you." Lilian said. "So yes, laying the foundation for leadership takes sacrifice, and most times leaders do end up being alone. But the people beside them are making sacrifices too."

Dorian heard her loud and clear. He heard everything underneath it.

That their marriage had collapsed because of him. That she had suffered while he built his career.

Camille looked delighted. She smelled blood. "So you’re saying it’s impossible to succeed at both your career and your marriage?" she asked.

Lilian turned slightly. "I didn’t say impossible. I said difficult."

"You seem to be managing it well, Mrs. Heathcliffe. Your last public appearance with your husband was just chef’s kiss."

The discussion moved on, but the veiled attacks on Dorian did not. Sometimes Camille wrapped them in questions that sounded harmless. Lilian delivered answers with that same ice-cold grace of hers, never raising her voice, never looking particularly emotional, yet somehow managing to land each point exactly where it hurt.

At one point, someone even dropped the Serial Husband nickname. The audience laughed.

Naomi didn’t find it funny.

What bothered her more was the way he kept accepting their version of him. Yes, he had been married three times before her.

Yes, all three marriages had failed. But sitting there and listening to everyone speak, one would think Dorian had personally destroyed every marriage with his bare hands while his former wives stood around being completely innocent victims of his ambition.

He had made mistakes. He had admitted that.

But failing at something didn’t automatically mean all the blame belonged to you.

"You never did get back to me on the matter we last spoke about," Callum said from beside her.

"Shush!"

Callum froze.

Naomi leaned forward slightly, focusing all her attention on Dorian as one of the other speakers asked another question. She didn’t even realize how rude she had been.

Nor did she particularly care.

Dorian was answering again, calm as ever, but Naomi knew him well enough now to catch the tiny signs. His failures were a sore topic for him.

She knew that.

At one point, Dorian looked directly at her.

She raised both hands and gave him two enthusiastic thumbs up.

The corner of his mouth moved.

He looked like he needed the pick-me-up.

Beside her, Callum was still sitting in stunned silence. Had she seriously just shushed him?

Him?

Callum Sterling?

He stood angrily. He had not spent all that money arranging the right people, pushing the right contacts and making sure Dorian Heathcliffe got an invitation to this forum only to sit here watching Naomi practically glow every time the bastard opened his mouth.

This was supposed to crack something. Make her see what everyone else saw when they looked at Dorian Heathcliffe.

A difficult man. A husband incapable of keeping a woman happy.

Instead, Naomi looked proud of him.

Callum moved quietly away from the table.

Near the side aisle, he spotted the reporter he had planted among the press attendees.

Callum walked over casually, careful not to make the interaction obvious with so many cameras around.

When this stupid girl finally became his, she was going to suffer such humiliation, so much so that she would regret making him grovel like a simp.

Soon, the talk was over, and the guests were ushered into another hall for drinks and networking.

Dorian stepped down from the stage and headed straight for Naomi.

She greeted him with the biggest smile she could manage.

"That was a disaster, wasn’t it?" he asked.

Naomi immediately reached for his tie. "It was not." She frowned in concentration as she straightened it, then smoothed the front of his jacket with both hands. "I thought you were sexy up there."

"You’re crazy."

"I’m serious." Naomi adjusted his lapel. "You were yourself."

Dorian’s brows lifted. "And what would myself be?"

Naomi looked up at him. "Confident and arrogant."

His mouth twitched. "You’re crazy."

Before she could respond to his emphasis of her mental state, Camille appeared.

She walked directly toward them and deliberately stepped into Dorian’s line of sight, forcing Naomi slightly to the side in the process.

"You’re coming for drinks, aren’t you?" Camille asked.

"That’s up to Naomi, Camille."

The smug expression on Camille’s face disappeared.

Her pride wouldn’t allow her to turn around and look at the woman she had just nudged out of the way.

"Wanna stay, babe?" He reached his hand out.

Naomi took Dorian’s hand and stepped forward again, reclaiming the exact space she had been pushed out of. "What do you have specifically?" she asked. "Is it just drinks, or is there something to chew on? I haven’t eaten all day." she turned to him. "Did you have anything to eat?"

"Nope." Dorian sighed. "Still haven’t gotten an assistant to arrange my lunch yet."

"We need to fix that." Naomi finally seemed to remember Camille was there and turned to look at her. "So how about that?"

Camille swallowed. "Yes, we do have a small buffet prepared."

"Splendid!" Naomi gave her a bright smile.

Dorian caught sight of Callum walking past them and his attention shifted. He remembered the warning he had given Sterling earlier, and unlike most people, Dorian preferred his threats with proper follow-through. "I’ll be back," he told Naomi. He excused himself and headed after Callum.

Camille’s eyes dragged over her. "You think because you clean up good, you have what it takes to be a Heathcliffe?"

"I... what?"

Camille stepped slightly closer, keeping her voice low so people moving around them wouldn’t immediately notice the hostility. "It’s clear Dorian intends to clean you up and brush you up so you look good hanging on his arm. He’ll get bored, darling. And quickly too, because you have nothing going on for you."

"Have you looked at his history?" Camille asked. "Taken a good look at his previous wives and their achievements? The women Dorian has married belong in rooms like this, among people like these."