Chapter 158: Buried Damage

Dorian frowned. "Did what?"

"Finally made her love you."

"What are you talking about?"

Marianne made him feel irritatingly transparent. "I saw her little speech."

"That was just..."

"For the optics?" Marianne supplied as her lips lifted into a sad smile.

"Yes."

Marianne nodded slowly. "It’s always in the eyes, counselor."

"Anyway," he said, deliberately moving on, "I was going to come see you regardless. I was able to find someone to take your case who can keep everything as close to the chest as possible. He’ll be coming to see you soon."

Marianne nodded. "I’ll trust your judgment."

Dorian rested his arms on the table. "You’ll follow his instructions the same way you agreed to follow mine. You do not change your story. You do not suddenly start talking about Raymond abusing you. You let us build the case around what already exists."

"I remember."

"Good."

"That’s not really why you wanted to come see me."

Dorian’s jaw tightened. He hated how quickly she read him. "She’s going to remember, Marianne."

"What does that mean?"

"She gets headaches. Triggers," Dorian continued. "Something happens and suddenly she gets these intense headaches."

"What triggers them?"

"Guns. I tried to get her to explain more about it, but she can’t. All she remembers is this strange feeling of déjà vu. Like something about it is familiar, but she can’t reach the memory."

Marianne looked down at her hands and sighed. "Maybe I’ll see her again. And maybe I will tell her."

There was fear in Marianne’s voice now.

"You will see her again. I give you my word."

Her eyes shone slightly as she smiled. "Thank you."

Dorian pushed his chair back and got to his feet. "I suppose I won’t be coming to see you anymore. Your new lawyer will handle the official visits from here." He reached inside his jacket and pulled out his card then placed it on the table. "If you need to personally reach me, call me directly. Don’t go through the office unless you absolutely have to."

Marianne picked up the card and looked at it and closed her eyes. "I hope I do not regret this."

Dorian frowned. "Regret what?"

Marianne sucked in a breath, bit her lip before spilling what she thought might be a mistake if she was speaking with the wrong type of man. "She loves you."

"I’m not doing this with you," Dorian said.

"I know because I could see the stars in her eyes. I once had those stars."

"Marianne, stop it."

She ignored the warning. "I know my daughter."

"Stop it!" Dorian stood there rigid, anger already crawling up his throat.

"I don’t say this for you," she said quietly. "I say this for her. Don’t break her, please."

"Enough, Marianne! Enough!" He dragged in a breath, but it did absolutely nothing to calm him. "I would never do anything to hurt her. Never. But you don’t know your daughter." He knew Naomi far better than Marianne realized and still being unable to reach the parts of her that mattered most.

"You know nothing about her. You don’t know what you and your husband have done to her. You don’t know what Whitmore has done to her."

"What?"

"You don’t know just how broken she is." Dorian hated himself for saying it that way.

But right now, he didn’t have a better word for it.

She had built walls around every emotion that could hurt her.

"So no," Dorian continued. "You do not know what she feels."

Marianne’s brows pulled together. "Whitmore? You mean Diana?"

"You got what you wanted, Marianne. Your daughter is incapable of love."

Marianne stared at him in horror.

Dorian turned away before she could say anything else.

The door shut behind him but Marianne remained seated.

she simply stared at the place where he had been standing.

What had Diana done? What had she done to her baby girl?

Diana had been her friend.

Even after Raymond’s death, Diana had never judged her. When everyone else decided Marianne Bennett was a monster, Diana had stayed.

She had been there when Marianne had no one else.

Marianne had trusted her with the most precious person in her entire life.

So what exactly had happened after Marianne went to prison? And what did Dorian mean? Maybe Dorian was exaggerating.

He was angry.

Clearly emotional where Naomi was concerned, no matter how aggressively he denied it. Maybe he was making something larger out of ordinary family problems.

She had spent years convincing herself that staying away had protected Naomi.

That letting her daughter believe she was dead had been the final sacrifice required of her. But what if all she had done was leave her alone with people who hurt her in different ways?

She had to find out.

Because if Dorian was telling the truth... God help her.

She had failed her daughter twice.

Dorian walked out of Bedford Hills still angry.

Marianne’s words followed him all the way across the parking lot.

She loves you.

He shoved them aside, reached his car and got in.

Then he checked his phone. There were three missed calls. All from Naomi.

"Shit." Dorian called her back while starting the engine, already pulling out of the parking space before the line connected. "Babe?"

"Dorian?"

The strain in her voice hit him immediately.

"Naomi, what’s wrong? Are you alright?"

"Just wanted to tell you I am home."

Dorian frowned. "I thought you had a busy day."

She did. A ridiculously busy one, actually.

The website had gone live after Dorian found someone to help her set it up properly, and Naomi was actually having paying clients lined up.

Her first catering job outside her usual work had already been booked.

A small birthday party for forty people. Packed meals that needed to be delivered to the venue that evening.

"Yeah..." she said weakly. "I need help."

"What happened?"

"I’ve got terrible cramps."

He exhaled. He had come to recognize exactly what those words meant. "Get in the hot tub. I’ll be there soon."