Chapter 177: Stupid Son

Eleanor pulled back and smiled at her.

One by one, the others stepped forward.

Everyone except Lexie.

Lexie simply stood there.

So Naomi made the move herself.

She walked over and wrapped her arms around her. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you very much."

"We should celebrate!" Ginny yelled.

Chaos immediately followed again.

People started talking about drinks.

Somehow, everyone eventually drifted away again.

Naomi turned toward Dorian.

His eyes were already on her.

Her own were still shining from tears, but she was smiling now. "I didn’t think it would be this easy."

"Easy? Love, there is nothing easy about you. You had me in knots."

Her smile turned sheepish. "I’m sorry."

He reached for her and carefully pulled her against him once more. "There is nothing to be sorry about."

"I’ve got you, you’ve got me. It’s just us. And whatever your fear is about this whole thing, it’s not going to happen with me." He wasn’t promising they would never argue.

Wasn’t promising some ridiculous perfect marriage where neither of them ever got hurt.

He was promising he would not become the men she had spent her life fearing.

And strangely, she believed him.

"I know. I have known that for a while," she repeated. "I was just being stubborn, I guess."

"A little."

"It’s hard to let go of years of conditioning."

Dorian knew more about those years than Naomi realized.

More than she even remembered. There were secrets sitting between them that she did not know existed, and the thought suddenly weighed differently now that she had handed him her heart without conditions.

Naomi took a quiet breath. "And I suppose I should tell you everything there is to know about me."

"When we get back home," Dorian said. "Where we can actually have the house to ourselves. But there’s no rush," he added. "You take your time. Just know that if you need me, I’m right here."

"This is so unreal." She laughed at herself, still clearly trying to wrap her head around how quickly everything had changed.

"I have dreamed of this."

She was still getting used to hearing things like that from him without immediately searching for an escape route. "Come on... Let’s join the rest of the family. I can have you to myself later."

Dorian’s eyes darkened slightly. "I’d like that. Are you... are you... You know... Finished?"

"No."

Dorian looked genuinely disappointed. "Crap. I was hoping to get some partying in tonight."

"Surely you cannot be serious. You just had a terrible weekend."

"The important parts still work." Dorian held out his hand, laced their fingers together and led her back toward the living room, where his family was undoubtedly waiting to turn their emotional breakthrough into another loud Heathcliffe celebration.

*****

Alistair was beyond livid. He had been angry before he even arrived at the Sterling residence.

Still, he had to control himself. The Sterling account was one of the largest attached to Heathcliffe & Associates.

And right now, Alistair could not afford to lose anything.

Maurice had been watching him far too closely, waiting for any sign of incompetence, any excuse to weaken his position on the board.

Alistair knew exactly what his brother wanted.

And if Maurice could gather enough support to vote him out, he would. That was not happening.

Heathcliffe & Associates was his birthright too.

He had spent years building influence inside the firm, and he had no intention of allowing Maurice—or Dorian—to push him out of something that belonged to him.

Which meant he had to remain civil. Even when every instinct in him wanted to drag Callum Sterling across the room by his collar.

Alistair had plenty of problems with Dorian. They distrusted each other, most of their problems tied to Lillian and years of resentment.

Also Dorian had made it very clear on several occasions that he considered Alistair morally defective.

Fine.

Family could be complicated. But Dorian was still a Heathcliffe. He was still blood. And hearing that the childish younger Sterling had arranged to have his nephew beaten?

That, Alistair could not accept.

Alistair and Maurice also had their differences.

Most of them came down to how Alistair practiced law.

Maurice had always preferred clean lines, clean hands and an irritatingly rigid idea of what the profession was supposed to look like. Alistair had never shared that luxury.

But none of that meant Alistair wanted to see his nephew hurt. And now, to think the idiot responsible was someone within his reach?

Did the fool not even know who he was dealing with?

Dorian Heathcliffe was not some spoiled rich kid Callum could frighten with hired muscle. He was a criminal lawyer who had spent most of his adult life tearing apart people who believed they were smarter than him. He was relentless when something became personal.

And this had become very personal.

Alistair was ushered into the Sterling mansion and asked to wait in one of the sitting rooms while Victor was informed of his arrival. He tried to sit then he got back to his feet. He shoved both hands into his pockets instead and paced slowly near the windows, forcing himself to think through the problem instead of the many ways he wanted to strangle Callum Sterling.

Victor finally appeared several minutes later. "Alistair." He looked mildly surprised to see him. "Didn’t know you worked on Sundays."

"I don’t. But this matter couldn’t wait."

"What’s wrong?"

"I got a call from your offshore account manager. Someone using the firm’s IP address was trying to identify the owner of that account," Alistair continued. "So I looked into it. Dorian is digging into the account."

"What does he want?"

"Your son used it to pay off some people to assault Dorian."

Victor’s face drained. "God, no." His eyes widened with genuine horror. He had managed to raise a son stupid enough to fund a criminal assault through an account they had specifically spent years keeping away from unnecessary attention.

"You didn’t know?"