Chapter 162: Ruined Car

As Ginny spoke.

Naomi stopped breathing. She sat up so quickly the blanket fell to the floor. Her heart dropped straight to her feet. "I’ll be right there."

After that, everything became a blur.

Naomi stumbled off the sofa and rushed toward the stairs. Her breathing became shallow and frantic. "No, no, no..." She ran upstairs, changed out of her sleepwear as quickly as she could, dragging a T-shirt over her head and pulling on a pair of shorts. Her cramps were still there but she barely noticed them.

She was feeling a more intense kind of pain.

All she could think about was Dorian.

She raced back downstairs. Her eyes were already burning with tears.

By the time she reached the garage, she was panting and crying at the same time.

She got into the Range Rover, started it with trembling hands and pulled out far too quickly.

The entire drive ahead of her felt impossible.

She didn’t know how badly he was hurt. She didn’t know what had happened. Naomi pressed hard on the accelerator, racing out of the townhouse and speeding away from the neighborhood.

Just as Naomi turned out of the street, she saw Dorian’s Mercedes. Or what was left of it. The car was being loaded onto a tow truck, one side badly crushed, the front littered with damage that made her stomach drop all over again.

"Ah, God!"

The cry tore out of her but she didn’t slow down. There was nothing she could do for the car.

Dorian was somewhere else.

That was all that mattered.

Naomi kept going.

By the time she reached the hospital Ginny had given her, her eyes were already swollen and red. She hurried through the entrance, asking for directions before racing down the corridor.

She spotted the Heathcliffes almost immediately.

The entire family was there.

Naomi’s heart somehow managed to sink even lower.

It made everything feel too real.

The second Ginny noticed her, she got to her feet.

Eleanor stood almost immediately after.

They crossed the waiting room toward Naomi, both of them already extending their hands because one look at her face told them she was barely holding herself together.

"Where is he?" Naomi asked, breathing too fast. Her voice shook so badly she hardly recognized it. "Where is Dorian?"

Eleanor reached her first. "He’s being attended to."

"What happened?"

"The doctors had to sedate him," Eleanor said carefully. "He was in a lot of pain, but he will be fine."

Naomi’s face crumpled. "Ah..." Her entire body started trembling.

The relief that he was alive did nothing to stop the fear. If anything, it opened the gates.

She had spent the entire drive forcing herself not to imagine the worst, and now that somebody had actually said he would be fine, her body seemed to decide it was finally allowed to fall apart.

Eleanor pulled her into her arms as she cried properly.

Everything came out at once.

Her head hurt. Her face hurt. Her stomach still cramped. Her chest hurt worst of all.

Especially her chest.

Naomi clutched Eleanor tighter. "I couldn’t reach him," she cried. "I kept calling him. He wasn’t answering. He said he was coming back."

"He’s here. He’s okay."

The rest of the family had gotten to their feet too.

Maurice moved closer, resting one hand gently against Naomi’s shoulder.

Ginny rubbed her back.

Even in their own fear, they made room for hers.

Lexie didn’t hold back either.

When Eleanor finally loosened her arms, Lexie stepped in, pulled Naomi close and guided her toward one of the chairs.

"Sit down." Lexie stayed beside her.

Maurice remained close.

Ginny crouched near her knees.

No one told her she was overreacting. They simply stayed. That was what the Heathcliffes did.

They leaned on each other when things went wrong. They gave strength where it was needed.

And without anyone saying it aloud, Naomi was included in that circle.

Naomi sat hunched forward, her arms wrapped around herself as she rocked slowly in the chair.

The more she thought about everything, the worse it became. This was her fault.

She had needed him too much. She had made Dorian responsible for fixing every single thing that had gone wrong that day when he should have been home resting after work.

And through all of it, she had barely stopped to ask whether he was tired, whether he needed rest, whether maybe, just maybe, the man who kept showing up for everyone else needed someone to tell him to sit down too.

Naomi pressed her fingers against her forehead.

Selfish.

That was what she was. Utterly selfish and self-centered. What if he had simply been exhausted while driving?

What if he lost concentration because he had spent his entire evening cleaning up her responsibilities?

"He’s going to be okay, Naomi." Daniel’s voice finally broke through the fog surrounding her. "It’s probably someone he pissed off."

"Pissed off? I thought he was in an accident."

He looked toward Ginny. Daniel had clearly assumed Ginny had already given her all the information over the phone.

Naomi straightened. "What happened?" Her heartbeat began to climb.

Lexie finally stepped forward. "He was attacked. We’ll know more when he wakes up."

"Attacked... I don’t understand."

"He was beaten badly."

Beaten.

That word she understood perfectly.

Her fear hardened so quickly into anger that even she didn’t realize what was happening until she was already on her feet. She knew exactly who had done it.

At least, she thought she did.

Naomi didn’t need a law degree to put the pieces together.

"Naomi?" Eleanor called after her.

"I’ll... I’ll be right back."

"Where are you going?" Ginny asked.

Naomi kept walking.

"Naomi!" Lexie’s voice followed her.

Daniel joined in almost immediately. "Naomi, wait!"

Everything inside her was burning now.

He did not get to touch Dorian because Dorian had finally done what nobody else in their family had ever been brave enough to do. He did not get to punish him for protecting her.

Naomi pushed through the hospital doors and hurried toward the parking lot.

Behind her, Maurice understood immediately that something had gone very wrong inside her head.

"Go after her," he instructed Daniel. "Don’t let her do anything stupid and get herself hurt."