Chapter 208: Scared Boy

"I’ll drop by to see Tessa in the morning, but after that, it’s just work." Naomi answered.

"I was able to find an accounting consultant. I had Ellison scan the documents you gave me to him. He wants to meet to discuss what you know and what you have been told."

"You work fast," Naomi said.

Dorian gave her a look as he guided her toward the car. "I’m offended you sound surprised."

"I’m not surprised. I’m mildly terrified."

The entire situation had changed too quickly for her to pretend she wasn’t unsettled. Less than twenty-four hours ago, she had believed the debt was simply another ugly burden she had inherited from her father. Now Dorian was telling her there was a real possibility that the entire thing had been fabricated.

That kind of revelation didn’t slide neatly into a person’s life. It cracked everything around it.

"I swear to God," Dorian said, his tone hardening, "if there is even the slightest chance you are being wronged, I am so going to fuck Whitmore up."

"What will happen to him?" she asked. "If you are right, I mean."

"Let’s just say he’ll be gone for a very long time."

Naomi absorbed that quietly.

If Dorian was right, none of this would stay contained to money. It would blow through the entire family.

"Would you want me to be present during the meeting?"

"Of course, yes."

Dorian opened the passenger door for her.

Once she was settled, Dorian closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side. There was one more person who could clarify all of this easily and quickly.

Marianne.

She knew their finances.

More importantly, she would know whether Raymond had left Naomi buried in debt or whether that entire story had been constructed after his death.

In any other situation, Dorian would have gone straight to her. But Marianne’s case was being reopened.

He wasn’t going to risk making contact now. Dorian started the car. He would have to wait until his next meeting with Adrian.

For now, the accountant came first. And if the numbers led where Dorian suspected they might lead, Richard was going to discover very quickly that stealing from his wife had been an exceptionally poor life choice.

*****

The next morning, Dorian was already mentally running through his schedule before he even drove into Heathcliffe & Associates.

It was going to be one of those days. Every hour had been assigned three different jobs and everyone expected him to perform miracles.

He had a partners’ meeting first.

That unfortunately involved sitting in the same room as his uncle. Which, in Dorian’s opinion, should have qualified as a workplace hazard.

Then clients.

He still needed to finalise the purchase of the house he and Naomi had picked out the previous day.

Miraculously, they had found one. Even more miraculously, they had both liked it.

He also needed to handle the paperwork for Naomi’s office building rental.

Then there was the consultant meeting later in the day.

Dorian needed to leave the office early enough to meet Naomi. He turned into the driveway of Heathcliffe & Associates and checked the time. He slowed as he approached the building entrance.

All of the thoughts running through his head did not stop him from recognising the figure that looked dramatically out of place right in front of the building entrance.

Dorian smiled a little as he looked at Ethan.

For a boy who clearly hated attention, he had a strange talent for drawing it without even trying. Tall, awkward, visibly uncomfortable and standing outside a law firm during school hours, he looked so dramatically out of place that Dorian had noticed him instantly.

Dorian parked, handed his keys to one of the men on duty with instructions to drive the car in, then started toward him.

Ethan noticed him approaching but didn’t move. His head remained lowered. His shoulders were slightly hunched, trying to make himself smaller than his height allowed.

"Hey... Ethan." Dorian stopped a few feet away. He didn’t want to crowd him.

"Hi..." Ethan answered quietly.

Dorian studied him.

There was something off. Not just the fact that he was standing outside his office instead of being in school.

Something about the way he held himself felt wrong.

"Naomi is home, you know."

"Is she okay?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I just want to know."

Dorian’s lawyer instincts stirred. "Do you want to see your aunt?"

Ethan shook his head quickly. "No."

"Why not? She misses you."

"I cannot. Too risky."

Someone had clearly made seeing her feel dangerous.

"Did your parents say you cannot see her?"

"I have to go," Ethan said quickly.

The questions were becoming too much.

His shoulders tightened. His gaze darted toward the street, then back down again.

Dorian knew that pushing him harder would probably shut him down completely.

So he didn’t.

Dorian was almost about to change tactics when the boy did something he didn’t usually do.

He looked up, straight at him.

And the fear Dorian saw in Ethan’s eyes hit him like the impact of a truck.

It sat too deep to be explained away by shyness. What in the world was Whitmore doing to this kid?

Ethan swallowed. "Tell her I’m keeping Millie safe and I love her."

Keeping Millie safe from what? From whom? And why was Ethan speaking like protecting his little sister was somehow his responsibility?

Dorian gave a collapsing sigh. "Good love, huh?"

Ethan nodded in response and dropped his head again. "I have to go."

Dorian watched Ethan disappear into the street until the boy blended into the movement of people and traffic. He then turned sharply and signalled to the security man who had only just taken his car. "Bring it back out."

The man looked mildly confused but nodded.

Dorian pulled out his phone. He couldn’t take this anymore.

Not just because Naomi loved those kids, though that was enough on its own. But because any sensible adult who suspected children were in trouble would do something, right?

That was supposed to be normal. You didn’t see fear like that in a seventeen-year-old boy, hear him talk about keeping his little sister safe, and then shrug your shoulders.

Dorian dialled his wife.

She picked up quickly.

"Hey babe..."