Chapter 57: Bad Warning

Richard pointed toward the Range Rover as though presenting evidence of a crime. "She says Dorian Heathcliffe loaned her his car."

Diana looked at Naomi, then back at her husband. "Yes, she told me."

Richard turned toward her. "You knew?"

Diana frowned. "She picked the children up after Mass. I asked, she told me."

Richard looked from one woman to the other, growing angrier now that nobody else appeared appropriately horrified by the vehicle. "So what is she doing here?" he demanded. "Come to show off?"

Naomi lowered her hand from her hair. She had spent most of the drive rehearsing how she would explain the wedding job, how much she expected to make and how she intended to use the profit toward the debt.

Instead, she had been accused of secretly buying a Range Rover. Wonderful family reunion.

"I came..." Naomi started, "because I wanted to inform you I plan on making a substantial payment from a job I got this week."

"Oh..."

The promise of money changed Richard’s expression almost immediately. His anger shifted aside.

"That’s... that’s good," he said and glanced toward the Range Rover again, as though he still hadn’t fully forgiven its existence, then looked back at her. "But it has nothing to do with me anymore. What you owe is your problem now. You have all the information at your disposal."

Naomi said nothing. He had made that very clear with the note he had sent her.

You are on your own.

She had read those words enough times to practically hear them in his voice.

Richard continued, "Send the payment directly to the loan firm and that’s it. Just make sure your payments are prompt every month so the collectors don’t come pounding on your door."

Naomi’s stomach tightened at that last part.

Collectors.

She hated the word. It made the debt feel less like numbers on paper and more like something waiting quietly in the background for her to fall behind.

Still, she nodded.

"I understand."

Diana looked between the two of them, clearly eager to end the conversation before Richard found another reason to start shouting. "Can we go in now before the neighbours begin gossiping about our business?"

He seemed to remember, for the first time since charging outside, that they were standing in full view of the street.

Public embarrassment had more power over her uncle. She stepped back toward the Range Rover.

"I have to get back. I have things to get done so I can prepare for work tomorrow." She glanced toward Diana. "Say bye to the kids for me."

"Alright, dear. Be careful, okay?"

Naomi nodded and turned toward the car. Leaving should have been easy. She had already said what she came to say. The payment would be made once Ginny’s wedding job began bringing in money, and Richard had confirmed he no longer wanted to act as the middleman.

That was what she wanted, wasn’t it? The chance to handle her own finances. So she should get into the car, drive back to Dorian’s townhouse and spend the rest of Sunday pretending the encounter hadn’t rattled her.

Naomi reached for the door handle. Then stopped. Her fingers remained there for a second while one thought pushed itself to the front of everything else.

Dorian.

The questions he had asked. She was his wife whether on paper or not. Temporary or not. Contract or not.

Naomi closed her eyes briefly. This was risky. Richard would hate it. He would probably stew over it until kingdom come. She turned back. "Uncle Richard?"

"Yes?" Richard and Diana both looked at her.

Naomi held his gaze. "If you hit me again, I will tell my husband."

Richard’s face changed so quickly it was almost frightening. The color climbed from his neck into his cheeks until his face went red. His body seemed to pulse with anger.

Diana instinctively stepped back. Naomi’s fingers tightened around the car key. She wondered if she had pushed too far.

Richard took a step toward her. "You dumb cunt!"

Naomi’s body tensed.

"Richard..." Diana called.

He ignored her. "You think because you are sleeping in that man’s house and driving his cars, you can threaten me?"

Naomi swallowed. "I’m not threatening you."

"The hell you aren’t!"

"I’m telling you what will happen."

Richard laughed sharply. "You think Dorian Heathcliffe gives a fuck about your little family problems?"

"I’ll have to explain the bruises at some point, Uncle Richard."

"So you think you have all the power now?" Richard asked.

Naomi shook her head quickly. The last thing she wanted was for him to convince himself she had come here to challenge him. "No. It’s just that the last time, he kept asking and asking." She hesitated, choosing her words carefully because Richard still looked angry enough to explode. "It’s not a good look on him, his wife being seen around with her face looking like she had been battered by her husband."

Richard’s mouth curled bitterly. "You really think you are a big girl now." He stepped closer, although he stopped short of touching her this time. "I will be right here when you come crawling for my help."

"Richard," Diana warned quietly.

"Get the fuck off my property."

Naomi didn’t need to be told twice. She turned toward the Range Rover, her fingers tightening around the key fob as she hurried.

Behind her, Richard’s temper immediately found another target.

"I should never have helped your family," he snapped. "Hell! I should never have married you. The whole lot of you, useless! Ungrateful!"

"Richard, the children are inside," Diana hissed.

"I don’t give a damn!"

Naomi opened the car door. There was a time she would have turned back. There was a time she would have tried to calm him down, apologize on Diana’s behalf, apologize for whatever crime Richard had decided the entire family had committed simply by existing.

Not today.

She slid into the driver’s seat and shut the door. The sudden quiet inside the Range Rover felt almost unreal.

Richard was still ranting outside. Naomi could see his mouth moving through the window, could see Diana trying to calm him, but the thick glass reduced him to little more than an angry figure waving his hands.

Her own breathing sounded much louder as she pressed the start button. The engine came alive. Her hands were shaking when she stared at them on the steering wheel. Her heart was kicking so violently against her chest that she could practically feel it in her throat. She had done it.

She had actually stood up to him. Naomi pulled out of the driveway. She made it halfway down the street before the shock began wearing off.

A laugh escaped her.

Then another.

"It worked!" She looked at herself in the rearview mirror, almost unable to believe it. "It actually worked!"