Naomi's POV“I think the protection is too much.”Derrick had made it a duty to protect Dean at all costs. It was a good idea, but the way he was protecting him was too much. He had employed different guards that rotate duty to the point by there was always someone awake guiding Dean at midnight. I understood that he needed protection but he should allow the police to do their duty.“I don’t think it’s too much.” Emily countered. “If I also had the funds, I would employ as much as this number of security for Dean’s purpose.”The boy was always under surveillance, “I don’t think it’s right to put a little boy under that much protection. He is my son and I want the best for him.”“We all want what is best for him. We have no idea who this person is or why he is doing what he is doing. The best we can do is protect Dean from any encounter with strangers.”Just because he had lots of guards around him, that doesn’t mean they were keeping him as safe as they should. After the picture

Naomi’s POVIt had been two days now that Derrick had not visited. Although, just like he said, the guards were on standby always. They ignored my instructions because they were receiving orders directly from Derrick. Everything was going peacefully but also boring. If I was being honest with myself, I would say I miss Derrick a lot. I missed his presence in the house. I missed seeing him and Dean bond together, and I miss him trying to make him like him again. Maybe, he already succeeded in doing that and I was just denying what had already happened because I didn’t want to fall victim again. I didn’t want to repeat the cycle of our marriage. Yet, I knew the Derrick I was meeting was different from who he used to be. To add to my misery, Emily was out with a new boyfriend she just met. I tried to make her introduce him to us, but according to her, it wasn’t the right time for us to meet him. There was timing for everything, and the time for her to introduce him to us was no

Derrick’s POV“I told you this is all about me. It has nothing to do with Naomi or Dean. Anyone threatening them is because of me.”Ricky lifted the glass of bottle to his mouth and leaned in his chair. “I told you that having extra bodyguards would show that you are interested in playing this game with whoever this is. Now, he or she has included you in the game. What are you going to do?”I sighed, and then clutch my hand in a fist, “I swear. I am going to kill this motherfucker.”Ricky smiled, “Won’t you find him or her first before planning your grand move to kill the person.”I glared at him. “Are you having fun with this? Is this fun to you?”He raised his hands up in surrender. “Chill men, I already told you it was a game from the beginning. You are only deeper in this mess because you failed to listen to me. What was I supposed to do?”I leaned in too but didn’t touch my drink. “So, what do you suggest we do? How can we get whoever this person is?”He smirked, “I d

Naomi’s POV I stared at my laptop while my hand lingered on the space key. This was the first time I felt an urgent need to work on my story. Still, I couldn’t seem to type anything because my mind kept returning to Em’s words: what if something happened to Derrick, and I could have saved him from whatever it was? But because I was here thinking the worst of him, I could not. I shook my head again. I was in denial of what to do. When I came back to Arnold City, the last thing I wanted was to associate myself with Derrick, but it looked like he was the most important thing on my mind now, which seemed wrong. I closed my laptop and went to Dean’s room. He was sound asleep on his bed. He was acting strange; he sleeps more now than play, and going to Em’s place hadn’t improved his mood as I expected. I stared at him for a while before deciding to prepare his favorite to lighten up his mood. It had worked previously, and I had no doubt it would work again. So, hoping to take my mind o

Naomi’s POVI stared at Derrick in disbelief. He was still as selfish as ever. My head felt heavy. What if he had planned on stealing Dean from me? I don’t think I can survive without Dean. I wanted to speak, but he wasn’t done talking.“You separated me from my son for five years, and here you’re trying to do it again.”What? I separated him from his son. I couldn’t believe he was saying, “You abandoned us. I didn’t separate you guys.”His long fingers got lost in his hair, and he sighed, “Look, Naomi. I don’t want to argue with you at the moment. That’s the last thing I wanted.”I shook my head, “It’s always been about what you want and need. When you needed a wife, your grandmother got you one. Now, you feel you need me, you came to me. When you feel like you no longer needed us, you decided to be absent in our lives. I can’t give my son such life; a life where he only sees his father when he needs him.”Derrick took long strides to his bar and started searching for something befor