Page 106 of Chasing After You

“You will,” he said. “Just give it time.”

I let my head fall back against the seat and closed my eyes, still picturing the fire licking through the windows of the home where I’d been locked in closets, dragged by my hair, screamed at until I couldn’t remember what I’d done wrong.

“I keep thinking about the window in my room,” I murmured. “The one I used to stare out of, imagining a whole different life. Hoping someone would come get me. Or that maybe, someday, your parents… they’d love me…”

“You got yourself out,” Dorian said firmly. He reached over and rested his hand on my knee. “You don’t need their love.”

I curled my fingers around his wrist and squeezed. “Do you think we’ll get away with it?”

“I know we will,” he said without hesitation. “Everything was planned down to the minute.”

“Right,” I murmured, heart fluttering with nerves. “I just—what if something goes wrong? What if someone saw us? Or they find our DNA?”

“Nothing’s going to happen, angel,” he said, calm and absolute. “Even if someonehadseen us out there, we have airtight alibis. And it’s my house, they’d expect my DNA. Yours can be easily explained.”

His certainty was like a blanket thrown over my frayed nerves. I wanted to believe him. Ididbelieve him. I’d followed him this far.

He looked over again, his eyes soft this time. “You deserved to watch it fall.”

A lump formed in my throat. I turned toward the window so he wouldn’t see me swallow hard. “Thanks for being with me,” I whispered.

“There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do for you,” he said.

The weight of that settled on me like gravity. I believed him. And part of me—maybe a darker, quieter part—was glad it hadburned. Not just for me, but for the kid I used to be, and for Dorian, too.

As the highway stretched out ahead of us and the night deepened, I didn’t feel free yet. But I felt lighter.

And maybe that was a start.

“Do you think they loved you?” I asked, cringing after the words left my mouth.

Dorian kept one hand on the wheel and the other loosely resting over mine. His thumb stroked absently over my knuckles like he was trying to soothe both of us. I watched the blurred lights whip past the windows, the thick hush of night wrapping around us like a secret.

“My parents? No. No, that wasn’t love. I’m still not sure if they’re even capable of loving anyone but themselves,” he answered, not a thread of sadness in his voice. He said it the same as he would have stated a fact.

Out of the blue, my conversation with Greyson came to mind.Your brother appears to function similarly to my brothers.

I glanced over at his side profile, his bright blue eyes focused on the road.

“Dorian… um, have you ever…” I wasn’t sure how to ask without sounding callous. Still, I inhaled and questioned lightly, “Have you ever seen a psychiatrist?”

Dorian glanced at me, something unreadable flickering in his expression. “I haven’t.”

“Well, I was just… what if…” I trailed off, my nose crinkling at how much I sucked at this.

Luckily for me, he took the reins.

“Our family doctor wanted me to see one, but Victoria and Daniel were adamantly against it.”

I frowned, wondering how a parent could deny their child medical care like that. “I’m sorry.”

He shrugged. “I think they knew I’d be diagnosed with something and were worried about it getting out that their precious heir was…” he paused, as if searching for the right word, “unfit? Crazy?”

“I guess that does sound like them,” I muttered. “I just hoped thatbecauseyou were their heir, they’d want to make sure you were okay and healthy.”

“Why did you want to know?” he asked.

“Oh, uh—well, I was just thinking back to when I spoke to Greyson on the phone. He just… said some things that made me wonder about you. Wonder if you needed help…”