Revengeful Deceptions

by Ursula Dukes

  By the time Adam reached his home Dominique's head was throbbing. She was also dirty, bleeding and tired.

  Adam seemed to read her thoughts as he ran a steaming hot shower for her. After helping her out of her tattered and torn clothes, Dominique would not let go of Adam's hand. Her eyes filled with tears and he kept her close while he removed his own clothes and got into the shower with her. Dominique could hold her tears no longer and as she wept uncontrollably under the hot steam, Adam held her while he slowly washed her. She winced when he gently brushed against the bruises that Nick had given her. Adam wished he'd pulled the trigger himself.

  Dominique and Adam left the warmth of the shower reluctantly. Even as Adam dried her off and put her in one of his sweatshirts, Dominique still felt cold. She had never shot anybody before. She had always been sure that she could do it but she wasn’t expecting the aftermath to be so numbing. It's because of what the son of a bitch told me about my boys, she convinced herself.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Baby, I’m going to make you some hot tea.” Adam sat her on the bed and placed the thick down comforter around her.

  “Adam, could you make it something stronger?”

  “Absolutely, I’ll be right back.”

  It was three in the morning, and even though both were exhausted, neither could sleep. Instead, the two lie awake in bed.

  “How are you feeling baby?” Adam whispered in her ear.

  “I'm doing better thank you Adam. Thank you for everything, I thought I was going to die tonight.”

  Adam smoothed her still damp hair and ran his fingers alongside her cheek as they lay in the dark; he whispered things to her, things that only lovers could understand. Dominique longed for his touch, she wanted to feel that gentleness all over her, Adam wanted to give her what she needed, and soon their bodies were entangled as one. Dominique loved the feeling he gave her each time he exploded inside of her, it felt as if he was giving himself completely to her, and that’s exactly what she wanted.

  Jonathan Caruso lay in bed wide awake. After Adam had called and told him that Nick had attacked Dominique and she had shot him, he became anxious and wound up. Dominique is certainly stronger than she appears to be. She saved me from having to go to DiNunzio. Dominique Foster just took care of all my problems. No more Nick means no more blackmailing, no more threats to harm my son and most importantly no more chance that she'll ever find out who was with him the night of the accident. Even if it did come out now, Brandon could blame it all on Nick. Put Nick in the driver’s seat so to speak. The secret died with him, and now only Brandon, Adam and I know what really happened. Jonathan yawned as he finally fell asleep.

  Brandon Caruso sat at the end of the bar and sipped his whiskey. It was his third one; he had just found out that Nick had been shot and killed. And by his brother's girlfriend of all people, but why? Why would Nick attack Dominique? It didn’t make sense. Was the guy that far gone that he thought what he was doing was right? Did he even know who she was? How the hell did he even know her? What was going on with you buddy? Something was going on with you Nick and I’m going to find out what it was, He thought to himself as he paid his tab and headed out the door.

  It was pre-dawn by the time Brandon reached Nick's apartment. Although he had been there several times before, Brandon forgot how dingy and deserted the place seemed to always feel. He had no problems entering the lobby as that lock had long ago been broken and obviously never replaced.

  The light in the hallway however shone bright against the dirty and cold ceramic floors. The cracks in the ceiling that ran down into the walls reminded him of an old woman who was once a beauty but had now aged badly due to neglect. Nick lived on the first floor. As Brandon picked the lock, it gave quite easy. He smirked as he thought; you must have been losing your touch buddy, the Nick I knew would never have let that go. “Oh well, don’t matter anymore anyways,” he shrugged.

  Cock roaches scurried across the floor the moment he turned on the overhead light.

  “Goddammit! I fucking hate roaches!” He shouted as he stomped on whichever ones he could find.

  “Now what were you up to buddy?” he asked lighting a cigarette and taking a long drag. As he looked around the room, Brandon recognized the worn out sofa, that sometimes doubled as a bed for him on those nights where he was too wasted to drive back home to the penthouse. The desk was a new addition though, he didn’t have it the last time Brandon was there, it looked as if it had seen better days and as he approached it, he hoped that nothing was living inside.

  “Leave it to you Nick to have a state of the art laptop on a piece of shit desk.” He said out loud, “now what was it you were looking for?”

  As Brandon sat down in the busted up office chair he opened up the history on Nick's laptop. “This is going to take a while. “Brandon swore as he saw page after page of pornographic material.

  The sun was rising by the time Brandon found his first clue. He needed a snort of coke to keep him going before he started opening more web pages. The first was news footage of the accident.

  It showed a tow truck removing the mangled mustang from around the tree and said they were withholding the victims’ identities pending notification of next of kin. Brandon's hands began to shake as he clicked on the next one. As the page opened up, Stephen and his son Teddy stared right at him.

  Startled, he jumped back into the chair. “What are you afraid of?” He whimpered, “It's just a fucking picture.” he laughed. “So that’s what they looked like,” he whispered. Stephen smiled proudly as he held his little boy up on his shoulders. Dominique stood off the corner and was almost out of the shot. “Why the hell were you looking at this buddy?”

  The next pages were of the same photo, but from different sources. Once Brandon clicked on the photo icon, that’s when he saw it, Nick had taken one of the still photos and had blown it up. It was the same photo of Stephen and Teddy but standing right behind them, smiling and looking as beautiful as ever was Dominique.

  Brandon rubbed his eyes, he began to doubt himself. “No, It can't be her,” he murmured. But his doubts were put to rest when he read the caption.

  “Fatal hit and run accident claims the lives of two victims. 35 year old Stephen Greenway and his seven year old son Theodore Greenway seen here in this photo were killed last night when Greenway's '66 Mustang was run off the road. Dominique Greenway, the victim’s wife was unavailable for comment at press time. Police are asking that any witnesses who may have seen the accident contact the New Hampshire State Police.

  Brandon had to read it again. “Nick, you son of a bitch, you found out who she was, you went there to kill her only she got to you first. Oh don’t worry buddy, I’ll take care of her, I’ll take care of her nice and slow. If only that bitch had left well enough alone. She thinks she can weasel her way into my life. Oh I’ll play along with your little game Dominique but don’t you worry, by the time I’m finished with you, you'll be begging me to kill you. You'll wish you died right along with your husband and son you conniving little bitch, you have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

  Brandon took one last glance around the decrepit apartment before tucking the laptop inside his jacket and closing the door behind him.

  It was almost noon by the time Adam woke up. He had made love to Dominique until the early morning hours and now awoke refreshed but to an empty bed. He heard voices and smelled coffee as he got out of bed and slipped into his pajama bottoms. As he walked into the kitchen he was surprised to see his mom behind the counter cooking breakfast and talking with Dominique.

  “Well good morning sleepy head.”

  “Good morning,” he said while giving each woman a kiss. “Mom, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

  “Well my darling son, your father thinking he was doing me a favor, thought it best not to wake me last night and tell me the awful news. Imagine that? Your poor girlfriend gets attacked, and has to shoot somebody and your father doesn’t think
he should wake me and tell me. Well anyway, I came as soon as I heard. I also brought a change of clothes for the poor girl. I figured that it would be awhile before you wanted to go back home Dominique.”

  “Thank you Muriel, and your right, I’m not ready to go back just yet.” She shuddered at the thought of going back to the brownstone.

  “Dominique you know that you’re more than welcome to stay with me for as long as you need to.”

  He smiled and walked over to her.

  “Well of course she can,” chimed in Muriel, “Now let’s get some food into you Dominique; oh it’s so nice to have someone to look after she smiled brightly as she loaded their plates with food.

  It took Dominique almost two weeks to recover; it was more physical than emotional. She still had a long way to go to take care of the things that she needed to do and she needed to be completely healed in order for that to happen. Even though Jonathan had told Dominique to take a few more weeks to recuperate and that her job would be waiting for her when she returned, she declined the offer. She needed to get back into the swing of things and she told Adam that Nick did not hurt a thing that wouldn’t heal. She told him that losing her husband and son was the worst punishment she could ever endure so what Nick did was nothing compared to that.

  Dominique thought it best that she not let Adam know that she was well aware of the fact that Nick Kilarmo was right by Brandon's side the night of the accident. She was sure now that Adam had no involvement and for all he knew, Nick had simply gone after her because he held some vendetta against Jonathan.

  Let him think that for now, she thought to herself, it will all come out soon enough. She would be going back to work and that was that. Adam knew there was no use arguing with her about it but he did convince her to stay at his place a few days longer. But only until her place was cleaned up and released by the police she told him; “Which hopefully won't be for a very long time.” He said as he pulled her close.

  Dominique was showered and ready for work the following Monday. It felt good to be going back to work and she welcomed the distraction. Her bruising had gone down tremendously and she started to feel like her old self again.

  As Jonathan welcomed her back during the morning meeting, Brandon sat stern faced in the corner of the room. He had showed up for work sober, showered and dressed in a suit. He was going to make sure that he kept his eye on Dominique, even if he had to put on this stiff suit and pretend that he actually liked what he was doing for eight hours a day that's exactly what he planned on doing. Brandon Caruso was not going to let anyone or anything stop him from getting rid of Dominique, not even his own brother.

  “Well Brandon has certainly come to work prepared,” Dominique told Adam while he walked her to her small office.

  “Yeah, something must be going on, I’ve never seen him so determined looking.”

  “Maybe he's just trying to fit in you know, make your father happy.”

  “I doubt it but hey stranger things have happened.”

  “What stranger things have happened little brother?” asked Brandon who had overheard the end of the conversation. He now wanted to find out everything he could about Dominique Foster.

  Adam turned around to face his brother.

  “What are you doing back here Brandon? Don’t you have some work to do?”

  “Easy little brother, I just wanted to come back here and see Dominique and tell her how sorry I am to hear about the attack. Nick was a friend of mine but I don’t condone what he tried to do to you Dominique, why do you think he tried to attack you Dominique?” Brandon wanted to make her feel as uncomfortable as he could; especially in front of Adam.

  “I don’t know Brandon, that is a question you would have to ask him but you can't because he's dead,” Adam had spoken for Dominique through gritted teeth.

  “I was asking Dominique a question, not you little brother, she's a big girl she can answer for herself.”

  Dominique grew tired of the banter; she couldn’t stand the sight of Brandon standing in her office looking all smug. Actually, she thought to herself, I’d rather see you dead you bastard.

  “Listen the both of you; if it's all right with you two, I’d rather not talk about it, what's done is done. I simply want to be able to get on with my life; starting now so if the both of you wouldn’t mind leaving me alone, that would be great.”

  “Sure Dominique, whatever you say, you’re the boss right?” Brandon said as he let out a sarcastic snicker.

  Adam led his brother out by the arm.

  “What the hell has gotten into you Brandon?”

  Brandon spoke with a condescending tone. “Nothing bro, I’m just trying to figure out why a guy like Nick would go after someone as innocent as Dominique that’s all.”

  “Because he was a sick fuck that's why, I bet you didn’t know that you’re so called good friend came here and went after dad did you? No because you were probably lying somewhere drunk or high again Brandon. Had you been here you would have seen for yourself so just drop this whole thing, and if I catch you harassing Dominique again, you'll be out on your ass you hear me?”

  “Oh I hear ya little brother, loud and clear. I can see where your allegiance lies. “Brandon followed his brother out of the filing area but not before punching one of the filing cabinets

  “You don't scare me, you sanctimonious son of a bitch,” Dominique whispered as her eyes shot daggers at Brandon's back.

  Adam was surprised that when he asked Dominique to lunch, she refused. Dominique had already accepted a lunch invitation from his mother, Muriel and she was also bringing Molly along. “Don't be jealous, it’s a girl’s lunch Adam, no men allowed.” Dominique teased.

  “My mom must really like you Dominique; she's never invited any of my girlfriends to lunch.”

  “Well that’s probably because she couldn’t keep track of them all Adam. I hear you are quite the ladies’ man Mr. Caruso.”

  “If I was Dominique it was a long time ago and now there is only one woman that I want. So go enjoy your lunch and give my mother my love.”

  Dominique wasn’t surprised that she, Molly, and Muriel were creating a bond. The three women had a lot more in common than one would think and when they had gotten to get to know one another during the costume party a few weeks ago, they all agreed that they needed to get together often.

  After all, that was the only way they would be able to see just how well they got along because if things were going to go as planned, Dominique needed to know that they would have each other’s back. She was taking a big chance trusting these two women but she also knew she couldn’t do what she needed to do alone and she had to start somewhere. I have to trust someone, she thought to herself, and these two have far more to lose than me, because I’ve got nothing. Brandon Caruso made sure of that.

  “Muriel? I hope you’re not here to see me because I have a lunch meeting to go to,” Jonathan Caruso glared at his wife. He hated when she showed up unexpectedly at the office, especially on a day where he had a lunch date.

  He couldn’t have her find out that he was being unfaithful, she'd take him for everything he's got and he worked too hard for that.

  “Don't worry dear, I’m actually here to take Dominique and Molly to lunch, so go ahead on to your meeting, I wouldn’t want to be responsible for you missing out on anything important darling, so go on ahead, have fun.” Muriel gave her husband a light kiss as she brushed by him and walked down the hall.

  Dominique, Muriel and Molly were seated at Chen's restaurant, and once they placed their orders, Dominique poured them all tea while they made small talk about the weather, their surroundings and finally the upcoming thanksgiving holiday.

  Adam would of course be bringing Dominique to their country house for thanksgiving and Molly and Neal would spend it at her family’s home in Deerfield. Over lunch, Dominique told Muriel about the accident. Muriel sat in awe as she listened to Dominique's recount of the events that led up to the accident. She
spoke of how even though she and Stephen had been a bit leery about sending Teddy to the sleep over it would be good for him. “We thought it would help him build his social skills. You know, get along with the other boys and make some friends.”

  Dominique fought hard not to burst into tears. She smiled when she spoke Stephen wanting to make love when he returned from picking Teddy up. By the time she finished, all three had tears in their eyes and had at some time during their meal, held hands momentarily and consoled one another.

  When Dominique returned from lunch, she sat alone in her office and reflected. At the end of their lunch Muriel had only one concern, Adam, she loved Adam and didn’t want to see him get hurt. Dominique had told her that she would do everything in her power to see that Adam was not hurt.

  Thanks to Molly, she knew why Muriel was unhappy in her marriage, she knew that Jonathan Caruso was an unfaithful man, and to Muriel, like most woman, that was unacceptable. But for Dominique there was something more, once Muriel mentioned that Jonathan had mysteriously sent Brandon to Italy the same time of the accident, the pieces all began to fit together, Jonathan Caruso had covered everything up for his son. Dominique didn’t have to tell Muriel about Brandon's involvement in the accident, both she and Molly figured it out the moment the trip to Italy was brought up.

  Muriel and Molly sat astounded as they let what they had just figured out about Brandon and Jonathan sink in. Dominique felt relieved that she did not have to carry this awful secret anymore, but she was astonished that Jonathan would go so far as to cover it all up.

  “Oh, I’m not surprised that my husband would do such a thing Dominique, not surprised at all. Jonathan is a self-centered man who will do anything to protect himself from embarrassment, anything at all. You have no idea of what Jonathan Caruso is capable of Dominique and one day soon I’ll tell you both about the horrible thing he's done. Besides covering up for Brandon of course,” she nodded towards Dominique, and exactly how far he'd go for himself, but not today. I think we've got plenty to absorb ladies, and it's time you two got back to work.”