Revengeful Deceptions

by Ursula Dukes

  Dominique washed her face and got ready for bed. She knew she was over reacting and that Adam had done exactly what she wanted him to do and told Renee off, but the look in his eyes tonight made her think that maybe being in love just wasn’t enough. Dominique tossed and turned in bed. I need to get away, she thought to herself as she packed a small backpack. I need to go visit my boy's, she smiled at the thought. Adam wants his rest let him have it and besides, maybe we need this time apart, she told herself as she headed out the door.

  Sleep did not release Adam until noon the next day where he awoke refreshed but remorseful as thoughts of the argument that he had with Dominique the night before came back to him. He was sure that she had probably lain awake all night waiting for him to come and apologize. But he had been so exhausted and fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. “I'll make it up to her,” he whispered as he put on a pot of fresh coffee. “I'll make her breakfast in bed. First let me see if she's awake.

  Dominique drove straight through from Boston to New Hampshire. But once she entered the new state, it was still dark out, and she grew tired. She didn’t want to continue the drive and risk falling asleep at the wheel, so she stopped at the first hotel she could find. I'll sleep for a few hours then make my way to the cemetery, she told herself as she crawled under the covers and instantly fell asleep.

  The moment Adam realized that Dominique was not in the house, and that she wasn’t answering her cell phone, or returning his calls, he began to panic. He called Molly first who had not seen or heard from her since they were all at dinner the night before, then he called his mother, who stated that she hadn’t seen her either.

  “Son what happened?” Asked Muriel now concerned for the safety of her daughter in law.

  “Nothing, I mean we had a fight but nothing that warrants her leaving.”

  “What kind of fight Adam?”

  “It was nothing mom, really, it’s just that I’ve been working on this damn case and I’ve been so tired and Dominique wanted to go out to dinner, so we went to dinner and then I ran into Renee...”

  “Renee? What the hell is she doing back in the picture?”

  “I don’t know mom, she just happened to be in the restaurant. Anyway, Dominique got mad and then the whole thing just escalated from there, by the time we got home I blew up at her, I grabbed her and I said some things I know I shouldn’t have. I know I should have nipped it in the bud last night but I was just so goddamn tired I fell asleep and when I woke up she was gone.”

  “Oh Adam, god only knows where she could be, you don’t think something bad has happened do you? I mean even though the police claim that he's got an alibi the night of the fire, Brandon is still out there Adam.”

  “Mom I am sure Brandon has nothing to do with this, at least he better not. Listen, I’m going to make some more calls.”

  “Son do you want your father and me to come over?”

  “No stay there, she might show up looking to talk to you.”

  “Okay son but the minute you hear from her let us know.”

  “Will do mom, I’m sure she's fine. Bye.”

  Maybe I’m overreacting, Adam told himself, maybe she just stepped out to do some shopping or go for a drive. I'll give her one more hour, if no one's heard from her, I’ll go out and look for her myself.

  By the time Dominique had checked out of the hotel and grabbed a bite to eat it was one o'clock in the afternoon. She had stopped by the florist shop and bought two bouquets of flowers to put on Stephen and Teddy's graves along with a pumpkin for Teddy. He loved Halloween, she reminded herself. Although the day was cold and damp when she arrived at the cemetery, Dominique had planned to spend as much time as she could with her boys, she hadn’t been there in over a year and she didn’t want them to think she'd forgotten about them. “No matter how much Adam wants me to, I’ll never forget you Stephen,” she whispered to herself.

  Adam had not been able to wait the hour for Dominique's return, he was dressed and out looking for her within twenty minutes. As he drove down familiar streets looking for any sign of her, the thought came across him that maybe his half-brother did have something to do with her disappearing and he drove directly to mickey's bar to find out.

  He knew that the police had questioned Brandon about his whereabouts the day of the fire and it seemed he had a solid alibi; he had been at home with his father having dinner. Adam knew that anyone who was acquainted with Brandon or his father for that matter knew that they did a lot of things together, but having dinner on a Saturday night wasn’t one of them. But until someone could prove it a lie, the police cleared him of any involvement.

  Even though it was the middle of the day, the regular drunks and DiNunzio thugs stood lazily around the dark and dingy bar. Adam got a few disapproving grunts and daggers as he walked towards Brandon.

  “Look what the cat dragged in!” Slurred Brandon, he was already on his way to becoming good and drunk.

  “Brandon, we need to talk, is there someplace we can go?”

  “Are we going to have a problem?” Mikey, the owner of the bar looked in Brandon's direction.

  “Hey Mikey, it's alright, smirked Brandon, this here is my half-brother, Adam, he's a big time lawyer. Ain’t that right Adam? I heard you were representing that guy there, you know the one who robbed and beat that convenience store owner? Yeah the owners name is George; you know he is a good friend of mine. How could you represent a thug like that? Well it’s none of my business little bro, I hear another gangs got it out for him so it looks like even if he does win he loses. But I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be standing by his side when that time comes.” Brandon said with a wink.

  “I didn’t come here to discuss my case Brandon, so stop with the bullshit and tell me what you did with my wife!”

  “Oh hey, listen, I heard about you and your lovely wife losing the baby. Sad thing that, imagine losing not one but two kids, sucks don't it little bro?”

  Adam could take no more of his brother’s antagonistic comments; he grabbed him by the collar and yanked him off his seat.

  “Listen you piece of shit, if you've done something to my wife I swear to god, I’ll kill you, you hear me Brandon? Now what did you do?”

  By this time several of DiNunzio thug's had Adam in their sites and none were about to yield.

  Mikey rushed behind Adam and jamming a glock in his back said,

  “I want you out of my bar now! Beat it, whatever beef you got with the kid, you take it up with his old man DiNunzio you got that?"

  Adam threw up his hands and cursed as he stormed out of the bar.

  “What the hell was that all about?” Mikey asked as he put away his gun.

  “I don't know but I tell you one thing, the sooner my half-brother and his wife are out of the picture the better off I’ll be.” Brandon muttered as he gulped down another shot. It was at that moment that he realized he hated his half-brother even more than Dominique.

  Chapter Thirty Five

  After checking a few more places and finding no sign of her, Adam had become angry and frantic. Dominique still wasn’t returning any of his calls and he wasn’t sure if it was because she was still angry with him or if she simply couldn’t get to her phone. Either way if she didn’t return by nightfall he was going to have to call the police. There's one more person I have to call first, he thought to himself, he couldn’t believe he had not thought about calling her best friend Pam, surely if Dominique was upset she would call or go to Pam.

  “Hey Pam, it’s me Adam. Listen, have you spoken to Dominique? I'm trying to get in touch with her and I thought maybe you heard from her.”

  Adam could hear the panic in her voice. “No we haven’t heard from her Adam, what happened? What’s going on? Oh my god don’t tell me she's missing Adam. Hang on I’m getting my husband.”

  Adam frowned at hearing that, he knew that Rob worked for the FBI and that although they had been cordial, Rob had never really warmed up to Adam, especially aft
er what happened last Christmas Eve. He was Stephen's best friend and only wanted Dominique to be happy, but so far it looked to Rob like Adam was causing her nothing but more grief.

  “Listen Adam, I don’t know what went on between you two but if something’s happened to her or if I find out that you’re the reason why she's missing, you and I are going to have a problem you got that? Now I’ll see if I can get some kind of trace put on her phone. But I don’t have to tell you that if you don’t hear from her soon Adam you’re going to have to involve the police. If I find anything out I’ll let you know,” Rob slammed down the phone.

  I should have never called, thought Adam, well at least if they are able to put a trace on her phone, maybe they will be able to locate her. I should have never let the argument get that far, he told himself, “God let her be alright.” He quietly sighed.

  The sun was setting by the time Dominique had finished her visit with Stephen and Teddy, she had given them the flowers and placed the pumpkin on Teddy's headstone. She even brought a pack of permanent markers to decorate the pumpkin while she spoke softly to them, and when she was done, her body was numb from the cold, but she felt a lot better. Before leaving, Dominique told her boys that even though she didn’t visit as often as she should, she knew that they were alright and that they were taking care of the baby she had lost and that she would think about them always.

  It was now nightfall and Adam felt completely helpless. He held his cell in one hand and the home phone in the other, Dominique had been gone... he had no idea how long she had been gone because he had fallen asleep. “She could have left last night,” he swore to himself. “Shit! Why didn’t I go to her last night? Goddamn! Please god give me a sign, just to let me know that she's alright and that she's not lying in a ditch somewhere hurt or worse.”

  When she tried unlocking the door, Adam swung it open.

  “Dominique!” He shouted. Even though his body felt like hugging her, his mind told him to shout at her. “Where in the hell have you been? I've been worried sick, we all have! Answer me!” Adam was so distraught that he reached out and grabbed her once again, this time Dominique pulled his hand off of her.

  “Adam what has gotten into you? I went to Stephen and Teddy's graves, I needed to get away.”

  “Oh and I suppose you didn’t think to leave me a fucking note or I don’t know Dominique, pick up your cell and return a phone call?” He argued as he followed her around in need of answers.

  “I didn’t want this day to be about you or me. I wanted to focus on my boys, can you understand that and I’m not going to fight with you anymore Adam I’m not. You were right, and I was wrong okay problem solved. Now if you don’t mind I’m cold and I want to take a hot shower.”

  Now Adam was the one who was to furious to leave the matter alone.

  “Dominique I have been calling everywhere looking for you. I even called Pam and Rob, and we all know how Rob feels about me. He thinks that I had something to do with you disappearing and all the while you were in New Hampshire. I even went to the bar and questioned Brandon. I wasn’t sure but I had to know if he had something to do with you being gone, do you know how serious this is?”

  “Adam I’ll call Pam and Rob right now but I don’t see why you’re upset, you were tired right? And you needed to get some sleep so I thought it best if I left alright? And to be honest, after the way you spoke to me last night I didn’t think you cared either way if I left a note or not,” she said, eyes glowing with anger.

  “Now don’t do that Dominique, I feel bad enough as it is so don’t go making me feel worse. Listen I’m sorry I upset you last night, I didn’t mean a word I said. Look Dominique I love you, it's just that last night I was not myself I didn’t want to go to dinner, I was exhausted.

  Then when you started in with me about Renee, I just lost it. I'm sorry, I didn’t mean to say those things to you and I especially didn’t mean to grab you the way that I did, baby can you please forgive me? I am so sorry.”

  “Adam the time that I spent alone today got me thinking, maybe we rushed into this whole thing, I mean, you asked me to marry you when I was pregnant and I’m not pregnant anymore Adam, maybe we should rethink this.”

  “I didn’t ask you to marry me because you were pregnant Dominique, I asked you because I love you and want you in my life forever. And I thought you did too.”

  “Oh Adam I did, I mean I do. I just don’t want to disappoint you, I want us to work but I just feel like lately I’ve been doing everything wrong Adam.”

  “Dominique listen to me, we are going to have a family one day soon and what happened last night was a fight, that's all baby, an argument. Married people fight, they disagree, they argue then they make up that’s all it is honey okay?

  We were meant for each other Dominique. The moment I laid eyes on you I knew that you would cast a spell over me and you have Dominique Caruso, you have. I am so very sorry that I snapped at you like that but I can't promise we won’t ever argue or fight but I can promise you that we will never go to bed angry again okay?

  We'll talk about it and if things get too out of hand then we will both have to learn to throw up our hands and say hey, hold up, I need some space alright? But just because we quarrel doesn't mean that either of us should just up and leave. I mean you could have left me a note or better yet, if you had told me that you wanted to go I would have gone with you.

  I would have liked to pay my respects to them also baby. Next time I promise we'll talk, no matter how tired I am Dominique but you've got to know that I love you and I care so much about you, just don’t ever put it in your head that I don’t okay?” He cupped her face with his hands.

  Dominique sighed, “Adam I’m sorry that you felt like I forced you to go to dinner. I didn’t know that you were that exhausted and I know I was being unreasonable but when I saw that woman at our table, something inside of me snapped and I admit it, I got jealous. And then when you refused to talk about it, well that got me even more upset.”

  “Honey, I just want to make you happy and I know that I haven’t been doing a very good job at it. But I know that things will change once this case is over and done with, so if you can just bear with me a little while longer I promise everything will be okay, alright?”

  He took his wife in a loving embrace.

  Dominique wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you Adam.”

  “I love you too Dominique, what's say we take a hot shower together?” he said with a devilish smirk, already undressing her. Dominique was amazed at how quickly he could become aroused when he was near her. She was glad that she still had that effect on him because he certainly had it on her.

  The mere touch of his hands on her breasts made her wet with desire. Before they could even make it to the shower, Adam's mouth was on hers as he slowly and erotically caressed her. Dominique felt as if they were reliving the same erotic moment they had shared in the office eons ago.

  “Oh Adam,” was all that she could manage to say as his fingers found his way inside of her and gently massaged her soft, velvety folds.

  “Dominique you are so beautiful,” he groaned, as his erection grew harder and harder.

  “Baby, I missed you so much,” he said, heart pounding with every thrust of his fingers.

  Dominique could wait no longer, his intense gaze upon her and the motion of his fingers brought her completely over the edge. Adam slowly withdrew his fingers from her and slowly encircled her erect nipples with her slickness before placing them in his mouth.

  Tasting her made him even more hard and as he picked her up and carried her to the bed, he wasted no time in positioning himself between her legs and finding her anxiously awaiting his cock. Dominique raked her fingers through his hair and down the nape of his neck as they gazed upon each other. The moment she grabbed hold of his buttocks forcing him deeper inside of her, Adam let go and exploded, emptying himself in her, filling her up, kissing her hard and deep as he did so.

  “I
love you Dominique Caruso.”

  “I love you too baby, I love you too.”

  The following week, the case that Adam had been working so tirelessly on was finally put in the hands of the jury who for their own safety, were being sequestered in an undisclosed location. When court officers noticed the strong gang presence, security at the court house had been beefed up as well. Dominique could hardly get her work done for worrying about her husband. When word spread to the firm that the jury had reached a verdict Dominique along with Muriel and Molly anxiously awaited the news.

  “I'm glad it’s finally over,” sighed Muriel who had been worried for her son and husband who had gone back to the courthouse the moment they heard that the jury had reached a verdict; Jonathan wanted to be there for his son as well as on the firms behalf.

  “Well let's hope that no matter what the verdict, there is no retaliation on either part, “said Dominique as she nervously wrung her hands together.

  “I just want them all to come home safe,” cried Molly who was worried for Neal who had been sent to provide extra security.

  When the not guilty verdict was read by the juror, the court room erupted in screams and shouts of dismay from not only the victim's family, but from rival gang members and as Adam escorted his client back through the court house to fill out paperwork and secure his release, a few of the rival gang members had burst through the barricades and had to be restrained by police officers. Once he had gotten his client safely inside an inner office and taken care of the formalities, Adam and he were escorted by two police officers out of the building.