Revengeful Deceptions (5 page)

Oh god here it comes,
she
thought, nervousness over taking her and her empty stomach.

“I’d like you all to give a warm
welcome to two of the newest members of our team, Miss Dominique Foster and my
son Brandon Caruso. Dominique joins our team as the new file clerk, and I think
we can all thank god for that, you are a sight for sore eyes Dominique truly,”
he said while giving her a genuine smile. And Brandon will be one of our
investigators; he’s very good at what he does ladies and gentleman so feel free
to utilize his services. Once again we welcome you both and if there is
anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask, welcome to the family.”

Dominique could not believe that
sitting in the same conference room as she, was the killer of her husband and
son. She had not read anything about him being employed by the firm.
Why
would I?
She thought to
herself
,
today's his
first day on the job as well.
Dominique began to have second thoughts,
I
don’t know if I can work here and look at that bastards face every single day.
But I’ve got to, I’ve got to be strong, it's the only way I’ll be able to get
any kind of justice for my boys,
she told herself.

A gentle nudge from Molly brought
her back to the meeting. She was proud of herself, not only had she made it
through the meeting, but she had managed to mask her extreme surprise and
disdain for the man she knew murdered her husband and son. She wasn’t expecting
to find him working at the firm though; he certainly didn't seem the type to
hold any kind of job given what she had read about him online.
You can do
this Dominique,
she silently told herself. And she could too, revenge had
made her cold and she knew that in order for her to get it she would have to
endure some things she never thought possible, and having to sit next to the
man who murdered her husband and son was one of those things.

Chapter Seven

Adam stared in awe, he had noticed
her the moment she followed Molly into the conference room and sat down. She
was insanely beautiful. Her skin was the color of light cappuccino, she had
wonderful bright brown eyes and her long jet black curls were being held back with
a hair clip. He couldn’t help but think of how sensual and exotic she must look
with her hair down. Her sexy, voluptuous shape made him instantly fantasize
about what it would feel like to slowly undress her. He had to snap himself out
of his haze. Adam was used to getting any woman he wanted, but this was one
woman whom he knew once would never be enough and she would certainly cast a
spell over him like no other. He was so very glad that he chose to come into
work today.

Instead of thinking of ways to blow
off work so he could head down to Mickey’s bar and catch up with Nick, Brandon
had decided to stick around maybe get to know the employees, especially the new
file clerk. He wasn’t paying attention in the meeting until that cute little
number was introduced. He would have to figure out a way to get a piece of
that. He said to himself as he made his way towards the file room.

Although he knew all about
Dominique Foster and had seen blurry photographs of her that were taken by his
investigator, Jonathan Caruso had not planned on her being quite so attractive.
In his profession he had certainly met his fair share of attractive women, but
he had to admit, Dominique Foster was stunning and he'd bet his career that she
was not aware of it.
 
And if he knew his
boys like he thought he did, this could prove to be a problem.

Oh he had no doubt that a woman who
has been through what Dominique has been through would not be interested in a
man like Brandon, but he also knew that wouldn’t stop his son from trying. But
Adam on the other hand, Adam was quite the ladies’ man, always has been and
hopefully for his sake, he'd find his plate too full to add another woman to
it, but Jonathan already knew that that was wishful thinking. He knew that Adam
would fall and fall hard.

After Molly had assigned her a
password and collected the rest of her paperwork, Dominique wanted to get
acclimated with her surroundings. She started by going through some of the
filing cabinets and after finding them in order, moved on to her next task. She
was already receiving e-mails from attorneys requesting client files and it was
her job to pull them all, quickly go over them to make sure that the paperwork
inside corresponded with the client name on the outside.

Once everything checked out she was
to put them in the bin labeled with the attorneys name and once they showed up
to retrieve their work she would have a sign out sheet ready to go. When that
was all taken care of, she was then responsible for logging it all into the
computer along with the length of time that the attorney was keeping hold of
the file. It was quite similar to checking out a book at the library, Molly had
told her, but the step of documenting not only on paper but on the computer as
well was an extra precaution, that the partners had come up with.

The first email Dominique received
was from Adam Caruso, he needed a large amount of files so Dominique decided on
getting started on his first. The others would have to wait, she would let them
know that she would pull files on a first come first served basis, meaning who
ever got their email to her first would be taken care of first. It was her
department to run as she saw fit, Molly told her. Once she pulled the twelve
charts for Adam, Dominique carried them to her desk and began going through
them.  Luckily for her, everything was in order and as she was placing the
files in Adam's bin, she heard a gentle tap on her door.

“Hi and welcome, I’m Adam Caruso
nice to meet you,” he said holding out his hand.

Wow
, thought Dominique as
she shook his hand.
I am in serious trouble if all the men here look like
this,
she blushed. “It's nice to meet you Mr. Caruso, and thank you for the
welcome, I’ve got your files all ready for you, if you wouldn’t mind signing
them out first please?” Dominique hoped that she sounded professional and not
like some newbie who didn’t know how to do her job.

“Well you are quite efficient
aren’t you Miss Foster?” he said, his voice a bit scrutinizing.

 
“Oh god am I over doing it? I am aren't I?
You'll have to forgive me, I'm still nervous. Gotta get the hang of things
still,” she said fidgeting with the paperwork on her desk. It certainly didn't
help that this very attractive man was not taking his eyes off of her.

Adam gently placed his hand on her
arm to calm her. “You’re doing just fine Miss Foster,” he said slowly
withdrawing his hand.

She didn’t pull away,
he
thought to himself,
that’s a good sign, although the second I leave she
could file a sexual harassment charge against me for unwanted touching. God I
hope she doesn’t do that,
he sighed to himself.

“I'm sorry, I didn’t mean to touch
you just then, I meant no disrespect or anything like that Miss Foster.”

Dominique smiled.

“Sorry just isn’t going to cut it
buddy, you just got yourself into a hell of a lot of trouble. And on my first
day too, god, can’t you men keep it in your pants? I'm so going to report you.”

The look on his face was priceless
and Dominique had to turn her back to him as she tried to suppress her laugh.

“I'm so sorry Miss Foster, I had no
idea that you would take it that way, please, I meant nothing by it, I was
simply trying to calm your nerves, I can see now that that was a mistake. I
apologize.”

Adam had this woman pegged all
wrong, she was all about business and nothing else.
From now on I will get
my files after hours,
he told himself.
There is no way this woman is
going to want to be within ten feet of me.

Dominique turned and stared
intently into his eyes, gorgeous green eyes with flecks of hazel in them. A
grin crept across her face. “I was just joking with you, god, do I look that
stuffy?” She asked folding her arms and sitting on top of her desk.

Adam let out an exasperated gasp as
he leaned up against a smaller file cabinet located across from her desk.
God
this woman is beautiful,
he thought to himself.

“Well you certainly had me going
Miss Foster, and that is something that many have tried but failed to do, so
good for you, but you do know that I’ll be getting you back right?” he asked
smiling a devilish grin. “We may be a very high profile law firm but that
doesn’t mean a few of us don’t like to play practical jokes on each other from
time to time. It breaks the monotony Miss Foster, so you have been warned.”

“Oh call me Dominique please and
thanks for the warning Mr. Caruso but I think I can handle myself.”

 
“Well, I certainly have no doubts about that
Dominique and please call me Adam, Mr. Caruso is my father, but please don’t
hold that against me,” he said with a grin, a very sexy grin Dominique noticed.
Shit, I’ve gotta get this man out of my office. He's making my mind go to
places where it should no longer go. I've got a job to do and I can't have this
distraction, even if it is a deliciously handsome one.

“Well Adam, if you are planning on
playing any practical jokes on me I need to be employed here and in order for
me to do that I need to get to work so if you don’t mind signing the files
out...”

“Of course, of course, I’ve kept
you long enough Dominique, if you need anything, any help or anything, I'll be
in the office all day. So don’t hesitate to ask me anything, anything at all.”

Dominique was quite doubtful that
he was referring to any questions of the filing nature but she thought the
offer quite charming just the same.

“Well thank you Adam, I’ll keep
that in mind,” she said giving him a warm smile. If she had met him under
different circumstances, she could easily fall for him.

But this was work and she was a widow
who had lost her husband and son, she wasn’t sure if she was ready for anything
yet.
And besides that, he’s the brother of the man who murdered my family,
starting a relationship with him would be absurd, absolutely out of the
question.
But still, there was something about Adam that she found quite
intriguing, she couldn’t put her finger on it yet, but there was definitely
something that Adam Caruso had that made him incredibly charming, she thought
to herself, t
oo bad he's related to a killer
.

But she did enjoy the subtle
flirting; it was nice to feel like she still “had it.”

“You already annoying the new
person little brother?” said Brandon as he sauntered into her office. Adam
could not help but roll his eyes at the unwanted distraction.

“No Brandon, as a matter of fact
Miss Foster was just telling me that she is incredibly busy, so let’s give her
some room and let her get back to work shall we?” He told his brother as he all
but pushed him out of her office.

“Alright, alright, bro, hey sorry
about that, I’ll come back later and introduce myself the right way,” he said
glaring at his brother Adam.

Dominique just smiled and waved.
She was thankful to Adam for steering his obnoxious brother away. She had
wasted enough time talking with Adam and she certainly didn't want the likes of
his brother coming into her office anytime soon.
If it were up to me,
she thought to herself,
the next time I'd want to see you would be if you
were lying on the floor dead.

 
“Hey what gives?” said Brandon once they were
alone and out of ear shot.

“You know
good
and well what gives,” said his brother through gritted teeth. I am interested
in Dominique so I'm gonna need you to back off okay?”

“Oh and I suppose you're already
sure that she's interested in you right?” He said in his brother's face.
“That's just like you Adam, you think that
all the
woman want you. Well this time what if you're wrong little brother?”

“Brandon, listen to me and listen
good, there is someone out there for you, it’s just not her, so I’m asking you
to please back off and don’t go down that road. You do this for me and I’ll
make sure that payroll gets you that advance that you were asking dad about
last night. So what do you say? Deal?”

Brandon wanted a shot at Dominique,
but he wanted the cash even more.

“You'll have it for me today bro?”

Adam nodded emphatically, “Consider
it done.”

By lunchtime Dominique found that
she was more than capable with keeping up with the large volume of incoming
file requests, and unless they were marked urgent, she was allowed until five
the following day to get the files pulled, checked and placed in the proper
bin
.
So far, none were marked urgent and she found herself more than caught up
by one o'clock. While sitting at her desk, her computer chimed notifying her of
an incoming email, this one was marked urgent. Dominique smiled when she opened
the e-mail and read the message.

From the desk of Adam Caruso
,

File clerks have to eat too.
Please allow me to help you with that and take you to lunch, my treat.

Dominique was hungry and it was
lunchtime.
Well it’s certainly better than eating alone,
she thought to
herself as she replied back.

Dear Adam,

Don’t need help with the eating
part, but would be more than willing to accept your offer to pay part. It being
my first day and all.

Dominique.

Five minutes later Adam was leaning
against the doorway of Dominique's office. 

“You ready to go?” He said smiling
as he stood aside and let her lead the way.

Jonathan Caruso sat at his desk
with the door open, he was about to head to a lunch meeting when he saw his son
Adam and Dominique walk by. He moved hastily from behind his desk while he
called out to his son. Adam stopped in his tracks, turned and faced his father.