"Holy crap, did you see those juniors get scolded today?"
"Yes, but that was mean," I muttered as I concentrated on the fries laid out on the table to share between the three of us at the popular café down the road from work.
"Care to slow down and share with us, Annie?"
I glared at the two of them as they laughed at me, my mouth stuffed with the potato goodness. Hamish and Erika gave each other a cheeky high five, I mentally stabbed them with imaginary daggers. They found it hilarious that my cravings were on a high level at the moment, and I've told them so many times that I've been stressed and this was my outlet, but they've continued to point out I've always eaten unhealthy stuff.
No winning with them.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say a mini Walsh is growing inside, huh?" Hamish nudged, winked and snickered.
"Oh shut up, Hame, just because I get laid more often than you," I growled.
"Ouch-" He patted and clenched over his chest. "Annie, that was below the belt."
"You two are goofs." Erika laughed. She reached out for my left hand and waved it between us, her finger patted at my empty ring finger. Her left eyebrow cocked up and she asked, "Care to explain here, Ms Lawler?"
"We aren't friends right now."
"Huh? Why?"
I shook my head, rejecting to tell them the truth, so I shrugged and mumbled, "Isn't this a good thing?"
"Not if it's like this, Annie," Hamish sighed and placed a hand at my shoulder. The both of them just stared at me, they looked sympathetic and their attempts to console me were making me sad. I tried not to cry in front of them, putting a brave face as I picked up a fry and waved the potato stick around like a goof and joked, "Hey, if it means I could eat whatever the hell I want thanks to your wallets, then I'll be forever happy."
At the same time, Erika and Hamish let go of me, their eyes rolled and their mouths let out groans of my failed attempt to lie to them. They're not amused with me, I mean, they cared so much for me that they took me to eat food they knew would cheer me up. But I still wanted to avoid talking about the fight last night, so I cleared my throat to distract them as I tried to think of another topic. I shifted my gaze briefly down to my phone, and it clicked, my eyes beamed as I adjusted myself to sit straight and I asked, "When do you think we'll go through with our plan?"
They looked surprised.
"I'm curious, I mean, we have some evidence that could easily link him to his involvement with my Dad's case-"
"-Ms Miller is the key witness, even though she's a bit under the ground," Erika coughed at the end to try and not make her statement a joke. "And at the state you and your fiancé are at the moment, we're in an advantage right now."
"How are we going to find physical evidence though?"
"Ooh- Speaking of that, I've done more research about Ms Miller," My best friend announced and pulled out a diary with a lock and key, which looked like a teenager's diary from the local bookshop, it became more evident when there were a mixture of colors formed into dots, spirals and flowers. Hamish and I exchanged glances and laughed at her childish stationery. She glared at us this time and took out a small key and unlocked her diary, revealing a lot of black and red scribbles of notes.
"Dear diary, much?" The man beside me teased.
"Oh come on, why would I make it obvious that we're up to something?"
I tapped at the top of the page. "Boo, can this be anymore obvious?" I mocked.
She slapped my hand away from her diary and wrinkled her face. "Can you not?" She groaned and continued to flick away to a few more pages. "So, Ms Miller, the ex of one of our bosses, well, she worked as a PA for some big lawyer in Chicago before her death, and-" She scanned through her notes and read, "Ms Miller's last phone call was to her boss, the recorded conversation hinted that she rejected an offer from the said big lawyer-boss man and they were said to have had another conflict prior to that final phone call."
"Are you saying that her killer might be the boss?"
"She's a cold case, Annie. That's the mystery."
"How are we going to link her and Nathaniel together?"
A light bulb flashed for Erika as soon as she heard me ask that very question. She flicked back a few pages and slammed her palm on the left page, giving me a little fright as she answered, "Days before her death, Nathaniel touched down in Chicago and met with her."
"Wh-What?"
"Something must've gone on, because they were caught walking out of a hotel room."
My head throbbed as I leaned back on my seat and ler out a very heavy breath of air. My fingers massaged at my temple as I turned to Hamish and asked, "Um, what do you think, Hame?"
But he seemed out of it.
Hamish's gaze was outside, away from the conversation and in his own zone. Did he hear everything? Hamish was slowly becoming distant again, his tongue made contact with his dry, cracked lips as his fingers cupped at his chin while his other arm crossed over his body to embrace himself. I wondered what he's thinking, Erika did too, but she was more open about it as she reached over and smacked his hand away from his face.
"You jerk, are you even listening?" She growled.
"Huh- Oh- Yeah, yeah," He stammered and reconnected with our little group. "What's happening?"
"I'm not repeating myself."
"Come on, Erika, I want to know."
"Screw you, Hame." She frowned and prepared to go back to the beginning of her discovery, but before she started, I pushed myself to my feet and said, "You do that, but I have to go back to the office and fix my documents before the weekend."
"Really, Annie? You're going to leave me here with Erika as she tears my ear off- Ow!" I heard the slap as my best friend's palm made contact with his pointed finger.
"Just don't kill each other!" I continued to tease them and snatched the last fry from the plate, taking it in at one big bite and grinned mockingly at their direction. I had the last laugh of our meeting before my physical and emotional feeling just dropped instantly as I felt alone and empty.
If I pretended any further, I would've collapsed and broke down right in front of the two people who kept me sane right now. I was stressed, overwhelmed, and my insides felt sick and my heart ached. I felt empty without my engagement ring wrapped around my finger. I stared at the tan line on my ring finger throughout the walk back to work, not paying much attention to any of my surroundings. And because of that, I made body contact into another man.
The other man being Nathaniel.
He caught me too. His grip firm on my waist as he stared down at me with amusement in his eyes. I didn't need this. I gulped and apologized as I took a step away from him. Fortunately, Nathaniel was headed away from the building, so I probably didn't need to worry about the awkward encounter in the elevator. It wasn't something someone would look forward to, especially at the current situation.
If Dominic saw us...
Hmmm...
I don't think I can imagine up the scenario.
"Little Lawler, where have you been?" The older Walsh male let out his question so smoothly that I shivered in my heels.
"Oh, just lunch with-"
"Miss Barnett and Mr Schwartz. I know. The three of you have been going in and out of this office together at this time of the day throughout the week." He smirked and pulled out a cigarette from the front pocket of his suit, his lighter already prepared at his other hand. "You three better not be up to something, because I know what goes on in the firm."
Was that a threat?
"So behave, okay?" Nathaniel, once again, had the last word followed by a creepy wink. "Have a good day, little Lawler. Take care of my nephew, because that hotheaded and disrespectful fool must have woken up at the wrong side of the bed this morning-" He grumbled on as his expression and the tension between us turned sour, he turned around and kept mumbling curse words under his breath aimed towards his nephew.
The protégé.
Something must have happened between them for Nathaniel's mood to drop all the way down to the floor. It's actually quite fortunate for us as our plan came to play, but rather too quickly and we were unprepared.
Nathaniel confused my thoughts even more. First he said something about his knowledge of his employees as well as the inside and outside of activities of Lawler & Walsh, then he switched the topic to his nephew, who sounded to be in a foul mood. It was like he was hiding his true intentions with Dominic's recent mood swing... Or.... Did he know?
Speaking of my darling.
Dominic stomped heavily right into my office not long after I got back to work. His foul mood was matched with a clear frown on his face, he slammed the door right after him and punched the side of the leather sofa. I cocked an eyebrow at him, not knowing what went in his head confused me, and I only followed him with my eyes as he paced back and forth. Even though we weren't in good terms since last night, I figured I may be the only one in the entire office he could openly open his thoughts to - and right now, he looked pretty distressed.
"Should I ask? Or should I leave you alone?"
He curled his fingers to a fist and glared at me, but at least he stopped moving. "I need to get out of here," He growled. "Let's go."
My eyes narrowed. Was I hearing things? I slowly put down my pen and paper, my body moved on its own, but at a slow pace, just in case he didn't say what I thought he said. Maybe because I haven't been myself lately and just hearing things as they go.
"But I'm not done for the day?"
"Me neither, so Marianne, please hurry up." He hissed.
Okay, so I wasn't hearing things. I hastened up a bit, from switching my computer off to gathering my bag and phone at the same time. I nearly tripped when I needed to slip my stilettos on as well as my jacket, which the impatient Dominic helped me slip into them when he noticed my frantic state.
"Where are we going?"
He casually placed his hand on the same spot on my back and we paced ourselves towards the elevators. He kept cool on the outside, but from the flaring of his nose and the occasional twitch of his left eye, I knew - deep down - he was angry about something, I've been with him long enough to know.
"You don't have to pretend that people don't know about our situation, Dom," I said in a low volume. "I mean, I haven't really been wearing the engagement ring nearly all day, we walked in here at different hours, we ignored each other in passing along the hallway and-"
"-Okay, just shut up," He silenced me. The coldness in his voice and actions could easily be compared to the way Hamish treated me on our little get together last night - I couldn't hide the smile when the thought of it flashed in my mind, and Dominic saw it.
But I didn't care.
"I'm assuming you have some odd imagination going on in your head right now?"
I faked a smile, purposely showing the plastic expression towards him before we got into the elevator, and it was no surprise that it was empty. Hardly anyone went up all the way to our floor anyway. Dominic took his hand off me as soon as the silver doors closed, we both took a step away from each other as well and kept our hands to ourselves. We didn't talk for about three floors until he spontaneously decided to press the stop button, slammed my back against the cold back wall of the elevator and pressed his body against me with both hands against the wall to trap me.
"What are you doing?" I put on a brave face to hide any signs of weakness against him.
"I apologize for last night," He sighed. "It was uncalled for, my reaction was ridiculous and I would much rather have that memory deleted, if possible."
I stared into his hazel eyes, they were very sad and told me more than what he said out loud. His mind must be as puzzled as mine, and I felt bad for him. I didn't want to push him away, he was still the love of my life, despite all the negative things that's happened between us.
"I know I can't turn back time, but I apologize."
My fingers found themselves touching the sides of his face, I lightly trailed my touch along his features, from his thin lips and defined jawline to his cheeks and the dark circles that began to form under his eyes. His stress and - most likely - his Uncle made him this way. I nipped at my bottom lip and kept quiet. I didn't know what to say to him and how to say things to him anymore, he's been slowly changing, yesterday being the first time he ever acted out like that. I was worried.
Dominic closed his eyes and began to appear a lot calmer, he must've been refreshed by my touch, and I felt guilty inside. Maybe I was at fault too? Maybe I haven't given him the attention he needed?
"Baby," I breathed.
"Yes?"
"Do you want to tell me what's wrong?"
"Alright." He reluctantly sighed as I reunited with his hazel eyes. He was definitely a lot calmer than before as he lowered his right hand and cupped his fingers at my chin, tilting my head up to face him properly. A weak smile briefly made a rare appearance and he kissed me.
Compared to yesterday, this kiss was different.
It wasn't cold and uncomfortable, but heck of a lot more welcoming and warm, he sent fluttering butterflies into my stomach like he used to do when we were dating. I wrapped my arms around his neck and we spent a while in the elevator, making up for the lost times. This was the Dominic I wanted, this was the Dominic I was sacrificing to save him from his own enemy - his Uncle. It hurt me inside everyday knowing he won't be with me when all this is over.
We slipped out of the building with a more refreshed and slightly rekindled relationship, well, we appeared closer compared to this morning. We were headed somewhere to sit and talk, and he said he'd open up about his sudden distress call for me. Even though we weren't talking, I held his hand throughout the car ride. I made sure he knew I was there for him. I wanted him to remember that. I was doing this all for him. I loved him that much.
"Wait, Dom-" I called and tugged him back around once we got out of the car, we both smiled and chuckled at our bodies bumping against each other and nearly fumbling down. He kept a steady hold of me with his arms tightly wrapped around me as I reached up to the corners of his lips and swept my thumb against his skin to rub off the visible lipstick marks, getting rid of the evidence we did something in public. However, I didn't realize his sudden public display of affection until I wanted to go inside of eat, when I barely moved after one step.
The way he stared at me made me a bit shy. "U-Um, Dom, what's up?" I stuttered.
"Don't leave me, okay?"
"What do you mean?"
"Just don't."
This was weird. What got into him?
"Okay, Marianne?"
I nodded. I didn't say 'okay' or 'I promise' or say anything at all, only a nod, which could mean a lot of things.
"Good," He cooed and gave me a light peck on the lips before he finally unhooked his arms off me, but his hand took custody of my own as he locked his fingers between mine to keep me from running away.
We both left our phones and other items in the car with Mick while we wandered into Grand Park, specifically at the events lawn to find a bench that wasn't already occupied by the lawyers and law students, possibly even just visitors. The park was a familiar place when I was a public defender, with the criminal courts and city hall being nearby, I also spent a lot of time at the library and studied outside when the weather was good, pretty much like today. Actually, Dominic used to take me here after a court case or on a lunch break, we'd be exactly like the young couples in suits sitting on a blanket in the middle of the park. But that was how many years ago already.
Now, both at our 30s and experienced, we exchanged the ugly, cheap suits to tailored and high class clothing, and we were definitely being noticed.
More like Dominic was being noticed. He had Lawler & Walsh protégé written all over him, from head to toe.
"Finally!" He exclaimed as he sat down at a bench with me at tow and took the spot next to him, our fingers still locked onto each other as we closed the gap between us.
"Are you feeling better now, baby?" I asked as I leaned my head on his shoulder, the material of his white dress shirt reminded me of the soft texture of our bed. It was comforting. There was a bit of movement at his end, but I didn't budge, I kept my gaze scanning all around the scenery and I was in a trance with the fresh air.
"Kind of," Dominic mumbled as he draped his blue tie over one lap, his other hand on top of that. "It's just, my Uncle has been a pain in the ass lately. I can't get over the fact he talked you into doing what you did for the client, now he's talking to me like you don't exist and making me take on cases I don't want to do," He explained, the tone of his voice becoming aggressive near the end.
I sat up straight and turned my body to face him, my brows slightly furrowed as I tapped my free hand on the hand that held mine. "What do you mean?" I really couldn't help but ask.
Dominic avoided my gaze. He kept turning to the other direction or focused elsewhere but me. He pressed his lips together and looked hesitant to tell me anything else, he even looked guilty telling me at all.
"Dominic-"
"He thinks we broke up. When I stayed at his place for those days, he kept calling me and taunted me for being a coward. That's why I got mad at you. He knew I hated hearing about you and other men, so he kept telling me about you and Schwartz."
"Is that why you came to me?"
"I can't explain it. But somehow he figured out we weren't fine, so he wants me to take on a client referred to him from Judge Cole."
"Wait, wait- Why aren't you taking on this case for Judge Cole?" I stopped him, releasing our locked hands from each other as I waved both of mine in front of me. I needed to compute what the hell was going on, even though the question I really needed to ask was exchanged with the last thing he said.
"Because the clients they refer to me tend to be these younger women." He said with no hesitation, but his frown and wrinkled nose showed he was disgusted by the thought. "Listen, I know my Uncle is a nut case, but Judge Cole is too."
"No, he isn't."
"Yes, he is. He's only putting up a front for you because your new, and you happen to be Adrian's daughter, but look-" His finger pointed towards the middle of the park, where a familiar man in a grey and white suit walked with his arm wrapped around a younger, blond woman. They were smooching it up in front of everyone.
"Th-That's not Mrs Cole."
"Exactly. So don't go around and defend him. Everyone already knows how he is."
I felt embarrassed. I felt used. My palms pressed onto my cheeks as I lowered my head in shame. I've been a fool all along, being played by Nathaniel and his goons. As I sat there with my fiancé, I began to doubt his involvement in everything too. He's suddenly opened up to me, he kissed me, apologized, became affectionate in public, and well, he came to me in a time of need. Something was up. My stomach felt sick and I wanted to vomit.
"Babe," I heard a call.
Dominic took me here, acted like the old self to lure me to a place he knew I wouldn't be afraid to go to. He lured me to show that the man I thought was different and acted like a Father figure to me was a sleaze, just like his Uncle. Was he jealous? Was he wanting me to feel more alone than before? What was his agenda? I suddenly couldn't think straight anymore. Everything around me became hazy. I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling more and more nauseous.
"Babe, are you-"
And darkness.