Mr. Corporate Law

3.4: NYC - Deception

Dominic, Erika and the other four other associates - plus me - wandered around the New York office and be guided by the head designer who helped made the renovations of the office. My hand was taken custody by my fiancé, he hadn't let go of it since we left the hotel, and he made sure I hadn't left his side at all that morning.

Last night, we didn't get to talk because I fell asleep waiting for him, and this morning, we acted like nothing happened. Dominic's old self came back, hugging and kissing me whenever he could, although we only spent an hour in our suite before being called out to the New York office for Lawler & Walsh, he still managed to be as clingy as ever. It made me wonder more about his own personal agenda - he was just as much a pawn than he is a player of the twisted game.

"So it looks exactly like the office in Los Angeles?" Erika blurted out, her arms crossed and her stance was in a slant as she wasn't impressed. She's already got it through her head that whenever she's in New York, she was a partner and a head of the office, and she soaked up every bit of it while it lasted before going back to her senior associate role in Los Angeles.

"That's what Mr Lawler and Mr Walsh requested."

My best friend sighed. "Fine," She said in defeat and made a vomit gesture towards me when we made eye contact.

"You're becoming a partner and you're still immature." We both whisked our heads to the man beside me, he scoffed at the idea and wandered on with me at tow while Erika scrunched her face, she must've had the urge to gesture a middle finger at Dominic, but she lowered her hand midway and distracted herself with Karen, her roommate.

I wanted to change the sudden drop of the mood, so I asked him something about work - a topic I wasn't fond if. "Dom, when is this office going to reopen?"

"Possibly early next year. Uncle Nate said that he wants to start fresh for the new year at New York. Cheesy, right?"

"You didn't have to ask me that to know it is."

Dominic led to his office, and since it was the same layout as the Los Angeles office, he was assigned to be working at the same place as his Uncle. He let go of me, walked closer to the large window, his back turned to me and his hands gripped onto each other behind him. He may have just been a silhouette right now, but I suddenly saw a flash image that showed that Dominic stood there as Nathaniel. I froze on the spot, his voice turned to muffled words and my vision became unclear.

"Are you listening to me?"

I had to go quiet for a moment, my hold at my stomach and I leaned against the door frame to catch my breath. "Uh, yes," I lied.

"If you take the case for Judge Cole, I'll be there for you. As you said, I'd need to keep the reputation for Lawler & Walsh going, and it'll be a good start to do a case out here."

"Yeah, sure." I barely could make sense to everything, but at least I know what he was talking about. He came over to me, his arms slithered their way around my body and he leaned down to kiss me. A light one that caught me off guard, and while stuck in a daze, I blurted out, "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Wait, what?" Okay, so everything finally caught up and I blinked myself back from feeling nauseous. "I mean- Um- Thanks for helping me out."

"It'll be over and done with by tomorrow. Knowing her, it'll be mediocre."

"So you've worked with her before?"

"I told you."

"Okay," I nodded.

There's definitely something going on, he was so against it yesterday, why now? I couldn't think of a reason, and I know I shouldn't be, but with his old self making its way to the surface, Dominic's become a lot less trustworthy than I thought. My head couldn't compute again. I feel more and more stupid, I can feel it. I can't even think straight and can't think on my own. There's just something that I know I should be afraid of, be wary and be extremely cautious, I know there is.