Revengeful Deceptions (31 page)

“But dad, you told me to take care
of them,” Brandon fumed at his father's harsh objections to what he had done.

“Brandon, you failed to mention to
me that she was pregnant, you know my feelings on that subject, we don't go
around hurting pregnant woman Brandon, and what’s even worse,
it's
because of you she lost the baby.

Now you've stirred up a lot of
problems for me Brandon
and
 
I
can't have that. Jonathan Caruso has done some favors for me in
the past and whether you like it or not, he's the best attorney I know and I
need that man on my side. This end's here Brandon, do you understand me? 
You leave that family alone! If the cops find out that you set that fire boy,
you’re on your own.

Goddamn, were you this much of a disappointment
to Caruso? No wonder he sent you packing, you don’t know when to quit do you?
It's obvious that you can't carry out a simple task and this woman has gotten
the better of you so as long as she keeps quiet, she'll stay alive. Now leave
her be boy, his father shouted. “Oh and I’d lay low at that place of yours for
a while and you better hope that things die down. Now get the hell out of
here.”

Brandon walked out of the back
office feeling defeated and humiliated, once again the almighty Caruso's had
managed to get one over on him. Well he wasn’t gonna back down,
no
fucking way, he was determined to make Dominique and Adam
suffer. “What dad doesn’t know won’t hurt him. I'll lay low for a while, let
things die down a little and when they do, that's when I’ll pounce on those
motherfuckers,” he muttered aloud as he drove home to his dilapidated
apartment.

Brandon had been so used to being
the one to follow people around; he hadn't noticed the person following him.
Jonathan had hired Paul to do another investigative job and that’s just what he
was doing. So far all Brandon seemed to do was hang out at his old man's bar,
and go home. He thought it funny that the police hadn't connected him to the
fire yet. “You want me to make a call down to the police Mr. Caruso?" Paul
asked when he informed Jonathan of Brandon's where abouts.

“No Paul, what I want you to do is
keep following him, and let me know if he goes anywhere near my son or
Dominique.”

“Yes sir, and if he does? You want
me to step in?”

“If he does Paul, I want you to
kill him. But make it look like an accident.”

“Yes Mr. Caruso.”

Jonathan had grew tired of
Brandon's relentless pursuit of Adam and Dominique, he had hoped that since
being told the truth about who he was, the son of a gangster, that would have
made him happy enough to leave well enough alone but it wasn’t.

Jonathan knew the reason why
though, it was because his real father, Peter DiNunzio believed that family or
not, you had to work your way to the top and Brandon was a man who had been
born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he wasn’t used to having to work for
anything.

That was solely my fault
,
thought Jonathan as he contemplated whether or not he should try and talk some
sense into Brandon, get him to end this once and for all.

But he knew what Brandon was
thinking. Brandon was not only stubborn and selfish, he was angry; angry that
Adam now and always would have the life that Brandon himself should still be
living and if Brandon could no longer live the life, Adam and Dominique
shouldn’t either.

“We're home baby,” said Adam as he
gently guided Dominique into his condo.

Dominique gave a weary smile as she
made her way into the bedroom and climbed into bed.

“Can I get you anything; is there
anything you'd like?”

Dominique shook her head, “Just for
you to hold me.”

“Of course baby, of course.”

Adam took off his shoes and climbed
in bed with his wife and held her close in his arms while she wept. Once he
made sure that his wife was fast asleep, Adam slowly removed his arm from
around her and crept out of bed, he had some phone calls to make and he did not
want to wake her.

The first was to the Nantucket fire
chief who told him that the fire was definitely not an accident, and that the perpetrator
had gone to great lengths to make sure they wouldn’t come out alive. “If you
didn’t have the common sense to break that glass Mr. Caruso, you and your wife
would have perished in that fire. You and she are very lucky.”

“But my child wasn’t, was she
chief?” He said, anger rising in his voice.

“Mr. Caruso, I didn’t mean anything
by that, I’m very sorry for your loss, I just meant that things could have been
worse is all I’m saying. Now Mr. Caruso, can you think of anybody who would
want to cause you or your wife harm?”

“No one what so ever chief,” Adam
lied.

“Well we know that gasoline was
definitely used as
an accelerate
. But we were unable
to get any prints off of the bolts that were used on all the doors. But rest
assured Mr. Caruso, we are going to find out who did this.”

“I'm sure you will chief, thank
you,” was all that Adam said before hanging up. He only called the chief
because he had wanted to make sure that it was arson and not an accident. He
hadn't told the chief about Brandon and his threats because he was going to
take care of his half-brother himself.

“What ya doing?” Dominique asked
and curled up next to her husband.

“I was just on the phone with the
fire chief.”

“Oh? What did he say?”

Adam told Dominique the chief’s
findings and when he was finished she realized she had been holding her breath.
She rested a hand on her belly, “Adam do you mean to tell me that Brandon
locked us in that house and set the fire?  So he's gotten away with
killing not only Stephen and Teddy, but our baby as well, is that what you’re
telling me Adam?” Dominique now stared at her husband as if he were the cause
of it all.

“What are you planning on doing
about it Adam?” 

Adam could see the anger in her
eyes. “Dominique, I have no intention of letting him come near you ever again.
I am going to end this and we will not have to worry about Brandon anymore, do
you hear what I’m saying Dominique? You and I will no longer have to worry
about him.”

“Adam please promise me that
whatever it is that you’re planning, you'll be careful. I cannot bear to lose
you too, I just couldn't. I already lost Stephen and Teddy and our baby, if
something happened to you....” her voice trailed off. She was feeling dizzy and
didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

“Dominique I promise you that I’ll
be careful. I’m not going anywhere, you can count on that.”

Dominique squeezed her husband’s
hand as she got up from the sofa, and crawled back into the bed. Not only had
Brandon taken the lives of those she loved, he took away her strength as well.
As angry as she was, Dominique couldn’t bear to think about it,
not right
now,
she told herself as she swallowed the tiny capsule that the doctor had
given her.

While Adam returned to work,
Dominique stayed at home. There were days when Adam was afraid to leave her
because he thought she might harm herself. It had been six weeks since that
awful night and Dominique just couldn’t seem to recover. 

Adam had to go back to work, he
knew that if he didn’t he too would become depressed and he would be of no help
to Dominique. So going back to work seemed like the only logical thing to do,
and so far, it was helping him cope. Adam had hoped that his wife would at
least start to feel better by now, but that wasn’t the case, it seemed like she
had given up, she was barely eating and she wouldn't let him touch her. 

During her last visit, the doctor
had told Dominique that she could resume sexual activity, but she decided to
keep that from Adam. She loved him dearly but she wasn’t ready to be with him
intimately and that was putting a huge strain on their relationship. 

Besides going to the pharmacy to
refill her prescription for more pain killers she never left the condo. She
found that anytime her mind began to wander back to that night and losing the
baby, the tiny capsule would put her in a dreamlike state, leaving her mind
empty and thoughtless. Even when her mother in law and Molly had come over for
a visit and to bring her something to eat, she still had no desire to get out
of bed. And if it wasn’t for having to unlock the door, she would have stayed
there.

“Honey, we brought you some of that
delicious soup that you love from Mistral's, come on Dominique, won’t you get
up and join us in the kitchen sweetheart?” Muriel pleaded.

“I'm tired Muriel, I'm going to go
back to bed, but I promise I'll eat later.”

Muriel knew that Dominique was
severely depressed and if she didn’t do something about it, she would lose her
daughter in law and dear friend.

“Dominique honey, you've got to get
out of that bed. Come on, she said tugging at her arms. “Let's get you in the
shower and then you can come on out here and have something to eat and I’m not
taking no for an answer Dominique, no more excuses, either you get out of that
bed right now or Molly and I will drag you out young lady, now it's your
choice.”

Dominique did not have the strength
to argue, she reluctantly climbed out of bed and headed into the shower. There
was an extra bottle of pills in there anyway, she told herself as she undressed
and got into the hot shower.

“See, now don’t you feel better
Dom?” Said Molly; she had prepared the bowl of hot soup and fresh baked bread
on a tray for her.

A slight smile was all that
Dominique could muster, she had taken two capsules this time and was feeling
light headed.

“Now come on and sit down and eat
this delicious soup. Talk to us Dominique, what's going on?” Molly urged.

Dominique wanted to tell them that
she was in trouble that she had grown dependent on her painkillers, that she
barely talked to her husband, and that she has never felt so alone.

“I'm alright; I’m just tired, so if
you guys don’t mind I’m going to go lie down before Adam gets home from work.
Thanks so much for the soup it was delicious.”  Dominique gave them each a
hug and kiss before heading back into the bedroom.

“Muriel, what are we going to do?
She's obviously depressed and getting addicted to those damn pills, we've got to
do something to help her.” Molly stressed while she and Molly walked to the
car.

“Your right Molly, I think it's
time we spoke to Adam, let's head on over to the office.”

Muriel and Molly found Adam about
to leave for the day when they told him that they had just left the condo and
that it was obvious that Dominique was trying to hide the fact that she was
becoming overly dependent on her painkillers.

“Adam honey, if you don’t do
something about it now, I’m afraid that we'll lose her, you’re going to have to
get her off those pills, get her out of bed and get her to talk to you. If she
won’t talk to you then she'll have to talk to someone honey, a professional.
She's holding it all in and trying to numb the pain by taking pain killers. We
have to help her Adam, you know this.”

“I'm going home now mom and don’t
worry, we're not going to lose her.”

“Let me know if you need anything
son, and please tell her that Molly and I are here for her, no matter what.”

“Of course I’ll tell her mom, I’ll
call you later,” he said giving her a kiss.

During the short drive home, Adam
began to go over in his mind what he would say to Dominique, he would tell her
that he loved her more than anything in the world and that he felt the loss of
their baby just as strongly as she did. He wanted her to let him touch her,
caress her, make love to her.

 
It had been six weeks, and according to
the research he'd done online and the calls he'd made to several doctors, six
weeks seemed about the right amount of time to go before resuming sex, but they
had also said that it depended on the individual.

Adam felt that the longer she put
it off, the worse things were going to get and even though he still held a very
strong desire for his wife, he wasn’t sure just how long he would be able to
wait, he already longed for her touch and pleasuring himself was something that
he found himself doing far too often lately.
She's got to come out of this,
he told himself when he reached their home.

Chapter Thirty

Adam unlocked the door to the condo
and quietly made his way into the bathroom where he proceeded to pour
Dominique's pills down the drain. As she lay sleeping, he gently removed the
second bottle from her purse and discarded them in the same way as he had the others.
Dominique woke to find Adam searching through the night stands that stood on
either side of the bed.

“Adam, I didn’t hear you come in,
what are you doing?” She asked with a puzzled look on her face.

Sitting down on the bed, Adam
cupped her face in his hands, “Baby, I was getting rid of the painkillers. You
don’t need them anymore.”

Dominique sat up straight in the
bed, “What? Adam! You can't do that. I need those Adam give them back right
now!  How could you do? Why would you do that to me Adam, why?” She
screamed and sobbed as she pounded her fists against his chest. “You son of a
bitch give them back Adam NOW!”

Adam grabbed her wrists and pulled
her close, “Dominique, you don’t need them, they are making you sick honey
don’t you see that? Taking those goddamn pills is what’s making you numb to
everything Dominique.”

“No kidding Adam, that's what I
want, I want to feel numb now give them back!”

“You want to feel numb Dominique
huh? You don't want to feel anything, is that it? He asked his frustration
building.

“Yes Adam, you're right. I don’t
want to feel, what part of that don’t you understand?” Dominique shouted.