Mr. Corporate Law

PREVIEW: Mrs Corporate Law

"Dominic, you've got to be kidding me?"

"I couldn't help it."

"Yes, but-" I paused as the seven month old baby growing inside of me began to move, kicking against my bladder. "-Oomph, baby, one sec," I called out to the phone and ran towards the bathroom.

A chuckle echoed in my office as nature called for me, and after a few minutes, I waddled back to my desk and asked, "Tell me again why you're digging into this?"

"Because I need to."

I resisted the urge to get angry, I didn't need the extra load of stress already. I gently rubbed my fingers at my foreheads, my other arm crossed over my chest as I tried to figure out his agend. Dominic was over in Europe for work, and now, well, a personal matter added to his pile and I'm pretty sure he'll be delayed all over again.

"So what did you find?" And I guess I was curious either way.

"Not much, but it couldn't be any different to what was presented at court. I know he's guilty, and he confessed too, but when I got here, there were opened documents that said otherwise," He explained. "I'm not sure how to explain it, plus it wouldn't be appropriate to talk over the phone."

"What's going to happen then? You prying on things that is-" I stopped myself and took a deep breath. Oh how I wanted to give him a slap. I puffed out all the air and - as calmly as I possibly could - said, "Dom, our first child is going to be born in two months, I need you to be focused right now and concentrate on your priorities."

His breath blew into the phone, creating that cringe worthy noise through the speakers. Dominic sighed, and knowing him, he probably rolled his eyes and wanted me to stop nagging him, but I can't help it. I've already been on my own for a little over a week, so I got a bit frustrated he'd leave me like that.

"Baby, I'm coming home on Monday-"

"-Sure you are."

"Don't get moody at me, please Mrs Walsh."

I groaned. I'm not used to that title yet, not as much as being called the second boss of the law firm too. And Dominic knew how easily distracted I'd get whenever I heard it, especially during our monthly baby check ups. He only chuckled through the speaker as he added, "I am going to come home, why wouldn't I?"

"To avoid me," I mumbled under my breath.

"I heard that."

"Just get home. That house is too big for me to be living on my own-"

"-I thought you've been staying in the apartment with Erika?"

"I have been, because some idiot is always leaving me, a pregnant woman, to take care of one house."

The sound of mumbling at the back and his name echoed above his voice in the speakers, and I knew he had to go. A sigh escaped me, knowing so well that I had to say goodbye to my husband. I missed him, even more as he said, "I'll see you on Monday, baby, okay?"

"Okay, see you..."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

He hung up and I pressed that button before I could hear the beeping echo into my empty office. I was alone again, a little over seven months pregnant and had a pile of essays to check over thanks to all these paralegals wanting to get their license. I didn't approve of Dominic leaving at all, but work was work, and he didn't like me travelling so far with a baby on board. I was even allowed to by the Doctor, but my husband's persistence was always hard to beat.

I couldn't breathe thinking about being alone again. It felt strange that even after being officially married, we'd still separate time and time again just for the sake of this job. I really missed Dominic, his late night cuddles and the mornings he'd goof around before work. I finally got the old Dominic Walsh back, seemed like every aspect of him too, but the struggle was being drawn apart for this lifestyle.

I needed air.

I wandered out of my office and down those steps, caressing my bloated belly, I saw the employees. They were much happier, more free and more productive. It must have been my hormones or something, but I felt like a proud Mother. Everyone had smiles spread across their faces, they weren't so deprived of freedom that they even worked with each other a lot more openly than before. I loved the changed, the outcome of that hard work.

"Hey boo."

And of course, the people too.

"Boo!" I greeted Erika as she walked out of one of the associate's office with a stack of brown folder. She handed me one from the middle of the stack, her smile less happier than when she saw me, a slight twitch came to the side of her face, she lacked confidence as she said, "I'm sorry about this but this just suddenly came into file, and we don't know where it came from."

I opened the folder, slightly frightened at the thought of having to read something I don't like. My fingers were fidgety as the folder opened wide, and there, smack bang in the middle was the photo of a younger Janina, Nathaniel and their son, and at the bottom were scribbles that wrote their names - although the last name was smeared off by a clear fingerprint. The baby looked familiar, but then it was hard to say though as he seemed to be a little too small to be any older than a month or more.

"Wh-What the-?" I stuttered. "Wait, why is this even back into the spotlight? I thought we were done with this," I mumbled a bit more. It felt too coincidental that Dominic said he found something of interest at the office in London, and there I was, given a folder that linked it all together. The hairs on my arms stood up from the eerie vibe this had on me.

"I don't know, boo, I'm sorry, but Dennis presented it to me while we were doing some of the archiving of Nathaniel's old boxes," She explained. "I find it incredibly odd that the man still kept it."

"No, what's odd is that I've seen this baby before." I continuously tapped my finger on the photo, and Erika gave me a rather confused expression. I mean, yeah, where would I have seen the baby before, right? I could see that very question mentally asked from her with the look on her face. I shook my head and pulled out my phone from the pocket of my jacket, flicking at the screen to scroll down a couple of rows of photos before I stopped at one.

She squinted a bit, leaning a bit closer to have a proper look. Her jaws dropped once she realized what I meant, her eyes widened as she looked up from the screen. "Wait, is that Dominic?"

I nodded. "His Mother sent that to me."

She grabbed my hand and looked towards the photo inside the folder. "Well, they do look the same, but don't most babies? I'd not be surprised if they'd look the same, considering that they have that strong Walsh blood in them."

"Look at the date."

"May 7th..." Erika cooed. "No fucking way-"

"-I don't know if that's a coincidence."

"What do we do?"

I shrugged. "Wait for my husband to come home and tell me what he found."

"Are you sure that's the right thing to do?"

I closed the folder and turned the screen off in a rush as a few people walked passed. We had smiles and greeted them, waiting for them to pass before I pursed my lips and tried not to panic. I don't know what's going on, but this needs to be buried.

"Annie, you know what?"

"Yes?"

Erika rubbed the back of her neck as she asked, "Do you really think that we should dig into this?"

I looked down at the folder, my heart racing in its own panicky state. "I guess we can't help but do it."

I'm such a hypocrite.

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Author's Note:

Keep an eye out on my activity feed some time next week. I'll be posting it up. It's got a draft of 15 chapters planned. It'll be up to 20 chapters max.

x

SDB