Hiding nothing

One week later.

Lulu locked her car as she walked into the office building. She was greeted by the front desk secretary as she waved at her and at her other several friends.

Lulu stopped in front of the elevator. She took one look at the elevator and shook her head. It didn't matter how safe everyone told her that it was. There was no way that she was going in there.

Once bitten, twice shy was her motto now, and it was better to be safe than sorry. There was no Benjamin to save her now, she did not want to have to relive her trauma again.

"Nope." Lulu said audibly with a shake of her head as she turned to look at the stairs. That was her new best friend, the nice, loveable, down to earth stairs that would never malfunction and send you plummeting to your death.

...

Lulu was a heaving, panting mess by the time she finally reached the top floor. She cursed that they had decided to build a skyscraper and that Dom's office had to be on the top floor.

"Good Lord, never again." said Lulu as she heaved and shook her head.

Lulu caught her breath as she walked to Dom's office, past the empty secretary's desk.

As she was about to walk into Dom's office a familiar old man walked out with a briefcase in his hand.

"Ahh Miss Lulu, it's nice to see you." said the man as he smiled at Lulu.

"Ahh Barrister Donovan, it is also nice to see you as well." Lulu said as she quickly composed herself with a huge smile.

"You've grown so much." he said.

"I could say the same for you, but it would come off as rude." Lulu said causing the man to chuckle.

"Still as witty as ever I see." he said as he laughed and Lulu smiled.

"Is my brother in there?" she asked as he nodded.

"That he is, go right in, I will see you later." he said with a smile as he walked away and Lulu smiled at him before entering into Dom's office.

"*Ugh* I hate that your office is on the top floor! Do you know how many stairs I had to climb before I got here??!" she declared while collapsing on the couch as Dom looked at her.

"You're still scared to use the elevator?" he asked.

"I'm not going to take my chances, who knows, maybe I have a curse of malfunctioning elevators. I don't care what you say I'm not using elevators again!" she declared as Dom laughed.

"Well then, I guess you'll be coming to my office less and less." Dom said.

"No way, you have to move your office to one of the lower levels." Lulu said.

"No way." said Dom as he chuckled and he neatly put some documents into a large brown envelope.

"What's that?" asked Lulu as she noticed the documents.

"Nothing important that concerns you." Dom replied instantly keeping the envelope tucked safely away in his drawer.

"Hmmm... the lawyer was here, and you're hiding documents, what are you up to Dominic?" Lulu asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

"Nothing, I'm hiding nothing Louise, how about instead of being a busybody you tell me what you came here for." he replied.

"Fine, fine, I need you to release the budget to purchase the final materials for the party, it's in two weeks. I already have mom's go ahead, all I need is your signature." Lulu said as Dom nodded.

"Alright, you have it, send me the documents and I'll sign it later." said Dom.

"Alright great, see you later brother of mine that likes hiding secrets." said Lulu as she stood up.

"You're so childish Lulu." said Dom as he scoffed and Lulu stuck out her tongue at him before she left his office.

Dom shook his head as he laughed. Lulu could be so nosy sometimes.

The next morning.

Dom walked into the dining room to see that Joy had already finished her breakfast and she, Lulu and Natasha were giggling about something he was unaware of, and he knew that asking them what they were talking about would be rude, so he did not.

"Good morning daddy." said Joy as she looked at her father and smiled.

"Good morning princess." he replied with a smile.

"I have to go now, see you later mommy, see you later daddy, bye Aunt Lulu." said Joy as she pushed out the dining chair.

"Bye" said Lulu and Natasha as they smiled.

"See you later princess." Dom smiled as she left the dining room and they all heard the front door closing.

"Welp that's my cue to start going as well." said Lulu as she stood up.

"Are you going to the office?" Natasha asked.

"Not at all, I actually have to go to university today, surprise, surprise, our professor has finally returned from vacation." said Lulu with a laugh.

"Alright then, good luck and see you later." said Natasha as she smiled.

"Thanks Natasha, see you later, and see you later as well my annoying brother." said Lulu as she hit Dom on the back before leaving and he just shook his head.

Natasha chuckled at the sibling banter. Seeing how close Lulu and Dom were sometimes made her wish that she had a sibling as well, being an only child could be extremely lonely.

Natasha stood up as she started to clear the table. She looked at Dom when she realized that he had not moved from his spot.

"Are you going to have breakfast?" she asked as he shook his head.

"No, I'm actually not hungry." he replied.

"Alright then." she responded as she continued to gather all the dishes on the tray and yet Dom was still standing there.

Natasha took another look at him as she frowned. He looked rather serious, which was odd, she wondered if something had happened at the office, or if he was feeling alright, because he definitely did not look like he was alright.

"Is something wrong?" she finally asked as it seemed as if she had snapped Dom out of his thoughts.

"Actually yes...there is something wrong, I need to talk to you Natasha." he said, his tone extremely urgent.

"O...okay?" Natasha said as she had not heard him use such a tone of urgency before.

"Here..." he said as he walked forward and handed her a large brown envelope that he had been holding behind his back.

Natasha collected the envelope as she looked at it and then at him, seriously confused.

"What is this?" she asked in confusion.

"Open it." he said as she gave him one last confused glanced before opening the envelope and she would be lying if she said that she was not stunned to see the documents that were in the envelope.

Natasha was too stunned to even speak, she took one look at the documents and then at Dom, her eyes asking for an explanation.

"It's divorce papers..." he said, just in case she was still wondering what it was.

"I know that, I can see it... what? Why?" she asked in confusion.

"I asked the family lawyer to value all our joint assets, and he completed all of that swiftly. I believe that it is best you keep the house, it belongs to you, as well as full custody of Joy." he said, his tone dead serious, serious enough to remove any thoughts of this being a joke from Natasha's head.

"The lawyer and I discussed the best course of action with finances. I will pay for child support, I don't want my daughter to lack anything. I considered including alimony as part of your settlement, but I felt like it would be an insult to you, if you think otherwise you can give me your own terms." he said. Natasha was dead silent, Dom thought that it was because she was just being as indifferent as usual, but in reality she was just shocked.

"If you feel the need to go through everything in the papers you are more than welcome to and make more demands, I will comply with everything you ask for." he said as he was finally silent, giving Natasha time to snap out of her shock and respond.

"Why?" asked Natasha, that was the only word on her mind.

"Because it's only right..." he replied.

"But why? I never asked you for a divorce." she said as she looked genuinely confused.

"I know you didn't, but at this point in time, it was necessary. We haven't enjoyed this marriage together, it's been nothing but suffering, especially for you. And I want to show you that I regret all the things I did to make you hate me, and this was the only sincere thing I could think of to show you that I was serious when I said I regretted all of my actions." Dom said in sincerity.

"If I really wanted you to be happy, the least I could do is to grant you your freedom. This isn't working, it's only making the hate and regret grow more, how can we move on if every single day seeing each other reminds us that our happiness is gone." he said.

"But what about Grandfather? You know how he feels about divorce, you know how he upholds with pride the fact that no one in the family as ever divorced." she said.

"I really don't think Grandfather has a say here. He of all people knows how he forced things to go in his own ended up causing a mess. He also feels guilty for our misfortune being together. Although he would be upset, I doubt he could say anything than to be understanding." he said.

"And as for that no divorce in the family rule, it doesn't apply here...We've been too much to subject ourselves to the endless torture of never truly being happy." said Dom in sadness.

"It pains me to see how distant we've become, how a wonderful friendship was ruined, it pains me to know that I took away the innocence of your happiness, and I made you suffer a lot. If I'm being honest, we should have divorced a long time ago. There is no point keeping up appearances while we continue to suffer in secret." he said.