Page 53 of Inevitable Secrets

Panic covered Derrick’s face, but he quickly covered it with a smile. “Hey babe! I was just—”

Taylor looked at the two men sitting opposite Derrick. Both looked like they had soiled themselves. “You two, out,” she instructed and they wasted no time honoring her request.

“Taylor,” Derrick said, having the audacity to sound irritated, “we are in a meeting.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Taylor sympathetically mocked. She turned to one of the men as he was escaping the office. “Darius, are the plans done? Are they signed? Have they even been evaluated?”

“Uh, no Miss, um, Mrs. Preston-Fletcher, I mean ma’am.”

Taylor nodded. “Thanks, meeting’s over, buh-bye.” And the man quickly exited through the door, which Mick pulled closed.

Taylor turned to her husband, crossing her arms over her chest. She could feel her nostrils flare as she glared.

Derrick tried to speak first, “So—”

“What the actual fuck, Derrick?” Taylor shouted.

“Calm down,” Derrick said gently, and it had the same effect on Taylor as a flame to a stick of dynamite.

“Did you just tell me to calm down? What, like I caught you having a snack before dinner? You told me you were going to stay home. You promised me you would not come to work if I did,” she reminded him.

“Well, I didn’t come when you did,” Derrick said, “I came hours later.”

So this is what a stroke feels like, Taylor mused as she felt her pulse tick up and her face flush with heat.

“I did not do this to piss you off,” Derrick said.

“Do. Fucking. Tell.”

Derrick sat down and heaved out a sigh, “You left and I got up and did my therapy and made some work calls. Then I met with the doc and he said I could come back to work.”

Taylor waited. There was more to this story and Derrick would spill the truth. She just had to be patient, and that was difficult—very, very difficult. Because really all Taylor wanted to do was shout at her husband until she was hoarse.

Slowly Derrick shifted under Taylor’s stare. “Okay, maybe he didn’t say I could come back to work.”

“Tell me.”

Derrick huffed out a breath. “I don’t want to be home alone in that huge mausoleum,” he whined. “I did my therapy and the therapist said I was doing great and she said she was cutting her visits down. Then the doc came in and I asked when I could come back to work. He said everything was healing well and that if I wanted to come back here he could check in with me in the office.

“So I was going to talk to you when you got home,” he continued. “Really I was. I went and I showered, and I shaved, and I thoughthey, if I am going to work let me dress the partand so I got a suit on and then I went to that office and tried to work and I just, I don’t know, I couldn’t. I like being at work, I like moving with everyone here. I like being involved.” He shook his head. “At the mansion, without you, I was just lost.”

Taylor closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. She breathed in for four counts and out for five counts. She opened her eyes and saw her husband waiting for her to speak, his face screwed up as if the next time her mouth opened it could be extremely painful.

“I understand,” Taylor said slowly, working very hard to maintain composure. “But why didn’t you call me? Talk to me?”

“I was afraid you would freak,” Derrick said. “I realize now that was a mistake.”

Taylor looked Derrick over. He looked happy. Well, he actually looked scared, but he looked more content here at the office, more at ease than he had locked up at home. Derrick had always thrived on being in the thick of things, and it was how their businesses were so successful. Those who ran them had always been in the center of the chaos. In this way Preston Corp and Fletcher Enterprises had always been very similar.

“I know that you are healthy and that you were eager to come back to work, but the reality is that someone is trying to kill me, Derrick. They have already gotten to you once. What if that had happened again?”

“I left with security,” Derrick said. “I wouldn’t be that stupid. I let Henry know and had a couple of the guys bring me here. They are outside the door, didn’t you see them?”

“No, in my rage I was just a touch blind,” Taylor said.

Derrick got up. “I’m very sorry to upset you, it was never my intent.”

Taylor looked at him. “I know I can’t control you, Derrick, but there is a lot happening all around us. I really can not handle extra surprises right now.”

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