Page 72 of Inevitable Secrets

His comment jarred Taylor. This was a side of Todd she had never seen before, him talking about people in an affectionate way. All she ever remembered was how gruff and rude he was, even when she was a child. He tolerated nothing, and it made Taylor fear and even resent him. She recalled him at events for Preston Corp over the years just as sullen and sour as he was in business meetings. Then Taylor recalled how kind he was to her at the hospital, how his demeanor had softened toward her just a bit. She had thought she would never see that side of him again, but here it was.

“How so?” Taylor finally responded, but warily. She wasn’t sure if she should continue it, but she was fascinated with anything about her parents, especially her father. Her memories of him were not as vivid as those of her mother.

A ghost of a smile came and quickly left Todd’s face, but his overall countenance was softer. “He was just so proud of you. He loved talking to you about stocks and business,” Todd reminisced, his eyes once again bouncing all over the room. It was almost as if it would be too personal for him if he looked directly at Taylor. “This was his dream, for you to work here beside him.”

“It was my dream, too,” she admitted as her eyes burned with unshed tears. As her family members died so had those dreams. This company didn’t feel the same without them, but she wanted to keep it alive for them, to remember them, to honor them.

“How did you meet him?” Taylor asked, eager to see if Todd would close up again.

“Through Cedric,” Todd said then shook his head. “God, it seems so long ago,” he said, seemingly baffled.

“So you knew Cedric first?” Taylor pressed.

Todd nodded, leaning forward and bracing his elbows on his knees, “Yup, we met in college.”

“Cedric went to college?” Taylor asked.

Todd let a small laugh escape and then cleared his throat. “For a very brief time he did. I met him in an economics class. He was so kind, but he paid no attention at all and he was going to flunk. I offered to tutor him for a job at Preston Corp.”

“Wow, that’s—”

“Unexpected?” Todd asked. “It really was. But I was in a tough place. I had school loans and a family and no job.”

“A family?” Taylor exclaimed before she could stop herself, and then watched as some of the clouds returned to Todd’s face.

“Yes, um, my wife was pregnant and I needed to support us, so I found out who Cedric was and threw myself at his mercy.

“And he was kind. I expected a stuck-up jerk with a rich-kid attitude but he was none of those things. So I came on here as a janitor at night, became friends with Grant as I worked through college, and got moved up along the way, eventually working beside him.”

“I can’t believe you were the janitor,” Taylor said, trying to process this verbal confession as quickly as it was being delivered.

Todd scoffed then. “Me either. But you do what you have to,” he said looking at Taylor. “You do whatever you have to for your family.”

“What, um, where is your family?”

“My wife died in childbirth. My daughter, too,” Todd said, his face completely stony. I threw myself into work after that, which is probably why I moved up so quickly. This place became my world. Just like it is for Charlie. This filled the void.”

“I’m so sorry, Todd,” Taylor said softly. She wanted to say more, to hug him, but she knew that would be too much for him.

The softness that had covered his face just a few minutes before disappeared. The expressionless facade was back up and in full force. Todd just nodded and then got up suddenly. “Well, I just wanted to apologize.”

Taylor nodded as she saw the man she never realized was so broken stride away. “Todd,” she called after him, “what happened with you and Cedric? You didn’t seem to be his biggest fan towards the end,” she said.

“He changed,” Todd bit out. “He started with drugs and he was never the same. And then when Grant, well, when he died, Cedric accused me of horrible things,” Todd remembered. “He tried to have me fired, tried to fight me physically,” he shook his head. “And then he nearly killed this company, like he was trying to get it shut down.”

“I was just looking at his finances,” Taylor said, “trying to see where it all went so wrong.”

“About the time your grandfather died, I would say that was the start of the spiral,” Todd explained, “and then when the board was gone it was just a free-for-all.”

“Do you think he had something illegal going on?” Taylor asked. “I mean his purchases and the money he used just don’t match up,” she said gesturing to the screen before her.

“Well, drugs don’t come with receipts, Taylor,” Todd reminded her with his trademark snarky tone back in full force. “It was his downfall for sure, those drugs. I wouldn’t have put it past him to be paying a crazy amount to some cartel member. I’m sad to say that Cedric became a monster. It’s awful because the man he could have been was amazing and it was such a loss.”

Taylor nodded, “I’m sure.” Todd turned to leave again. “Thanks for talking to me about my dad,” she said as Todd opened the door.

He stopped at the door. “One of my favorite topics ever,” he said without looking back, and then he closed the door behind himself.

Taylor fell back into her office chair and tried to process what the hell had just happened. She was still just as in the dark about Cedric’s finances, but now she had insight into who Todd was, not that it helped her situation at all. But it did make her feel a little more at ease about his attitude.

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