Page 86 of Inevitable Secrets

A butler waiting on the landing pad opened the door for them to the house.

“Tony, can you get Nan and have her meet us?” he asked.

“Why do we need Nan? You cannot possibly be thinking of food right now, Derrick Fletcher,” Taylor said to him, completely irritated.

“No!” he exclaimed, and then bobbed his head side to side a bit. “Well, I am a little famished but that isn’t it,” he said quickly to try and stop his wife from glaring at him. “I think we should tell her about Henry, her nephew, don’t you?”

“Yes, I’m sorry,” Taylor said. “Uh Tony, why don’t you grab Marty, too,” she said.

“Why?” Derrick asked his wife as the butler went off.

“Uh,” Taylor said, in a conundrum for several seconds. “Well, our security team has been taken into custody—don’t you think she should be aware of that?”

“Oh yeah,” Derrick said as he and Taylor made their way to the upstairs living space. “You don’t think Henry was really part of anything, do you? Like him being in security was all a cover?”

Taylor looked at Derrick with her mouth agape. “No, Derrick, I don't,” Taylor said, “do you?”

“He just acts so weird and secretive sometimes, you know, like he is hiding something,” Derrick said, then he flicked his gaze to Taylor catching her expression. “Don’t get mad at me, everything is so crazy right now I am just looking for answers just like you.”

“Answers about what?” Marty asked as she came in the room, totally dressed down in a gray sweatshirt about three sizes too big, and baggy sweatpants that were tucked into fluffy, fuzzy socks. Taylor and Derrick took in Marty’s appearance, looked at each other in confusion, and then back at Marty.

“Why do you look homeless?” Derrick asked her.

“Because I don’t feel good, numb nuts, okay?” Marty said, totally irritated. “What is going on? Poor Tony is running all around looking for Nan.”

“Henry and his entire security fleet was arrested by the CIA, so we have no security team at the moment,” Derrick said bluntly, and Taylor watched as Marty crumbled before them.

Taylor closed her eyes and grimaced at her husband’s lack of tact. She had been hoping to tell Marty this information a touch more delicately than Derrick had. Taylor rushed to her sister-in-law, embracing her.

“Don’t worry, Marty, we will stay safe. We can hire more security if we need to,” Derrick said, completely oblivious to anything around him.

Sometimes men were just so dense.

“Derrick, why don’t you see if you can find Nan, hmmm?” Taylor said, rubbing Marty's back as she now sobbed in Taylor’s arms.

“Yeah, I need something to eat, too,” he said as he urgently went off, more likely in search of food than for Nan.

Once he was gone, Taylor pulled back from Marty. “I am going to figure it out,” Taylor promised her.

“Was he okay? Where did they take him?” Marty asked through her tears.

“I don’t know. We called our lawyers, and I guarantee you I will fix this,” she promised.

“Taylor, I love him,” she said, her voice cracking halfway through her declaration. “I love him so much,” she sobbed out.

“I know, Marty. I will figure it out, I promise you,” Taylor said and she held her close again.

Derrick returned to the room with a sub in hand. “Apparently Nan was called when Henry was arrested as she is his next of kin, and she left to try and see what she could do,” he said around his mouthful of Italian. “Geez Marty, calm down! Are you hormonal or something?”

Marty lifted her head and stopped her tears. She glared at Derrick, walked over to him, and kneed him full force in his crotch. Then as Derrick folded in half, Marty grabbed the sub out of his hand, took a bite, and left the room.

Taylor watched the whole thing, shaking her head. “You deserved that,” Taylor said, as her husband howled in pain. Her ringing phone had her turning away from him to check the caller ID. “Charlie?”

“I cannot find Todd,” he answered in full panic before Taylor could even finish saying his name. “I called the New York offices and he never arrived. He should have been there hours ago. So I called the company’s travel agent and they have no record of him booking a flight.”

“Shit,” Taylor breathed. This was totally something that Henry would normally help her with. “Are our lawyers working on helping Henry?”

“I called them right away and told them it was their top priority,” Charlie said.

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