Dance with the Devil: Chapter 58

When Todd, Blair and Victor arrived at the Manning Enterprises offices, they were met there by Carly Jacks.  “Well, it’s good to see you back,” she said as they stepped off the elevator.  It was then she noticed the other man with her friends.  “Hi, I’m Carly.”

Victor nodded.  “Victor Lord, Jr.,” he replied.

Carly slid her eyes to Todd then back to his brother.  “You’re the twin brother he was on trial for murdering,” she realized.  “I’m sorry, but aren’t you supposed to be dead?”

“Yeah, well, it turns out that I really didn’t kill him,” Todd began.  “It’s a long story, Carly.  We have a lot of business to discuss.  Was there a reason you needed to see me?”

She handed him some papers.  “I just need your signature on these.  More insurance documents.”  When Todd was finished, she turned to them.  “Maybe we can do lunch.”

Blair stepped in.  “How about this?  You and I can have lunch later.  I think Todd and Victor will have a lot to discuss today.”  She tried to pass on her meaning through her look.

Luckily, Carly caught her meaning.  “That sounds great.  I see you at the restaurant, say eleven-thirty?”

Blair nodded in agreement and the blonde left.  Todd turned to his lover and asked her, “Can you go check in on some thing for me while Victor and I have our chat?”

Blair caught his meaning and was about to protest, feeling they would need a referee, but Victor gave her a similar look.  She nodded and departed as well.

Todd turned his attention back to his twin.  “Well, now that we’re alone, let’s get down to business.  First off, I made a promise to Blair that I would try to get along with you.”

“Yeah,” Victor said, sitting across from him.  “She made me make a similar promise.”

“Then, we’re agree.  Peaceful coexistence.  At least for the time being.”  Todd shuffled some papers on his desk.  “Now, as I see it, I’m in control.  But, I’m also going to be going in for surgery soon, so to help not roil the waters, I have a deal for you.  I will turn over control of Manning Enterprises until I am back in shape.  You have…carte blanche to run the company.  That includes editorial control over the Sun, anything like that.”

Victor thought it over.  “How long?” he asked. 

“The doctors haven’t really given me a timetable.  Could be a few days, could be a few weeks…could be forever,” he said.  “They say  the procedure is risky, one slip and I could be a vegetable for the rest of my life.  And I hate to say it, but the eight years of you running the Sun weren’t all bad.”

Victor smiled.  “I want any deal in writing,” he agreed. 

“I’ll have my attorney draw up an agreement for you to review.  He won’t like it, but if he still wants that nice retainer he gets, he’ll do it.”  Todd then took out an envelope from his briefcase.  “We were invited to a party a few weeks ago at the Quartermaine estate.  They’re right next door.  The old man, Edward, seems to have been an acquaintance of our father’s…and Irene’s.”  He handed over the baby pictures.

Victor looked at them.  “That’s us?” he asked.  Looking at them again, he continued.  “No, this can’t be.  Tina never had a clue about us.  Why is she in the picture?”

“Edward and his wife Lila…tried to help Irene, but Senior basically wanted our existence wiped out and forced her hand.”  For a minute, he considered tell him about the signed letter.  No, his initial idea was better.  “With regard to Tina, he probably had her memory wiped like he did Viki’s when she had her daughter.”

“Not that it’s that hard to do,” Victor remarked.

“That’s what I said.  But when she saw these pictures, she began remembering,” Todd told him, sitting back in his wheelchair.  “She remembered being very happy at the thought of becoming a big sister and she told me that when she found out our mother had twins, she got even more excited.”

They sat there in silence.  Then Victor asked, “Have you thought about it, over the past year?  What it would have been like if…”

“Couldn’t help but to,” Todd replied.  “Even asked Jess about her feelings on the subject.  But then, she and Natalie had more time to work out their issues.  When we first laid eyes on each other, I won’t lie, it was hate at first sight.”  He looked at his watch.  “Speaking of my favorite niece,” he said as he brought up the video feed from the Llanview Sun.

Jessica’s face appeared on the screen. When she first saw Todd, she smiled.  “Good to see you, Uncle Todd.”  Then she saw someone move into camera range and she swallowed.  When Victor was visible, she just shook her head.  “This is going to take some getting used too.”

Blair was at the Metrocourt’s restaurant when Carly spotted her and sat down.  She had the waiter bring over two glasses of scotch.  “Thought we may need it,” she said.

Blair grabbed the glass and downed it in one gulp.  At Carly’s shocked expression, she merely said, “You try living under the same roof as your two ex-husbands, one of whom you’re re-engaged to, who happen to be long-lost twin brothers who hate each other.”

“Fair point,” Carly said, downing her own glass.  “So, I’m guessing when you said ‘married five times, but only three to this one’, Victor was the other two?”

“Yep, married to Victor twice, thinking he was Todd,” she said.  “They were born identical, but their mother had plastic surgery performed on Victor to further whatever her nefarious schemes were.”

“And no one in their family knew?” Carly asked incredulously.

“Well, Todd was raised by a cousin of his mother’s,” Blair explained.  “As to who actually raised Victor, well, that’s one of the many mysteries surrounding him.  Their mother was supposedly in the CIA, but there’s an eight year gap that no one knows, not even their sister Tina, where he was.”

“Wasn’t he dead?  Todd was on trial for murder,” Carly tried to figure out aloud.

“When Todd was still in the hospital, Jack’s friend, Molly Lansing, recognized Victor when she was in the park.  Whoever had him took him for a stroll.  The police got the security camera footage and were able to identify him and discern that he was alive.”  Taking a sip out of the second glass of scotch, she went further.  “His body was dumped on the side of the highway out of town.  If it weren’t for a passerby, it may have been too late.”

“So, how’s Todd reacting to all this?  He told me when he got back to town he didn’t remember actually shooting his brother,” Carly asked. 

“Well, Todd’s been through so much.  Honestly, if you asked anyone Llanview about Todd’s trial, they all thought he was faking the PTSD,” Blair said.

“Including you.”  It was a statement.

Blair nodded.  “Including me.  Then, when he left town, I had a long talk with Viki.  We tried to piece together Todd’s actions and movements from the time he appeared at the movie premiere last year till Starr’s accident.  There were times, so many times, when he his words and his actions didn’t compute.  Viki told me that, around Halloween, he confided in her how much he loved me and missed me.  He knew I still loved him.  But he never told me.”

“Maybe he was scared of you rejecting him,” Carly suggested.

“Well, that’s very much Todd.  But he would also space out, like he was lost in a thought.  Dr. Keenan at General Hospital does believe he has PTSD and that these zone-outs were flare-ups or whatever.” Blair sat back and looked to the ceiling.  “After that talk, that’s when he came back to town and admitted to me what he had done with Sam Morgan’s son.  He told me the whole story, everything that Heather manipulated him into doing.  He was sure that I would reject because had done something similar to me years ago.”  Blair then told her the circumstances surrounding the conception and birth of Jack. 

Carly was shocked at the tale.  “How could anyone forgive…something like that!”

“We were never that good at communication.  Plus, whenever I got up the nerve to tell him the truth, the alleged father butted in.  Todd acted out of spite and jealousy because I acted out of fear.  Fear that he would take away the baby I was carrying like he had taken Starr.  Then when he learned the truth, he was afraid of telling me and it further ruined our relationship,” Blair said. 

“Man, you two have really been around the block.  It simply amazing you are still together.,” Carly said in admiration.

“He’s the only man who ever really got me.  He never wanted me to beg for his love.  One night years ago, the night we made Jack actually, we took pleasure in spreading chaos around town and afterwards, he said we lived by our own rules and he wanted everyone in town to be envious of us for that.”  She remembered that night.  “We once promised each other no more secrets and lies, and, you know what Carly, I think we finally have achieved that.”

As Blair and Carly finished their discussion, the head waiter came up to Carly and whispered something in her ear.  “What? “ She turned around and saw Helena Cassadine standing there. 

Blair craned her neck to follow her friends gaze.  She saw the elegant older woman at the top step.  “What’s going on?”

“Helena Cassadine,” was all she answered.

The woman in question approached the table.  “Well, I see the hospitality in this establishment hasn’t changed since I left town.  But them, what can I expect from the daughter of a common streetwalker?”

Carly stood up, anger flashing across her face.  “Say that again, while your standing on the balcony, Helena.”

Helena merely ignored the hotelier and held her hand out to Blair.  “You really must forgive Mrs. Jacks for her behavior.  It is quite rude of her to not formally introduce me.  Helena Cassadine.”

Blair smiled cat-like at the woman and turned on all the southern charm she could muster.  “Blair Manning.  I’ve heard of you from my son,” she said. 

“Ah, yes, John Cramer Manning.  You are from Llanview, Pennsylvania, correct?  Are you possibly related to Senator Dorian Cramer Lord?” Helena asked, almost sweetly.

“As a matter of fact, she’s may aunt and the step-mother of my husband to be, Todd Manning,” Blair told her, trying to put a little more oomph behind herself.

“Yes, son of the late Victor Lord.  I’ve read the biography of his father.  Such a great man,” Helena said, choosing her words carefully.  At the mention of Victor Lord, Blair was ready to stab the woman with a butter knife.  But she held her temper when Helena, looking her over, said, “I think I’ve change my mind on where I shall lunch.”  With that, she swept out of the establishment. 

“Anyone who would think anything like that about Victor Lord must be out of their minds,” Blair snarled.

Carly watched her leave.  “I’m going to warn you, that was a shot across the bow.”

Blair nodded, fully agreeing with the other woman.  She would have to warn Todd, Victor and the kids.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
Your comments are 'payment' for the work of the authors. Our writers like to hear your feedback. Please leave a comment when you read.