Helena Cassadine was about to make her move over to the bar when a body stepped in her way. “Going to talk to your new friend, my sweet?” Luke leered at her.
“Well, since your affections have fled elsewhere, I am in need of new companionship,” Helena replied demurely.
Luke flagged a waiter down. “Tell my niece to get the man at the bar a room for the night and let me know which one.” He handed the waiter a twenty, then grabbed Helena by the elbow and pushed her out onto the balcony. “What is it with you, huh? Why are you bothering with that schlump of a guy, whose family is missing, whose living with a brother he can’t stand? What’s with all the interest in the Lord family?”
“They are a powerful family. Not as much as mine, but powerful in their own way. Victor Lord had many of the same qualities as my Mikkos,” Helena told him.
“Oh, I’ve read about Vic, senior. And I will tell you this. Even your dear sweet Stavros wasn’t as twisted as that old man,” Luke said. For some reason Luke didn’t understand, Helena light up more than usual at the mention of the Lord family patriarch. “This is a warning, Helena. Don’t go near any member of that family.” Luke looked back and saw his niece put Victor’s arm around her neck. Luke took Helena’s hand and brought it to his lips. “Until next time, my love.”
The doors to the elevator was just about to close when Luke jumped in it with Carly. “Thanks for the heads-up,” she said.
“Anything for you, my sweet Caroline. I think I’ll help you get him to a room,” Luke said. The doors opened as Carly and Luke began to drag the drunken man to a suite. Carly opened the door and they threw him onto a bed.
Luke watched over Victor as Carly stepped out. She dialed a number and was greeted by the voice of Blair Cramer Manning. “Hey, Blair, how’s it going?”
“Well to be honest, Carly, we’re a little worried. Victor stormed out of here a while ago and we know he’s at the Metrocourt’s bar, but we haven’t heard from him in a while,” her friend said.
“Ah, well, to put your mind at ease, I’m going to put him up for the night here at the hotel. He’s a little worse for the wear, but we’ll take good care of him, so don’t worry over there,” Carly assured.
“Oh, thank you for that. Yes, that’ll put our minds at ease. If he causes any trouble, let us know,” she said as she ended the call.
Carly walked back into the bedroom as Luke sat in a chair watching the other man snore. After a few minutes, he hustled her into the living room. “You don’t need to stick around. I’ll keep an eye on him,” her uncle said.
“No, I promised Blair I’d stay with him,” Carly countered. When neither the stubborn niece or uncle would budge, a silent understanding was reached. They sat down on the couch and occasionally glanced back at the bedroom. “So, what did Helena want?”
“Have no idea, but I did a little research into the Lord family.” Luke glanced at where Victor was before he said, “For a dead man, he don’t look so bad.”
“Yeah, and when Todd came back to town this spring, he didn’t seem too concerned with his dead brother,” Carly said. “He was almost gleeful that he got off for the murder.”
“I know I’ve been a bit preoccupied with things for a while, but how did you get mixed up in all this, Caroline?”
Carly smiled. “Todd was very charming. He needed a hotel room for the night back in March when his daughter was in an accident. Blair wasn’t allowing him anywhere near Starr and, wanting to stick around unnoticed, he paid cash for a room and gave me the name of Mr. Pleasure. It wasn’t until the next day that I found out who he was and what his business really was in Port Charles.”
“Ah, yes, the accident that Sonny was accused of causing. I remember now. It was the same night as…” Luke’s voice trailed off.
“The night of the explosion at General Hospital,” Carly finished. “He was distraught that he couldn’t be with his daughter…so I help him slip in to see her. Then I met Blair and we bonded over the men in out lives.” At that, Luke raised an eyebrow. Carly mere gave him a look. “Let’s just say that Todd Manning and Sonny Corinthos have more in common then you would think or they would admit to. After that, we heard that Starr and Michael were headed to the courthouse and by time we all arrived, Todd had his gun aimed at Sonny. He wouldn’t back down until Starr convinced him to.”
“Then he went back to Llanview, where he was tried for murder but got off scot-free,” Luke added.
“Well, not entirely. He was diagnosed with PTSD, but according to him, not a lot of people there believed it. He had to get out of town and decided that since Starr was here with…legal difficulties, this is where he should be,” Carly said.
“And it seems the whole town of Llanview has followed him,” Luke remarked.
Carly tilted her head to the side. “Well, maybe not the whole town, but a lot of his family. His two sisters and their husbands, two nieces, not to mention Blair and her sons, one of whom is his nephew. And now Victor, who from what I gathered, thought he was Todd Manning for eight years.”
That comment peaked Luke’s interest, but he was unable to follow up, as Victor emerged from the bedroom. He stared at Luke and Carly for a minute when he asked, “Where the hell am I?”
And then again, before that question could be answered, there was a loud banging on the door. “Carly, I swear to God, if you ever considered yourself my friend, you’ll open this door and let me at that jackass!”
Carly rolled her eyes and opened the door. Todd nearly ran her down as he entered the suite. “That’s it! You and I are going to have it out!” he yelled at Victor and he backed his twin into the bedroom. “Ladies, stay here.”
Carly turned to face Blair who remained in the hall. “I told you I had this handled!” she exclaimed as her friend finally entered.
“You try telling Todd Manning that. I even had Clint and Viki there when you called,” Blair replied. “If his sister couldn’t talk him down, I couldn’t. Trust me, I have years of experience with him like this.”
“Well, Caroline, it seems our babysitting duties are done for the evening. Maybe we should allow this family to solve their own squabbling,” Luke said, before hearing glass being broken from the bedroom.
“I think I’ll wait here with Blair,” Carly said, pointing at the door.
“Suit yourself. I think I’ll check in with her highness and issue another warning if needed. You know how much I enjoy threatening Helena Cassadine,” Luke said. With a nod of the head, he left the two woman.
The voices had gotten only slightly quieter as Blair and Carly waited. “Maybe it’s a good thing that they weren’t raised together. Yet another Lord family tradition,” Blair commented. When Carly looked at her sideways, Blair expounded. “Their nieces, Jessica and Natalie, are also twins, fraternal, but Natalie was stolen from the hospital at birth and the family didn’t learn the truth until the girls were in their twenties. Then there was the question about who was Jessica’s father and Jessica’ being ‘adopted’.”
“Sounds like a fun town,” Carly responded. “Maybe I should go and visit.”
“Well, if you do come, I’ll introduce you to Renee Buchanan. She owns the Palace Hotel. Trust me, you could teach her a thing or two about amenities,” Blair said for some levity. Then Blair’s phone rang. As the voices in the bedroom had gone up again in volume, she moved into the hallway to take the call.
“Blair, darling, I haven’t heard from you in days. Is there any change in Todd’s condition?” her Aunt Dorian asked on the line. She said it with as much concern as she could muster for the man her niece loved, even if she couldn’t stand him.
Blair closed her eyes and cursed herself. Everything had been moving so fast for the last few weeks, she hadn’t spoken with Dorian. “Well, physically, he’s the same. They’re going to be doing the surgery Saturday. Emotionally, well, that’s a different story.”
“What’s happened?” came the question.
Blair gave a bare-bones description of what had happened with Victor being found. She could picture the expressions playing out on Dorian’s face. Blair concluded with, “Now the two brothers are having a little talk.” As she spoke, she could hear Carly speaking from the suite. “Look, they’re finished and I need to get back in there.”
“Wait, I just wanted to tell you that I’ll be up to support you for the surgery. My schedule is cleared for Friday through next Tuesday. Tell Mrs. Jacks to have the best suite available for me. See you soon,” Dorian ended with.
Blair walked back inside to find the brothers in the living room of the suite by themselves positioned at opposite ends of the room. Todd saw the questioning look on her face. “Carly’s surveying the damage,” he said.
“Yeah and from what I see, it’s going to be extensive. I’m actually kinda glad your in a wheelchair, Todd or that place would have been worse,” Carly said as she emerged.
“Well, that’s why you heard the glass breaking,” Victor said, pointing at Todd like a five-year-old tattling.
“And who was it who kicked over the chair and knocked over the lamp,” Todd retorted, mirroring his twin’s gesture.
“Do you two feel better?” Blair asked sarcastically.
“No,” came the answer in perfect unison.
“But we did come to an agreement,” Todd said.
“More like an order,” Victor commented.
“”Well, I’m the older twin. Under Tina logic--” Blair and Victor couldn’t help but snicker, “I get to boss you around.” Todd took a breath. “He is not to go anywhere without supervision of you, me, Addie, Viki, Clint, Natalie, McBain, Tina, Cord, Sarah, Starr or Jack,” Todd directed at Blair. Turning is attention to Carly, he asked, “Could you help us out with his as well? Especially with this surgery I’m having this weekend, I don’t want him to slip out of sight.”
“Sure thing, and while I’m at it, I’ll ask Luke to keep an eye on him,” Carly said.
“And we may as well also add Dorian to the list. She’ll be up Friday for the surgery,” Blair added.
“Oh, that’s even better!” Todd eyes light up at the suggestion. He turned to see Victor rolling his.
“Can we get out of here? My head is still killing me, and our discussion didn’t help matters,” he asked with disgust.
Carly could tell Todd and Blair needed to talk. “Victor and I will wait for you in the lobby,” she said as she tugged the other man out of the room.
When they left, Blair asked Todd what had been said. “A lot of issue were brought up, but I swore to him I wouldn’t mention any of it for now. We just need to keep him contained until after this weekend. Then, we’ll deal with this mess that the two of us have been thrust into.” Todd took Blair’s hand and kissed it. “Look, we’re all tired. Let’s just go home and go to sleep.” Todd then wheeled himself out of the room.
Blair watched him go, worried what secrets he was keeping from her with his brother. She didn’t think they would come back to hurt her but somehow, that made her even more frightened.
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Awesome chapter
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