The Devil You Know: Chapter 32

The next morning, Todd had headed out of the house earlier than usual, surprising his family.  Blair, especially was caught off guard, as he breezed passed her heading to the door.  But Todd felt like the walls of the mansion were closing in on him and he needed to get out. 

Once he was in the office, he shut the doors and left the lights off.  Finally, he was able to breathe.  It was the first time since the night before.  He walked over to his desk and fell into the chair.  Then he pulled out a file from his desk.  It contained all the notes he had written up about his and Blair’s wedding.  He was determined to make this one, the last one he swore to himself, the best.  Going over the paperwork eased the pressure on him even more.  He was concentrating do hard on it that he never heard Maxie Jones come into the room to open the office for the morning.

“Mr. Manning!” she nearly shouted.  When he did finally look up she asked him, “What are you doing here at this hour of the morning?”

“I’m the boss.  That’s usually my question,” he stated to her slowly. 

“Yeah, but you usually don’t get here until just after I get in.  I’m always worried that you’ll get here…” She didn’t finish when she noticed that he was basically staring right though her.  “Are you alright?”

He blinked twice to refocus his gaze.  “Yeah, I’m fine.  Why do you ask?”

“You seem out of it this morning.”

“Well, that’s the after affects of having my sister Tina over for dinner.  She’s kinda spacey and it puts me out of sorts for days later,” Todd told her snidely.

“She seems so sweet when I talk to her,” Maxie said.  “You’re really lucky to have her and your other sister…what‘s her name, Viki?”

“You really don’t know my sisters.  Tina’s always been a money-grubber.  That was actually how I met her.  She was trying to swindle me out of my inheritance and she wound up blurting it out to me,” he grumbled.  “And Viki…”

“At least they’re still alive--” Maxie commented as she caught herself.

“Come again?”

“Nothing.  It’s nothing really--”

“No, tell me,” he insisted softly.  “Please?”

“I had a younger sister who was murdered a few years ago.  She was barely out of high school,” informed Maxie. 

Todd closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  “I’m sorry…for your lose.”

Maxie smiled sadly.  “Thank you.”

As Maxie stepped out of the room, Carly came in.  “Hey there.  Been a long time since I’ve seen you,” she said.  Looking him over, she added, “I see you survived the holiday at your sister’s.”

Todd smirked.  “Well, it was touch and go there.  Dealing with my brother, who I can’t stand; my nephew, who I can’t stand; and having to walk my sister down the aisle to another man I can’t stand with a family…Well, you catch my drift.”  He shrugged his shoulders.  “How were things here?”

“Well, Edward’s funeral, it was interesting.  Turns out, his grandson AJ isn’t as dead as everyone thought,” Carly replied.

“Come again?” Todd had a perplexed look on his face.

“AJ Quartermaine, the elder son of Alan and Monica.  He’s technically Michael’s father.  He showed up at the funeral and there was nearly a fight between him and Jason,” Carly explained.

“Technically Michael’s father?  How do you mean?”

Carly looked down at the floor.  When she returned his gaze she explained, “I had a one night stand with AJ.  When I found out I was pregnant, I tried to pass the baby off as my boyfriend at the time, then as Jason’s.”

Todd merely raised an eyebrow.  “Really?  I mean, he’s a scion of the wealthiest families in this town.  You didn’t jump on that money train for all it was worth?  And I thought you were like Blair.  Well, she pulled the pregnancy trick on me after she discovered I was loaded and before I knew, but still…”

“Telling AJ would have meant telling all the Quartermaines, who already thought of me as trash for stealing Tony Jones away from a friend of theirs.  I would never had been able to keep him.  They never would have let me,” she justified.  “With Jason, he was there for me and he was basically on the outs with his family already.”

Todd’s eyes narrowed at Carly.  “So, AJ’s been out of Michael’s life from the beginning?”

“Yeah,” Carly answered.  “I married Sonny, and AJ signed away his rights.  I didn’t want Michael confused about his family.  And he did forge some bonds with the Quartermaines.  His Aunt Emily was his godmother, and Jason would bring him to see to his great-grandmother, Lila.”

Todd processed this information.  “Did I ever tell you that it took a few months before Blair told me she was pregnant with Starr.”  He looked at her when he continued.  “She was pissed at me, she was listening to her aunt, which no good has ever come out of, and it was only after I proposed to her again that she told me she was pregnant.”

“And how did you react?” Carly asked him.

Todd looked down at his desk.  “You know, I’m really busy.  Um, was there something specific you were here for?”

Carly was surprised by the change in Todd’s tone.  “No, I just haven’t talked to you in a while and wanted to see how you were doing--”

“I’m fine, great, but I need to get back to work,” he said as he got up from his chair.  He pulled out hers for her and escorted her to the elevator.  When it closed, Todd turned to Maxie.  “I need you to get your boyfriend on the phone, like, five minutes ago.”  With that he slammed the door to his office.  A few minute later, Maxie buzzed Spinelli to Todd’s line.  “Spaghetti, I need you to get me information on someone…AJ Quartermaine.  Yeah, that’s him.  ASAP.”  Without saying anything else, Todd slammed down the phone. 

After a few hours, Todd looked up and saw Blair standing there.  “Hey, handsome, what are you up to?”

“Just some…stuff.”  Todd looked back down as Blair took a seat.  “I had a visit from Carly today.  She mentioned that Michael’s biological father is back.”

“Yeah, Starr mentioned that when we got back, Michael was distracted, but he never told her why,” Blair said to him.

“Yeah, Carly told me something and it got me thinking.”  Then Todd pierced her with a look.  “If we had never gotten back together all those years ago, would you have told me about being pregnant?”

“What brought this up?” Blair asked.  She was put off  by the question.

Before Todd could respond, in through the door hurried Spinelli.  “I have the information which you were seeking,” he said.  When he looked up he got quiet.  “I’m sorry, was I interrupting something?”

“No, actually.  Blair was just dropping in.”  He turned to her.  “We’ll continue this at home.” 

Blair looked at him.  “Yeah, we’ll talk when you get home.”  With that, she walked out of the office, almost in a state of shock. 

Maxie noticed her expression and asked, “Are you alright, Ms. Cramer?”

“Maxie, Todd said Carly was in here before.  Do you know what they talked about?” she asked the assistant.

“Well, I wasn’t listening in…much,” she admitted sheepishly.  “They were talking about AJ Quartermaine and all the crap that Carly put him, Jason and my uncle through when she was pregnant.”  When Blair sat down, Maxie explained what she knew of that time, how Carly had an affair with Tony, than the fling with AJ and how she wrangled Jason into saying he was the father.  “I think Carly gave him her version of the story, which is generally ‘poor me, poor me.’  Sorry, but Carly’s never been one of my favorite people, mostly because she drove my uncle crazy with it all.  I know you’re friends with her, but she didn’t have the most sterling reputation when she came to town.”  Maxie looked back at the office door.  “And after she left, Todd had me call Spinelli.”

Blair looked back at the closed door and realized there were a good many things she and Todd would be talking about when he got home.  She thanked Maxie and left, concerned with this turn of events.





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