Family Secrets

"What the hell is wrong with you guys?" Carly hissed at the three men in front of her. "If you thought they were dangerous or some type of threat, then why are we following them?"

"Because he wants us to," Jason replied.

“That makes so much sense,” she told him sarcastically.

Jason rubbed his forehead tiredly. "Carly, you shouldn't be here anyway," he continued.

She glanced at her watch and sighed. "Took you couple hours to come up with that one, huh?"

"I'm serious, Carly. You don't know what these people are capable of."

"They're nice people, Jason."

"Whatever," Manny sighed.

"Well, Lou is," she said as she glared at Johnny. "And so is Blair. We’ve got a lot in common."

"Yeah whatever, Carly," Johnny muttered.

She sighed disgustedly at the three men, "You guys are so fucking hardheaded. Are you threatened by the testosterone or something?"

Jason shook his head and took her hands. "Carly, we're just worried. Manning doesn't have a really nice background."

She frowned at him. "Neither do you."

"Speaking of which," Jason sighed. "We need to call Marci. We need a complete background on that Steve Anton."

Manny smirked as he pulled out his cell phone. "But first," he muttered as he dialed the number. "I love speakerphone, don't you?" he asked the others.

"Hello?" Marci's voice filled the car's air.

Carly opened her mouth to respond, but the three men shot daggers at her to keep silent, but that wasn't going to stop her. Jason quickly moved to her side of the limo and clamped a hand down on her mouth.

"Hey, sweetie," Manny began.

Carly bit down on Jason's hand and he pulled back as she stifled a grin. She decided to play along with their game for now.

"Hey, honey, what’s up? Where’d you guys head off too?" Marci asked cheerfully.

"We’re in Llanview, unfortunately. I'm calling ‘cause I need a few things."

"Shoot."

"First I need a background on a Steve Anton."

"A-N-T-O-N?" Marci spelled out.

"Yeah, I think. Pretty boy with dimples." Carly pointed to her wedding band and shook her head. "Doesn't seem to be married. Lives here in Llanview and he's tight with Manning."

"Got it. I'll let you guys know what I come up with."

"One more thing," Manny began.

"Yeah?"

"Jason's been trying to get in touch with Carly for a couple hours now, but he can't get a hold of her." Marci didn't respond and after a few moments Manny broke the silence. "Marci?"

"Um, yeah, did he try her cell?"

"Yeah, but she's not picking up. When was the last time you saw her?"

"About an hour ago," she replied without hesitation.

"Honey, are you sure?" he coaxed.

Johnny and Jason tried to stifle their laughter and Carly simply rolled her eyes at them. "Assholes," she mouthed. "Watch and learn."

Jason looked at her curiously with that silent statement.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Marci said as she cleared her throat. "Why is something wrong?" she asked in a worried tone.

"I don't know, sweetie. These Mannings, they're kinda screwy. Jason's just worried someone might of tried to get to her."

Marci continued to remain silent. "Manny?" she finally said softly.

"Yeah?" he smiled, knowing that he had her where he wanted her.

"I haven't seen her since this morning."

"Marci--"

"Yeah," she interrupted. "We, um, got into this really big fight." Manny's smile fell, not expecting that statement. "And, I um, I killed her. Her body, it's--" she began to cry over the phone. "I gave it to Sonja to get rid of. Please don't tell Jason," she sobbed. "I just wanted to be owner of Deception, that's all."

Her sobbing continued until it chortled off into humungous bursts of laughter.

"You guys are morons!" Marci barely choked out.

Carly began to laugh as well. "Marci, ya done me proud girl!"

"Can I get a raise?" she laughed.

"New car too!"

"Did you hear that Manny? Maybe we can get a minivan to fit--"

"Don't even start, Marci."

"You two think you're cute, huh?" Jason laughed.

"Think?" Carly asked.

"Nah, we know it," Marci finished.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Marci promised to call back with any information she found on Steve Anton, the four friends sat in silence. Well, mostly. The boys continued to argue and Carly tried to ignore them, taking in the dark scenery as they moved on.

As she briefly wondered where they were headed, a beam of light caught her attention. She leaned in closer to the window and finally saw the source of the light.

“Oh my, god,” she mumbled softly.

Jason was the first one to notice that Carly was distracted from something outside. He looked out the window as well and remained silent. He didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, just trees and brush. As the limo passed a large patch of oak trees, he finally saw what Carly had.

“What the hell,” he muttered.

Manny and Johnny pulled out of their conversation and glanced outside as well.

“What the fuck?” Johnny muttered.

“God, that is creepy,” Manny added.

“It’s gorgeous,” Carly mumbled.

There on the top of the next hill, sat one sole house. What had caught Carly’s attention was a single wall of the house composed of windows only from floor to ceiling. The lights were on and the yellow glow shone onto the nearby woods like a lighthouse.

“They live all the way out here by themselves?” Johnny asked shocked.

“Are they vampires or something? It’s fucking creepy,” Manny shuddered.

“What it is is smart,” Jason finally offered.

“What?”

“No one can get up here without being noticed. Look at the road that leads up to the house, it’s covered in gravel. You’d be able to hear a car coming in a heartbeat. And those windows, you can see in every direction. Not to mention the fact that they’re out here by themselves, it’s smart.”

The rest of the drive up to the house was made in silence. As the limo rolled to a stop, Carly immediately grabbed the door handle anxious to see the inside of the house. Jason’s hand landed atop hers deflecting her attention from the door to his face.

“What’s wrong?” she asked him curiously.

“Be careful,” he told her quietly.

She smiled gently and tilted her head to the side. “Always,” she replied in the same tone.

Carly finally opened the door and stepped out into the warm summer night.

“Damn,” she whispered.

The house was not as enormous as she originally thought, but it was still huge. The wall of windows was not visible from the front of the home and Carly deduced it was in the back.

She walked up to Blair with a smile on her face. “This house is gorgeous!” Carly exclaimed.

Blair’s face lit up as well. “It is, isn’t it?”

Todd swung the doors open of the house and the group entered the home. Carly’s jaw once again fell open. The foyer was large, but it was what was directly in front of her that left her speechless. The ceiling to floor windows she had admired from the limo stood before her. She moved further into the room and stood in front of the window, the city lights of Llanview shone back at her.

“It’s like standing on top of the world,” Carly mumbled to herself.

She turned back around and eyed Blair curiously. “How in the hell did you find this place?”

”I didn’t,” Blair told her happily as she wrapped her arms around Todd’s right arm. “Todd had it built for me.”

All eyes turned to Todd who stuck his chest out like a proud peacock.

“Wow, Todd,” Carly sighed. “That’s just -– wow.”

Blair looked up at Todd proudly. “He’s the best,” she whispered. “You want a tour?” Blair finally asked Carly.

“Hell, yeah,” she laughed.

The three women left the room and the men eyed Todd carefully.

“So what exactly did you do that made you build this house?” Jason asked him.

“What’re you talking about? I built this house for my woman. It was planned years ago when we got married the first time.”

“Right,” Manny muttered.

Johnny chuckled softly and looked at Todd. “No other reason, right?”

“You must’ve fucked up big time,” Jason told him.

Todd sighed and poured himself a scotch from the wet bar. “I had it built right before we renewed our vows.”

“Oh,” Jason, Johnny, and Manny muttered at the same time.

“What?” Todd snapped.

“After the baby lie came out, right?” Jason chuckled.

“Shut up,” Todd muttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The loud snore shook Todd awake and he sleepily opened his eyes assessing his whereabouts. He fleetingly looked around the living room and noticed that everyone else had fallen asleep as well. He ran a hand through his hair as a deep yawn escaped him. A quick glance at his watch told him that too much time had passed already and no inkling of an answer was in sight. Their own fucked up version of “Six Degrees of Separation” had concluded with no answers or leads of any kind.

He hated this.

He rose from his position on one of the sofas and walked over to the source of the snore. Blair was lying on the other large sofa, her head resting partly on the cushions and partly off. She was going to wake up with a crick in her neck that much was for certain. His eyes darted to the other end of the couch where Carly lay in the same position. He crouched down in front of Blair, repositioned her head, and softly pushed a few strands of hair away from her face.

“I swear to god, Blair, if anyone tries to mess with you . . .”

His sentence went unfinished and he sighed deeply. A creak in the wood floor from behind put him on alert. His eyes darted behind him and noticed Jason standing in the doorway. Todd cursed himself silently for not realizing that Jason wasn’t in the room when he first woke up.

“You’ll what?” Jason asked, curious as to Todd’s unfinished promise.

Todd stood to his full height and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ll kill them,” he told him seriously.

Jason nodded slowing, respect for the other man growing. “Good.”

Jason’s eyes went to Carly’s sleeping form and he sighed. “This has nothing to do with us, it’s about them,” Jason said, his eyes never leaving Carly.

Todd moved closer to him and sighed. “Yeah and I wanna know who the fuck they are.”

Jason’s eyes turned to him once he reached his side. “Ditto.”

“It’s not a trap,” Todd muttered thoughtfully. “I’ve seen too many and set too many to know what they look like. It’s the only thing that makes sense. Those stupid packages weren't sent to me or to you. They were sent to the two of them,” he reasoned pointing at Carly and Blair. “Whoever’s doing this is doing it to get their attention. It can’t be a threat. If their eyes were scratched out or devil horns were painted on their heads or something, but this . . . this is a test. I’m willing to bet that we'll hear from whoever this is again and soon."

Jason considered Todd’s words thoughtfully. "You’re right," Jason sighed. "We’re gonna have to wait this out."

"There’s nothing else we can do," Todd muttered angrily. "I’m gonna increase security around here as a precaution."

"I already put more guards on Carly and the kids, but something else is gonna go down."

“And when it does . . .”

“We’ll be ready,” Jason finished.