Tiptoe Kisses

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Sometimes you have to deprive someone of the pleasure of being with you so that they can realize how much they need you in their lives.  ~Osayi Osar-Emokpae 

Taylor and Santo are in the executive conference room on the thirty-second floor having a meeting with some of the division heads of La Croix’s.  Taylor can’t keep her mind focused on what’s being said, she’s thinking how to tell Santo that she has the phone Det. Hernandez is hassling him about.  Things have been going well between them since their return from Miami but she thinks he’s going to be mad that she didn’t tell him about the phone.  Inviting him over to Julian’s for dinner this weekend might help but he’s a better cook than her.  Maybe she can talk him into cooking the meal and she will work it into the conversations somehow.   

An upset Rhea knocks on the door entering the conference room without waiting for a response.  “Excuse me, Mr. Donati, Ms. Simon I need to see you right away in your office.”  Her body language is unusually tense and she’s wringing her hands.

Santo adjourns the meeting then ushers the two women quickly down the hall to his office where they see Wilton, Tanner and Kyle sitting around watching the news on the LCD TV in Santo’s office.

“What’s going on?”  Santo ask looking around at the men’s drab faces.  Taylor grips his arm when she sees what’s on the screen and he looks at the  LCD TV against hanging on the wall.

The news reports of a prominent attorney named Raymond Samuels’ house catching fire and burning down yesterday evening.  It appears the attorney’s wife and their maid where still asleep when the house caught fire but the flames were too high for firefighters to save them.   The police went to the attorney’s office to notify him of their deaths and Mr. Samuels’ was found dead in the freight elevator from two gunshot wounds.  Several documents were found with his body and his death appears to have been an execution. Police are investigating if his death is the result of a disgruntled client.

Wilton grabs the remote from a cabinet and turns the TV off.  An uncomfortable silence engulfs the room..

“We’re getting you out of town.”  Santo says gruffly still staring at the darken screen.

Taylor looks at him with a stricken face.  “What about my step-father and my friends?  How do I know they won’t come after them like they did Samuels’ wife?”

Santo doesn’t want to alarm her but he knows she’s right.  There is a strong possibility if she leaves town whoever is doing this will come after Julian or her friends to get to her.  

“Santo….Mr. Donati accepted an invitation to attend one of our clients fall shows in Milan."  Rhea speaks from the office doorway.  "You can go to that show with him and that would get you out of town for a while.”  She continues letting her voice die down when she looks over at Santo thinking maybe she overstepped her bounds but she’s reassured when he winks at her.

“I think that’s a good idea.  Maybe even a stopover in Paris or London.  It will give us some time to track these guys down.  Then we can put some pressure on Cromwell.  By the time they figure out you’re gone we’ll have tracks on them.”  Kyle agrees with Rhea’s suggestion.

Taylor gives Rhea an agitated look.  She knows what Rhea is suggesting and she’s not sure she wants to be that kind of alone with Santo.  Why is Rhea pushing so hard to get her out of town.  Isn’t she worried about these men coming after Julian?

“Rhea…are you sure about this?  I don’t want to leave you and Dad.  I couldn’t bear it if….”  Taylor gets choked up and can’t finish her sentence.