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“Actually, it all begins with our parents,” Matt said out of the blue. “After all of this and when I had to make the announcement that Beth and I were not getting married. My mom and dad sat me down and explained how all of this really started. They were surprised at first, but they thought about it and decided to share the real reason. they had thought Beth and I weren’t really a part of it, but we were. ”
“Well?” Gabe asked. “I have always wondered, but no one would talk about it.”
“That is easy to understand. It wasn’t the best story, and it doesn’t make some of our parents look good.” Matt said as he took a breath. “It began when your grandfather on your dad’s said, and My grandfather made a deal that their firstborn son and daughter would e
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The Friend Trap 50
After everyone left, Mack looked at his wife and was puzzled by what she had said. “Why would want them to have both girls and boys?” he asked her after getting the two boys to bed in their cribs upstairs. He was so glad now that they had them in their own beds, and they were sleeping through the night. Though the newest addition of the family woke up every two hours to be fed, he was happy to help as much as he could. Henni had blossomed as a mother to the kids. She was radiantly beautiful when she was with them. “Isn’t it obvious?” Henni asked as she looked at him as he stared at her holding the baby girl they had a few days before. “No,” Mack said. “I knew I wanted a few of each, and I told you as much. I like kids, though.” “And they do too,” Henni said with a laugh. “I think that our kids are just the first of many for the group. But that isn’t the reason.” “I really d
The Friend Trap 51
Everything seemed perfect as the couple continued to watch over their three children growing. They added two more over the next two years as well. Mack was promoted to the lead detective, and Henni continued to do most if not all of her consulting work from home so she could be there to help raise the kids herself.Henni had grown over the course of five years. Now she was even more confident in everything that she did. A contentment that she had never known was there surrounding her. With Mack’s help and understanding of his explanations, she could now even deliver more biting retorts when someone tried to put her down. She knew what they all meant most of the time now.No one was surprised by the two. They seemingly had everything together, and they also balanced each other. So one night, Mack came home later than normal, and
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“Gabe, come over to the house,” Mack said as he was talking on the phone to his cousin in the home office that Henni was normally in. “Is something wrong?” Gabe asked. “Just come over as soon as you can. I have to talk to you.” Mack said, and Henni walked in carrying their latest baby in her arms. She was not confused as she had an idea of what he was doing. When he hung up when Gabe said he was on his way and would be there in ten minutes, Mack could breathe a little easier. Though he still had no idea of how to actually break it to him. “Gabe or Matt?” Henni asked. “Gabe first. As much as I want to tell them together, I know Gabe will take it hard, and Matt will internalize it. They have to be separate, but we have to be ahead of the curve on this one. I agree. They need to know, and they should hear it from us and not the news.” Mack said, and she nodded. “I will get the kids upstairs. Either w
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Christian looked around the room and knew he walked into something. He was ready, though. Gabe looked at him, and then he knew something was very wrong. Mack looked sick. Henni was clear, but even he could see she was bothered by something. Knowing his twin the way he did, seeing her like that was the worst thing because she was alert, and this wasn’t about one of their kids. He would have found his sister ready to fight if it had been one of the kids. This wasn’t like her. She was the one he was afraid of, really. “Chris,” Henni opened her mouth, “Something happened earlier, and we found out before the news that Abby, Beth, Nicole, and some of the others are now deceased.” “What?” Chris asked as he looked at Gabe. That would explain why the other man looked like that. “I am sorry, dude.” “That isn’t important right now,” Henni said. “We were going t
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”Now I need to call the lead detective handling the case. I can’t in good faith not tell them all that happened in the past and everything in Matt’s disappearance.” Mack said as he sighed and leaned forward. “I also have to call our department and have them do a wellness check at his apartment.” “Shouldn’t we call his parents? Maybe this is a huge misunderstanding, and maybe one of us pissed him off, and he is taking a break from us.” Christian stated as he looked at everyone. Everyone knew he was grasping at straws. He was trying, though. They had to have some kind of hope to really deal with the events around them. “When has he ignored all of us when one of us pissed him off?” Gabe asked as he looked at Christian. “Look, man, I don’t want to think about it, but Mack’s reasoning is more on point than we want to admit. I don’t want to admit it either, but something isn’t right. I will call his parents, but
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The men finished up their phone calls. No one had seen or heard from Matt in weeks. The last time anyone had heard from him was three weeks ago. That was his parents who told Gabe that he had not sounded like himself, and he was rushed on the phone. The next time they called, they received the same message that the group had earlier in the day. Mack looked at the growing list of people who had no idea of where the other man was. It was totally out of character, and Gabe had asked Matt’s parents if they had listed him as missing yet. His parents now were concerned more than they had been before. Mack suggested they talk with Max and have him reach out to Matt’s parents for the time being. The main issue was they would hate the person who actually had to tell them that Matt was either missing for good or that he was dead. Mack could help out, but he was not willing to be the one to have to do that.
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“I see,” Henni said. Henni dreaded the reports being brought to her via her work email. She was grateful they did not call her to do the actual autopsies. She did the video observation, though. So she still had those imagines in her mind. Though right now, she was trying to be clinical about everything. She had worked on cases where she had known the person on the table before. This was different. “Are you holding up?” Mack asked as he walked into the house, knowing that she had been there to observe everything in the past three days. She hadn’t said much. She was still having a difficult time with processing everything to do with this. It was bringing up the past she had worked really hard to forget. “I am here,” Henni said. “They had to do DNA to identify Beth and Alisha. Their parents wouldn’t look at them.” “Why?” Mack asked, a little angry that someone could do this to their children
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“I don’t think the people are all the people we are supposed to think they are.” Max said, “as bad as that sounds.” “Henni is having the same issue.” Mack replied as he sighed, “I would say we need to wait on the DNA results before moving on.” “With that one, I agree. Your missing person, though. There are so many things not right I don’t know if I should keep it a missing person or move it up the food chain a bit.” Max said. “I think I have to move it. I am sorry because I know he was your friend, but I don’t think he is alive any longer.” “I know,” Mack said as he shook his head. “The only hope I had has already gone. Our second youngest’s birthday was a few days ago. Matt never forgot her birthday. He was there in the hospital with us right after she was born. He is her godfather. No matter what, even if he was hiding, he would have found a way to get her a message or something to h
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