Just a one shot here. Near the end of book 3, Christian tells Ana that he nearly killed Hyde, but it's never elaborated on. Well, here's my take on that 'missing scene.' Told from Christian's POV.
Absently, I read the card from the arrangement that was just delivered. "With sincere wishes for your complete and speedy recovery. Troy Whelan, and all your friends at Seattle First National Bank."
I snicker to myself. Way to cover your ass, Whelan. Send over the biggest, gaudiest display of lilies and angle's breath I've ever seen. I tuck the card back into the flowers and return to Ana's bedside. I sit and run my hands through my hair, letting out a long, anguished sigh as I gaze at her. She looks so peaceful. Like nothing's wrong. Like she's just sleeping. Gently, I take her hand in mine and raise it to my lips. "Please wake up, baby. Come back to me." The doctor said that her vitals are strong but that she's suffered a major contusion to her head. She'll wake when she's ready.
I have always hated waiting. I am the most impatient person I know. And now here I am. Helpless. Adrift with no control and no Ana. How am I going to do this? How am I going to get through this? She has to wake up. She has to!
As I contemplate the dire alternative, I can taste the bitterness rising up within me. I can't believe that somewhere in this very hospital that fucker, Jack Hyde, is being treated for the wounds he suffered – from the bullet Ana left in his leg and from the beating I gave him. I look down at my bruised knuckles. Beating is an understatement. I nearly killed the son of a bitch. I wish I had. Bile rises in my throat as I think back on the events of the last twelve hours...
…...
I sit numbly in the back of the SUV, trying to wrap my head around the fact that my world has just come to an end. It's all over. My marriage, our life together … it's over before it really even began. Ana is leaving me. I behaved so badly, and now … she's going. And it is all my fault. This can't really be happening. I can't really be losing her. I take a deep, labored breath and I can feel the panic beginning to seep in.
"Sir, we have a problem." Taylor's grim voice pulls me out of my despondency.
"What," I reply weakly, and I can hear the confusion and heartache in my own voice.
"Jack Hyde was granted bail early this morning."
It takes me a few seconds to fully comprehend what he's just said. Hyde, the crazy fucker who's been tormenting my family for months, is out on bail. He has been out of jail for several hours, walking the streets of Seattle, free as a bird; doing God knows what. And then it hits me, in a moment of total clarity, and it all makes so much sense. The things Ana said on the phone.
"Christian, it's for you. For your family. Please … don't."
"Fuck!" My voice sounds vexed and foreign to my ears. "Ana!"
She not leaving me. This is all Hyde's doing! Somehow, in my gut, I know that he has gotten to her and now I am desperate to reach her. I dial her cell but she won't answer and I have to fight the urge to throw the fucking phone at the windshield. Reflexively, I do the only thing I know how to do when faced with an uncontrollable situation. I start barking orders and recriminations.
"How the fuck did he get out of jail?"
"I don't know, Sir," Taylor responds curtly.
"I thought we had thwarted all attempts at bail," I practically shout at him.
"Yes, I know, Sir." Taylor responds.
"Well, somehow he has gotten to Ana." My voice is raised and I can feel my entire body tense up. "He is blackmailing her or threatening her somehow. That's why she's trying to withdraw $5 million dollars. Head for the bank and start tracking her phone!"
"Sir," Taylor acknowledges and sets off at a decidedly illegal speed.
I call Sawyer, who informs me that he is in the bank and he's just made eye contact with Ana, but she returned to Whelan's office and hasn't come back out yet.
"Sir," Taylor's voice sounds anxious. "I'm tracking Mrs. Grey's phone; she's on the move!"
"Follow her, Taylor," I growl at him. "Sawyer, she's given you the slip again. Get back in your fucking car and liaise with Taylor!"
I am so angry I can feel my blood pressure spiking and I don't exactly who to be angry at. Hyde. Sawyer. Ana. Myself? My hands ball up into fists, there's a knot in my chest, and I am so enraged that I can't see straight. Oddly, it occurs to me that I'm holding my breath.
"Breathe, Grey," I tell myself. "Just fucking breathe."
Taylor speeds through downtown Seattle and into the hills to the east. Soon, we are zipping through a seedy, run down residential neighborhood and he takes a sharp left onto a deserted street where a neglected children's playground comes into view. Across from the playground is a large, ratty concrete parking lot, deserted save for a black SUV. A Dodge SUV! Memories of the car chase spring to mind.
And then I see them. We still have a few kilometers to go but I watch helplessly as Hyde backhands Ana across the face and she falls to the ground.
"No!" I can hear someone screaming but it sounds very far away. Hyde follows with what looks to me like a hard swift kick to Ana's stomach and all I can think of is the baby. "No!" Suddenly, I realize the screaming is coming from me. We can't seem to get there fast enough and I am, once again, completely helpless. I watch in horror as Ana pulls a gun from the waistband of her jeans, aims it at Hyde and pulls the trigger. He clutches his leg and falls over.
Taylor screeches into the parking lot just as Ana turns the gun on Hyde's accomplice and it weakly falls from her hand. As Taylor and I leap out of the car, I am vaguely aware that Sawyer is right on our heals.
"Ana!" I make a beeline for her, slowing only once I reach her. Kneeling beside her, I gently take her head in my hands. "ANA!" She doesn't respond to me. She is out cold. Oh, God. Please just let her be out cold. Please don't take her from me! "Baby, answer me." But she doesn't. She's just so still and I am so scared.
I'm aware of the voices of my security men. Taylor is on the phone with the police while Sawyer is securing the woman, Hyde's accomplice. I'm aware that she's rambling on about how it was all Hyde's idea and she only helped him because he was blackmailing her. What a worthless piece of shit. I look over at him I am suddenly overtaken by a murderous rage that I don't want to control. Gently, I lay Ana's head back down on the ground. Then I remove my jacket and ball it up, placing it beneath her head as a cushion. When I'm done, I stand up and turn my attention to the son of a bitch who's done this to my wife.
He's still writhing on the ground near Ana, blood oozing from his leg as he moans in pain. I lean down and take the lapels of his suit in my hands. "I am going to fucking kill you!" I snarl at him through gritted teeth. His eyes widen as he looks at me and I take a small fraction of pleasure in the knowledge that he's afraid. Unleashing all my frustration of the last few days – my reaction to the pregnancy, my subsequent fight with Ana, the tension between us, and now this – I open up and let Hyde have it. I start to swing, raining a torrent of powerful blows to Hyde's face.
It feels so good to let go. For a few precious moments, I feel as if I have my control back. I have taken charge of the situation. I am back in command and I'm no longer helpless. I relish the slight pain I feel as my fists connect with his face, over and over. The sound that it makes when my knuckles make contact with his jaw. The sight of the blood as my punches break his skin. Soon, it's as if there's only the two of us. Me and Hyde. My fists and his face. All I can see is his face and I want to kill him. That is my goal. I won't stop until it's done.
"That's enough! Stop now!"
I can hear screaming and I have a vague idea that it's directed at me but, I can't be bothered to listen right now. I'm too close to my goal. I continue with my assault.
"Sir, you're killing him!"
I can feel hands grabbing at me. Sawyer and Taylor are attempting to restrain me; to pull me off of Hyde. I can't swing anymore but I will not be stopped. I can't stop until he's dead. I break free of their hold and my hands find his neck. My fingers close around his throat and I squeeze, hard. I can hear sirens now but, I don't stop. I increase the pressure on his throat and I can hear him gurgle as he struggles to take air into his lungs. I'm so close.
"Sir, don't do this. Ana needs you!"
Taylor's voice cuts through the rage induced fog with the only words that can reach me. Ana! And I know that he's right. Ana does need me. And I need her. Abruptly, I let go of Hyde's neck and allow myself to be pulled from his near lifeless body. He coughs and gasps for air as I scoot backwards on the ground, making my way back to my beautiful Ana.
She is still lying there unconscious and I hear a sob escape my lips as I gently take her head in my hands again. "Ana!Baby, please don't leave me. Don't you dare leave me!" And the tears fall, unbidden and unchecked, down my cheeks as the police and the ambulances arrive.
"Sir, you need to move back so we can examine her." One of the EMT workers is kneeling beside me.
"She's my wife," I say despondently.
"Ok, sir. But you're going to have to move back and let us do our job."
"Sir," Taylor is by my side, speaking soothingly. "Let them make sure Mrs. Grey is okay."
I make eye contact with him and he is looking at me with big concerned eyes. I nod slightly and scoot back across the ground, letting the EMT workers attend to her. I am numb and cold. Please, God. Let her be okay.
"Anything we should know about your wife's condition, sir," one of the technicians asks me.
I stare at him mutely, unable to respond for a second. Ana, please be okay! "She's pregnant," I say softly.
"How many weeks, sir?" The technician looks at me expectantly. I shake my head. How many weeks did she say? I was so angry at the time, I don't even remember. "Four or five weeks, I think." Oh, Ana. I am so sorry. Please be okay!
"Sir, they've called for a third ambulance." Sawyer's voice is grave. "The cops just found your sister inside the building. She's alive but apparently, she's been drugged."
"Fuck!" And it all makes sense now. Ana's odd behavior … giving Sawyer the slip … the money. She was trying to save Mia's life. My beautiful, strong, brave, stupid girl! She just put her entire life on the line to save my sister.
"Christian, it's for you. For your family."
She did this amazingly brave, shockingly stupid thing … for me! For my family. Because she loves me! My tears start to fall again. She truly loves me. Even though I don't deserve her! And suddenly all the times she has said those words to me in the past – I love you, Christian – go flying through my mind. At the time, I couldn't believe her. Because all I could see was that I so fucked up, I didn't deserve anybody's love. Least of all someone as good and sweet as her. But now I finally understand that me being fucked up doesn't matter to her. Ana sees me with all my faults, all my fifty shades, and she loves me anyway!
I wipe my face with the backs of my hands. I take a deep, steadying breath and slowly rise from the ground and stand, looking down at her, watching the paramedics work on her. Then I look up and see more medics bringing Mia out of the building on a stretcher. I shake my head in disbelief. I could have lost my sister and my wife … and my child, in one fell swoop. The thought makes me shudder.
Ana is carried by stretcher and loaded into a waiting ambulance. "I'm going with her," I bark at the EMT, giving him a look that dares him to say otherwise.
"Of course, sir."
The last thing I see as I climb into the ambulance with Ana is Hyde being cuffed to a stretcher as the paramedics continue to work on him.