"Is there any reason why you're sharing this with me, Ros? I thought I told you to just take care of it", I said. She's been riding me all damn month about the grand opening of the onsite day care here at GEH. Ever since Ros and Gwen adopted their son, Henry, she's been hounding me with the details of it all.

Since she's been back to work from maternity leave, all she's done is bitch and moan about how much she's missing out on Henry's development. Now with Gwen going back to work, Ros is adamant that Henry needs to be in close proximity of her. When she brought up the idea of a daycare, I told her she was crazy and that she makes enough money to hire the best of nannies. Why would she want to have Henry be around a bunch of other babies? Isn't that ripe with germs? Just the thought made me want to run out and get some Germx. Ros seems to think that although a nanny sounds good, she wants Henry to be around other children. I think she mentioned some nonsense about making sure he develops social skills early on.

Then Ros totally lost her damn mind and told me that she was considering cutting back or possible taking an indefinite leave of absence because she is missing Henry too much. She said reminded me that she's been asking me about a daycare for years, and how it will actually bring up productivity, employee morale and will eliminate turnover. I snorted at that. GEH has very little turnover and is rated at one of the best places to work in the country. I'm no fool, however. Ros is my right hand woman and I'd be a idiot to let her go. While I'm the better negotiator, she's great at sniffing out companies that are ripe for a takeover. She is indispensable and if a daycare will keep her close, a daycare she shall have.

"I have taken care of everything but I need to remind you that we are having a party at the daycare Friday night to celebrate the opening on the following Monday", Ros says.

"You're already told me about a million times. I will be there. Are we done with this conversation?"

"No, we're not done. The new director will be there and you can get to meet her. Try not to scare her away. It was hard finding the perfect fit. Thankfully Elliot recommended her." I roll my eyes at that. How the hell does Elliot know someone qualified to run a daycare? He hangs around with construction workers all day. This better not be some woman he's screwing. Maybe I would know the how he knows her if he would have a conversation with me that was longer than two minutes.

"How the hell does Elliot know her", I ask.

"I think he's dating her roommate."

I didn't even know he was dating anyone serious enough to know their roommate. His relationships usually max out at 2 weeks.

She hangs up and I go back and stare out of the window and down at the people below. It's just after six so most people have already made their way home to their lives. I sigh, walk around to my desk and pour myself a drink out of my secret stash. The A.H. Hirsch Reserve 16-year-old bourbon burns but it does wonders to take some of the tension away.

I wonder what it would be like to have someone to run home to every night. Someone to talk about your day or to have dinner with. The most I can expect is for Gail to leave dinner in the microwave for me every night.

I send Taylor a text and tell him I'll be ready to leave in 5 minutes.

The apartment is deathly quiet when I step off the elevator and into the penthouse. Gail has already gone to her apartment and it's just me here. I eat dinner alone, walk around the empty apartment aimlessly.

I sit at the piano bench and think about my life lately. How things have changed over the past 6 months. It was on the night of my 28th birthday that everything changed.

My mother, Grace, wanted to have a family dinner, and of course she invited Elena. The dinner was just the immediate family and Elena. Mom prepared my favorite meal of pot roast, roasted potatoes, pasta salad, and chocolate cake for dessert.

As usual, I was annoyed that night because I really didn't want Elena to be there, but seeing as though she was included in most Gray events, I couldn't think of a way of excluding her without raising eyebrows.

After dessert, Elena cornered me outside of the family room where everyone was having coffee. She had been trying to convince me to interview some potential new submissives and I was reluctant to do so. I explained that I've been working with John Flynn, my therapist and was going to take a break from the lifestyle.

"Look, Elena, this isn't the time to have this discussion. This is my parent's home, but since you insist, I'm taking a break from the lifestyle. I'm bored with it at the moment and have no interest in meeting anyone new. Drop it now. This is not the fucking time. ", I told her.

She looked at me and laughed. "You seriously think you can just take a break from being a Dominant. A dominant is who you are, and you can't take a break from yourself. I thought I trained you better than that. Listen, if you don't want a sub, I'll come over and fuck your brains out just like I did for all of those years."

That's when all hell broke loose. My mother overheard and confronted us. I figured now was the time to come clean and decided to tell my family everything. I instructed Taylor to stay in the living room and prevent Elena from leaving until we were done talking. I told my entire family that Elena seduced me when I was 15 and introduced me to BDSM. I told them about our affair, if you can call it that, lasted for 6 years. I explained the lifestyle as best as I could and told them that I've been with other women since then.

After I finished speaking, everyone was silent. Then my mother turned her attention on Elena, who was attempting to walk around Taylor. Now that was funny because Taylor is 6 feet 5, and Elena is just a little over 5 feet. Before I could even register what happened, Grace ran to Elena, who's back was turned, grabbed her by her hair and turned her around. Graced then punched her in the face, knocking her to her knees. While Elena was trying to get up, I see my demure mother, push her to the ground, jump on top of her and proceed to punch her two more times in the face, all the while calling her names I never knew my mother knew.

We were all so stunned that nobody moved for a good minute. Elena was clearly outmatched and could not push my mother off her. The best she could do was shield her face with her hands.

"I'm going to kill you, you fucking bitch", Grace snarls and proceeded to put both hands around Elena's neck. Once she started to squeeze, Taylor finally went to pull my mother off. Elliot and I finally run over and it took the three of us to pull Grace away. Once we had her, Taylor went to help Elena up. She had a bloody lip and her eye and cheek were already starting to swell.

"How could you, Elena?", this from Carrick. "We invited you into our home, befriended you and you betray us by seducing our minor son? What kind of person does that? We trusted you with his issues and you used that to prey on him. There's a special place in hell for a person like you. You have no soul, you whore. You're lucky we are only finding out about this now or I'd make sure you would spend the rest of your days in a jail cell. Get the hell out of my house."

Elena is frantic at this point. "I only ever meant to help him, Grace. You came to me and asked me for help. Things changed when we started. His grades improved. He stopped getting into trouble. He got into Harvard, for heaven's sake. I only wanted to help him. You've got to understand that I've done him a lot of good", she screams. Tears are now streaming down her face.

Grace goes to lunge after her again but Elliot and I hold her back.

"The only way you could do that was to fuck a minor, you sick twisted bitch. Get the hell out before I take a butcher knife to your face."

"You've got to listen, before me he was…", before Elena could finish, Mia slaps her across the face, making her stumble back 2 steps.

"My parents told you to leave!", this from Mia.

"Taylor, please see Elena to her car. We are done here, Elena. I'm signing over the salons to you first thing Monday. Do not contact me or any member of my family. If you do, we'll be forced to get a restraining order. Your days of being in our lives are over."

"Christian, please don't do this. We can figure this out.".

"Desperation doesn't look good on you, Elena. Now go", I tell her.

Taylor grabs her by the elbow and forces her out.

What a horrible night that was. The four of us talked for hours about my life. The worst part of this all was Elliot's reaction. He was very quiet the entire night and just mainly listened. He avoided me for about a month after that night. Even now, he will hardly look at me. I thought he'd high five me and want to know the crass details, but he doesn't. He has never mentioned it again. Our relationship right now is non-existent. Mom, dad and Mia did the most talking.

Mom and dad even apologized for letting her into my life. I was shocked that they actually blamed themselves when I was just a horny kid with touch issues who was offered a way to get a sexual release.

I ended up spending the night and Flynn came over the next day. Since then, my parents and Mia have started seeing their own therapist to help them deal with their guilt. I'm still seeing Flynn and Elliott still avoids me like the plague.

As horrible as that night was, I will admit that I'm glad everything is out in the open and that Elena is out of my life. As promised, I gifted the salons to Elena and voided our partnership. Carrick was upset with me and wanted me to have her buy me out, but I just wanted out. She was like a cancer and I wanted to be free and clear of her. I haven't seen or talked to her since that night.

From what I heard, her business is not doing too well. Let's just say when Grace Grey has a vendetta against you, you're in some deep shit. When Seattle society's finest and the mother of the Christian Grey decides to blackball you, other socialites will follow. Last I heard, Elena was offering discounted coupons to get people in the salon.

I don't have time to worry about her. I have my therapy and I'm trying to get closer to my family. I want to focus on me.

Ana

"Ana, what time should I be there? Elliot wants to know when to pick me up", Kate asks.

"The party starts at 6, so you can come any time after that", I tell her. "I can't believe the daycare is opening on Monday already. I'm glad Elliot told me about it and got me that interview with Ros."

Thank goodness for Elliott! Kate and I graduated from WSU one year ago and the career in publishing that I wanted didn't work out like I had planned. I got a job at Seattle Independent Publishing, or SIP, right out of college, but I soon realized that Jack Hyde, the editor who had hired me, was a creep. About 3 months after I was hired, several of his previous assistants filed a class action sexual harassment suit against the company.

SIP was forced to pay millions of dollars. I don't know the particulars about the allegations, but Hyde was fired and the company was forced to lay off about 150 employees because they took such a big financial loss. I was one of the people who was laid off. Luckily, I pay very little rent to Kate's parents on the condo they bought for her after graduation. I'm frugal, so I had a few thousand dollars saved and worked part time at Starbucks while I looked for another job.

One night I overheard Elliot telling Kate that he was the contractor for the new daycare center at GEH, I mentioned that I doubled majored in English Lit and Education and asked about a job. He contacted Ros Bailey and the rest, as they say, is history.

Ros called the day after the interview to offer me the job as the director for Little Tots Daycare. I was surprised because I interviewed for the assistant's job, but Ros told me she liked me and liked my vision. The job comes with great benefits and a great salary so I can't complain. I still love books, and plan to write a novel. My goal is to work a 9 to 5 and write in my spare time.

"How late do you think it will be? Don't forget that afterwards we can go to Fifty's for a drink. Elliott mentioned inviting one of his friends", Kate says as she looks at me and wiggles her eyebrows. She's been trying to fix me up for the longest time.

I never dated much in college and only had one boyfriend my senior year in high school. I was focusing on my education and didn't want to be distracted by romance like my mother.

"Sounds good to me. I'm single and ready to mingle", I tell her and she laughs.

"Do you know anything about this guy?", I ask her.

"Of course. You don't think I would let you be introduced to someone I haven't vetted, would you? His name is Sam and he's an engineer for Grey Construction. He went to Oregon State on a scholarship, He's tall and very handsome. I can't wait for you to see him", Kate says excitedly.

After Kate leaves for work, I spend the day cleaning the apartment and doing laundry, and just thinking about the last year. This new job will be a new chapter for me. I'm starting a new job and hopefully great things will happen. I laugh to myself as I think that. Ray, my stepfather, always said that I had my heads in the clouds daydreaming. I wish he could be here for the grand opening, but hates coming to the city.

Growing up, it was just me and him for the most part. Mom was around but Ray is the one who raised me. Carla is my mother but wasn't much of a parent when I was a kid. When I was thirteen she divorced Ray and married Stephen. Stephen came from a wealthy family and we moved to Raleigh, NC so he could help his dad run their law firm.

I missed Ray instantly and begged my mother to let me stay in Montesano. She refused and said I was her daughter and should go with her. She told me it would be a fresh start and that I would love Raleigh. I was so angry with her for taking me away from the only father I have ever known that I refused to speak with her for the first week we were there.

At first, things were ok. Stephen had a big, beautiful house and he introduced us to his family, who all seemed nice at first. I got acclimated to my new school, new way of life and new people. My mom and I were speaking again and things were ok. She allowed me to talk to Ray on the phone whenever I wanted and would fly me out there for long weekends. Though I didn't love my new living situation, I tried to make the best of it. I figured I only had 6 years until I was 18 and could move back to Washington.

Over the next year, I started to notice that my mother wasn't has happy as she was when we first arrived. She and Stephen were bickering occasionally. One night, after coming back from a party thrown the by law firm, I overheard them fighting in the kitchen. I caught the tail end of the conversation but what I heard did not sound good.

"I took you from that hick town and away from that hillbilly you were married to. You should be grateful that you're living here in a 6000 foot square house. Who are you to question me?", Stephen says to my mother.

"I'm your wife! I have the right to ask you about some woman who was hanging on your arm all damn night, Stephen! ", this from my mother.

"You don't get to ask me a god damn thing! Not when I support you and your brat. I practically took you out of the trailer park. You should be grateful", he snaps back at her.

"I have the right to want to know who that woman was. Who was she? "

"You want to know", Stephen asks. "Her name is Marla Smith. She's the daughter of one of my parents' friends and she's the one they wanted me to end up with. I chose you, though. I decision I question daily. I didn't invite her, my mother did."

"Your mother invited the woman they tried to fix you up with?", Carla asks in disbelief.

"Yes, she did. Do you think she wanted me to end up with someone like you? Someone with your baggage? A child and an ex husband? No! She wanted me with someone with breeding, an education and manners. You are white trash!", he says cruelly. He tosses back a drink and starts to walk away. I hide in the dark hallway off the side of the kitchen.

Carla angrily starts to follow him. Carla was a lot of things, but she was no shrinking violet and would not walk away from a fight.

"What trash", she says incredulously. "How dare you? You chased after me and asked me to marry you, not the other way around. You couldn't keep your hands off me, remember. I wasn't trashy when you were chasing after me."

"And you were happy to fuck behind your stupid husband's ass."

"You leave Ray out of this. I just never loved him, but I love you. I left him because I wanted to be with you."

"You saw dollar signs and you couldn't resist. Thank goodness I was smart enough to make you sign a pre-nup, Women like you are all the same." This was the last thing he said that night before he left the house.

As bad as I felt for my mom for being treated that way, I was angry at her because now I knew she cheated on Ray. I didn't confront her right away, but I never quite looked at her the same after that.

Things continued like that for the next year. Stephen would throw his money in her face and remind her how she's nothing, and was doing her a favor for taking care of me.

Marla never went away, either. Mrs. Morton would make it a point to invite her to every function. She make it no secret that she didn't want my mother with her son.

Things came to a head one night when Stephen turned his verbal abuse towards me. I was a bit of a clumsy kid and one night I was in his library doing a book report. As I was leaving the room, I tripped and knocked a vase on the ground, breaking it. It turns out that vase was a family heirloom and Stephen was not happy. Stephen must have heard the noise because he came rushing into the library, and seeing the damage.

"You stupid, clumsy little bitch! That vase was worth more than your mother has ever earned in her life." He came up to me, grabbed me by my arm and physically pushed me out of the room. I lost my balance and hit the wall. Thankfully nothing broke that time.

I ran to my room crying and my mother soon followed. She held me and told me that everything would be ok. Stephen left for a business trip the next morning. My mother called Ray and he bought me a plane ticket back to Washington. My mother sent me back to him and shipped the rest of my things. As much of a disruption it was to change schools in the middle of the school year, I was so happy to be back home.

My mother stayed married to Stephen for another 2 years. She finally left him and came back to Montesano after she learned he got Marla pregnant. I think after my mother left he married her. Mom doesn't like to talk about it, but she intimated that Stephen married her to make his parents angry. She was different when she came back. She was depressed and withdrawn, not the outgoing person she used to be.

I shake my head at those memories. I never like to think about my time in NC or that first year when mom came back. I was happy she was able to get her job back as a secretary at the police station. She even managed to form a friendship with Ray again. I never told her I heard about the cheating. Maybe one day, but not now.

Before I know it, it's 5 o'clock and I need to get ready for the party. I find a teal, cold shoulder shift dress that reach my knees. At 5'2'' I grab some 4 inch black, open toe heals. I look in the mirror and look at my reflection. Boring brown hair, down in waves, blue eyes and some freckles across my nose. Boring! I think that maybe I should put on a pant suit, but there isn't much time to change. It's a party for a daycare, I don't want to look too provocative. I text Kate a picture of the outfit and she assures me it's sexy while still conservative. I'll have to take her word for it since I have to be there in 15 minutes.

I'm excited about tonight for the first time in a long time. New job and maybe a new man. Anything can happen, I think as I walk towards my Wanda.