SEPTEMBER 27TH 2000
"Well, well, well if it isn't Rose aka Anastasia." She shot him a glare that had little effect as she was blushing.
"Hello, Christian." Her voice was as soft as he remembered. He had seen her over the summer, but always from a distance. They offered each other little more than a wave.
"If you get any trouble from anyone you tell me." He said walking in her direction.
"Aren't your classes in the other direction?" She asked with a smirk.
"Yes, but as you can see just about everyone is staring at us. Most people will be less inclined to mess with you." He whispered.
"Because you are the school's quarterback." She giggled and his steps faulted. He took a breath and carried on.
"No, because I will corner them somewhere after school and kick the shit out of them." She knew he was serious despite the jovial manner in which he delivered that statement.
"Good to know… well, I believe this is me." She said shuffling from foot to foot.
"Okay Rosie, I will see you at lunch." She didn't like that moniker, not one bit and her growl told him so. Later Ana will learn that was a mistake. If you dislike something, never let Christian Grey know.
Christian had run to his class to make it on time. He made it just on time, his large frame maneuvered around the tables to the back and settled down next to Susannah. She liked to call herself his girlfriend, but in reality, she was nothing more than a fuck buddy. He had plans to get into Harvard, and good grades alone didn't cut it. You had to be an all round individual to make it into Ivy League colleges these days, and that meant he didn't have time for a girlfriend. The occasional fuck, yeah, but not a girlfriend. If it made Susannah happy to tell people, she was his girlfriend then so be it as long as she opened her legs for him when he required it. He was like any hormonal teen and needed to let loose every now and again.
"He had his business plan already thought out, but his parents expected him to spend four years in college before they'd give him the money he needed. Fuck that, if everything went according to plan he'd only spend two years, maximum three at Harvard, but not four. He wanted his company up and running by his twenty-second birthday. He was taking all these AP classes for that reason. Two dull ass classes later and he was headed for the cafeteria with Susannah hanging on him like a leech.
He looked up from his lunch and found her in line waiting to get her food. "ROSIE." He shouted from across the cafeteria much to her dismay. "Rosie, I know you see me." He said drawing everyone's attention to them. "Wave or I'm coming over." He threatened with a shit-eating grin. She reluctantly waved at him before he sat chuckling to himself.
"Who is that?" Susannah asked.
"No one you know." Was his curt response. You'd think she'd know not to question me by now.
"Are you kidding me? Fucker is just looking for trouble." Someone on the next table muttered forcing him to look up to find Morris Kennedy walking past everyone in the line to get his food. He barged past Rose, and she dropped her tray.
"Asshole, what do you think you are doing?" Rose barked getting everyone's attention.
"What did you call me?" Kennedy turned his attention to her. Everyone knew he wasn't above hurting her.
"I called you an asshole. Evidently, I can add stupid as well."
"Fuck," Christian muttered. "This is not going to end well." He stood only for Susannah to grab his hand stopping him. He shrugged her off, but by the time he looked back up Kennedy was on his knees with Rose holding her tray aloft ready to knock the fucker out. "Well, what do you know?" Christian said with a chuckle.
The whack Kennedy took made just about every student wince.
Christian knew Kennedy wasn't going to let that humiliation lie, he would find a way to get payback. He had a free period after lunch and decided to head to the football field instead. He practiced his throws, everyone, perfectly down the center of the end zone. Rather uncharacteristic of him, one ended up in the bleachers, and he went to get it. He didn't need to, but he did because that was where he'd find Morris Kennedy. He knew the asshole well, after the humiliation he took at Rosie's hand he would skip class and come lick his wounds here planning his retaliation.
He made sure his gloves were on tight, he came up behind Kennedy and before he could utter a word. Christian knocked him to the ground, it was a small tap by his standards, but he needed Kennedy cognizant for the conversation.
"Grey, what the fuck?" Kennedy said attempting to get up only to earn a punch to the solar plexus.
"No, you listen, and you listen well asshole. If that girl in the cafeteria ever appears with a single hair out of place, I will be coming after you."
"I can't let that shit…" Kennedy didn't finish his sentence. As much as he tried to block the punches, they came at him too fast.
"Either you let it stand, or I render you unconscious for the rest of the school year. The kind when you wake up you can't even remember your own name. What will it be?" He was poised to knock the fucker out.
"I will stay well clear of her," Kennedy grumbled a response.
"Glad we could come to an agreement," Christian said smugly.
"Go fuck yourself, Grey." Just the reason he needed to finish the job.
He got out of his AP class early enough to be outside Rose's class waiting for her. "You again." She grumbled though internally she was jumping for joy.
"Here I thought you'd appreciate a ride home." He said his head held high.
"Was this before or after you embarrassed me in front of nearly the entire school?" She quipped sarcastically.
"Please after what you did to Kennedy I doubt anyone remembers me calling you Rosie. Look on the bright side at least I didn't call you Anastasia."
"I suppose." She muttered as he got the door for her. He walked around the car as Susannah rushed towards him.
"Where are you going?" There she is again questioning me.
"I'm going home." He mumbled walking past her.
"What does it look like you giving another girl a ride home leaving me behind?" She raged.
"It didn't look like that until you came over here making a big deal about nothing. Susannah this arrangement only works because you know your place. If that is now an issue, I'm sure one of your many female friends will be more than happy to ride my cock." She looked at him aghast. "Well." He asked waiting impatiently.
"It's not an issue." She lied. Without a word, he got back in his car knowing full well Susannah had to go. It was meant to be fun, and she was sucking the life out of it.
Ana simply shook her head when he got in the car. "I know, I know." He muttered. "I'm not proud of me either." He added.
"Mr. Grey, how do you like the food?" Stephen asked looking rather pleased with himself.
"Oh, it's fine… I recalled the first time I meet Rose at school." Carla dropped her spoon in shock.
"You went to school with Rose?" Stephen asked shocked by the revelation but immediately found himself hoping Christian wouldn't ask about her.
"So… will you be spending time in Savannah now that you own half of SMT?" Carla asked hoping to move the subject of conversation from her daughter.
"Well, it depends on your answer to my next question." He said putting down his cutlery, Carla noticing for the first time that he had not touched his food.
"What question?" Carla asked bristling with righteous indignation.
"Where is she?" it was downright simple.
"She came home from her graduation packed a small bag and walked out. We haven't heard from her since." Stephen answered. It was unfortunate, but it was as he suspected.
"Then I guess I will not be spending any time in Savannah." He said standing up. "Oh, one more thing… I actually own seventy- three percent of SMT, not fifty. I set up the shell corporation that bought the other twenty-three percent. I knew you would not sell me more than fifty percent, so I made other arrangements."
"Why?" Stephen looked perplexed.
"This is payback." Carla snarled. "Have you forgotten what I know about you?"
"No, I haven't, but you'll be hard-pressed to prove it. Honestly Carla, when was the last time you spoke to Dr. Garcon?" Her jaw dropped at the question.
"What is going on?" Stephen asked.
"God, you really are either stupid, or she has really pulled the wool over your eyes. Did you ever stop to question why you had such a sullen, withdrawn teen in your house?"
"You told me it was just a teenage crush and she will eventually get over it. You said she was just pissed because you had to move and nothing more. 'It's just over a boy she will get over it, Stephen.' Those were your words. Carla, tell me why I have lost my company to a man you clearly have a history with." Stephen was out of his seat and bearing down on Carla.
"I did what any mother would do. I did what I had to do to give my daughter a bright future."
"And where is that daughter now." Christian was surprised Stephen asked the question. "Huh Carla, where is she now?" He barked.
"You didn't do it because you were a mother, you did it because you hated her. She was happy, and you couldn't stand it." From her pale and frightened look, he knew he had hit the nail on the head. What Rose saw as grief he saw as hatred and sadly he was right. He just never knew why and still didn't. "You hated her so much you snatched her happiness… her life from her to marry another man with money. Well, guess what in thirty days the bank will foreclose on this house because I will sell SMT for all of one dollar and give you your share of twenty-seven cents." Stephen collapsed back on his seat with his head in his hands.
"The choice is simple, you can stay and watch me take everything you have, or you can divorce Stephen, and I will help his company thrive." Either way, she loses.
"What kind of choice is that?" Carla barked.
"The same choice you gave me exactly ten years ago today. You stood in my parent's home and pulled the rug from under me. You took so much pleasure in causing such destruction. Tell me, Carla, how does it feel to have the shoe on the other foot." He asked with a shit-eating grin.
Stephen finally recovered enough to speak. "For ten years you lied to me, god Carla… how much don't I know? I always thought she was an ungrateful little… and this entire time… it was because you hurt her… how could you hate your own daughter?" By the look on her face, Carla knew her choice had been made for her. Stephen was going to divorce her.
"I can tell you where to find her." Carla blurted out in an attempt to save herself from ruin.
"I highly doubt it." Christian sneered walking out of the dining room.
"There is one person who knows where she is at all times. It was stipulated in Ray's…" Christian's smile told her she had said too much.
"Raymond Steele's lawyer," Christian said as he walked out. Carla's look of utter dejection would help him sleep like a baby that night. He climbed into the car, and before he called Welch, he did the one thing he did every day. He entered Rose Lambert into every search engine, as always the results were the same. Then he tried Anastasia Lambert, again nothing. With the advent of social media he expected to have found her by now, but so far he had no luck. He had figured out that she had most likely changed her name, but unless he knew what it was, he wasn't going to find her. That was when Welch had the brilliant idea of looking for her mother instead of Ana. Unfortunately, Carla knew about as much as he did regarding Rose's whereabouts.
"So how long will you be gone for?" Kate asked getting ready for their meeting.
"I will be back Sunday night. The wedding is tomorrow afternoon, and by Sunday morning I'll be in the air." Kate looked disappointed, for once she expected Ana to have fun, let her hair down. The girl had never taken off more than a weekend, and honestly, Kate didn't know how she functioned. Actually, she did, Anastasia Steele functioned on pain.
"Why don't you stay for a few days enjoy the sand, sun and whatever else… get drunk for the first time in your life." Kate encouraged earning a smirk in response. "Can't blame a girl for trying." She muttered.
"If you find him and… he has moved on I don't want to know." Ana uttered zipping up her bag. "I can't even bring myself to do a simple Google search." Her tears began to fall. "I have spent so long pining after him and yet I won't even look just in case…"
"It's easier to pretend you lost him that day ten years ago rather than you lost him to someone else," Kate said. "Don't get me wrong it's completely stupid you won't look or tell anyone just in case they decided to look for you." She added with a chuckle. "It would hurt more knowing that the first chance you got you spend two years looking for him and found nothing before giving up only for him to have moved on. It is easier not to know rather than the cruel faith of having been the only one waiting. " Kate understood. The pain of loss was better than the pain of heartbreak. "Come on, you can take your frustration out on Roach and his greedy ass.