Christians POV

I sat at my desk, my eyes strained by the brightness of the computer, but I just can't look away. I keep reading and reading. Ray Steele has quit the gambling record. I guess it runs in the family. The list goes on. He's been arrested for fighting, child endangerment, gambling of course and a con.

Why does she want to find him again?

When I searched his name, it gave me only information up until the year 2008. That was five years ago. Surely he hasn't been missing that long. Anastasia told me he's only been gone for three months. He doesn't a car, or any sort of housing, god I hope she isn't living on the streets. They have no cell phone records, although she gave me a number to reach her at, but I can't trace it. I have nothing to go on.

I rummage through my drawer and pull out the piece of paper with her number on it. I dial the number a wait for her to answer.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

She picks up. "Hello?" She says. Is she running? She sounds out of breath.

"Anastasia, it's me Christian."

"Oh hey, anything yet." Her breathing is getting heavier and I can hear her footsteps picking up pace.

"Uh, no. I can't seem to find anything on your dad since 2008. Do you know why that is?" She didn't answer for a moment, clearly thinking about it…and running.

"Oh shit. After we left Chicago, he changed his name so Jack wouldn't find…." She stopped.

"So he wouldn't find what?" I prompted her.

"Nothing, can we pick this up later, I'm sort of busy."

"Doing what?" I said.

"Well as you now know I gamble, and I sort of pissed a few guys off. I beat one guy to a pulp with my fist and then choked him with his pull stick. I grabbed the money and ran." I stood up quickly and grabbed my jacket, badge, and gun. "No need to be alarmed, I took out two, I got one to go. How about I meet you at your office, what's the address?" This woman is insane. She's going to get herself killed.

"No, I'm coming to get you. You should be gambling, you're doing it illegally. Where are you exactly? " I was panicking. I didn't want anything to happen to her. Why? Good question, I don't fucking know.

"No you'll ruin my mojo! And I do it to make money, it's all I know. Now, I can take him out, just tell me the address."

"It's 861 Manhattan Ave."

"Really? I know where that is. I'm actually not too far. I'll be there in fifteen." I could tell she stopped running. She was panting. "Alright well I'm going to show this guy what's up. I will see you in a few." She hung up on me. I wasn't sure if I should be worried or not. If she was a minute late I was going after her.

I paced in my office for what seemed like hour, until she finally stepped through the door.

"Awe, look who was worried about lil ole me." She said. I rolled my eyes and gestured for her to take a seat.

"Now, to finish our earlier conversation, why did your father change his name?" I asked.

Her smile dropped and so did her eyes. She stared at the floor and bit her lip. Damn, she looked sexy doing that. I wanted to bite that lip for her. Focus Christian! She was nervous. She didn't make eye contact and she definitely didn't want to share any sort of details involving her father.

"Look Anastasia.."

"It's Ana."

"Okay, Ana, if you want me to help you, I need you to give any kind of information that could point me in the right direction. So if you please just cooperate, we could find him a whole lot quicker."

She looked up at me and her eyes began to water. "Five years ago we moved here from Chicago. He changed his name to David Graham."

"Why did he change his name?" I wanted her tell me everything. I needed to know in order to help her.

"Because we ran, from a dangerous man, his name is Jack Hyde." She looked at me.

"I don't know who that is." I tilted my head in confusion.

"You probably wouldn't. He has people who do his work for him and my father was one of those people. I wouldn't doubt if there wasn't any record of him at all. He's smart. I would never risk getting caught."

"Why would your father work for him?"

"They had a relationship that went past his work and was before his work. They grew up together and became partners. In what? I don't know. I was never allowed to know. Nobody was except his inside men. My father was one of them. Once I was born Jacks power eventually went to his head and my father became less of his partner and more like his number one employee. He started to send my dad out to do the big jobs and to bring back the big money. He didn't trust Jack or anyone else with so naturally he took me with him. By the time I was four I had my own pool stick. And by the time I was thirteen I could count cards and help my dad cheat during poker and every other card game. Personally I don't think counting is cheating, it just means you're really smart." She winked at me and I could help but to smile. "Once I turned sixteen, my dad would sneak me into bars and I'd gabble men out of their money. We'd bring home at least two thousand dollars every night."

I was shocked. This woman has been gambling for over a decade. How could any parent let their child live like that. As if reading my thoughts she says, "I know you probably think my dad is horrible, but he wasn't, he was living the way he knew how, just like I do now. I can't say it was the best upbringing, but I was happy. My dad made me happy. He always protected me. He tried to anyways…" A tear fell from her eyes.

"What do you mean he tried?"

"Things got tough at times. I had to learn a few things while I lived in Chicago. The number one rule Jack always said was to know how to fight your enemies, number two was to always be the smartest one in the room, and number three, don't get caught. Of course he took the number one rule to extremes. There's a reason why I can fight and it is because I took boxing classes…" I wasn't sure if I wanted to hear the rest, but she continued anyways, "I can fight because I was beaten until I hand the guts to fight back. My dad didn't like it, but there was so much he could do. So five years ago he got the chance to grab me and leave….and he took it."

I wasn't expecting her to tell me her full story, but that I have it I could help her, and everything she's been through, well dammit I was going to help her.

"Thank you for sharing. I know that must have been hard. At least now I know a place to start my search and a name to go off of." She gave me a small smile.

"Look I know this whole PI thing isn't for the clients to get involved in, but I want to be with be with you if you decide to go anywhere a lead may take you."

"No way. It could be dangerous."

"Yeah, well I wasn't asking for your permission, I am going with you! Besides I already lead a dangerous life."

"Anastasia.."

"No! It's Ana! Call me Anastasia one more time and I will drop kick you." She said through gritted teeth. She was pretty cute when she got mad.

"Okay," I raise my hands in defeat, "Fine. Clearly you won't take no for answer, but I'm going to have to double the cost."

"That's fine. How much? I can pay you tomorrow." Is she serious?

"It will be around 3,000, seeing as we probably have to go to Chicago. We will also need lots of surveillance. This Jack Hyde seems like a tough guy to find. Lucky for you it isn't out of the country or else I would have to double it."

"Okay, I will give you the money by tomorrow."

"Where are you going to get that kind of money in one day? The two hundred you made last night won't cover it."

She gave me a smirk. "You don't need to worry about that. You have your ways of making money, and I have mine. You'll get your money." Shit, I better.

I stared at her until she looked away. I wanted to kiss those lips so badly. She had such an innocent look but she wasn't fooling me. I took a step toward her when she got up from her seat. We were inches apart and I could feel her breath on my face. She smelt like Christmas, winter and cinnamon. I wanted to taste her. I knew this was wrong, she was my client, and a woman who broke the law every damn night since she was four, but I couldn't help myself.

"A little close aren't you Grey?" She said, totally ruining the moment. "How very unprofessional." She pushed me away from her. "Now if you will excuse me, I have money to make." She left my office with the swaying of her hips. Damn.

As soon as she left, Elliot poked his head in the door. "Who was that lovely fox?" He asked with a whistle.

"That is Anastasia Steele. She is my next client and she was me to find her dad."

He cocked his head to one side. "Find her dad? Shouldn't she the guy who does the Locater TV show?"

"That's was I was thinking, but I wanted to look into it because this woman gambles for a living." His eyes got wide and he stopped looking through the paper work he had in his hands. "So I looked her father up and he has a record. I called her in and she told me the background story and mentions some guy named Jack Hyde. I think this could be a real good case. Like a criminal case type thing."

"I definitely agree. This Hyde guy sounds familiar though." He was lost in thought, and then shrugged it off.

"Yeah, I'm going to start on the case in two days. I'm going to dig for a little more information."

He nodded and then walked out the office. "Oh, try not to fall for the client. I saw the way you checked out her ass. You dirty laughed when I through a pen at him. "Oh and I'm heading out to the bar a few blocks over with a group of friends from college, they surprised me with a visit."

What am I going to do?

This is going to be long and interesting case.

*****Thoughts Please*****