In honor of my home team, I have to start this chapter with an emphatic: GO BRONCOS! Okay, on to the story…

I stood by the door of the coffee shop, arms crossed stubbornly over my chest while Christian stared at me incredulously. "Get inside, Ana. Let's go have a good time." His tone gave no indication that he had any intention of enjoying himself after the encounter with Kate.

I tapped my foot on the pavement. "No. I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on."

His face deepened to a flaming red. "This is not the time," he choked through grinding teeth.

"It's now or never, Christian. And trust me, you will not be stalking me anymore if you don't explain yourself – my security team will see to that."

He huffed and puffed – clearly not used to being backed into a corner. I might have enjoyed the spectacle if my insides weren't raging with fear.

He slammed the door shut, sending with it the waft of calming music and idle chatter that settled so soothingly on the inside of the shop. He paced to the curb and back. "You don't know what you're asking me to do. Even if I wanted to talk about it now, this is not the place."

I snorted. "Are you done talking in riddles yet? Spill it."

"I can't tell you anything unless I can show you – " he cut himself off in frustration. The familiar sound of Royal Blood's "Figure It Out" came blasting over my cell phone. If the timing wasn't bad enough, the song seemed to tease me with its flatlining sense of irony.

"What?" I snapped, wishing work could leave me alone on the weekend for once.

It was Yvette, the head of my security. "We've had a breach at the office, Ms. Steele. Someone got past front desk security and managed to hack through the office door codes."

I groaned. "Fine, take care of it and I'll deal with it tomorrow. Did they get into anything? Is our internal network compromised?"

"That's the problem, Ms. Steele, the intruder doesn't appear to have taken anything. It's possible we intervened before they had a chance, but we can't be sure until we've combed the entire office and all the internal communications systems. We need you and Kate to come right away and let us know if anything seems out of sorts in your offices."

"You've been in my office a million times, can't you tell if anything is missing?" It wasn't often that we had a break-in, but it wasn't unheard of either. I wasn't in the mood to give up the rest of my Sunday over a teenage penny cash-robber.

"Standard protocol, Ms. Steele."

I sighed. "Fine, I'll be right there." Christian regarded me with concern. "I have to go to my office to look into a security breach. Can you drive me there?"

His lips tightened. "We still need to talk."

"Yeah, well, there's not whole lot I can do about that, is there?" My patience was paper-thin. The whole fucking weekend was turning into a huge mess.

Christian look thoughtful. "Okay, I'll drive you there, but will you promise me something?"

"What?" I was already standing by the passenger door waiting for him to let me in.

"Don't talk to Kate until I get a chance to explain."

"Christian, I don't have time for this. I have to work with Kate on this security breach – I can't control what she does or doesn't say to me."

"Ana," I looked across the hood to his pleading eyes. "Just try to avoid the subject, okay?"

I huffed. "Whatever, fine. Can we go now?"

He finally unlocked the door and we sped further downtown to the office building.

When I arrived, Yvette had the entire team hard at work. A few officers were on the main floor, questioning the building security team. I bypassed them and headed straight for the elevator, anxious to get this whole debacle overwith.

When I hit our floor, I walked into a minefield of personal, running this way and that, computer equipment scattered across the lobby and lots of anxious chatting about firewalls, hacking, and other terms I was unfamiliar with. Yvette caught me in the hallway on the way to my office.

"Has Kate arrived?" I asked.

"Yes, she's in her office going through her things right now," she explained.

I nodded and opened the door to my office. It looked like mine had become host to a small gathering. "What do you need me here for if they're already searching my stuff?"

"They can't get into your locked drawers or personal items – they're just checking the security of your computer backup and phone system."

"Okay, so what do I need to look for, exactly?"

"From what we've been able to find, we think the intruder was hoping to hack into our network from home base – meaning they haven't been able to access it remotely. From what we can tell, they didn't have any interest in any physical items within the office – not locked drawers were opened and no safes were accessed. So we think they were looking purely for intelligence. To verify that, please check all your secured spaces and we'll have you walk through your computer files as well."

I slumped into my office chair and pulled out my keys. It was going to be a long afternoon.

Two hours later, I had been through everything. Not an inch of my office hadn't been scoured by me personally and I was ready to go home.

"You're sure nothing seems out of place?" Yvette asked.

"I'm sure," I clarified.

"It looks like the intruder left your data files more or less alone, but your list of personal contacts embedded in your email program was accessed. Can you think of any reason why someone would have interest in that information?"

I shook my head. "Not in the slightest."

"You need to think hard on this one, Ms. Steele. This typically only happens when a hacker is seeking to find a connection between you and someone with a questionable reputation. Is there anyone listed in your contacts that could hurt your reputation?"

I thought over that one. I always synced my phone with my computer to keep everything up-to-date so just about anyone I'd ever called would be in there. Kate's urgency to speak with me about Christian, and his sudden desire to explain hit the forefront of my mind. What has he been involved in? As far as I could tell, he came off from his own business dealings squeaky clean, but maybe there was more to the story.

"You've run background checks on my personal contacts before, right?" Yvonne nodded. Do it again, please; I've added a few since the last audit. Please start with Christian Grey this time."

She nodded her head. "Good idea, Ms. Steele. We'll find something in there and trace it back to the person who did this."

I nodded my head. In the meantime, I was determined to get my own answers.

Before Kate could accost me, I stole out of the office and down the escalator to the lobby. I immediately called my car and asked to go straight to Christian's apartment. If he had some illegal activity in his past that could hurt my reputation, he was going to explain it to me to my face. I began to regret my recklessness in pretending he was my beau at the charity event the night before.

I stormed past his hired help to find him waiting for me in the living room. I could hardly look at him – I wasn't sure I wanted to know what sort of criminal activity he'd gotten me mixed up in.

I looked straight into those steely grey eyes. "You said you have an explanation for me: let's hear it. Because I've got security all over my office right now over some hacker who apparently has taken an interest in my personal contacts. What have you done that they might be interested in connecting me to?"

Christian's forehead creased. "I do have an explanation for you, but…" He scratched his chin. "…It doesn't involve any illegal activity. No one else knows about it but me. Well, until yesterday when Elliott got drunk and way too curious…"

"Christian, will you quit stalling and man up already? What the hell are you hiding from me?"

He looked me up and down and that worried look came across his face again. "Okay, but…just keep an open mind, okay?"

I rolled my eyes, but he grabbed my hand and led me down the hallway to the room I'd almost entered earlier that day. He pulled out the key and opened the door.

"If you run out of here screaming, I'll understand. If you never want to talk to me again, I'll understand. But this is who I am. So you may as well know now before we…"

I raised an eyebrow. "Before we what?"

"I don't know. I don't really know what 'this' is," he gestured between the two of us. "But I'll happy if you don't hate me after you leave."

I'd had enough with the riddles and theatrics. I stalked into the room, ready to face whatever weird skeletons or demons he had hiding in the closet. I had no reason to even stay in contact with him anyways – walking away would be easy as pie.

I entered the immaculately clean room and saw the horse whips I'd noticed before. Okay, no big deal. What is this guy so nervous about?

Then the rest of the room came into view and my breath caught in my throat.

Cliffhanger! Sorry guys, but the Super Bowl is today and I've got to get ready. I won't leave you hanging for long.

FYI, for Valentine's Day I'm writing custom steamy romance scenes and short stories, featuring YOU and your loved one or crush (or maybe you and Christian Grey?). They make great gifts for yourself, your loved one, or your friends! For more information on how to order, email me at pjhaynie at yahoo dot com or go to Fiverr dot com and look up gigs by FreakinJane.

GO BLUE AND ORANGE!