CHAPTER 10

Thursday Morning

At Grey Publishing, Hannah Martin walked into the kitchen to find Danielle, Molly and Simran huddled around the coffee pot. Danielle's head jerked round to see who the intruder was. When she saw it was only Hannah she relaxed. There were dark circles under her eyes. Simran looked equally exhausted.

"Did you finish it?" Danielle asked. The three of them clustered around Hannah.

"Yes," she admitted. "It had me up all night."

"Me too," they chorused.

"Without doubt, that was the hottest and the most heartbreaking thing I've ever read," said Molly. "I just want to hug Stephen and kill Marlene."

"I think everybody wants to kill Marlene," said Simran. "The evil bitch. How could she do that to Stephen? Poor guy's utterly screwed up and she puts even more twists in him!"

"And he doesn't even realise what she's doing! It's so sad," said Danielle. "It's like watching a car crash that you're powerless to prevent. You have to talk Ana around. Grey Publishing has to have this."

Hannah leant back against the counter. "It's a very emotive book," she said. "There aren't many stories where we have the woman as the abuser."

"Yeah, but the sex at the end, though?" said Danielle. "When he gets away from the talons of Marlene and becomes the Dominant, himself. Holy fuck on ice that was hot! I wanted to be Natasha. I'd have done anything for him. I nearly called you at what-the-fuck o'clock this morning, just to see if you had Blake Tyne's number. I want book two, like, now!"

Simran poured herself another coffee. "I'm going to spend the entire day fantasizing about Stephen White. It will go nicely with my Christian Grey fixation. I might do a global change on the text and change his name to Christian's. White just has that feel about him."

"No!" said Hannah involuntarily and her co-workers looked at her strangely. "No," she repeated more calmly. "I was told to delete the manuscript and I didn't and I stupidly passed it on to Danielle." Hannah gave her colleague a hard stare. "Please don't make this worse. If Ana finds out what I did she'll fire me!" There was no telling what Christian Grey himself might do to her. "Guys, this is where it has to stay. Don't change it or pass it on to anybody else - at all," she stressed.

"Too late," said Molly quietly. "I let my roommate read part of it last night and she wanted a copy."

"Shit!" Hannah wailed.

"Sherry?" said Simran. "Oh she'll love it!"

"Yeah. Weird, but she imagined him as Christian Grey, too."

Simran bounced on her heels. "See, I told you! Grey is White! She's the one who works for GEH, the lucky bitch. I can't wait until I'm in the same building as him."

Hannah wished that the planet would swallow her up. She'd read the whole book from start to finish last night and these women had no idea that this was actually Christian Grey telling his own story. The adopted boy who struggled to fit in and who fell under the control of a woman, who, under the guise of trying to help him, turned him into a man who locked himself away. In reflecting on what she'd read in the early hours of the morning, Hannah thought back to her early days of working for Ana, when Christian Grey would turn up at the office with all the firepower of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile and rage against Ana as if he were the sea crashing against cliffs of pure diamond. Ana didn't budge. She didn't have any truck with his controlling behaviour and over the last ten years Christian Grey had mellowed and matured. He'd started to smile, started to laugh and if the book he'd written was any reflection of where he'd come from, then it was an amazing journey of redemption. However, Hannah could see exactly why Ana Grey was reluctant to publish it. He'd not spared anyone's blushes with the sex. Although most of the sex happened away from it, if that was a true reflection of how good he was 'in bed,' then…damn! The book had left her with strong needs that she'd had to address before breakfast.

Although it was erotic, it was in no way a love story. If anything, it was a tragedy. Sex was the right word. That's all it was. Mere Fucking. There was no love in it from the moment the young Stephen White had hooked up with the poisonous Marlene. Was this the same Christian Grey who lost no opportunity to drop by, simply to grab a kiss from his wife? The same Christian Grey who one day, filled Ana's office with flowers and hung around the place like an excited puppy until she got back and opened her door. Christian Grey could do romance, and he could certainly express his love for his wife. But, if Stephen White was him before he met Ana, then he'd grown up with no idea of the meaning of the word and that filled her with sadness.

Hannah left the other women still talking about the book and returned to the office where the rest of her co-workers were arriving for their penultimate day in the building. She sat down and set to work on the morning's email, but she couldn't clear her head of the images of Christian Grey that the book conjured up. She couldn't imagine him ever being dominated. Couldn't imagine him needing to stoop so low just to have some kind of relationship with a woman. Couldn't imagine the screwed-up mess that Ana Steele had been faced with when she met him. And how had that started anyway? Was the story about her coming to interview him a lie and the reality was that Ana had been a former sub? It wasn't really a conversation that Hannah could have with her boss.

"Coffee?" At the sound of Christian Grey's voice and the sudden appearance of a lidded cup in front of her, Hannah Martin leapt clean off her chair. She stared at him and Christian laughed. "No problems with your reflexes then, Ms Martin?"

Hannah smoothed her hair. "No."

"We stopped for coffee on the way in and picked up one for you. Americano, skim milk, no sugar, yes?"

She took the proffered cup. "Yes, thank you."

Ana came to stand by his side. There was no trace of the weeping woman who had left the office yesterday afternoon. "Are you OK, Hannah? You look flustered."

"I love that word," said Christian. "It reminds me of being in Cornwall." He seemed to drift off into his thoughts.

Ana snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Christian, Christian, you're not crabbing with Ted off Padstow harbour wall now. Get to work."

Before Hannah's eyes Christian seemed to assume a wholly different demeanour. "Yes, Mistress," he said solemnly. "And what would you like me to do for you today?"

"Earn enough to pay for the children's school fees."

There was a twitch of a smile around his mouth. "And for the rest of the seven hours and fifty eight minutes that I have to be there?"

Ana smiled. "I don't know. Buy Spain or something." She raised her finger. "And no, that doesn't mean you can come home with Real Madrid. One soccer team is enough!"

"You're raising your finger to me, Mrs Grey?" He raised an eyebrow. "That's up there with rolling your eyes."

Ana turned to him and put her hands on her hips. "Go to work," she enunciated. "If you're going to be this much of a pest then you're not helping us to move into our offices on Saturday."

Hannah's coffee all but came down her nose.

"But I can get drinks and help with moving heavy boxes." He flexed his bicep. Simran who was walking behind him nearly passed out.

"We have women to do that," said Ana. "Anyway, why are you not sorting your own office out?"

Christian laughed. "There's nothing in it!"

"True," she admitted and glanced at her watch. "I have a meeting in ten minutes. Much as I love you in this goofy mood, I have things to do. Now go the fuck to work, Christian."

He held up his hand. "Mrs Grey, I have a twitchy palm."

She kissed it. "Later."

Christian Grey looked like a kid on Christmas morning.

There was a strange intensity that flashed back and forth between them, as if they were passing a ball of power. It was funny and now she knew Grey's background, extremely seductive. He'd met his match and someone who could love him properly. Hannah dropped her head and smiled. He had a happy ending. She hoped that he was going to write about meeting Ana. But how could she ask him about that and how much would he reveal in the book?

xXXx

At Grey House surrounded by the emptiness of her office, Susannah McDowell looked out at the bright spring morning. All her things had gone to Grey Plaza, even Kelly had gone to Grey Plaza, but Susannah wanted this moment alone to say a private goodbye to a building that had occupied a special place in her heart for so many years. It was strange how concrete, glass and steel could aptly represent the way Christian Grey had once been. Grey House was uncompromising. Grey Plaza was a far more organic. Wood and soft furnishings gave a softness to it that Grey House just didn't possess. It was a reminder that things change. It was a reminder that people change. Sadly, not always for the better.

Susannah still had no idea what was getting at Scott and he was disinclined to talk. She had thought back over the last few weeks, analyzing carefully everything she could think of that might have provided the source of his irritation - she knew him well enough to diagnose that. Something she had done had not met with his approval, but he wouldn't tell her what it was – although he seemed to be punishing her for it. He spoke harshly to her, he was rough with her and was operating close to her hard limits, beyond which she would not remain in the same house as him. This wasn't about their sex life, this was about their life, period. How could she be married to a man who wouldn't tell her what was wrong? Communication was the key and Scott had picked this moment to clam up.

There was a knock at the door. Susannah turned to see Sherry Billington standing in the doorway. She looked exhausted.

"Sherry, are you OK?"

She nodded "Yes, just up most of the night, reading."

Susannah smiled. "Suffering from One More Chapter syndrome?"

"Something like that," the woman blushed.

"What can I do for you?"

"Wondered if there was a decision on Hanson, yet?"

Susannah shook her head. "No, we still have outstanding queries. I can't agree to it before those are resolved."

"OK. We're just about to leave for the Plaza."

"Yes, I'm just finishing up here and I'll see you over there this afternoon."

Sherry hesitated. "Um… Susannah?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know anything about publishing?"

"Not much."

"It's just… I have a friend who works for a publishing company but they've passed on a really great book – and I mean really great. I've gotten a copy and I wondered…"

"Did the author give it to you?"

"Um… no. My friend who works for the publishing company did."

Susannah's mouth dropped open.

"Uh… I guess that isn't a good thing, right?" Sherry guessed correctly.

"No, it isn't. What the hell is your friend doing passing you someone's manuscript? How many other publishers has this author submitted it to?"

"I don't know."

"Well, just because one publisher's passed on the book doesn't mean to say that someone else won't snap it up. You tell your friend that if they're passing people's manuscripts around then they're in legal shit up to their necks."

"This is the first time."

"And it will be the last!"

"But she wants her company to publish it and they won't."

"And do you know what will and will not sell in the book industry? Don't you think that the Editor will know better than you – or your friend, for that matter? Which company is it? I need to warn them that this has happened." The woman did not reply. "Sherry, which company is it?"

Sherry shook her head, paling now. "I'd prefer not to say."

"I'd prefer that you did. How many people has she given it to?"

"Just me."

"Then get rid of it." Sherry dropped her head. "Oh, my God. You've passed it to someone. Why?" She threw her hands up into the air. "Why did you do that? That's someone's work. They own the copyright. They can sue you into oblivion."

"But it's an amazing book, it sort of… shared itself."

"What kind of stupid crap is that? Did it press the forward button by itself?"

"No, but…"

"But nothing. Tell them to delete it, right now!"

"OK. But you've got to read it!"

"I will. When it comes out legally. What's it called?"

"White Tower by Blake Tyne. It's about a man called Stephen White. He's a successful property magnet who operates out of a building like this. On the face of it he has everything, but he has a dark side with all kinds of weird issues."

"If it's that good, then somebody will pick it up. But you'd better hope that Blake Tyne doesn't have me as his lawyer." Sherry nodded and turned to leave.

Susannah returned to the view out of the window, looking across to the imposing new edifice of Grey Plaza. "Successful man with a dark side…" she murmured. "Some of us have heard that one before."