Chapter 14: Business Proposals
Author's Note!
Hello fellow readers, I'll be ceasing FSOGoodbye until around November to December due to my inability to juggle two stories at once and my highly demanding academic life. Please do understand :) However, if any of you are interested in co-writing or just taking over FSOGoobye all together, do PM me. And forgive me if the upcoming chapters are a bit off, I've never been pregnant (Thank God, I'm only 17) and I only know the things I research on. :) Thank you.
I was in deep trouble.
As usual, My inner goddess pointed out.
The Asian crisis was still fresh in my mind. Christian had gone nuts about it and it had taken me into one of the lowest points of my life. To nobody's surprise, Elena had been behind it all. After getting married, I had thought that we had left her and all her shanningans in the past. Apparently not.
There had come a low time where Grey Publishing was on a roller coaster down into an abyss. A time when the staff had begun to quit in anticipation for the demise of my company. It had given me a massive headache as I had tried to think of solutions, any and every, that I could take to revive the business.
Speculation was a nasty devil. It spread through the company like wildfire. The sales had been dropping exponentially seeing that the most important staff, the ones vetting the books to be published, failed us by choosing the wrong things to invest in. Our revenue had dipped and I was soon forced to cut pays.
It must have been fear at that time. Christian had given me Grey Publishing as a post-wedding gift, planting it into my hands. He had had such high expectations and hopes for me, constantly telling me that he knew I could do it. Unknowingly, he had put so much pressure on my shoulders to the extent that I did not want to come up short.
Christian had been on a business tour around the world for two weeks, the longest we had ever been away from each other. I did not want him to perceive me as weak and did not want to alarm him by withdrawing such a large sum from our own personal account. I did not want him to realize how I lacked the same CEO capabilities that he had so naturally possessed.
I could feel the company Christian had bought slipping through my fingers. The fear was eating me inside out and with the lack of physical support from Christian being away so long, I was desperate for any solution except the ones that would implicate him.
A major restructuring was needed. I had to rebuild this company starting from the bottom up. I needed to fire our current employees who were doing a shitty job picking the books, review those in charge of marketing... The list had been so long that I was losing my mind.
Out from no where, Jonathan Davis had descended from the heavens and appeared in the lift as we were heading up.
"Rough day?" His green eyes softened with concern.
I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, "Extremely."
He ran his fingers through his own locks and offered me a smile, "Anything I can do to help?"
Half-crazed and assuming he was just another one of my staff or a random intern, I shook my head at him. "Unless you happen to have a huge lot of gold sitting somewhere," I joked, exhausted.
The man had shrugged, "Actually, I'm on my way to your CEO to ask if she'd be willing to let me invest in the company."
"My CEO?" I was confused.
"Yes, a Ms Anastasia Steele I believe." The man clarified, flicking through his iPhone to catch my name right. "I spent eons looking for this very publishing firm, only to find out that it was renamed."
"Grey Publishing." I said, barely believing my ears. "Why would anyone want to invest in this firm?" I had meant to whisper to myself, but in this metallic lift, it had bounced right off the walls and into the man's ears.
He laughed, a careless chime and smiled broadly at me. "I have a tendency to scout out potential firms, mostly those not listed, invest a large sum of money and within the year, withdraw it all after the returns are high enough."
"What kind of investment strategy is that?" I had said, never before hearing such an unorthodox methodology.
"One that pays well." The man replied with a confident beam that resembled the one Christian always wore when he talked about money, pointing to his watch that was clearly the same line Christian bought his from. The lift 'dinged' as we reached my office level. The doors opened, "Well, this is me."
I was breathless, my entire being desiring to jump on this impeccable opportunity within the next millisecond. "This is me too," I forced myself to be charming, "I'm Anastasia Steele."
Christian folded his arms, clearly in disdain. "Why did you take 10 billion from him?" Even though he was not yelling, there was adequate bitterness in the tone to convey his annoyance.
He had offered 10 billion but I had only taken 10 million, "I took 10 mi-"
"Why did you take it from him Ana?" Christian interrupted, "I'm not asking how much you took."
"The company was sinking!" I said, exasperated.
Christian clenched his jaw, "I asked why you took it from Jonathan Davis!" His patience had clearly worn out.
"I don't understand the question." I whispered.
His eyes were an enraged grey, the flames scorching. "You couldn't think of anyone else to take money from? Money that belongs to you as well?!" Christian raked his fingers through his hair in absolute annoyance, "I can't even... We're not exactly hurting for money. Anastasia, I'm loaded. I can't even begin to see your logic!"
I could feel myself shrinking. Suddenly, there was a quiet, almost timid knock on the glass door. "Mrs Grey, Mr Davis is waiting."
Christian squeezed his eyes shut, trying to tolerate his justified annoyance at me.
"I'm sorry."
"You go in there and tear the contract in half." Christian snapped. It surprised me to know that Christian was still allowing me to interact with Jonathan. "He's not dangerous in any physical way, just that he had been one of the many of Elena's tools to getting what she wanted." Christian clarified, " I just need to figure out what he's trying to do, I don't think this is a coincidence."
"He's trying to harm you?" I squeaked, barely able to grasp the idea that I had been the one to let the enemy into Christian's impenetrable fort.
Christian squeezed the arch of his nose, "Even if he was, I hardly doubt he could even scratch me." His eyes flashed up to meet mine, "What kind of contract was it?"
I grimaced, "An unorthodox one."
"Un...orthodox?" Christian raised his eyebrows in question.
I swallowed, "He didn't have many issues, all he asked for is full asset liquidity and.."
"Please tell me you signed on this?" Christian was frustrated. "Davis' is a sneaky one and if it's not on paper..."
"I did." I put my hands up in the air. "We did."
"Give it to me." Christian commanded.
I waved Claire forward, "Claire please, could you?" Claire nodded at me, heading towards the locked glass cabinet where I kept all my legal documents.
"Mean while, Ana," Christian heaved a sigh like there was a heavy boulder weighing on his chest, "Go to Davis and break it off. Make it haste and come back to me."
Of course I will. "You're not coming?"
"I have a phone call to make." Christian narrowed his eyes at me. "Multiple."
I hated this distance between us. Letting go of my pride, I took three brave strides towards a fuming Christian. Part of me turned cold as he seemed to close himself, but I was not letting that discourage me. I had made the mistake and I needed him to know that I was sorry. Closing my eyes so I would be blind to any rejection, I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned into his chest.
The effect was instant, his rigid structure softened and he wrapped his arms around me. Resting his chin at the top of my head, he sighed. "I'm not angry at you, Ana. I'm angry at myself from not realizing that you needed the help in the first place."
Christian had resorted to blaming himself for my irrational behavior once more. "I didn't want to burden you in addition to your business tour and I..." How on earth do I phrase what I needed to tell him?
Christian's lips brushed the crown of my head as he tightened his grip on me, "You can tell me anything."
Sucking in a steadying breath, I tried to muster enough courage. "I wanted to show you that... I was good enough for you..."
Christian was not at all shocked. Taking a small step back, he coaxed my chin up to meet his gaze. It was saturated with understanding and love, "You're more than enough for me. I'll say it as many times as you need me to, Ana."
"But I was losing the business and I thought you'd realize how incapable I was, I tried to salvage it with-"
"Ana," His tone was tender and caring, "I gave you this CEO position so that there would be one more aspect in your life that you can depend on me to nurture you in."
In other words, the position of CEO was something I could never rely on Ethan for help in. I could see the logic in it. I had misread Christian all the way, he was not expecting me to meet the bar immediately, but rather wanted my journey towards perfection to be one where he could guide me through. It was so... Christian. How could I have missed that?
"I didn't want you to leave me." I said, getting it off my chest.
"Death do us part, baby." Christian brought my wedding ring up to his lips to reassure us both. "I'm sorry I didn't realize how tough your job had become... Sometimes I just get so immersed in work, it cocoons me."
It was not his fault. I knew that he had taken that business tour as a last resort to secure all his firms. It was vital that the various people sitting on the different boards meet their boss physically at least once a year. We had intended to go together but I had caught a slight fever and Christian had insisted I stayed behind under the care of Gail.
"It's not your fault, I should've said something." Without a doubt, Christian would've helped.
He leaned in to nuzzle my lips against his own, "We made a mistake and we'll learn from it. Settle things with Davis my way, please."
Kissing him back lightly, I conceded. As Christian whipped out his phone to find the loophole in our security system, I followed a patient Claire towards the spare meeting room. It had not been fully set up yet and Jonathan was still lounging in the main chair.
"I'm sorry to keep you waiting." I said as Jonathan stood up to grasp my hand.
His gaze softened, "Are you alright? Did I do something to get you into trouble?"
Now he was trying to play innocent, "Please take a seat, Davis." The man lowered himself back down and I took the seat on his left, "Look, I don't know what game you're playing but it ends now."
He crossed his legs and leaned back in his seat, trying to give off a vibe that he was perfectly at ease. "Game, Ms Steele?"
That was one of the only things that bugged me about Davis. "I've told you, I'm Mrs Grey to you. Why won't you call me Mrs Grey?!"
I watched as his lips turned up into a little smile, "The very first name card you have me stated Ms Steele and Ms Steele to me you will be."
I hated how that rhymed. "What are you trying to do?" I leaned forward and married my eyes at him, "Because Christian will never let you harm any of our companies, as you have experienced over your squabble with the Asian companies."
"Feisty," Davis said, clearly enjoying this. "Just that I had zero interest in any of your companies, even then, I only poached those companies because I was begged to."
"Elena begged you?" I could hardly imagine her pleading little face, having always been so confident.
Davis nodded and then shrugged, "She was an acquaintance that kept coming up on my cell phone until I gave her what she wanted."
"What did you want?" I was more interested to know. This was going to be my repayment to Christian for lacking any sense of good judgement in the matter.
Davis rose to his feet and smoothened out his tie, taking a relaxed stroll towards the glass windows to peer down on the city below. "Elena's determination to bring Christian's career down peaked my interest. She offered herself in... So many... Ways..." I felt a shiver run down my spine, "in return, but not to worry," Davis chuckled, "I'm really not that kind of guy."
"Christian's getting all dirt on you as we speak, so you better explain faster." I folded my arms to signal that I was unbothered by his slight allusion to Christian.
Davis turned to raise his eyebrows, "If I didn't want him to find me, why would I have used my real name all this while? I never lied, never hid and never done anything illegal to prevent him from realizing my presence."
This was confusing me and Davis knew it, he walked back towards me with a proud smirk, " It's your husband's fault that he missed how... Deep I am with his wife already."
"What?" The way he said it put me in an alarmed mode.
"I wanted to know what Elena saw in Christian and why she wanted him so badly... So I did my homework and caught sight of the prettiest little jewel I have ever seen..." Davis winked at me, "The luxurious Ms Anastasia Steele that immediately caught my eye... So I did more homework and found out that your most recently acquired company was in trouble."
His words took my back to the lift incident where we had 'met'. He had pretended not to know who I was. Why?
"And then I thought to myself," He pressed his index finger against his chin. "If Christian was here, he would have never let the company dip at all... And then I realized," He snapped his fingers, "He's away on the annual world tour!"
"You come across as a stalker, I hope you know that." I said with an injection of bitterness and sourness into my tone. "I don't think you're a threat to anyone but yourself, do you need a psychiatrist?"
"Wait for me to finish, will you?" Davis laughed care-freely, not a man who was caught.'"I knew you had little experience as a CEO and if I stepped in to help... Wouldn't that make me, kind of like your... Hero?"
"You want to be my hero?" I found my mind drawing blanks, unable to comprehend where he was going with this.
Davis nodded, "I have nothing against Christian Grey except for the fact that he's taken what I desire. Of course, I was initially upset when I found out you were married... But that won't stop me."
"You desire me?" My eyebrows furrowed. "That's what this is all about?"
He nodded.
"You weren't planning to take our company down?" He shook his head. "You weren't trying to kidnap us or anything?" He shook his head. "You're just after... Me?!" He nodded innocently.
And all of a sudden, this was just to funny, I threw my head back and erupted into a fit of laughter. Completely and entirely relieved that I had done nothing wrong except to allow someone interested in me to get closer to me.
"You're laughing at me?" He was incredulous, in complete disbelief.
"I'm sorry," I tried to stifle my laughter with my hands, "You're wasting your time... I'm perfectly and happily married... I'll never look for another." I waved my wedding ring in the air.
Jonathan Davis shook his head at me, "If you are happily married, you wouldn't have introduced yourself as Ms Steele."
It was my turn to shake my head at him, "Only the very first time, I was still unused to my new title which I used subsequently." Christian had made sure to 'casually' give me a whole stack of new name cards with my name as 'Mrs Anastasia Grey'.
"And we wouldn't be meeting so often if-"
"No no, you've mistaken. It was only ever for professional reasons," I told him, "Thank you Mr Davis for your time and resources, but I think it's best if we call it quits."
"Quits?" He sounded offended.
"I'm almost done paying you back and I think it would be b-"
He did not want to let me finish, clearly annoyed at what I had just said. "What? You mean Christian would think it would be best."
"That's not what I said." I began to rise to my feet to level him physically.
Suddenly, the most sexy voice radiated through the room. "But it's what she meant." Jonathan and I turned to find Christian leaning against the door like a sex god, hands stuffed into his pockets. "Mr Davis, the remaining money has just been transferred into your account. Please, take your leave."
Jonathan instantly straightened up, thrusting his chest out at the presence of the alpha male. I observed as Jonathan strutted towards Christian and they came chest to chest. Through gritted teeth, Jonathan growled, "Don't expect me to let her go as easily as I let those assets go."
Christian smirked, "You're welcome to try your hand at her but she's mine... Both outside..." He turned to me and licked his lips, "And in." Reflexively, my hands flew to my stomach that was beginning to curve with motherhood.
In a split second, everything changed. There was a tearing pain that ripped through my abdomen and my loving caress turned into a clutching grip as I screamed. The shock blasted through Christian's beautiful grey eyes as he shoved an immobilized Jonathan backward, trying to reach for me before I could fall. "Christian..." I panted as the pain throbbed in uncomfortably in the back of my ears. "The... Baby..."
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