Cpov
"So what are you going to do about it?" Elliot asks me.
I dropped Ana off downtown this morning then dropped Teddy of with my mother who wanted both of her grandchildren over today to help bake cookies. Since I'm not comfortable with Ana being alone and she insisted on shopping by herself, without me, I called Kate and asked her to accompany Ana, then I went to their house and grabbed Elliot.
We're hiking not to far from my place, it's one of the reasons I moved here. I came to this town accidently and fell in love with the vibe and the views. It seemed like a great place to raise Teddy, and now that we're a family; Teddy, Ana, and the new baby on the way, it's perfect.
With Ana being pregnant, and after announcing it to my family, our family, marriage seems like the next step. I know we haven't known each other for very long, but when you know, you know. But, I know that marriage not an option right now with her still being legally married to that bastard. And even though she loves me and I her, who is to say she even wants to get married again after the way her first marriage ended up. Which is why I've not brought it up... yet. Maybe we wont get married, but maybe we will, maybe some day. It doesn't matter if we're married or not, my love for her, and her love for me, doesn't change.
I was surprised, though, that she spoke with my father about helping her in a divorce and that she told him about her past. It's one step closer to us being together freely.
My family has asked me about Ana's past but that wasn't my story to tell. So I'm glad she volunteered the information without feeling forced to do so.
As suspected, my family was understanding of her situation.
"Well, dad is going to help her with the process of divorcing him, obviously." I answer Elliot. "If she needs to go there for court or whatever is needed to divorce him, we'll hire security. Other than that, I'm not really sure. I'd like to beat him to a pulp, give him a taste of his own medicine, maybe hide the body."
"I have plenty of available properties that could use a new patio." El says in all seriousness to my joke. Though I know he'd be willing to help me if needed, just not to that degree.
"You should hire a hitman." He suggests going on and on about movies with hitmen. So it seems Elliot is willing to help to that degree.
"The problem is finding him. I've had my guy Ryan sitting on his house for about a week, but he hasn't been home once."
"Well, then I think we need to make a trip there to cover more ground. I'm sure you'd like to be the one to knock his teeth in but I wouldn't mind getting my hands dirty. Where's she from again?"
"Detroit." I scuff at the name. Fucking Detroit.
"What a coincidence." Elliot laughs.
"Yeah, and you'll never believe who her neighbors-"
My phone ringing stops me from continuing. When I check the caller it says KATE.
"Grey." I answer in my usual greeting.
"Christian!" It's not Kate I hear on the other end but my Ana.
I pull the phone away to check that I did read KATE correctly and not MY BABY, like I could ever confuse the two, but it does say KATE.
Ana is talking frantically so I put the phone back to my ear and the last thing I hear her say is, "...here."
"Ana?" Why is she using Kate's phone and not hers? "Baby, slow down, I can barely understand you. What is going on? Who is where?"
"Boyce!" She shouts at me. "He's here! Boyce is here! He's here, Christian, he's here!"
This fucking bastard is haunting her and I don't like it. Last week it was the hairdresser, what is it this week, the goddamned mailman. She can't have a moments peace with this fucker running around, perhaps I should consider Elliot's suggestion. Or maybe I should hire Sawyer full time as her security to help her feel safe when she is not with me. It's not needed, though. Boyce Fox has no way of knowing where Ana is. But if it brings her peace-of-mind, I'll gladly hire him full time.
"Are you sure?" I try to calm her down. "Baby, he wasn't here the last time-"
"Christian, I've seen him! I've spoken to him!"
"WHAT?!" I snap.
WHAT THE FUCK?! She's SEEN him?! She's SPOKEN to him?! How is that possible?! He got close enough to see her, to speak with her... to touch her?
"Where?! Where are you?!" I ask as I make my way down the trail, Elliot following, unsure of what is going on but hot on my heels.
Elliot nearly plows into me when I suddenly stop. Hearing the loud scream of Ana on the other end of the phone has my heart in my throat.
"Ana?" I choke out.
She doesn't answer me. I check the call to make sure it's still connected, and it is, so I try again.
"ANA?!"
"What's going on?" Elliot finally asks, still clueless of the situation.
"He's here. I think he has her."
"WHAT?!"
We now race to my house where our vehicles are parked. I'm still yelling into the phone for her to answer me.
"You want me to follow you, or ride with?" Elliot asks once we reach our cars.
"Get Taylor." I order my brother. "Call him, go to him, I really don't give a fuck how you get him but get him. I don't want to break the connection."
We hop in at the same time, doors slamming closed before we take off in opposite directions.
I can handle Fox on my own but once I kill the bastard, I'm going to need help. If, by some miracle, I don't kill him, Taylor can arrest his ass.
As I drive towards downtown, I place my phone in the holder that allows me to use my hands-free and continue trying to get a response from Ana, hoping she got away somehow.
"Ana! Ana!" I shout like it's a mantra while I drive at top speed.
"Baby, answer me!" I beg for her to respond. "ANA!"
"Christian?" I finally hear someone. My heart sores until I realize it's not the voice I wanted to hear.
"Kate! Where is she?! Where is Ana?!"
"I- I don't know. What is going on? We were supposed to meet up and shop but when she got here she-"
"What the fuck do you mean, when she got there," I interrupt her. "I dropped her off at the shopping center this morning."
"She went to her place first, she left something there..." Why the fuck didn't she tell me, I would've taken her there first before dropping her off downtown. And what the fuck does she have left there?! "When she got here, she asked for my phone and a ride home, but I forgot my keys in the store and when I came back out, she was gone. My phone was on the ground and I don't know where she is."
"Fuck!" I pound on my steering wheel and end the call.
How the fuck did he find her?! How?!
I arrive at the downtown shopping center, and as I do, I see Kate looking around as she paces the sidewalk.
Pulling my car over, not bothering to park correctly, I hop out and run towards her.
"Where?" I ask.
"My phone was over there." She points to the ground.
I run my fingers through my hair, pulling it as I do.
There's an alleyway nearby that leads to the back of the stores. He could've taken her down it to avoid being seen.
"Stay here, get inside your car and lock the doors, Taylor and Elliot are on their way." I tell Kate before running down the alley.
When I reach the end, I'm completely shocked with what I see.
"You better back the fuck off," The strange man standing in front of my girl, who is holding a gun, growls at me. "If you don't leave this girl alone, I'll personally kick my foot so far up your ass you'll be spitting teeth. You better believe I will kill you and make sure your body is never found. Don't fuck with a man who has nothing left to live for, you sick son-of-a-bitch!"
"Ana?" I ask, completely and utterly confused as to what the fuck is going on.
Apov
I scream but his hand is covering my mouth so it comes out muffled. He moves us away from the front and out of public view, towards the back of the shops. I really don't know what he's planning to do to me but I can guess and it has me fighting against him with every once of strength I can muster.
When he slams me up against the wall, still holding onto me so I wont run, I have no way of getting away.
Looking up at him, I realize... it's not Boyce who has me. It's another man I've never met or seen before.
My struggling ceases at the confusion and he finally removes his hand from my mouth.
"Who are you?" I ask him.
"The question is, who are you and what are you doing with my daughter's identity?"
"Daughter?" Shit, is he...
"Yes, Anastasia Rose Steele was my daughter and I want to know who you are and what you are doing going around and portraying yourself as her."
"I- I'm sorry." I say, still in shock.
"I don't take kindly to people tarnishing my daughter's name," He growls, "If this is some sort of sick game, you better stop it right now."
"N- no, sir. I- I'm so very sorry for your loss, please forgive me, but-" I might as well tell him of my situation, I am using his daughter's name after all. "You see, I meant no harm in using your daughter's identity. My husband would beat me, pretty badly in fact, and when I finally decided enough was enough I left him. But I couldn't go through the court and do so legally, he'd kill me, so like the coward I am, I ran. I needed a new identity so he wouldn't be able to find me, so I looked up obituaries in the library and googled how to do it. That's why I used her name."
When I'm finished explaining myself and my situation, I bow my head down in shame, no longer able to face her father.
He finally lets me go, stepping back to look at me. He looks sad and tired, and much older than he is, I'm sure.
"You look like my Annie." He tells me sadly.
I know, but I keep quiet. It is one of the reasons why I chose Anastasia Steele. We are of similar age, similar looks, and nobody would be the wiser. Unless you are a billionaire with a crush and you do a background check on your love interest.
"I didn't know she had any family." I tell him honestly. No one was mentioned in her obituary and it said her father died when she was a baby. Maybe she was adopted after he died?
"I'm not her biological father," He confirms. "But I'm her dad nonetheless."
"I understand completely." It's how I feel about Teddy. I'm not his biological mother but he is my baby.
"I'm sorry," He apologizes to me. "I didn't mean to scare you, it's not who I am. A buddy of mine who I was in the Army with said someone ran a background check on Annie recently. I brushed it off as nothing but then a doctor's notice came through next. It gave me your address. ... She was all I had."
"How- how did she... How did she die? If you don't mind me asking," I know I shouldn't ask, but Anastasia Steele was so young.
"Her boss."
"Her boss?"
"He killed her." He explains, "Annie just graduated college and got her first real job at Seattle Independent Publishing, working as an assistant for an editor. About a week in, the editor she was working for said they had a conference in New York. Annie was so excited, she always wanted to see New York." He smiles sadly before he glares again, this time not at me but the memory. "Apparently this guy is a serial rapist. He did it to all his previous assistants but nobody said anything and he was a valuable employee so they kept him on without looking into why he had so many assistants, all of whom quit without notice. I taught my Annie self-defense so she fought him, but since she fought back, he was rough with her..." He trails off not wanting to say anything more, not that I blame him.
"I am so sorry for your loss, Mr. Steele."
He nods but stays quiet.
"What about her mother? Where is she?"
"Carla?" He scuffs, "She's no mother. She missed her own daughter's graduations because of whatever reason, giving lame-ass excuses each time. She didn't bother showing up to Annie's funeral, saying it was too hard on her, but really it was probably because husband number 15 was getting a haircut and she had to hold his hand."
On the main road we hear a car reeve up and squeal to a stop. In all the confusion of who this man was, I forgot all about my own problems.
When we hear someone running down the alleyway, I tense up thinking it's Boyce. Mr. Steele notices the change in my behavior and protectively puts his arm out, pushing me behind him. My eyes widen as Mr. Steele pulls a handgun out of a holster hidden under his jacket.
"Ana?!" I hear Christian yell for me seconds before he appears.
Mr. Steele has put himself between me and Christian, protecting me.
Christian looks confused because he knows what Boyce looks like and I'm not sure he knows what Anastasia's father looks like or not.
"You better back the fuck off," Mr. Steele warns Christian, "If you don't leave this girl alone, I'll personally kick my foot so far up your ass you'll be spitting teeth. You better believe I will kill you and make sure your body is never found. Don't fuck with a man who has nothing left to live for, you sick son-of-a-bitch!"
It's clear that Mr. Steele believes Christian is the man I'm running from.
"Ana?" Christian asks confused as to what is going on. I can see he wants to come closer, to hold me in his arms, but he's also very alert of Mr. Steele.
"Mr. Steele, it's okay," I tell him softly, putting my hand on his arm. "This is my boyfriend, not my husband." Okay that didn't sound weird at all. It's definitely not a sentence I thought I would ever say in my life.
"Are you sure?" Mr. Steele asks me, not letting Christian near me until I confirm.
"I'm safe with him." I nod.
He lets me go so I rush to Christian who wraps me in his arms and inhales in my scent.
"Baby, what the fuck is going on?" Christian asks me, holding me close and glancing over my head at Mr. Steele before he looks back down at me again.
"Christian, this is Anastasia's father," I tell him. "He wasn't very happy with me using his daughter's name, but everything is okay now."
"Where is Boyce?" He moves on to more important matters.
"I don't know." I tell him honestly. "Hopefully he left."
"Let's go." Christian grabs my hand and leads me through the alleyway.
"Sweetheart," Mr. Steele calls to me so we stop.
I look back at him, giving him my full attention.
"If you need anything, call me." He hands me a small piece of paper with his number on it. "And if you still need it, I give you permission to use my Annie's name."
I smile at him. He's such a kind man, regardless of the fact that he scared the shit out of me moments earlier. I can tell he was a very protective father.
Letting Christian's hand go, I can hug the sweet old man and kiss his cheek, as a way to say thank you and I'm sorry at the same time.
I'm not sure if I will be using Anastasia's name anymore, now that Boyce knows... but it's still sweet that Mr. Steele is okay with me using her name.
Christian holds his hand out for me again, and I grab it.
Together we rush through the alley, to his Audi SUV.
As Christian opens the passenger door for me, I see Kate sitting in her car. She looks confused but starts her car when Christian tells her to meet us at our place.
"What's going on?" He asks once we're driving.
"I had to get something at my cottage-" I begin.
"What? What could possibly be so important that you would go to that piece of shit place, alone no less, and put yourself in harm's way."
I know he's upset at the situation I've put myself in and not with me, but it still hurts.
"Your birthday gift." I try not to cry. Ugh, pregnancy hormones. I'm not usually this emotional.
"I'm sorry, baby, I didn't mean to snap. Tell me what happened."
I explain all that's happened; how Boyce was there, the conversation we had, how I met up with Kate, and when Mr. Steele confronted me.
"Do you have any idea how worried I was?" He doesn't sound as if he's blaming me, but I can hear the worry in his tone.
"I know." I grab his hand to comfort him.
"I never would've brought us back here had I known. I would've kept Sawyer on and hired more security."
"Christian, you had no way of knowing." I stop him. I've played the what-if game before and it only drove me crazy. I'm not even sure how Boyce knew where I was.
Behind us, I see Kate turn in the direction of Christian's house. Christian is in front of Kate, but he didn't turn, he just continues to drive straight.
"Where are we going?"
"We're going to get Teddy and then we'll go to Seattle. We'll stay at Escala, it's safer there, just until I can figure out what to do next."
"So we're running." I nod. "I can do that, I'm good at it."
"No," He corrects me. "We're going so I can get you and Teddy safe and out of the way. Then I'll think of something, perhaps something that involves a body bag."
"I'm sorry, Christian, I'm so sorry. I knew it would come to this, I knew he would find me." I try to hold it back but everything that happened is catching up with me and the tears begin to fall.
"Baby, this isn't your fault, you have nothing to be sorry about." He tells me sternly as he kisses my knuckles. "Everything is going to be o-"
"CHRISTIAN!" I scream, interrupting him when I see a car driving full speed towards us. "Look out!"
Christian swerves to miss the car but it hits us anyway- on the rear driver's side, causing us to spin. The sound of tires squealing, crunching metal, glass breaking and grunts fill my ears. Christian tries to maintain control of the SUV while I brace myself.
When everything settles, I unbuckle so I can check on Christian who has a small cut on his hairline.
"Are you okay?" I ask him.
"I'll be fine," He grunts. "I'm more worried about you and the baby."
"We're alright, I'm sure." Most of the impact was on Christian's side and I don't feel any pain anywhere, so I'm sure we're fine.
I look up to see the car that hit us, to make sure whoever it was is okay. But the car is empty. My heart drops into my stomach when I recognize it as the car Boyce is using.
My door is jerked open and someone grabs my hair.
"Get out!" Boyce growls, continuing to pull me out by my hair.
Christian looks murderous as he glares after Boyce. I have never seen Christian look that menacing before, not even when he told me to leave a week ago.
"I said, get out!" Boyce orders again once we're out, this time pointing a gun at Christian. "Now!"
I watch, unable to move, as Christian climbs over the center console and gets out on the passenger side.
"You think you can put your hands on my wife?!" Boyce shouts, grabbing my hair harder. I whimper and hold onto his hand, hoping to stop him from pulling it anymore.
"Let her go." Christian demands. He's calm and not yelling, but you can hear the dominant/CEO in his tone.
"She's MY wife! I can do whatever the fuck I want to her!"
"Let. Her. Go." Christian says each word clearly.
"Or else what?" Boyce challenges Christian.
Before Christian can say or do anything, Boyce shoves me down so hard that I fall to the ground.
"There, I let her go." Boyce laughs.
Christian takes a step closer to Boyce, but Boyce holds his gun up, aiming it towards Christian to stop him.
"Did you fuck my wife?"
Christian wisely doesn't answer him.
"Get on your knees." Boyce orders Christian but Christian doesn't move.
"I said, get on your fucking knees," Boyce roars. "Do it, now!"
But again, Christian stays standing.
Boyce raises his eyebrow and tilts his head as he moves the gun slowly to me.
I watch horrified as Christian raises his hands in surrender and gets down on his knees. I know he wouldn't do it if Boyce didn't have a gun pointed at me.
"I know you've been fucking her. What kind of inconsiderate bastard fucks another man's wife?"
"What kind of man hits woman against her will?" Christian blows back.
There is nothing but hatred in Boyce's eyes as he turns the gun towards Christian now and cocks it back.
"No!" I scream before he can pull the trigger.
"What?" Boyce sarcastically asks. "You think I'm going to let him live after he's had you?"
"He doesn't mean anything to me," I quickly come up with the lie, glancing at Christian and hoping he knows that I am lying. I just need to distract Boyce long enough for Christian to make his move and gain control of this situation. If Christian has the upper hand, Boyce won't get away with this any longer.
Christian subtly nods, understanding what I'm doing so I continue.
"I don't want him, I want you." I look back at Boyce.
"You never really were a good liar, Dakota."
Yes, I was.
"Please. I'm so glad you found me." I manage to sound convincing. "Take me home."
He looks at me confused, believing my words.
Boyce is momentarily distracted enough for Christian to move. Unfortunately, Boyce hears Christian, or sees him from his peripheral vision, and turns back to him.
With the gun aimed at him again, Christian stays still.
"Please!" I desperately beg Boyce.
"Dakota," He says my name exasperated. "If we're going to be together again, I have to kill him. It's the only way. He had you, he had what is mine."
Sirens in the background distract Boyce again. This is our only chance to do something, I know Christian wont let Boyce take me with him and the sirens are too far away.
Within seconds both Christian and I act. I'm closer, but I'm still on the ground so I manage to kick him. This causes him to fall, however he also pulls the trigger at the same time Christian launches himself at Boyce. The gun goes off with a loud bang followed by a man's painful groan. Christian grabs his shoulder and falls back, hitting his head on the bumper of his SUV.
I don't have time to think or process anything, the adrenaline is pumping through my veins and my fight instinct has kicked into overdrive.
Boyce has fallen to the ground and dropped the gun. I reach for it, but in the next second he is on top of me.
We fight for the gun with him still on top of me, and he looks confused as to why I'm fighting him back. I usually don't and the night I ran was the one and only time I ever fought back. But now, today, I am fighting. I'm fighting for my first love, I'm fighting for Teddy who finally found a mother, I'm fighting for my baby inside my womb, and I am fighting for the girl that was raped and kill by her editor. But most importantly, I am fighting for the girl who has been abused by someone she thought she could trust. I am fighting for me.
Somehow, in the midst of our struggle, Boyce manages to cock the gun again that is still between both of our hands.
He's so much stronger than I am, even while drunk, but it gives me a slim advantage over his strength.
The sirens are getting louder the closer they come to us so I know it wont be long before help arrives. I just have to manage to keep in what little control I do have in our struggle for the gun. Even though I know that he will go to prison for what he's done, it wont be enough to stop him. I will never be free of him unless he is never coming back.
Boyce overpowers me, moving the gun towards me. I'm trying desperately hard not to let him aim it at me and keeping it away.
There is only one way for this to end. And it is my fight, not anybody else's.
"I hate you!" I scream loudly at the top of my lungs, pushing the gun further towards him instead of me.
The gun goes off again, taking one life instead of two and the fight is over.