Married to the Mob?

Ch 35: Starting to become real!

Christian and Ana walked into Fifties, Kate greeted them saying "Hello, newlyweds."

"Hey! Christian, was nice enough to bring me here..." Ana's voice trailed off.

Christian was looking at his phone as he got a text. He needed to make a call.

"Ana, doesn't really care to be chauffeured around by, Jack," he said, giving his wife a wink and grin. "I gotta make a phone call, then after that can we get some breakfast? I'm starving." Christian replied, giving her two pecks on the lips before walking away.

I smiled in agreement as he leaned down he kissed me. Placing his hand around my neck as he placed two gentle pecks, before walking away. He's been doing that a lot now, since the ceremony. He even spoons me at night in bed now and I have to admit, I like it. It makes me feel safe and protected and I need that so much right now.

Christian disappeared into the back, as he walked away, just like always, he took that protected cocoon with him and Ana's hit again by what a mess her life has become.

Just as I walked into the other room; I admit kissing Ana felt so good. It just felt good to be like a real couple. It's almost like it's becoming more real.

Ana hated to admit it but she was liking Christian's advances to her.

I feel better now that I'm out of that house. Being there with Grace was very uncomfortable; especially with Christian not being there. I took Kate by the hand and dragged her to the table telling her; I needed to talk.

"What's going on, Ana?" Kate asked looking at her.

"I can't do this to him, Kate."

"Is there anything I could do to make this easier?"

Ana sighed as she closed her eyes. "I just...I just.."

"What, Ana? Tell me whats going on?"

"I know that we decided to inform the FBI about everything. But now, I'm just not sure. I wouldn't have a problem if it was just Grace but they want Christian too. He's finally opening up to me and now…" Ana's voice trailed off.

"Well, it looks like to me that Christian is really falling for you..." Kate replied.

"Yeah, he has become very attentive and protective of me since our wedding."

I can't help smiling to myself over how patient he's been and about the flowers he brought me this morning that were even now wafting their scent through our bedroom replacing the cloying scent Grace chose.

"He's showing me how sweet he can be..."

"I'm impressed, Ana, I didn't think you could pull it off. But he is beginning to trust you and that's good."

"I know...and that's why I don't think I can continue with this plan. He's finally trusting me, Kate. How can I turn my back on him now?"

"Wait so he told you about their business right?"

"Yeah. They have a hand in waste management," Ana answered.

"Waste management? Ana, that isn't anything that could get him into trouble. The Feds are looking for something a lot more illegal than that." Kate told her in response.

Kate was looking at Ana, she could tell that Ana had more information that she wasn't being forthcoming about.

"There's more isn't there?" Kate asked.

"Hey, you ladies talking about me?" Christian asked, interrupting their girl talk, and flirting with his wife a bit.

Ana leaned back a little teasing him by saying, "Of course!"

Christian was leaning closer to her as he said, "Something has came up so I got to take off, so do you want me to take you home first?"

"Um no, actually. I'm going to stay and hang out with Kate, if that's okay?"

Kate chimed in saying, "I'll make sure she gets a cab."

"Of course, that's fine. You're not my prisoner, you know that."

Christian pauses for a moment looking her eyes, like he's seeing something grow between them.

As I looked into my wife's eyes, I saw something different. Like, she's looking back at me as her husband. Could we be finally making headway? I decided to test that theory.

"Just be careful, okay?" he said, with a husky voice, intending to give her a quick peck which turned into a full kiss. Ana slid her tongue in his mouth which made him moan.

"Hmmm…" Christian moaned into the kiss. Holy hell, she actually kissed me back, again.

He broke the kiss, looking back at her in shock. "Later's baby," he replied leaving her at the club.

Was that my imagination, or was he looking at me as if he sees my soul? I fell back into my chair stunned with what I just experienced with Christian

"Ana?" Kate asked, breaking into Ana's thoughts. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know anymore. Kate this is so frustrating!" Ana clenched her teeth, pulling at her hair.

"I can see that you're falling for him, Ana, and that's okay. I mean you married him, and now you're really starting to have feelings for him, just admit it."

"Okay...you're right. I am. I mean, I'm starting to see the gentle side of him, the warm person he can be. When we're alone, I can forget who is family and and what they are about. I want...I want... But the thing is that I have to put all that aside and do this for me. I have to. It's killing me to live there like this. When we're alone, I can forget and when he holds me, kisses me... but if he isn't there, I'm terrified all the time. Kate, his mother pointed a gun at me the first night and every time she gets a chance she makes a little veiled threat. Do I think there is an off flavor in my food? Could it be an almond scent? Have I seen the dagger she uses for a letter opener? I should be careful I might cut myself. Have I ever fired a gun? Some women favor a small gun, a 9 mil or a 22, but she prefers a 38 because it makes serious holes in her target...sometimes she even just comes right out and says that once Christian sees through me, I'm going to be dead. There are guards with guns around me all the time. Sometimes she even posts one right outside the bedroom door. I have to watch what I say on the phone, what I doodle, what I think. She's constantly waiting to pounce. This is the first time I've been out of the house in so long. I've been so alone. I'm afraid to have my family over, never mind my friends, because I don't want them to be in danger and I can't go anywhere without a thug with a gun tagging along. I had to drop out of college… I just feel like my life as I knew it, is over."

"Ana...I get it. You've been through a lot here lately, anyone would be freaked out living in that hose with Grace."

"If it could just be Christian and me somewhere alone, if I could get him away from his family, maybe, just maybe... but I can't. I can't live like this because it's too hard, I'm going to crack and if in the end it's him or me and I have to choose me, right?"

"I totally understand, Ana. Once I call them, that's it, we can't back out. When I talked to the FBI before, they made me aware that they know about what happened between you and Elliot. They know it was self defense."

"Really?" Ana asked her friend. "Who told them?"

"I have no idea, they didn't give me that information. All I know is that you are clear...from their standpoint."

That was good to know, Ana thought to herself. But at the same time I feel so conflicted. I just want all of this over with once and for all.

Christian was back at the Grey Mansion, he had something on his mind and needed someone to talk to, he knew his grandmother would listen.

I came back home needing help with an issue, but I went to my grandmother first. I told her that I had something for her and not to tell anyone about it. It was the chocolates, she had called me and asked me to bring. Mother doesn't like her to have them since they are bad for her health, but grandmother thinks they are worth it.

As we were talking she was saying that she could tell my mother and my new wife don't get along. I told her I didn't know it was that obvious. I was telling her about Ana and the fact she did kill Elliot, but it was self defense. That I married her to protect her from my mother. We were discussing about my mother and how she feels about Ana.

She was telling me her son, my father came to her over 25 years ago that he found the girl he was going to marry. My mother. She was telling me at first that she didn't like my mother, that she was too aggressive.

"But now you two get along right?" Christian asked.

"Let's just say we made peace together. If Ana treats you right, then eventually your mother will too in time."

I asked her if she knew about the FBI raiding us on our wedding night and she said yes. I told her my mother blames Ana for that. I told her that I set my wife up telling her some false information, seeing if she acts on it. I told my grandmother that I was trying to trust Ana but then I had some doubts. That I hoped she wouldn't betray me to the FBI. It felt good to be able to discuss my feelings to grandmother about my wife. Even though I cared for Ana I had to know that I could trust her. My grandmother was telling me about her and my even though they were in an arranged marriage they learned to love each other.

"I don't know if Ana and I will ever get that chance. We were forced into this marriage, I knew that she didn't love me and that she didn't even like me."

"That has changed, I promise you."

"I don't know, I don't know," he whispered.

"Well, what do you think? How do you feel about her?"

"Me...I don't know I have mixed feelings..."

Ana had just arrived back at the mansion. She was going to try to spend time with her husband but she heard voices and listened in.

Christian's grandmother looked into his eyes, as she said, "Don't lie to me, you're in love with this girl, aren't you?"

I looked right back at her and sighed. How could I not be in love with Ana? I mean she is everything that I ever wanted, but didn't know it at the time.

"I wish I didn't... but yeah you're right...I'm in love with her. I love her," Christian replied, giving into his feelings for Ana. Wow. It felt so good to voice those feelings out loud. "I fell in love with her the first time I laid eyes on her. I just wished, that she felt the same about me," he whispered.

Ana heard Christian say he was in love with her. She couldn't believe it!

My heart was pounding a mile a minute. I knew he had feelings for me, I knew it. But to hear it, to actually hear him say he was indeed in love with me made my heart ache. And it made me see what I'd been doing was so wrong. He had saved my life and I had to save his.

If it was him or me, then I suddenly knew with total clarity that I had to choose him. From this point on, I always had to choose him. If the only way out I saw involved hurting him, I couldn't take it even if it did cost me my life or my sanity. I straightened my spine and stuck out my chin, there had to be another way to save me too. I'm a Steele and we don't give up. But first I had to fix the mess I'd made. I must be already starting to crack under the stress his mother put me under to think that I could betray him like that.

Ana took out her phone and called Kate.

"Hello," Kate answered.

"Please don't call the FBI. I can't do this to Christian," Ana whispered in the phone.

"Are you sure? You don't sound good, Ana." Kate replied.

"I'm sure. Listen, I don't have time to talk now. I have to call you back. Just don't call the FBI."

"Ana…" Kate was saying but Ana had already hung up the phone.

"Oh my God, I can't do this…" Ana breathed out.

"Is there a problem, Ana?" Christian asked staring at her.

A/N: Hey guys...Its me. As you can see, Ana is having a change of heart. Though she still wants to put Grace away, she can't do it to Christian. Now, I know some of you probably won't think anything at this point there is no redeeming her. But remember she did not love or have any feelings for Christian in the beginning. So now we just have to wait and see.