My dear little broccolis 💚💚💚
💚 So remember that this pic is RATED M, and it is not only for the sexy times. Some dark moments will be approached in this story, and they can trigger some people. This is a fair warning to remind you that this story sets place in a dark world, which means it is bound to mountains dark themes.
Love, Mina 💚💚💚
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Chapter 28: Reality Call Back (3,1K)
‼️IF YOU'RE A GUEST REVIEWER
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💚 Now, I want you to remember something that Christian has repeated many MANY times. he likes being a mobster! he likes it!
💚 Happy New Year. Hope all your dreams will come true
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Dream A Little Dream Of Me - Doris Day
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A few texts
I am coming back tonight. Is there any chance that I might see you waiting for me at my place? Christian.
If you want to see me, you should just say it, instead of conjuring excuses of you coming back from yet another business trip 😜. Ana
I was asking in an elegant and distinguished way. I thought you complained of me not being enough of a gentlemen to you … Christian
I did. But then you made a very valid point by saying that gentlemen were boring in bed. And I don't want you to become boring in bed! Ana
Don't worry, this is not something that is ever going to happen. Even crippled and sick, I would find a way to spice it up for you. Christian
That's thanks to your monster-cock! I think we should name it as the eighth wonder of this world 😏🍆 Ana
Your obsession over this part of my anatomy is getting worrying. Maybe you should consult about it … Christian
Here I am, making compliments, and here you are, trying to send me to the looney bin! I think I am not going to come tonight! Ana
To be honest, I really want to see you tonight. So if you don't come, I will wait for the dead of the night, and I will come to you myself. It's up to you … Christian
I was kidding, Christian! Don't come! I will be there waiting for you when you will get back. Though you know, there are other words than 'I really want to see you' that you can say … Ana
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Christian's PoV
When Christian got back to his apartment, it was with no surprise that he found the light on, and heard music coming from the kitchen space. Without thinking about it a second more, he put down his bag and walked to the source of noise where he found Ana making crepes and humming to Dream A Little Dream Of Me. Bastille was on the counter, scrutinising for anything that might fall off so he could eat it, like he did when Christian cooked. He smiled to himself, and just when the lyrics called for it, he held her tight and whispered in her ear,
"I missed you."
Ana span to look at him, a bright smile on her face, before she tiptoed so she could kiss him. He returned her embrace, glad to have read her last text correctly and to have said the right words to her.
"I think you should go away more often," Ana said with a smug smile on her lips when they broke their kiss, making Christian shake his head at her, before looking at her preparation with an intrigued look.
She followed his gaze, and shrugged, "This is my first time cooking something that is not microwave oatmeal, so you better like!"
" I don't know. Did you put poison in it?" He joked. And just as to prove his point, her the sauce in the casserole bursted a bubble. Ana glared at him, putting her fists on her hips and threatened,
"You're going to sit at this table, you're going to eat what I put in your plate, and you're going to like it! Or I will never ever try to cook for you again!"
Christian repressed a laugh, keeping for himself that he found Ana more cute than scary, but still did as told, and took place at the table. As he watched her finish her cooking, he started to wonder what would happen if he took Raymond up on his offer. So far, the fact to actually leave Idris did not occur to Christian. He loved being a mobster, and even more, he loved the power that being Raymond's protégé gave him. He loved the feeling of fear that he gave some people just by entering a room. He loved being in control of his life, and its surroundings. And most of all, he loved being above the law.
Sure there was this downside that Raymond had mentioned, this aftermath that was the fact that his family would be involved in his criminal life. But the more he thought about it, the more he thought that he could handle it. After all, Raymond had warned him of how dark it could get, and Christian was sure that he would never let himself fall that deep. He was sure that he would be able to make the difference between home and work.
But now that he was with Ana, a whole different scenario played before his eyes, with a whole different direction for his life. What if he put his Idris days behind him? Would he be able to date Ana out in the open? Would he be able to find a banal nine-to-five job? Would he be content to go back home at the same time every day, to talk about mundane things with his wife and kids?
And as he was asking himself about all these things, a whole other question formed in his head. Was Ana worth it? Sure he cared for her, and was very fond of her. But she was just a girl. Sure she was his first stable relationship, but that did not mean that he would build his life with her. Was he ready to antagonise Raymond in more ways than one, just for her? And though this question startled him, it was nothing compared to the answer that his brain immediately came up with.
"If you keep pretending I don't exist, I will get offended," Ana said, sitting next to him.
Christian shook his head a little, coming back to reality, and took his spoon, looking at the dish before him.
"I know how much Indian food is your favourite," She proudly said, putting her legs on his laps, like she always did when they ate together. Christian smiled and leaned to kiss her, though he warned her,
"To be honest, Mrs Parvati's is my favourite food. But that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate the thought."
Ana pouted a little, making Christian unable to stop himself from kissing her again, and they dug on their food. Ana was the first to express her surprise,
"I am a genius! This is my first dish, and we're not puking all over the place."
Christian nodded in confirmation. Though it wasn't as good as Mrs Parvati's, it wasn't as terrible as he thought it would be. There might be a bit too much spices, but it was edible and rather enjoyable. And most of all, Ana's pride made him unable to criticise anything about her cooking. Not even the overcooked rice.
As they ate, Ana told Christian of what she had been doing while he was away, mostly focussing on the wedding which was only a month away now. She was trying to concoct a surprise bachelorette party for Kate and was torn between doing it in vegas (for good measures), and going back to Orlando and the Harry Potter theme park.
She also complained of the upcoming gala that Clark Inc' was throwing the following week, like they did every year. In her opinion, the money spent to make rich businessmen feel better about themselves would be better served elsewhere. Like helping the homeless, or building schools in areas that needed it.
"You seem a bit off," She suddenly said, stopping her rant in the middle of it. Christian quizzed a little her calf, as he eluded,
"Just a lot on my mind."
Ana squinted her eyes at him, and when she opened her mouth to push the issue, he squeezed again her calf, in a reassuring way. So instead, she bounced, "Are you coming to the gala?"
But just as she asked this question, he asked himself, "Do you trust me, Ana?"
She opened widely her eyes to him as if surprised that he would even ask that question, and she answered the most naturally in the world, "Of course I do."
Christian shook his head, and insisted, "No. I mean, do you trust me to know what's best for you."
"I do. Or I wouldn't have taken your word for it, for Uncle Eric," She earnestly said, though her eyes showed curiosity.
Christian gave her a small smile and kissed her before he replied to her own question, "About your earlier question, I planned to go. Not that I had a choice, really. But if I go, I won't come alone."
"Coming alone to those events is a rookie mistake. People think that since you're unaccompanied, it means that you want to talk to them," She said, as if making conversation, but it was obvious by the way she was looking at Christian, that she was not ready to let go so easily about his own question.
He got up and took the dirty plates away from the table, and as he walked to the sink, he let her know, "I have several things to tell you, and I don't know where to begin."
A small silent followed those words, during which neither of them talked. Christian put the dirty dishes in the sink, and some water over them; and then he turned to look at Ana. She was staring at him, her face wary, but hard, and finally, she asked,
"Are you breaking up with me?"
"What? No! Where does that come from?!"
"Well, you absolutely want to see me, and your mood has been sullen all dinner long, and you want to talk about something. And … well … I feel you've been distant since you've come back," She enumerated, her blue eyes involuntarily filling with tears.
In the blink of an eye, Christian was by her side, and at a loss of words, he sweetly caressed her face and kissed her, hoping to reassure her through this simple gesture. Then, he took her in his arms, and sat them on the sofa, keeping Ana in his arms as he confessed,
"I haven't been fully honest with you. You asked me to find your brother, and … it has been several days since I've known about his last whereabouts …"
Ana looked at him with her eyes sparkling with hope. She smiled, at him and teased, "What? You think I will dump you once I get my brother back?"
Though he tried to at least smile for Ana's sake, Christian couldn't bring himself to do it; and Ana's smile immediately faded when she saw that his stern face remained the same, in spite of her joke. She looked down, and said with a sadness that broke Christian's heart,
"Or maybe you didn't say anything because you have bad news."
Christian did not affirm, though his silence confirmed what he could not say. Ana brought her knees to her chest, putting her chin on them as tears rolled down her cheeks. He soothingly rubbed circles on her smaller back, and let her silently cry over the loss of her brother. The tears kept on falling, when she asked between two hiccups,
"Do you even know how —"
Christian longly stared at her, puffy eyes and red nose, crying over someone who did not deserve her tears in his opinion. But she loved her brother. She didn't know how twisted and sick he was. And Christian couldn't see himself take that away from her. Especially not when it means that he would take her father away from her as well. He knew that Ana could be very forgiving and that she had forgiven him for Eric, but Christian doubted she would forgive her father for killing her brother. Even if she knew why.
And most importantly, no matter how shocked he was by Raymond's actions, he didn't see himself taking away from his mentor the thing that was most precious to him. Raymond loved his daughter more than life itself, and Christian doubted that he would survive to lose her. It seemed that Raymond still did not recover from his wife's death, and was holding his son's murder on his shoulders. Losing the love of his daughter would most likely kill him.
"From what I gathered, Michael got himself in a bad situation that got him killed," He said, doing his best to be vague, all the while avoiding to lie to her.
"What kind of situation?"
"You don't want to know, trust me."
He watched her swallow hard and wrapped his arms around her. She cried in the crook of his neck, mourning the loss of her brother. Christian caressed her back, not sure of what to say, once again, and hoping that never again he would have to console her from grief. He hated feeling so useless, and he hated, even more, feeling guilty over her tears.
He could have lied and pretended that he hadn't been able to find her brother, and he knew that he would have gotten away with it. But there was still the possibility of Ana taking matters in her own hands and hiring a private over it. And most importantly, Christian felt that this possibility wouldn't have helped her.
Even though the death of her brother was something hard to swallow, it was at least giving her a sense of closure. He understood why Raymond didn't do it and pretended that Michael ran away, it gave her hope that one day she might see again her brother. But Christian felt that the closure was better, no matter the pain at the present moment. Though at this precise moment, Christian wished he hadn't said anything and stayed in the shadow of Raymond's charade.
When Ana's sobs started to slow down a little, he picked her up and sat her on the sofa, before walking to his bag to retrieve from it what he had brought back from Michigan for her. She sniffled, looking at him with curiosity,
"I thought you would like to have something to remember him by," He told her, handing her the urn that contained part of Michael's bones, turned to ashes. He had stayed a day longer, to dig up Michael's grave and take his skull and a leg away from the coffin, in order to fill up the urn. That way, Ana could still mourn her brother, without having to go on his gravesite.
She took the recipient in her small hands, hiccuping. She was about to thank him, when she stopped herself, "I thought you were in Michigan."
"I was. This is where his mother was from. It must have held some sort of importance to him."
She nodded, looking down at the urn. Christian stayed crouched in front of her, waiting for her to say, or do something; and after a while, she sniffled and told him,
"Can we just go to bed?"
"Sure."
They got ready to bed, and once they were laying in each other's arms, Ana said, "Thank you for looking for my brother. Even if it's not the ending that I imagined."
"I didn't mind, Ana. What I mind is … breaking the news to you. I'm not the best to deliver that sort of news."
"But then again, no one is. Even doctors struggle with that."
Christian held her a bit closer, kissing the top of her head. For a moment, they remained silent, Ana tracing lines over Christian's bare chest when she suddenly lifted her head up and reminded Christian, "You said you had several things, to begin with …"
He kept his eyes closed, his fingers still mindlessly sliding over her skin, though all his senses were in alert, ready to analyse any reaction that she would have over what he planned to tell her.
"I … have this opportunity to stop working for your father, and I was wondering what would that mean for us."
Ana upped herself so she could look at Christian's face properly, in spite of the darkness, making him open his eyes to look into her blue ones.
"I don't want you to quit your job for me."
"And I didn't say I would. I just asked what would it mean for us if I no longer worked for your father."
"But you love your job."
"And you're avoiding the question," He retorted, getting a bit annoyed that she was going in circles, when all he wanted was a straight answer.
"You working with my father has little to do with us being … you know. I am just tired of him interfering in my dating life, and the fact that you're my longest relationship proves me right," She told him.
Still, Christian kept his impassible and pointed out, "'Little to do'?"
He watched Ana look down, her cheeks reddening a little, and he said her name, urging her to explain herself. "It's just that … well, you know. It's like dating your best friend's sister for you, and … well … forget it."
"So to be clear, I have to sneak out to be with you, because you think I would have a problem to tell your father about us?" Christian inquired, not sure how Ana could ever come up with this trail of thoughts. He didn't think that he had ever given her the impression that he was actually on board with this whole idea of concealing their relationship from Raymond.
"No! No. As I said, I just want to enjoy being with someone, without my father interfering, or my father being the third wheel. It's just … well …, I like being with you, … and I like the fact that it's just us when we are together."
Christian held her gaze, and though her tone was genuine, he was sure that Ana did not say everything that was on her heart. But he refrained from pushing it further, seeing that she was uncomfortable speaking of the complexity of their relationship. He caressed her cheek, and let her know as he closed back his eyes,
"Anyway, I just wanted your opinion on the matter. My mind is already made up, but I wanted to know where we stood."
"Well, as long as we are a 'we', I think it's a pretty good start," She responded, putting her head back on his torso. And as Bastille climbed up to sleep at their feet, it occurred to Christian that he couldn't agree more.
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A little text
(The next day, in the afternoon)
I told Ana that her brother got killed for getting himself in a bad situation. She did not ask questions, and I don't think she will. Christian
Thank you. Raymond
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💚Your thoughts and opinions are always welcomed💚
‼️Next chapter will be another character's point-of-view. If you guess who, you'll get a special treat ‼️
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~ So ... Christian did not tell everything about Mike's death to Ana. like he said, he doesn't want to take her father away from her. but he wants to give her closure. plus, he knows Raymond wouldn't bear Ana hating him. which is why that last text and that simple thank you from Raymond means more than thank you. it's about thanking him for keeping his secret.
~ Anyway, question time:
💚What do you think of the way Christian handled the Mike death to Ana? And the urn?
💚What do you think Christian will do about being a mobster or not?
💚 Do you think Ana will ever find out
💚What did you think of this chapter overall? And what do you think will happen next?
💚What was your favourite part?
💚Anyway, E L James owns the names of the characters from the Fifty Shades franchise, everything else is mine.
‼️FOR REVIEWERS‼️
I am so sorry, but once again this section is closed. I don't feel so well, and I'm trying to update as much as possible. But I would still like to take the time to THANK YOU ALL for the response towrd the last chapter. I know many of you want to know about present Ray and if he knows about our sneaky couple, but that's not for now. Just know that a lot has been said during that chapter, read between the lines. Once again, THANK YOU so much to all of you for taking the time to read the story, for following it and for reviewing it. You have no idea what it means to me.
Love, Mina💚💚💚