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 💚💚💚
.
Chapter 51: The New Recruit (6,4K)
💚 FIRST OF ALL, my thoughts go to everyone across the world. This is a difficult time for us all, and I hope none of you or your closed ones is affected. I am not a doctor, nor a politician but don't fall into panic and just respect the security measures. Be as clean, if not cleaner than usual. Eat healthy. And look after yourself and your loved ones. Stay indoors as much as possible, until we can do something about this terrible disease that is striking us all. Those are the times to look for one another and not be selfish. I know this sounds corny, but after seeing people buying 15 packs of toilet rolls and fighting for yet another, I just feel that we're missing out on what really matters. This virus doesn't discriminate and doesn't tire. We should fight against it, not against our peers for an extra pack of toilet rolls ...
💚 So, before you read, I have a few things to say!
💚 About, last chapter. You guys LOVED that whole Bastille point-of-view! I am shocked. I didn't know that he had so many fans. We should create a Bastille club, haha. I told you that you need to read it thoroughly because we didn't have any names. But to make things clear about all that
Bastille's human: Christian
Bastille's human's human: Ana
The female intruder who cleans and feeds: Mia
The male intruder who went upstairs and snooped around:?
💚 Also, also, Guys! When I put an author's note, it's not for the sake of it. Don't be asking questions that are actually answered in the note … it makes me feel like I'm wasting my time warning you and all. I know that AN can be annoying, but this is my way to interact with you, and let you know when I will be late, or out of it, or not answering. So yeah, read the AN
.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.
Christian's PoV
It was Ana's and his last day in Kenya, and like every time they would go somewhere, a part of Christian wished it wouldn't have to end. When he went back to Raymond the day after his birthday, his boss announced to him that he was sending his daughter away for good measures. She had always wanted to do a safari, and so Raymond had granted her her wish, sending Christian along with her as her usual backup. Which in a way Christian found odd.
He understood that Raymond would want to make sure that his security had been upped before allowing his daughter to wander around, but he did not know how he felt about being sent as well. He knew it was because Raymond trusted Christian to take care of his precious girl and make sure nothing would happen to her, but he had expected him to make an exception and send several of his men with Ana to Kenya, so Christian could stay behind and make sure that the security was top-notched.
But in all honesty, though he was taken aback by this move from his boss, Christian was far from complaining. He got to spend a week with Ana and only her, caring only about her from dawn to dusk, and worshipping her body all night long. Ever since he first left for Japan with her, Christian never really unplugged from work, it had always been an afterthought, and he always stayed in touch through emails and text messages.
Still, on this impromptu trip with Ana, he cared very little about what happened to Idris. Those seven days had been all about Ana, and only about her. A part of him was sure that this was due to the still fresh realisation that she could have died, the very same part that had been tempted all week long to steal Ana away from Raymond and start a new life with her.
In fact, he had entertained the idea for a very long time, sure that he could offer Ana a life where she wouldn't be targeted because of who her father was, or because of who he was. They would have settled wherever she would have wanted, and within a year or two, Christian would have been back on his feet, enough to support Ana and the life they would make for themselves.
But every time he started to get in over his head, he reminded of himself of two painful truths. The first one being that Raymond would find them, no matter where they would hide. Raymond was not a man known to easily give up, and him stealing his sweet little girl away would definitely give the man the motivations to look for him all around the world. The second, and most important to Christian, Ana would never leave her father behind. She loved Raymond too much to start a new life without him. And this was why he simply appreciated those seven days with the woman he loved.
On their third day, after a safari during which Ana was wonderstruck by the possibility to pet a giraffe, Christian bought her a replica of the long-necked animal so she could add it to her charm bracelet. He had noticed that, though she did not wear the bracelet on a daily basis, the necklace only left her neck when she would go to bed.
Ana took many pictures of their trips, which Christian found odd as usual. He did not see the point of having pictures if they were not going to be public. But Ana still insisted on the matter. In fact, Christian felt that she was a bit less wary of them when they were in the public eye. But then again, she probably thought that being abroad meant that she was far enough from her father's eye, though Christian knew better. Still, he did not care much, anymore. If Raymond were to know, there was nothing Christian could really say. He loved Ana, and that was that.
In fact, though he did not talk to Ana about it, he had thought a few times about what she had told him when he was half asleep. And this was a question he could not give a straight answer to. To whom his loyalty would go first? Were Raymond order him to stop seeing Ana, would he follow suit, or would he defy his boss? His heart kept telling him that he would ultimately choose Ana over Raymond, because she was his future, and though Raymond was his past and present, he couldn't outweigh the woman he loved. But his brain sang a whole different song. He didn't know. This was the truth. Until he would be in that situation, he wouldn't be able to know.
It was one of those cases when one needed to be in the situation to know what they would do. How many people have sworn that they would never kill anyone, and ended up killing because someone they loved had been hurt? How many people were pro-abortion and still kept the baby when the time came? How many people never imagined hitting their significant other, and did the unthinkable in a fit of anger?
The truth was, he didn't know, no matter how much his heart was telling him that he would side with Ana, he knew he wouldn't be able to promise her that. And he knew that she was all she wanted to hear for them to be out of the closet. It was that one thing she demanded of him, and it was the one thing he couldn't give her. He could tell her that yes, she would come first, but he would feel like lying, and he never upfront lied to her. He eluded and omitted some truths, but he never lied straight to her face, and he wasn't planning to start.
Which was actually the reason why he and she were eating their last meal from room service, instead of going in some face restaurant, just like she had planned in the beginning. Now that they were about to go back to New York, Christian had to let Ana on his plan concerning Andrea, and he knew that no matter his honesty, she wouldn't like it. To be fair, were the roles reversed, he probably wouldn't have liked it either.
As they had been cut from the rest of the world, Ana still did not know of Luca's untimely demise. Christian saw in one of his morning papers that it had been mentioned briefly in the press, but Ana never bothered to read the news. She would probably learn about his death when they would get back to the US, and Christian knew that she would never suspect him. The press mentioned that he died of asthma, and though he loved her, Christian knew that Ana was naive enough to believe that. Of course, if she were to ever ask him, he wouldn't lie, but he doubted she would. This was one of Ana's biggest quality, and biggest flaw, she saw the good in everyone, he included.
"Babe," He gently said, making her look up from her phone and stare at him. He could tell that she was still upset about having room service. He softly smiled to her, and let her know,
"I should … warn you about what will happen when we get back." She frowned, not understanding where this conversation was going. He took a deep breath through his nose, and asked,
"Do you know who sent those pictures to your father?"
She made a face, clearly not happy with where Christian was taking the conversation. Though Christian made it clear back in New York that her father and he were men that made their own law, she also made it clear that the less she knew, the better she was about it. She wouldn't stop Christian from making her take shooting lessons, or from talking to her about his work life, but she would never ask on her own about it.
"I don't really care."
"You don't care to know who put a target over your face?" He asked with a blank voice, not believing his ears. He could understand that she wasn't really eager to know all about his illicit activities, he could understand that she wanted to distance herself as much as possible from this part of his life, but this was her life that had been endangered. How could she not care about a threat directly put on her life?
She shrugged, picking at the rest of her dessert as she explained, "It's not much that I don't care, it's just that … I don't care to know all that goes around this … aspect of yours and Dad's life."
"It was Andrea Mazarati," Christian announced, not even trying to manage Ana's feeling. She could play the ostrich as much as she wanted, but he wasn't going to let her head stay buried much longer in the sand.
Ana furrowed her brows, surprised by this revelations as she stuttered, "But … Luca is also on those pictures. All of them actually. What you're saying doesn't make sense."
Christian didn't say a word, waiting for Ana to understand by herself how much she had been played, and when she did, he saw that beside her surprise, there was a bit of self-deception. She was probably not happy with herself to have been used like that.
"You're not going to kill Luca's father, are you? I mean, I'm here, alive and healthy," She suddenly said with panic, and Christian repressed an annoyed sigh. Instead of worrying about her own safety and her own life, she was worrying all about Mazarati and what Christian might do to him.
"No, I won't kill him."
"Promise me!" She demanded, and once again he repressed a sigh.
"I promise I won't kill Andrea Mazarati," Christian swore, knowing that he did have other ways to get rid of Maserati if the worst was to come. Ways that would never directly implicate him.
He watched Ana significantly sigh in relief, which comforted him in the idea that he was not going to let her know about what happened to Luca. She was going to find that out like the rest of the world, and assume that his health got the better of him, like the rest of the world.
But that did not mean his conversation was over. "Still, I won't let it go unpunished."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you really think that I am going to let that bastard target you, and let him go scot-free?"
"You just promised me that—"
"I did, and I won't touch a hair on his head. I've always done good on my promises to you so far. But that doesn't mean that I am going to turn a blind eye to what he did," Christian said, his tone implacable.
He watched Ana pursed her lips, undoubtedly not agreeing with his way to see the world, but not eager to engage in a discussion over it. He took a deep breath, hoping that she would be understudying of his plan, and let her know,
"See, Andrea has a daughter who is slightly younger than you," He started, but Ana widely opened her eyes, accusing him with dismay,
"You're going to kill her!?"
"No, I'm not. I'm going to do to her what her brother did to you."
Christian carefully watched his girl as the meaning of his words fully impacted her brain, and he cursed when her face suddenly became void of emotions. This was something that he had noticed over the past year. Ana had learnt to keep her emotions and thoughts to herself, turning her face into an unreadable map in seconds. And he had no doubts that it was something that she picked from him.
"Why are you telling me this?" She asked with a cold voice, making Christian frown. It was obvious to him why she of all people should know about his plan of revenge.
"Because you're my girlfriend, and I don't want you to misinterpret what is going to happen between her and I. I will toy with her the same way Luca tried to toy with you. And I will let her father know in due time when it will be too late for him to do anting about it."
"I thought we were exclusive," She reminded him, and though she was trying to keep her voice even, Christian still heard a small waver in her tone. He got up from his chair and went to crouch next to Ana, cupping her face with his left hand as he assured her,
"We are."
"And yet, you're here telling me that you're going to screw Luca's sister," She hissed, jerking his hand away and snapping her head so they wouldn't be face to face anymore.
She was pissed, and though Christian had always liked the jealous side of Ana, this time around, he found nothing appealing to it. He couldn't fathom the fact that she thought he could so loosely go and see other girls. Did she think so little of him, to think that he would cheat on her, and even have the insolence to let her know before it even happened?"
"I won't screw her. I'll screw with her father's mind and heart. It's not the same thing, babe," he told her in a reassuring voice, hoping that she would understand that, no matter his needs for the job, he wouldn't go as far as to be that kind of man.
She humphed, crossing her arms over her chest, and a wild thought came to Christian's mind that he shouldn't have let her know about his plans after all. But … this wasn't the type of relationship he wanted with Ana. They already shared a secret, he did not want to have secrets from one another.
"I could have done it, and not peep a word to you about it. I could have simply gone through the motions without letting you know beforehand. But it's not the kind of relationship that I want. It's not the kind of relationship that we agreed we'd have with one another. This is me being honest with you."
"Well, excuse me if I'm not head over heels at the idea of my boyfriend getting all chummy chubby with Suzannah Mazarati! I don't think I'm overreacting here, Christian! You're my boyfriend, and I don't like the idea of your lips, or your monster cock being on anyone else but me!"
This made Christian frown, and look at Ana with a different eye. "Did you kiss Luca Mazarati?" He asked, concerned that the answer he would hear might not be the one he wanted.
"Of course not!" Ana cried out, offended that he would even ask that question. He gave her a small smile, taking her chin between two of his fingers and forcing her to look at him,
"Then why do you assume that I am going to kiss anyone but you?"
"You just said that—"
"That I would do to her what has been done to you. I have no intentions of touching the girl. You are the only person I have eyes for. I just want … What does the Old Testament say? It's an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
He saw the slight relief in Ana's eye when he assured her that she was the only girl for him, and briefly kissed her lips, keeping for himself that he was hoping to do what Luca failed to do. Luca had wanted Ana to fall in love with him in order to torture Raymond's heart, and this was exactly what Christian intended to do with little Suzannah Mazarati. He knew that no matter how well he could explain this to Ana, she wouldn't understand why Suzannah had to be the one to pay for her father's sins.
Still, Christian started to see that Ana's issue was more the girl in question, than what Christian wanted to do. Though she held nothing to Ana in Christian's eyes, Suzannah was a beautiful girl. She was an auburn with captivating green eyes and a very generous cleavage, despite the fact that she still hadn't reached her twenties. Which was why Christian was barely surprised by Ana next sentence.
"So what? You want my blessing to flirt with someone else?" She asked her tone still a little snappy. Christian shook his head,
"No. I want you to understand why I have to do it."
"Technically, you don't have to do anything. I'm right here, with you. I'm okay, I'm alive, I'm kicking," She argued, unknowingly stirring back up the anger that Christian tried so hard to swallow since the pictures had been given to him.
"You could have been killed," He hissed through his teeth, narrowing his eyes at Ana. How could she not understand how lucky she had been that Mazarati only wanted to threaten Raymond.
"But I wasn't. I could get run over by a bus, that doesn't mean you need to go hunt down every poor bus driver there is," Ana argued, being once again the advocate of the people who tried to use her a political pawn.
Christian took a deep breath through his nose, closing his eyes, and when he opened them again, he told the woman he loved so much, "I am not overreacting here, Ana. I just want Andrea to feel what your father felt. To feel what I felt. I want him to know what it's like to see a picture of the person who means the world to you, a target drown on her face. I want him to understand how it feels to feel that there is a part of her life you knew nothing about. I want him to feel the dread of maybe losing that person."
Ana looked deeply into his eyes, and finally, her face softened.
"No matter what I say, you're still going to do it," She assessed, and when Christian positively answered to that, she compromised, "In that case, every time you see Suzannah, you have to see me afterwards. No exceptions, and non-negotiable."
.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.
Christian's PoV
The very same night Christian came back from Nairobi, Raymond paid him a visit so they could go over who would take Luke's place to watch over Ana. Christian was surprised that Raymond never even tried to put the blame on him for pushing Luke in that direction when the young Hispanic had wanted to stick to IT after the unfortunate encounter that lost him his lung.
Christian had been the one who convinced Raymond to put Luke on Ana's tail, and so, in Christian's mind, Luke's failure was ultimately his own, for having put faith in a man who disregarded his direct orders not once, but several times. And still, Raymond had not peeped a word about it, making Christian wonder if the boss estimated that him having to kill his friend was punishment enough.
He barely had time to put his bag down and greet his cat, that Raymond was already ringing at the door, making the kitten bolt upstairs, which wasn't really out of the ordinary. Expect for Ana and Jose, Bastille rarely stayed downstairs when Christian had company over.
He let his boss in his apartment and filled him in about the recruit. Sergeant Ackles, fresh out of the army with perfect records concerning the skill of filature, sniping or hand to hand combat. The only thing that he left out of this quick sum-up was that Sergent Ackles was a girl.
Though Raymond deeply respected Elena and her opinion, Christian couldn't help but have noticed that there were very little (to none) women amongst the ranks of Idris. Raymond had no problem rescuing and helping women in need, and it seemed to Christian that he had a little more issues about trusting them. Another example of Raymond clear differentiation between girls and boys was the fact that he had trained his son to take over, all the while keeping his daughter oblivious to everything. Still, Christian couldn't tell if it was because Raymond was from a past generation where the underground was a world of men, or if it was simply the way Raymond saw the world.
Raymond let Christian know of what happened while he was in Kenya, catching him up about everything he needed to know, and then he inquired about the trip, though this time was different of the other times. Instead of asking about his daughter, he simply asked about Christian and his state of mind, which made Christian frown at him, unused of this kind of display.
"You just seemed a bit tensed before leaving," Raymond mindlessly said, sipping on his water, before grimacing at the liquid, obviously wishing for something stronger and browner.
Christian did not comment on that, but now understood why he did not send an army with Ana on her trip, and simply him. It was more than a simple question of trust, it was a way for Raymond to give Christian some time to 'cool-off'. Christian tried to picture what he might have looked like after the whole picture debacle, but all he could see was the madman Ryan described him. Which was probably why Raymond thought that he had been 'tensed'. If only his boss knew that the only worry on Christian's mind lately was the safety of his girl, who happened to be his boss's daughter.
An hour after Raymond arrived, Ryan came in with Lauren Ackles, and Christian carefully studied his boss's reaction to the newcomer. Raymond did not say a word and let the girl pitch her performances, but Christian could tell by the way Raymond was holding his glass that the older man was not very pleased with this new recruitment. Which was why Christian estimated that it was time for him to fend for his pick,
"She won't let Ana out of sight."
Raymond did not answer but finally tore his gaze away from the girl with light brown curls to stare at Christian. The copper-haired man saw conflict in his mentor's eyes as if the older man was internally debating on what he was about to say to Christian. Which Christian did not like, Raymond had never hesitated to speak his mind to Christian before. But instead of lingering on that, he kept on selling his pick,
"Ana will never be able to get rid of her. Lauren is well trained, and she can follow you daughter everywhere, including the bathroom."
And this was when Raymond ticked, making Christian repress himself from rolling his eyes. He glanced at Ryan and Lauren who were watching the one-sided discussion, and though Ryan did not say anything, Christian knew that he was siding with him. After all, they had picked Lauren together.
"It's the twenty-first century, Raymond. You have to live with your time," Christian calmly said, doing his best to not sound condescending.
Ryan narrowed his eyes in his direction, probably feeling self-conscious about this blunt exchange between Christian and Raymond, and so Christian came up with an idea,
"Would it reassure you if she beat Ryan up?"
"What?! I do not agree with that! Why not beat your ass?!" Ryan cried out, making Christian smirk to himself. The two of them had been able to see a few of Lauren's training videos, and though they were both very good at hand to hand combat, neither of them wanted to find out if she could beat them to the ground. No matter how much he was for equality between genders, Christian knew that his ego would be bruised if Lauren beat him up.
"You know that I'm right here in the room with you?" Lauren inquired, with a bit of sass. This was something that Christian had noticed when he interviewed her. Lauren did not beat around the bush. Maybe it was because she came from a world of men, or maybe it was because she was from the South, but she still spoke her mind, and this was a quality that Christian appreciated. He would rather have a subordinate with a smart mouth, but who followed orders, than one who never said anything and did as pleased.
"Why did you leave the military?" Raymond asked, and Christian finally understood the issue his boss had with the girl. It had nothing to do with her gender, but more to do with her background. But then again, Christian already had the answer t that.
"Well, apparently, no matter where you are, if your genitals are inside of you, it gives any dufus with a penis the right to force themselves on you. And when you complain about it to your superiors, they get the nerves to tell you that you're a lying whore that should think twice before accusing her ranking officer," Lauren complained, with passion, clenching her fists on her sides. The topic was still fresh and sore for her.
"So you swore off the military all at once?" Raymond asked, surprising Christian in his lack of compassion for the girl.
"Yes. Though I did not have a choice. I was informed that it would be better if I resigned, and I did. I care very little about people doubting my words, or my capacities," She added, narrowing her eyes at Raymond who did not seem the slightest contrite by her blatant accusation.
"I know who you are, Mr Steele, and I know exactly where I'm getting if I take this job. But the pay is good, and no offence to your daughter, following around a twenty years old debutante is hardly something out of my reach."
"And what if she asks you to back off? Anastasia can be really convincing when she wants something," Raymond argued, holding Lauren's gaze to him. The young woman shrugged, not taken aback as she countered,
"Then I will back off. She doesn't need to see me for me to keep an eye on her. As Mr Grey told you earlier, I am trained to tail people and I was a sniper. It was my job to see but not be seen."
Raymond looked at the girl from head to toe, before placidly saying, "You don't need my approval, Christian. If you think she's good, she's good."
"It's your daughter," Christian argued, still bitterly remembering that he had estimated Luke good enough, and had ended up regretting his decision.
"I know. And I know that you also know that," Raymond mindlessly said, before turning to Christian with a vicious grin, "And we both know that if something happens to her, you will be the one regretting every decision you made about her safety."
Christian nodded, keeping for himself that Raymond was more right than he could ever imagine. Before recruiting Lauren, he had been actually considering hiring two people around the clock, but Ryan advised him against it, arguing that they should have this kind of security for when 'shit would really get down'.
So on this note, having the final word, Christian dismissed Lauren, asking Ryan to take her to headquarters and get Jose to fill her in about Ana's schedule and habits. Strangely, Raymond stayed behind, though Christian had been expecting for him to tag along Ryan and Lauren to make sure she would know everything there was to know about his precious daughter.
The two men stared at one another for a few seconds, before Raymond said, as if nothing, "Ana came back from Kenya with some funny ideas … she wants to take shooting lessons."
"She should," Christian immediately shot back. It hadn't expected Ana to keep this huge thing from her father, but he had to say that he was surprised by how she let her father know about her latest 'hobby'. The way Raymond said it, it seemed that it was simply a whim that came out from one of her travels, instead of her boyfriend demanding of her to be prepared at all time.
Raymond narrowed his eyes at Christian, his tight lips clearly disagreeing with Christian's statement, and having an issue that the blond boy did not side with him. Which was why Christian came clean about the whole idea,
"I may, or may not have implied that knowing how to use a gun is always a useful skill to have."
"Ana should have to hold a gun," Raymond snapped, his fist tightening at his side, and his eyes shooting daggers at Christian.
"With all due respect, she should. She is your daughter, and you can't expect the world to treat her with the same deference that you do."
"No apparently not," Raymond snarled, making Christian frown, his guard up.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Would you have treated Ana with the same respect that I do, she never would have come back with that ludicrous idea!"
This wasn't the first time that Raymond was losing his temper over his daughter, this was actually the only thing he was known to lose his temper over. But still, this was the first time that Raymond was losing his temper against Christian. And though it felt weird to Christian to be the target of Raymond's anger, he was not letting himself be impressed by the man. He was not going to back away on that matter. And this was why he coldly retorted,
"I don't have to respect her the way you do. She is not my daughter."
.
.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.
Christian's PoV
It had been three weeks since Lauren had started tailing Ana, and three weeks since Christian and Raymond had their slight disagreement. Of course, since the shooting idea officially came from Ana, Raymond did not oppose it and asked Ryan himself to add shooting lessons to the regular self-defence lessons. still, Christian felt that this argument put a cold between Raymond and him. Not that their working relationship suffered from it, but the thin line that made people think of him as Raymond's surrogate son seemed to barely exist anymore.
Still, Christian was in no way considering apologising, or try to appease his boss's feelings. To him, Ana learning to hold a gun was something Raymond should have taught her when she was still young and learning about calculus. He couldn't pretend to run a kingpin and not prepare his daughter for the worst. The world did not work like that, and Raymond better than anyone knew it.
On a plus side, things had been going very well between Ana and him. He had been actually surprised to discover that Ana liked shooting after all. She could gush for hours about the adrenaline rush or the feeling of power that holding a weapon gave her. She would even joke that Christian would now better beware since she could shoot him and that they both knew that her father would do anything to keep her out of jail.
He also had been seeing Suzannah for the past three weeks, and as promised, he always saw Ana the same day. Christian felt a bit weird about Ana's need to know how each 'date' wnt, but still satisfied her curiosity, before satisfying her appetite. And though he did not appreciate his moments with the young Mazarati for a second, some good still came out of it. They made Christian love Ana even more.
The more time he spent with the girl, laughing at her jokes or pretending to be interested in her life, the more he realised that Ana was the person he wanted to spend his life with. He wanted her to be his wife, he wanted her to mother his children, he wanted to grow old beside her and make love to her each night that would pass by.
But in all honesty, he had grown comfortable to be in this state where they were. Sure there were things that he couldn't do like simply take Ana out to grab a bite at Mrs Parvati, but he liked that Ana was his, and his only, and that each moment he spent with her, he did not have to worry about having someone else intervene. Each of those moments was so precious that the two of them always made sure to make the most of them. And there was also the fact that he did not have to worry about someone targeting Ana to get to him.
He had contacted Jason Taylor to apologise for that unnecessary threatening message, as well as to know if anyone but him knew about his relationship with the brunette, and so far, they all came short. Taylor knew, as well as Jose, and Katherine, and that was it. Mia knew he had someone, just like Ryan. And Christian still wasn't sure about Raymond. If his boss knew, it did not look like him to not say anything. Raymond was not known to be someone who bit his bone, and whether it was as Ana father, or as Christian's boss, it seemed very unlikely for him not to say a word about that ordeal.
Christian was lost in his thoughts, reading the paper with Bastille nestled on his laps, when someone rang at his door. He smiled to himself, hoping that it was Ana coming to surprise him, but kept his face closed when it saw that it was Lauren.
So far, the young girl did as told, and followed Ana. Not even two days after being introduced to the brunette, Lauren sent a text to Christian, letting him know that Ana indeed asked her to back off, offering a deal about 'not getting into troubles, and contacting Lauren if needed'. So Lauren took a step back and simply followed the girl from afar like she said she would.
"I'm not interrupting, am I?"
Christian shook his head, and let the girl in his apartment, proposing her water. She took the glass but did not drink on it, her eyes looking at the cat on the couch with suspicion.
"I did not take you for a cat person," She noted, which made Christian smile to himself, though his face remained unmoved. Mia kept making fun of him and his cat, calling him a James Bond villain, though he was quite sure that had he been a James Bond villain, the franchise would have died at the first movie. No use in monologues and convoluted deaths when you wanted a person dead.
"So … what I'm about to ask is … wayyy out of line. But I have to, just for my peace of mind."
"Go ahead," he simply said, though he already had an idea of what this was about.
"Are you having an affair with Miss Steele?"
Christian repressed a smirk. Though he was caught, he still praised that the girl did her job correctly. This was the question that Luke had been supposed to ask him months ago.
"What makes you think that?" He inquired, not as if he just had been busted going behind their boss's back, but as if he was talking about the weather getting colder.
"Well, Miss Steele comes rather often to that specific building at times that do not coincides with her friend's schedules. They all have schools or jobs that made them come either after she's already here or leave before she does. And … I saw you sneak into the mansion a few nights ago, only to stay there all night …"
Christian gave her an impressed nod, surprised to not have noticed her when he came to see Ana a few nights ago after a movie night with Suzannah. So far, he did not know of one single person who had managed to startle him, especially when it came to his very first skill.
But still, he did not bother answering her first question. The two of them stared at one another, before Lauren's shoulders visibly relaxed, as she said,
"Okay. Well, now I know."
"Now, you do," Christian repeated with his usual cold tone. He slightly tilted his head to the side, not bothered for a second by Bastille claiming his laps again, glaring at the person who disturbed their bonding, and the ex-military inquired,
"You're not asking me if I told Mr Steele?"
"Why would I need to ask you that?"
"Because you're obviously hiding your relationship. Otherwise you would have used the front door, last Thursday," She countered, making Christian raise an eyebrow at her. Did she really think he was actually trying to hide his relationship? Did she think he was such an amateur? Sure he respected Ana's wish and did not come out as he had first wished, but he was far from really hiding as well. Had he been hiding, Lauren would never have found out about them, no matter how good she was.
Though he hadn't spoken a word, Lauren seemed to have understood her mistake, and bashfully looked down on her hands while Christian enunciated a truth,
"If you had told Raymond, he would have been here by Friday night, ready to reap my head off."
Lauren nodded her agreement, which made Christian slightly narrow his eyes at her. For a second, he was questioning her loyalty. "So, I am curious to know why didn't Raymond reap my head off Friday night?"
"Honestly, you hired me and vouched for me. As far as I'm concerned, I answer to you. Plus, Mr Steele said he didn't want to know what his daughter did of her free time, so why should I tell him? I just have to rearrange my schedule when she comes to see you. She's certainly in no danger while she's with you."
.
.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.
‼️PLEASE DON'T BE A SILENT READER AND LEAVE A REVIEW
IT REALLY DOES HELP‼️
.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.
💚Your thoughts and opinions are always welcomed💚
~ Anyway, question time:
💚So Christian and Raymond are in disagreement, how do you feel about that?
💚 What do you think of Christian's plan concerning his revenge on Andrea?
💚 And what do you think of Lauren and her allegiance?
💚 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.
Love, Mina💚💚💚
