I'm so happy you guys liked the last chapter.I really loved writing out the memories Mia and Elliot had of him. I drew inspiration from my own life and traditions and games i've played with my nieces and nephews. It warms my heart that you all felt the love in them.

I PROMISE, they get back together in the next chapter. Like, PINKY PROMISE. Thank you for sticking by me.

desini: I'm actually not sure, I just keep writing. right now, I have about 6 more chapters and I keep writing more. haha.

dutch potterfan: it will be a long while till he gets what's coming to him. but I promise the fucker is going down.

gowildcats: YOU SLAY ME with the love *ugly cries*

babycakes10121: I gotchu boo.

Trigger warning: references to rape.


Chapter 28 - everything is blue.

Wednesday, January 29th, 2020

CPOV

I walk in to the lobby towards the elevator, it's a little before 9am. I get off on 20th and Andrea walks with me to my office for a brief rundown of our schedule. After replying to a few emails, and a quick conference call, Ros calls me to let me know that the Rahman's have arrived and to meet her in the conference room on our floor.

Akash and his lawyer come in at around 9:45am and we seat them in the big conference room on our floor. It's got couches, a small bar-kitchenette station and a table that sits 10 people should the need arise. Not to mention it's got the same killer view of Seattle that I have from my office. Akash tells us that his mother is running about 30 minutes late and apologizes for the delay.

Akash is almost passes for white. He's almost as tall as I am with green eyes. I remember Ana telling me that people from the Kashmir region were often fairer in complexion than other , which means his mother will probably have similar features. He knows he's got the face that gets him what he wants. He better not give Ana any looks or I'll throw him out the fucking window. Why am I riling myself up? I need to calm the fuck down.

We stand around and have coffee talking about Akash's time at Harvard and his lawyer's time at Columbia and Yale. Ana joins us shortly after. She's a vision. Dressed head to toe in black, wearing a full sleeve dress that goes to her knees and ruffles slightly at the bottom, heels with bows on them and her signature ponytail that makes her look like a million bucks. She's got eye-liner on with a slight rosy blush that do everything to bring out her ocean eyes. I could kiss her, she looks so fucking exquisite... this meeting will be a challenge. Focus, Grey. Focus

She walks in and smiles. She greets everyone and shakes hands with Akash's two lawyers and then with Akash.

"Mr. Rahman, it's nice to finally meet you. I'm Anastasia."

"Ah, Aana, long time no see."

Her eyes visibly widen and her expression changes as she shakes Akash's hands and quickly pulls away from him, giving a small smile.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we've met before."

"Really, I could've sworn we have. You're Vishaal's cousin right?"

She hesitates a little. "Yes, I'm Kiran and Vishaal's cousin."

"Hmm, so you don't remember? That's okay, it'll probably come to you at 4 in the morning." He laughs and I see Ana take a small step back.

She swallows and gives a tight smile, excusing herself and quickly walks out of the room. I see her shiver as she gets to the door; I excuse myself and go after her. I see her quickly walking to Andrea's desk and say something to her as she slumps on her table and tries to keep herself from falling, holding her hip. I run to her.

"Ana, look at me. What happened?" I ask. She's turns to me, her eyes wide in pain and unable to speak but I hear her whimper. "Andrea, get her bag from 18th and bring it to my office. NOW." I hold her in my arms and carry her to my office. Ana shivers uncontrollably, her face strained and tense as she tries not to scream. I lay her down and she turns her face into the couch and screams loudly into the cushion while crying uncontrollably. A few minutes later Andrea runs into my office with her bag and a glass of water. I empty the whole thing on the table and pull her Percocet out and tell her to take one. "Ana, take this. Please." She lifts her head, crying, shivering and takes the pill and puts her head back down and screams again.

"Sir, I'm going to call 911." Andrea says. "No Andrea, she just needs a few minutes. It's happened before." Andrea looks confused. "Yes Sir, please let me know if I can help out in other way... I'll be at my desk." She leaves.

Ana stops crying after a few minutes and stares to the floor, trying to bring her breathing to normal her head still on the cushion as she lays on the couch. I'm kneeled in front of her, caressing her face. "Ana, baby, what happened?" She doesn't speak, she just stares with vacant eyes as tears fall. After a minute she sits up and tries to fix her hair and goes to pick up her things from the floor. I help her and we put everything in her bag. She tries to stand up but struggles. "Baby, just take a few more minutes, Mrs, Rahman is running late anyway, so we have time." She nods and puts her face in her hands. I sit next to her and rub her back. I hear her phone ping and she goes to pull it from her bag. She goes through it and reads through and an email and I see her close her eyes and pinch the bridge of her nose.

She turns and looks at me. "Do you trust me, Christian?" she asks. "With my life Ana."

"No Christian, I mean professionally, do you trust my judgment?"

"Yes Ana, I do." I say. "If I decide to speak up, I need you to give me carte blanche in the negotiations. Just trust me on this. I can get you this deal in a way that will be extremely beneficial to GEH but you have to let me do what I need to." She looks at me with such an intensity that I've never seen before.

"Okay baby, do what you need to do. I trust you implicitly." I say truthfully. I know she will have GEH's best interest at heart but I'm equally terrified of her at this point.

"You should head back in there. I'm going to fix myself and will come by in a bit." I caress her face one last time and she leans into my touch. I get up and walk out towards the conference room. I've never been this nervous for deal to go through. This is so unlike me.

Ana walks back into the room about 10 minutes later looking refreshed and smiles brightly as she see's Mrs. Rahman. She goes and greets her in Hindi and instantly makes her feel comfortable. The laugh a little and she gives Ana a hug and they talk animatedly for a bit. Ana

We move to sit down at the conference table and begin our meeting.

Akash is on the same tired spiel of wanting more. I'm so fucking exhausted at this point that I want to walk away but Ros is hell bent on trying to make this work. I know she wants us to go up 335 if need be in the offer but I'm not feeling it anymore. I look to Ana who is looking at Akash with the death stare. After a beat she looks at me and interrupts Ros.

"Ros, Mr. Grey, May I?" She asks. Oh fuck, it's show time. "The floor is yours Miss Steele." I wait with baited breath and what unfolds before me is the most unexpected.

She looks to Akash, stands up, placing her hands on the table, leaning in and begins.

"Mr. Rahman, I haven't been in the room 15 minutes and I'm already exhausted with your attempts at trying to thwart quite possibly the best deal you're going to get in this market.

This company is your family's legacy and the name you so proudly carry yet are so quick to disrespect. Yes your parents started this company and created a name that is synonymous with fairness and have quite literally become the industry standard in India. However that doesn't mean you're entitled to inherit it based on nepotism alone. Your parents have the right to sell since it's THEIR Company, you will most definitely get your piece and you can start anew. Create your own legacy outside of your parents shadow should you choose to do so.

You can go ahead and probably get a seemingly better deal financially down the street but I can assure you as soon as you sign those papers they will rip your company to shreds and you will have to go back home with your tail between your legs and tell 2 million workers how they got royally fucked because the little prince could get his shit together. That's a shit ton of bad karma coming your way when you conservatively average a minimum of 3 children per worker who will go hungry. Do the math.

The money will last you long but your name will mean nothing. You will be nothing but a cautionary tale, a joke told at parties. Is that what you want YOUR legacy to be?

Your parents created something grand from nothing and you are hell bent on tearing it down for your own selfish reasons. Now Mr. Grey here has been more than generous with his offer and if you look at our portfolio, which I know you have, we are known here at GEH for keeping jobs and minimizing layoffs and keeping continuity.

However seeing your blatant disrespect here for not only your mother, who by the way seems like a wonderful woman, and Mr. Grey plus company here, the original deal for 325 off the table."

Ros moves to interject and I signal her to stand down.

Ana proceeds to speak to him in the same calm but chilling tone in Hindi. I can see the fear creep into Akash's face. I hear the only english words "vishaal, going away party and WSU " and it dawns on me what this is about. FUCK! He was a part of what happened to her? Akash's mother raises her hand to her mouth and looks down. Akash's lawyers looks visibly uncomfortable as one of them takes his eyes off of Ana and looks to his client and around to all of us before looking down. Their faces are tense as whatever Ana says cuts into them.

Ana takes a breath and straightens her posture.

"Look at me Akash." Ana barks at him. Akash immediately looks up; I can see the fear and discomfort in his eyes.

She throws a folder at him. "The assets I've highlighted. Strike them from your portfolio. We are not going to be paying for a development that will be structurally unsound in a year due to rigged boring tests. You want to embezzle from your family? Go ahead but it will not be on our dime. Did you actually think we wouldn't find out about your so called deal with the Kerala municipal government that you were subbing out? You will not stay on as CEO or any executive position and part of this deal will require that you come nowhere near within 1000 feet of any Rahman Industries assets."

HOLY FUCK. Ros looks at me like the sky is falling but recovers.

"$275 million. Take it or leave it. You have 10 minutes to decide."

Ana looks to us with the same chilling expression.

"Shall we?" Ana is the first to leave as she walks away with purpose back to my office. We all follow her there and I see her walk to the windows. She very well could be the CEO of Grey Enterprises Holdings.

"What the fuck was that Anastasia?" Ros screams.

Ana turns around calmly. "He'll take it. Trust me."

"How the fuck do you know that?" Ros is about to lose it. "Ros, take a moment." I say. "No Christian, this is our only in into the Indian market and we're going to lose it to her inexperience and your lapse in judgment."

"Ros, I know how everything works in that culture, I know how men like him operate. I know the things he's done and I just aired his dirty laundry in front of his mother and lawyers. He'll take the fucking scraps we give him to save face because if he doesn't he knows I will scream his list of sins from the rooftops"

"You better be fucking right or you're fired." Ros yells.

"Your threat of firing me doesn't scare me Ros, you have no idea of the shit I've been through. Getting fired from GEH would be a fucking blessing in my life at this point. In fact, consider this my 2 weeks notice." Ana bites back and her face is tense. Ros is taken aback and retreats.

I'm equal parts terrified of her and turned on by her. Who is this woman?

Ros and I go to sit on the couches as Travis walks to Ana and puts his hand on her shoulder. "You sure you're okay, Ana?"

"Yes Mr. Travis, thank you for asking. I know I just took over in there but I promise I have GEH's best interest at heart." She gives a small smile.

After a bit we start to head out. "You guys go ahead, Miss Steele can I have a word?" She silently nods while Ros and Travis make their way to the conference room where Akash and company are waiting.

Ana is standing in front of me, looking down, fingers knotted. "Ana, are you sure you're okay? Was he there with Vishaal when all that happened?" She looks up at me "it's okay Christian, I'm fine now. We can talk about it later." She gives me the smallest smile. And it breaks my heart. I hold her face in my hands and lean in to her and hover over lips, silently asking permission to kiss her. She raises her lips, gives me a small kiss and quickly walks out.

I feel a murderous rage within me, I want to fucking kill Akash and Vishaal but I have to really control myself. This is neither the time nor the place. Fuck, I need to talk to Flynn but first I need to call Welch

"Welch. Grey. I need a full docket on Akash Rahman of Rahman Industries from India. I know he went to Harvard the same time as Vishaal did. That fucker maybe clean as a whistle but Akash seems pretty dumb. Dig deep and get something I can bury him with."

"On it, Sir."

I walk back to the conference room and I see Akash is no longer there. It's just his mother Mrs. Rahman and their lawyers.

"Mr. Grey, we accept your offer and look forward to the Rahman legacy continuing on under GEH." Mrs. Rahman says and I'm a little stunned. We were told she doesn't speak English at all. She sounds so sophisticated. Ana gives a knowing smile. I suspect she knew all along.

We all shake hands and sign the letter of intent to begin the proceedings for the merger.

"Mrs. Rahman, I'd love to invite you and your family over to my home for dinner to celebrate. Would Friday evening work? I understand two of your children live in Seattle with their families."

"That is very kind of you Mr. Grey, yes they do and we would love to have dinner. Will you all be there as well? I hope so. I would love to spend more time with this beautiful girl." She looks lovingly towards Ana.

Ana looks a little uncomfortable. "I'll try my best to make it, Mrs. Rahman" she offers a small smile. We head down together in the private elevator to see Mrs. Rahman off.

Before getting into the car, Mrs. Rahman takes Ana aside and talks to her in hindi, she clasps her hands like in prayer in front of Ana and it feels as if she's begging for... forgiveness? Ana holds her hands and shakes her head. I see tears fall from her eyes and she pulls Mrs. Rahman in for a hug and kisses her cheek saying something in hindi to her before guiding her to the car and sending them off.

I look to Ros and Travis who are equally stunned. We turn to walk towards the private elevator and none of us say a word. Ana is turned away from us, staring towards the floor. Once we get to 20th, Ana quickly walks out to go towards the conference room to pick up her bag and head towards the public elevators.

"Ana, can you please join us in Mr. Grey's office." Ros asks in a slightly authoritative voice.

Ana slowly turns around and follows us. We take our seats on the couch and chairs. Ros and I sit across from Travis and Ana, but Ana's eyes remain downcast.

"Ana, what the hell happened in there? Why didn't you tell us about those assets? Ros asks.

It takes Ana a few moments to speak. "I only found that out a few minutes before I walked in and there was no time to tell you. I knew what those assets were worth so I revaluated everything."

"I see. What did you say to him in Hindi."

"Nothing. It was related to the deal. I just needed to get a point across."

"I'm not dumb Ana, something happened. I saw the horror his mother's face, that does not come from learning your son stole from you. That was something else."

"Ros, it's fine. It's done with. You guys should celebrate the fact that GEH is now officially in the Indian market. Don't let what happened there dampen the mood." She is struggling to speak.

"Ros, let's drop this and move on." I tell her.

"Ana, we have the right to know. This happened on GEH property we are entitled to know you said to him or you want me to have the audio translated by IT?"

Ana looks up and I see the fear in her eyes. "Please don't do that. Listen, whatever it is. It's in the past. Please trust me on this. I did this to get you guys the best deal. Just focus on that. I swear I didn't say anything that would damage GEH's reputation. Besides they're also bound by NDA, they will not repeat what I said. It would ruin their reputation in the community." Her voice breaks and I see tears start to form again.

"Did he hurt you Ana?" I see Ros look at her with concern. She gets it but she'll fucking push it.

"Miss Steele, you don't have to answer anything you're not comfortable with sharing. Ros, just drop it already." I try to get her to stand the fuck down.

Ros gives me the death stare. "Ana, we can help you. You can trust us." She gets up to go to Ana but Ana jumps up and takes a few steps back holding her hand out shaking her head.

"Please... don't... " She starts to cry and suddenly she's trembling. "I'm fine... just focus on the good that came out of this... please."

She reaches down to pick up her bag and turns around to quickly run out of our office.

"WHAT THE FUCK ROS?" I scream at her.

"DON'T YELL AT ME. SOMETHING HAPPENED TO HER."

"Christian, Ros, please... " Travis interrupts us. "I will go and try to talk to her but if she still doesn't want to talk or share anything we cannot do much."

Ros runs her hands through her hair. "You do realize she just singlehandedly got us Rahman Industries for $75 million below their asking price."

I feel my heart soar with pride and then crash back down at break neck speed. "I know..." I say with a low voice.

"We need to take of her, I'm talking a fucking promotion and a fucking bonus or raise or both. She hasn't been here a year and she's saved us almost $80 million." She trails off. "I'd marry her in a heartbeat if it wasn't for Gwen... and for god's sake don't you two tell Gwen that, she'll murder me in my sleep." Ros chuckles and Travis and I can't help but laugh.

"I'm going to go down there and apologize and get her to rescind the 2 week notice. We cannot lose her." Ros muses and walks out.

I'm so completely in love with her. She's the most perfect human being.

APOV

Alarm bells ring loudly in my head as I leave Christian's office and run towards the elevators. They're taking to fucking long so I go to the fire stairs and run down to 18th and quickly make my way to the ladies room and try my best to stop crying and shivering.

Why does this keep happening? I am so exhausted. Why won't this stop? My body is still numb. I close my eyes but all I can see is this new wave of flashes. Flashes I've never seen before.

A dark room... with a faint light golden light. Laugher and the smell of smoke and alcohol. So much alcohol. Being dragged around. His menacing green eyes as everything else blurs around me. I can't move. I feel heavy. The glimmer of a ruby. Red as blood. The glimmer of a ruby. Red as the purest blood.

I hear my phone ring and it's Christian. I can't talk to him right now. I set my phone to silent. I can't talk to anyone right now.

I take a deep breath and look at myself in the mirror. I'm a fucking mess. Eyeliner and mascara all smeared. I grab a few napkins and start to wipe it off of my face and wash it all off. A few minutes later I'm bare faced with just a hit of black around my eyes. I take out my travelling makeup kit and try to reapply. As I work to make myself look a little normal again, I hear the bathroom door open and see Ros walk towards me. Fuck, is she still going to want her pound of flesh. I can't give it to her. I have nothing to give.

"Ana, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push."

"Ros, please don't ask me to tell you what I said. I realize that I cannot stop you from getting the audio translated from the CCTV feed. All I ask is that you don't share it with anyone or talk to me about it. It's just... too painful. Please understand." I say unable to stop my voice from breaking and crying.

"I won't. I promise and... I'm sorry. I just wanted to thank you for putting yourself out there and getting us this deal. You did more than was asked for you and I want you to know how much we value you. You've proved yourself to be an irreplaceable asset to GEH. "

"I appreciate you saying that Ros but... this was just luck."

"Cut the shit Steele, I don't stand for women downplaying their accomplishments. This was all you."

I take a deep breath. "I appreciate you saying that."

"Do you have any lunch plans? We could go get some Italian and get our minds off of all this. I'll see if Gwen is free too." She smiles at me.

"That's really sweet of you but I think I'll just have lunch at my desk and get some work done. Focusing on work will help me."

"You can take the rest of the day, in fact I insist on it."

I smile at her. "No, I'm good. I'll be fine. Work helps plus, watching Jose lose his shit over me drinking beet juice is just the entertainment I need."

She lets out a laugh. "Yeah, watching him having a breakdown over trivial shit is definitely the highlight of my day."

After Ros leaves, I walk back to my desk looking down and trying to hide my face. As soon as I get there, I see Christian waiting. Fuck my life.

"How can I help you, Mr. Grey?" I say trying to maintain my professional voice in the presence of other employees walking by.

"You weren't picking up your phone."

"I was in the ladies room freshening up and then Ros found me there and we talked."

"Ana, I'm sorry..."

"It's not your fault and I'm fine. I think I just need to focus on work right now and forget about this morning. I don't want to dwell on it."

"I have an appointment with Flynn at 6:30 but you should take my slot. I can meet him tomorrow."

I close my eyes and try to think. Maybe I should try and meet with Flynn instead of letting this fester in my mind for a change.

"Can we meet after for a bit?" I look up at him and the look in his eyes makes me hate myself. There's the fucking pity. Take a good look Grey, this is the fucking broken woman you love. I tear my eyes away and look down again, gathering and organizing files.

"Of course we can. I'll wait in reception and we can go have dinner or whatever you want."

I nod. He lingers for a bit. I am not going to look up again, I cannot cry again. He walks away.

CG: You're the strongest woman, I know. I love you.

AS: I love you.

...

I get to Flynn's practice and it's beautiful. It's much like his home. Clean lines and modern furniture with warm color tones. It's inviting and I instantly feel at ease.

I still have 15 minutes till my appointment. Christian sits next to me but I don't say a word. I am so drained to even speak. I don't even know how I'll talk to Flynn. I just quietly stare at things and have my inner conversations with the millions of voice and thoughts rattling around my head. I can feel Christian look at me every now and then. He's probably thinking, what the fuck have I gotten myself into?

Thank god, I'm his last patient for the day and what a emotional rollercoaster of a patient to have to end the day with.

"Do you want me to come in with you?" Christian leans in whispering.

"It's not going to be pretty Christian."

He holds his hand out, signaling me to take it and I place it in his. They're soft and warm and... safe.

"We're in this together, Ana. It's not about it being pretty or whatever. If you want me to be there for you, then I will be."

I look at him. My eyes burn. "I'm really broken Christian."

"So am I. I guess we all are in some way." He says with his voice low. I nod and look away, willing my tears not to fall from my eyes.

Flynn calls for us and we both walk in.

"You look lovely Ana." John smiles at me after we exchange pleasantries.

I laugh a little. "I've already told you you're funny, John."

"This was more to get a rise of Christian, which is always funny." He chuckles and I can't help but laugh more. I look at Christian and he rolls his eyes.

CPOV

John asks Ana to describe what happened today. She goes on to explain that we had a negotiation meeting with the Rahman's and how she was brought in to translate to Mrs. Rahman outside of the deal and be a conduit of good will. She goes on to tell him that she wasn't entirely sure if she had met Akash before.

"When I introduced himself and I shook his hand I felt an extreme sense of dread. My body went numb. That only happens when Vishaal is near me, especially if he touches me. I have no memories of what happened to me but this morning...I... meeting Akash. It was a combination of his perfume, his laugh and seeing his pin that he wore on his jacket lapel that brought back some flashes. That fucking pin, the way it glimmered in the light, it just triggered something. I remembered him laughing, the smell of alcohol and being unable to move..." She stops and covers her eyes with her hands as her elbows rest on her knees. She tries to calm her breathing.

"At first it was just a feeling that I was violated. This... this is confirmation. I..." She immediately stands up and starts pacing. Taking deep breaths. It's fucking painful to watch. She tries to find her words and I can tell she's desperately trying to find control.

She clenches her fists and speaks, tears falling from her eyes. "They both did this to me. When I was growing up he used to tell me he loved me, he was my brother and I was his little sister and he swore he'd protect me, then how could he have done this me after all that I had been through? How could he put me in harms way like that and take away my choice. I was saving myself but my choice was stolen from me. My agency was stolen from me. And I have been so angry all these years. First because I could never remember and now... I have these flashes and...I can't breathe..." I see her trying to catch her breath but she's struggling and I get up but John beats me to it and walks to Ana.

"Ana, I want you to look at me. "

Ana looks to him "Give me your hands and repeat after me, we're going to count backwards. Okay? I want you to follow what I say."

Ana nods and John starts "15, 14, 13, 10..."

Ana looks at him confused and shakes her head "12, 11, 10... "

John smiles. He does this a couple of more times till Ana feels a little more calm and then he walks her to the couch to sit again.

They go on to talk about the episode with the hip pain and how she was able to take over the meeting and stand up to Akash.

"When I'm in a situation that is not ideal for me, self-preservation is paramount. There are times when I've not been able to control myself and I shut down but this morning, I was just so fucking angry. I wanted to murder him. I had two options, I could either runaway or face it. I chose to confront him in front of Christian and the other GEH employees in hindi because if I had spoken in English then I would've broken down because I knew they'd realize what was happening and I didn't want that look of pity. I already see it in Christian's eyes and... I just hate when everyone looks at me like that. It's one of the reasons why I got out of SF. "

"Tell me about that. Why are you so concerned with what everyone else is thinking."

"I don't know. I always have been. I've just always thought, if I was the good girl, did everything right, I'd get my reward in the end. I'd be safe and wanted. I did well in school, I read, I learned new things, I learned the language, I did everything to be the good daughter, grand daughter, cousin, sibling, friend... even now... the good employee, girlfriend and I am so fucking exhausted. I tried to educate myself and then after the accident, I was determined to recover and be worthy of all the money and time they spent on me but mentally, I never progressed.

I had no friends for 3 years and I lost touch with my life in Montesano. I had no friends that were my own age. Socially, I wasn't progressing. I was just becoming this little submissive girl who was in the confines of 4 walls and had no spark, no personality. I was just quiet all the time... so I did whatever I had to, to recover and get the fuck out of SF. Then... right as I was about to leave, I was yanked down to the ground and beaten... some fucking reward. Since then I've done everything I could to hide the fact of how broken I feel all the time. For the longest time, Kate was the only person who knew everything but she built me up and helped me find who I used to be. I found my spark again and now... I feel like I'm barely holding on sometimes."

She looks down to the carpet. She's no longer crying. She's angry. Seething.

"Ana, have you ever tried telling your mother?"

She looks up. "No. My own biological mother didn't fight for me, I'm sure as hell not going to test that theory with a woman who I don't share an ounce of blood with and whose family has spent so much money on me. John, are you at all familiar with south Asian families and their traditions?"

"I know that they are complex, just like any family."

Ana rolls her eyes and laughs. "That's putting it mildly. No John, they are complex and toxic and oppressively patriarchal and when you add billions of dollars into the mix then my friend, that is what we call a clusterfuck." She laughs deliriously and I see tears start to fall again.

"Vishaal, runs that family. Everyone worships him. He is my mother's favorite nephew. If I were to even hint at the fact of impropriety, it is game over for me. He'll spin it around to make it look like I'm the gold digging whore. Besides, I have no proof."

"Ana, this is fucking ridiculous." I say. I'm so close to losing it. I can't bear to see her in this pain.

She looks to me. "Christian, if a woman accused you of rape, doesn't matter if it's true or not but she has no proof. With your shark like legal and PR team, just what would you do to her? Would you not bury her in the ground? Her life would be ruined. You would be unscathed but she would be ruined. Again, doesn't matter if it's true or not. Women barely ever survive. Now what do you think he would do to me? He has the backing of not only AHAK but KGI too, we're talking about a 21 billion dollar empire coming after me. My father's name would be dragged through the mud, so would my grandfather's. I can't do that, I'd rather die than do that. They would take everything away from me. My family, my sanity... everything. Right now, I have my life in Seattle, I have a small escape."

I look away. I know what she means. I know it and it fucking sickens me. There has to be something I can do.

...

"Baby, come back with me to Escala, Gail made dinner. You need to eat something."

"I don't want to go to Escala. Please don't ask me, not after today. I can't handle going back there right now." She takes a deep breath.

Fuck. For a second, I had forgotten what going back there would mean for her.

"Do you have food at home?"

"Yeah, I have leftovers from what Mia and made yesterday." She looks out of the window and I can see how tired she is.

We get to her apartment building and she tries to protest my coming up but I'm not having it.

"I know you're going to just go to bed and not eat anything. I know you. I am going to make sure you eat." I say.

She looks up at me with a scowl and jumps out of the car. I follow her and she doesn't say a word to me. She can be pissed all she wants but I don't give a fuck.

We get into the apartment and she tells me she's going to take a quick shower and will be right out and that I should help myself to a beer or whatever other alcoholic beverages Kate and Elliot have stocked in the fridge. I don't trust Elliot's choice in wine for shit so I go for the beer.

She walks out in her pajamas that have flowers on them with a dark green graphic tee. Her hair is up in a bun and she looks mad as hell. She looks adorable and terrifying.

"Why are you so mad?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because I love you." I say teasingly.

"Don't get cute with me, Grey, I'm not in the mood." She says as she takes out the contents of last night's leftovers from the fridge.

"So you think I can be cute."

She looks at me. "Listen, don't piss me off right now. I'm serious. I've had the day from hell and I am just..."

"Hangry, you're hangry. Just say it Ana." I smirk.

She picks up kitchen rag and throws it in my direction.

"I hate you right now." She says trying to stop herself from laughing.

We sit on the bar stools and eat leftovers from yesterday. Once we're done she takes our dishes and cleans up. She's still thinking. Her face is tense. We barely talked during dinner. Her mind is overdrive.

"You need to sleep." I tell her.

She looks up to me. "I'm sorry, I didn't ask you what I do or don't need."

"I don't care. Get into bed."

"This is my apartment and I can do whatever the fuck I want." She walks to get something from the table. I stand in front of her and she looks up at me pissed off. I kneel down and throw her over my shoulder and make my way to the bedroom.

She screams "Christian, you asshole." And slaps my ass, hard... fuck she can really lay one and now I'm turned on. Fuck.

"Did you just fucking spank my ass?" I growl.

"It sure as hell wasn't Charlie Hunnam's ass, so yeah it was yours." She giggles.

"Who the fuck is that?"

"A guy I kinda like." She laughs.

I get to her bed, remove the duvet and slide her down off of me. She still looks pissed but I smile at her and she rolls her eyes at me and gets into bed. I go to lock her door, I quickly take off strip down to my boxers.

"I'm sorry, what do you think you're doing?"

"Making sure you sleep tonight."

"No you're not. After you manhandled me, I don't like you or your photoshopped body right now."

"Admit it, you love this photoshopped body." I smirk.

She rolls her eyes. "Whatever, just shut up and get into bed, I'm tired."

I get in and pull her to me and kiss her neck, holding her tight.

"I love you, Ana."

She starts to sob. "I fucked up, Christian."

"What do you mean?"

"They both will come after me now."

"No they won't and if they do, I'll bury them."

She takes a shuddering breath. "Christian, you have your business to worry about, this is all a distraction that will take you away from all that you've built. It's not worth it."

I turn her face to me and kiss her deeply. "Listen to me, they are never going to hurt you again. They will never lay a hand on you. I will fucking kill them."

She closes her eyes. "They won't cause me bodily harm Christian, he's too clever for that now."

She turns away and I hear her quietly cry. I hold her close to me and plant soft kisses on her neck and cheek till she falls asleep.


Authors note: Eager to hear your thoughts my fanfic familia

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