Mia rushes in, I guess she either heard his shouting or my sobbing; she sits on the bed and hugs me.
"What has my big fool of a brother done" she asks gently.
"He doesn't want me" I reply gaining some composure, wiping my nose and drying my eyes.
"Oh Ana I am so sorry" she hugs me again. I want to go home I tell her. She nods in understanding and says she will go and tell grace of my impending departure.
I pack my bag, gather up my purchases from shopping and slowly walk down the stairs. Grace comes rushing up and takes some bags from me and begs me not to go but I thank her for a wonderful few days and reassure her that I will come back again sometime in the near future. I stumble a little when I remember I have no car but Taylor appears at that moment and offers to take me home. I accept gratefully. The last thing I wanted was to have to use a taxi, with luggage and a broken arm. I say goodbye to Carrick, Mia and Grace with a heavy heart because I know that I won't be coming back here again.
I think I fell asleep in the car, I am awoken by Taylor, and I am home. He opens the car door for me and offers a hand to help me get out. He carries my bags up to the apartment, opens the door and wishes me a goodnight.
"Thank you for your help Taylor, it was a pleasure to have met you" I hold out my good hand.
"You misunderstand Miss Steele, I am staying here as security. Mr. Grey wants you protected here" I look gob smacked at his words.
"Oh, err right, well goodnight then" I mutter confusedly and shut the door. Kate is not home yet, which I am pleased about, I can just relax for a while. The phone rings and I answer it thinking Kate is checking I am home but there is no one on the other end so I put the phone down and return to the sofa. It rings again so I repeat the effort except I ask who is on the line but no answer again. Hmm, it's probably Kate's mobile signal. It doesn't ring again so I think nothing more of it.
About half an hour later Kate comes home, she has bought me flowers and gives me a big but gentle hug. I am not that fragile anymore and I am so glad she is home safe. We chat about her trip for a while over a glass of wine and then of course we get around to talking about Christian and the Greys.
"So how was it there?" she digs
"Oh you know, posh house, fantastic food and Christian doesn't want me" I look downwards.
"You are kidding me, right?" she asks
"No, he said it would be all too complicated whichever way and he couldn't take the risk so that's it" and once more the tears bubble over but I have to toughen up and move on. No more tears!
"No way, I can't believe he would give up that easily." she looks stunned.
"Well he did, he has and I have to accept that and move on" I say as a matter of fact "oh, we have a security man called Taylor watching us"
"Why?" is the simple question from Kate.
"Someone broke into my room and sat on the end of my bed at the Grey's, Christian went mad and increased security and Taylor drew the short straw in coming here with me"
Kate looks gob smacked "why would someone want to break in?"
"I really don't know, I guess it could have just been bad luck they happened to pick my window" I shrug my shoulders.
"That must have been terrifying, what happened?" she asks.
"Everyone came rushing in after I screamed and whoever it was made a quick escape back out the window but I'm fine" I reassure her.
"So what next with Mr. Grey then?" here comes the Kavanagh inquisition.
"Nothing, absolutely nothing so I have to move on but one thing Kate" I take a deep breath "please, please don't say a word to anyone about what has happened between Christian and I. I should have signed a NDA when he first came to the office but his PA didn't give it to me" I look at the soon to erupt Kate and I want to hide. She can be scary sometimes.
"He asked you to sign what!" here it comes "What the hell does he need you to sign that for? Oh I see this is so you don't spill any secrets about work and personal life to anyone without the full force of Christian Grey and his cronies coming down on you" she's got it in one.
"I didn't sign it Kate but I also gave my word to Grace that I wouldn't knowingly hurt the family in any way. I don't want to be responsible for any ugliness that could come from any part of what I have told you" I continue on "regardless of how I feel, Christian has called time on our relationship and I have to respect that, not go all super bitch over a failed tryst"
"I understand Ana, I am not sure I would be so nice about this, you have my word that no information what so ever will come from me" she smiles.
"Thanks Kate, you have no idea how much I appreciate that" I say honestly "now how about a top up, I would do it myself but I can't use a cork screw" we both dissolve into giggles. Ah it's good to be home.
The next morning I get up and decide to go to the office for a few hours. I have been granted leave but I just want to see what's been happening in my absence. Taylor drives me, follows me in to the office. Sophia jumps up when she sees me exit the elevator.
"Miss Steele, thank goodness you are ok, we were so worried about you" I thank her for the kind words and ask if she could come into the office to give me an update. Taylor takes a seat just outside the door. I can see she is wondering what he is all about.
"Mr. Grey has insisted on increased security for the moment" she flushes as if I have read her mind.
I ask Sophia to update me on everything that has happened and after a couple of hours I feel satisfied that things have progressed albeit a little slower than normal. I pick some papers up to take home with me, I don't fancy sitting in the office when I can relax and do it at home. I leave the office and feel instantly guilty that I had forgotten Taylor was waiting outside.
"I am so sorry Taylor, I didn't realize I had been so long" I say apologetically.
"No problem Ma'am" he says "Are we heading to your apartment now?"
"Yes thank you Taylor" I say nodding at the same time.
I take a nap for a few hours before tucking in to the papers I brought home. The phone rings and once again no one speaks but I can hear breathing, I ask who it is but the line goes dead. Ok so once or twice I can accept as a bad line, connection or wrong number but this is beginning to freak me out. I call Taylor's cell, maybe he can help,
"Hello Taylor, it's Ana err Miss Steele" I am not sure what he prefers.
"Is everything ok Miss Steele?" he sounds concerned.
"Well yes, um no really, I might just be imagining this but I have had three calls where no one speaks, I just hear breathing and when I ask who it is, the line goes dead" I hear a knock at the door. I open it to find Taylor looking concerned.
"I need to check this out; could I have your phone for a moment please?" I invite him in to the apartment. He walks over to the phone and makes a call.
"Sawyer? Good, Taylor, I need a trace on Miss Steele's apartment phone immediately" he stresses.
Kate comes in and a look of apprehension crosses her face.
"Kate, this is Taylor, security" I say
"Taylor, my best friend and flat mate, Kate" he holds his hand out "Miss Kavanagh", he turns away to answer his cell. I try to listen in surreptitiously; I think he is talking to Christian but hard to tell as I am trying to placate Kate at the same time.
"What's going on Ana" she asks, her voice is a little shaky.
"I'm not sure if it's just a prankster but I have answered the phone three times to silence on the other end so I asked Taylor what he thought and he is making enquiries" I say as reassuringly as I can.
"Ma'am, the calls are coming from a cell phone but it is a pre-paid cell so we have no idea who it belongs to. Mr. Grey is arranging to have a new number allocated to this address but please be careful who it's given to. Make a list of the people who you do give it to please. You too Miss Kavanagh" This is all getting a little weird.
"It may be nothing but we need to be cautious in light of what has happened recently. Please don't hesitate to call me if anything else, however silly it seems or if something bothers you Miss Steele and you also Miss Kavanagh" he stresses.
"We will, thank you Taylor" he leaves the apartment.
It's getting late and I decided to turn in for the night and dream about what could have been.
The following morning I head into work again, being at home alone, not only is it freaking me out but without Kate around, it can get very lonely. I file the papers I went through at home, answer some e-mails, mostly colleagues are asking how I am doing etc. and a few needing replies. Typing one handed is somewhat a challenge and painfully slow however if feels good to be useful again. Two or three hours later I have had enough, I can feel a headache coming on at the back of my head and my shoulders are aching. Perhaps I should have a massage, yes; I think that's a good idea!
After an hour and a half of massage and a facial I feel revitalized. I didn't realize how tense I was. The therapist even commented on how knotted my shoulders were but considering the car accident she was not surprised.
I sit in the car in a relaxed glow, all I need is this cast to come off but that's still a few weeks away yet unfortunately. Back at the apartment, I sort through the mail separating mine and Kate's and there is a blank sealed envelope with no writing on the outside. I am just about to throw it in the recycle bin as usually these are junk advertisements or some offering cleaning services, pizza coupons and realtors but the feel of this envelope is different, it is of much better quality and certainly too good to be used for junk mail so I open it, pull out a single sheet of paper and open it….
DIE, BITCH, DIE!
I struggle to take in what I am reading, why does someone want to hurt me? Why does someone want me dead? I don't have any enemies that I know of; well I guess I have one...
I fumble with my cell phone to call Taylor. My heart is beating so fast I can't dial the number properly. Breathe Ana breathe, I dial Taylor, he seems to take forever to pick up.
"Help me Taylor" is all I can say before slumping to the floor.
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