The door swings open, crashing against the door stopper and Taylor comes storming in, I don't think I have ever seen a look like that on his face before, I feel intimidated and I know Taylor.
"How can I help you Miss Steele?" he is standing directly behind Mr Green who is looking decidedly uncomfortable.
"Mr Green is leaving, please escort him from the building" I say a lot quieter than I should have but my legs are shaking.
"Of course Miss Steele" he smiles a smile only I can see and it is somewhat reassuring. I keep standing until they are out of sight before sinking down in my chair, leaning back and closing my eyes, trying to regain control of my breathing.
"Ana, ANA!" I open my eyes and Christian is kneeling down by the side of my chair with my hand in his "Are you ok?"
"I am fine Christian; honestly, he just took me by surprise with his comments and tone of voice"
"Who was he?" he asks.
"His name was Jack Green, I have a manuscript from him and I was really impressed, such a great story with much potential so when he asked to discuss publishing and things, I arranged for him to come in" I explain.
"Do we have any details, address, phone number, where he works? Anything?" I feel a full scale 'find out about this guy at any cost' search is imminent.
I give Christian the details I have but also check with Sophia to make sure she has the same. At that moment Taylor comes back into the office again.
"I sent him away with a warning not to come near again, security are pulling an image off the cctv footage to circulate so he isn't permitted access again and I have started a search for any information on him" he continues "Are you alright Miss Steele?"
"Yes thank you" he turns to leave "Thank you Taylor for helping me"
"You're welcome" and he is gone after a nod from Christian.
"Baby I don't want you at work anymore" Christian announces.
"Why ever not?" I respond.
"It is making me nervous" he admits.
"Christian, really? What is the difference me being here with lots of people around or being home pretty much alone all day?" I feel irritated "if it makes you feel any better I will have Taylor sit inside the room with me!"
"I don't want to argue about this Ana" he growls at me.
"Neither do I and If you growl at me in that sexy voice again I will have no choice but to tie you to the office chair and have my wicked way with you" I raise my eyebrow, wink and blow a kiss.
"But Ana…" he starts.
"I will continue my work as normal Christian but rest assured I will have any appointments vetted before allowing them into the building" I compromise "Taylor can sit in on any one to one meetings.
It's like a light bulb going on at the top of his head "How would you feel about CCTV in here?"
"No, absolutely not, nada, never, nein, thank you, I don't want strange people watching me work, eating lunch, seeing who goes in and out of the office and what they get up to" I giggle as I remember seducing him in the office chair and laugh at the thought that our err liaison might go viral on You Tube. My laughs are verging on hysterical and I can just about communicate what I am laughing about to Christian who thinks about it and tells me he has changed his mind about CCTV which makes me have to sit down, I feel weak and the fact he had to think about it set me off again.
Christian's face is a mixture of concern I might go into labour with laughing so much and wondering what made me laugh so hard but I am more concerned with not peeing myself right now. I take a couple of deep breaths, get a tissue to dab my face and try to compose myself.
"I didn't know I was that entertaining Ana" he looks hurt and I try really hard not to laugh again.
"Sorry Honey, this whole conversation struck me funny but it does you good to laugh like that but I feel exhausted now" I smile and stifle a snigger by coughing.
"I will leave you to carry on and call me if you need anything, Taylor is back outside now. Love you" and he turns and leaves.
I can't help myself but dissolve into giggles again so much so Sophia buzzes through to make sure I am alright. I spend the next twenty minutes alternating between giggling and trying to take deep breaths so I can focus on work again. I am still slumped in the chair and the pile of soggy tissues is filling the waste paper basket rapidly but I manage to get hold of myself and continue sifting through some more material until 4pm when I have had enough and decide to go home.
I am conscious as the day breaks it's the meeting day for Christian and Samantha and I have to admit I feel a little uneasy about it, what if it is some kind of trap? I know Sawyer will be there but even so it doesn't sit well and I feel nauseous all morning. I have an OB/GYN appointment at 3pm, scans and bloods and because it is getting close to potential giving birth they want to discuss some possible scenarios with me and what my thoughts are.
I keep my phone close by all the time; I am talking with the doctor when a message bleeps through. I apologise that I have to check the message and it is Christian saying everything is fine but we have some things to discuss this evening. For the first time all day I can relax and really pay attention to what the doctor is saying.
We discuss early labour and what they try to stop progression and the possible use of steroids to develop the babies' lungs. The possibility of needing a C-section for one or both. The likelihood of delivering early and needing special care for the babies'. The list is endless and I feel slightly freaked out by it all and decide I would like to talk to Grace about these if I can.
When I get home, Christian is already there, he talks to me about my appointment and he calls Grace there and then. She is more than happy to talk so we arrange to see them on Saturday morning and perhaps stay until Sunday if it's not too much trouble. We then get down to the Nitti gritty of his discussion with Samantha.
"She is scared baby, shit scared so much so she is moving away, not just out of state but out of the country but she won't tell me where exactly. She told me she was approached by Elena to write the notes we received, Elena figured she would be pissed by me getting involved with you and she was right to a degree but Elena also blackmailed her. It wasn't until she realised what exactly Elena was up to before she told her no more and turned the tables by threatening to tell the police she was being blackmailed, by whom and why. Elena backed off and she hasn't heard from her since"
My mouth is open in astonishment; she confirmed our suspicions about Elena being the instigator off all the recent accidents and threats.
"We can get Elena now then" I beam but not for long.
"No baby, Samantha will not testify, she told me categorically that she will not endanger Sebastian and in essence we can only prove the couple of letters Samantha was asked to send. Your accident, the boat and the dead bird are just our assumption, we have no evidence still" he looks sad.
My face falls, so whilst we know its Elena behind this, we can't prove it so the threat continues. Christian has read my mind again
"I'm sorry baby but at least I can focus solely on Elena and her contacts rather than looking everywhere for something" he takes my hand to console me and I lay my head on his shoulder.
Ok so at least we know who is behind this but going to the police is hearsay without Samantha's testimony but whilst I feel a little better; I am still wrestling with the fact that Elena, someone who supposedly 'cared' for Christian and his family, who obviously benefitted from knowing them, could turn into the psycho bitch from hell over our relationship. It takes all sorts to make the world go around but in this case I wish it wasn't in my world.
Christian tells me what he is planning to do over the next few days, which includes more tracing of her movements and her associates, tailing her vehicles and I suspect phone tapping but as that is illegal without a warrant I don't want to know if that is being done. As before I believe everything is being done.
We arranged to get to Grace and Carrick for about 11am on Saturday and I hope Grace can allay some of my fears about the twin's birth.
We are flanked by 3 vehicles, Taylor, Sawyer and Peters with the new guy left to 'guard' Escala while we are away. I don't think she would dare try anything with all these cars around us, having said that she is one crazy bitch. Carrick has hired some extra staff himself since the boat incident but we can fill them in on all of the information we have acquired when we get there.
The welcome from Grace, Carrick and of course Mia is just as warm and pleasing as last time and we soon settle into a comfortable but light banter about general things before talking about Elena.
"Mom, Dad, we know it's definitely Elena that is behind the troubles recently" Christian starts.
"Well I guess we shouldn't be too surprised after her last visit here" Carrick spits.
"She was blackmailing Samantha initially and Sam has admitted to sending the first few letters but she is scared, very scared and is leaving the country with Sebastian" Christian continues.
"She is evil, pure evil" Grace chips in.
"No denying that fact Grace" I concur.
"Can't she be arrested then?" asks Carrick.
"Not yet Dad, Samantha will not testify against her and she could only be witness to letters not the accident, the boat or dead bird so without direct evidence for those things she would only get a slap on the wrist anyway" he looks sad.
"Err dead bird?" Grace interrupts.
"She posted a dead Hummingbird to me at the office" I tell her.
"Oh that's disgusting! You didn't tell me about that Christian" she scolds him.
"What's the point Mom? Make you worry more about things?" he retorts.
"You are my son and Ana is your partner and mother of my grandbabies, I don't care if you think it will worry me, I WANT TO KNOW!" she raises her voice and is quite scary.
"Sorry Mom" he whispers.
"So what measures do you have in place for catching her?" Carrick asks.
"Well obviously I have increased 24 hour security at home and work for both Ana and I. Extra driver on any journey so three cars surrounding instead of two. I have PI's on the books who are keeping tabs on her, who she meets with and where. I am watching her bank accounts to see if any significant sums of money are transferred out and I want phone taps but that is proving harder to sort" Christian advises.
"Anything we can do to help son?" Carrick offers.
"Thanks Dad, I have it under control and the best thing is coming here for a few days, does allow a little relaxation for us both" he smiles at me.
"Yes, and on that note, Ana dear lets head out into the garden and have a little chat" Grace proffers her arm to help me up, which is getting harder and harder to do on my own.
"That would be lovely, it's such a nice day today, it would be a shame to be inside" I start walking toward the large doors and I gently ruffle Christian's hair as I go past. He catches my hand and kisses the top before releasing it and he turns back to conversation with Carrick.
A/N That's all for this time. Have a lovely weekend. Next update on Tuesday.