My eyes fluttered open very slowly. That man, that angel… And just as quickly as I thought about him, he vanished entirely from my mind. That's when I noticed something heavy very close to me. My eyes shot wide open at the sight of Christian laying down… right next to me! He was sleeping soundly, breathing slowly and deeply. His eyes were shut, and his face was completely relaxed. I don't… I have no clue why, but in that moment, he looked so beautiful, so extraordinary to me. The way his hair fell over his face, the slight pinkness in his cheeks… I merely stared for a moment, eventually bringing my hand up to caress the side of his face. He didn't stir at all. While I was petting him, my eyes began to lower as a warm smile bloomed across my face. No, I can't love you…. not publicly anyways. We're from two different worlds; it just wouldn't work. But… My grin deepened almost sadly. In brief, rare moments like this when no one is watching me, I can do whatever I want. I can like whoever I please…. I can admire your inner and outer beauty in fleeting moments like now, Christian….
A sudden snore made me flinch. With much effort, I peered over my shoulder to see Paul also asleep… on the other side of my make-shift bed! I was sandwiched in between these two guys! He was just as zonked out as Christian, lying flat on his back not so near me. They both must have crawled down here at some point last night; I was too tired to even notice them. While they continued to snooze away their hangovers, I suddenly remembered everything from last night- and I do mean everything. Namely that I forgot to call one very important person. "Call your dad!" Uh oh… Nervously yet quickly, I reached over to grab my personal phone. All my insides winced at the alert of seven missed phone calls and a billion text messages from a bunch of people; but one caller stood out more than the rest. Oh, I had screwed up- big time.
I was sitting on a chair in the middle of Daddy's office at the manor. He was angrily pacing the floor in front of me; his hands clasped behind his back. I was in such a hurry to get here that I left Christian's without waking either him or Paul up. I did leave some juice, pills, and breakfast for them, as well as a note. But all my thoughts were on getting here as quickly as possible. Daddy knew where I was last night; all Dollars had tracers in their personal phones. He didn't say anything for a long time, which was a very, very bad sign- for me, that is. Eventually, he glared down at me with only the sternness and anger a father could achieve. If you've ever made your dad really mad, you know what I mean.
"I am absolutely disgusted with you, Anastasia. Do you know how of out my mind with worry I was last night? Why didn't you call or at least text me? Why did you leave it up to Odo to tell me about the break-in?" Odo? Oh! He must mean Mr. Bodyguard. I tried to look as sincere and sorry as possible, which I was. "I… was going to but… got kinda busy." "With Grey? I thought I made it clear to you. You are not to get overly attached to that boy. Why did you go to his apartment of all places last night? You should have come to the manor." "I know… I know; I was wrong. I made a mistake." "You damn right you did. I had every Dollar searching for that Black all night." This made my eyes grow a little. "You mean….. Mr. Bodyguard….. I mean Odo didn't catch him yesterday?" "No, and neither did the police. He's still out there; don't you get it, Ana? Why do you insist on making this hard for me?" "I'm not trying to! I agreed to being in a fake relationship with Christian, er Mr. Grey." "Well, you can kiss that goodbye." "Huh?" My heart skipped a nervous beat. Daddy's head shook angrily. "You'll never see him again. This has gone too far. You're too vulnerable here."
I then watched as my father proceeded to turn to face me; his expression a bit gentler this time. Gentle but still quite firm. "I've decided you're going to go to Florence for the weekend. We should have Black by then." "F-Florence?!" My eyes grew huge. He nodded. To my utter horror, he then walked over to his desk, opened one of its drawers, and pulled out my passport. My missing passport! My mouth was literally dangling open when he gave it to me.
"You're flights already booked; you leave tonight." "How did you…..? Daddy, where did you find that?! I've been looking everywhere!" "It's ok, sweetheart; Daddy's gonna handle everything. All you have to do now is go and lay low in Florence. We have connections there; you'll be safe." My gaze narrowed onto him suspiciously. This was all very sudden for a weekend trip. "When did you book the flight?" I had the nerve to ask. "Last night, when you refused to answer your phone," he said back in a very strict tone. This shocked me, but of course he immediately read my expression. "This isn't a punishment, honey. I just don't think it's safe for you to be in the city right now; I want you as far away from here… and Grey as possible." "Mr. Grey didn't do anything wrong, Daddy," my eyes narrowed onto him. His stare fixed sharply onto mine. "Oh yes, he did. He couldn't keep you safe and he didn't bring you home last night. As far as I'm concerned, any interaction you had with him is over." This was an order; I knew an order when I heard it. But… something odd became to bloom inside of me. He said this; I heard him say it but…. I didn't want it to be the end. As a friend or more, I didn't want Christian out of my life so soon. This was the first time I'd ever thought about secretively disobeying my father; I was very open about my disobedience against his wishes for me being his successor.
I decided to not mention Christian anymore, electing instead to flip through my newly-found passport. My finger stopped and my heart sank at a new visa sticker on one of the pages. Daddy knew I saw and waited patiently for my reaction. I just turned up to him in shock and terror. "Daddy, why is there a UK visa in my passport?" No reply, he simply watched me. "Daddy, why do I have a new visa? I never applied for one!" I sat up, growing more terrified by the moment. When Daddy still failed to say anything, a horrific realization befell me. My eyes goggled onto him in pure bewilder. "Daddy….. are you trying to get me a UK passport?"
"Jerome, would you please see Ana to her room?" He went to knock on the door, letting it be opened by our manor's most trusted butler. I felt like I was on the verge of crying. "Daddy! Daddy! What are you doing?! Why would you do that?!" "Come, Miss Steele," sadly Jerome took my arm, carefully guiding me out of the room. Before we left, Daddy sent me one last look; he seemed calm and decided, which unnerved me. "Have fun in Italy, sweetheart; and for god's sake, be careful." "Daddy, why…?" A delayed tear finally rolled down my cheek. His eyes softened right onto mine.
"Anastasia, I lost your mother. There's no way I'm losing you too- the last person I love in this world."