Hello Lovelies,

Thanks so much for the great messages and feedback I had on the last chapter. Boy, that was a good one to write! I love a bit of feisty Ana.

I hope you enjoy this one too.

Much Love,

Chelsea x


Reds77 – Thank you, my lovely! Bob really screwed up, but in a way it's a good thing he did what he did. Ana needed closure. Our girl will be much happier now the wicked witch is out of her life, once and for all. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Much Love x

SuzB – Thank you! I'm still managing to write here and there, work at the moment is very busy and I'm putting in a lot of hours, but I do have some time off soon so I plan on writing a lot then! Much Love x

Mel – Thank you! I think Christian would have a fit if that happened any time soon. Ana too, for that matter… Much Love x

Paula White – Thank you! It's good to be back. I do miss you guys! Much Love x

Tammi – Thank you! I'm incredibly proud of Ana too. She's come a long way since Maitrise. Ana will definitely come away from this feeling stronger. She's a tough cookie. Hope you like this chapter. Much Love x

Katie – Thank you! I'm really good, just very busy at the moment. I work irregular shift patterns, any time between 6am and 8pm, and each week varies in terms of what days I work, so it's hard to have a routine of any kind. I try to write when I can, and I plan on writing/editing a lot of chapters when I have a week off work soon. Thanks for the support! Much Love x


Back in the safety of the hotel room, I allowed a grumble to escape from deep within my chest, a groan I had suppressed since leaving my mother's house finally breaking free.

I shuffled, dragging my feet, all the way over to the couch. My body was tired, my mind numb. I kicked off my shoes and shed my jacket, leaving both on the floor in a crumpled mess.

I stared at the blank television screen mounted on the wall opposite.

"Here –"

Christian appeared beside me, holding two tumblers of caramel coloured liquor. Whiskey, no doubt. He offered one of them to me.

"Drink," he urged.

I accepted the tumbler and raised it to my mouth, but I didn't take a sip. The fiery fumes had my nose scrunching. It smelled lethal and nothing like his preferred bourbon.

"I can't believe what just happened," Christian moaned, dropping onto the couch with a huff. He hooked one leg over the other, draping his arm along the back of the couch as he turned to face me. "What the fuck? I feel like we've stepped out of the fucking Twilight zone."

"Tell me about it," I mumbled. I swirled the glass in my hand before lowering it to rest on my lap. "Not the welcome home party I was hoping for."

"That man is an absolute moron," he continued, his voice growing more frustrated by the second. "What was he thinking? That it would be all sunshine and roses? She didn't even know you were coming, for fuck's sake."

"I was there," I reminded him.

"I don't understand why he did that? How the fuck did he expect her to react? She won't let him talk about you, by all accounts."

I tried not to focus on that point.

It was bad enough she had removed all my photographs from sight, but knowing she couldn't even stand to hear my name being mentioned was another thing entirely.

"Did he really think she would run at you with open arms?" he frowned.

"More chance of her running at me with a rusty axe," I quipped. I twisted my head towards him. His brows were low around his eyes, hard lines creasing between them. "I don't think he meant any harm."

"Even so," he huffed again.

"Well, now you've met her, what do you think?" I wondered. "Do you see why I don't have anything to do with her?"

He slowly nodded his head.

He brushed the back of his fingers up and down my arm. A shiver broke out over my skin.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered.

"For what?" I shrugged. "What do you have to apologise for?"

"I should have gotten you out of there sooner," he said. His chin dipped. "I just stood there, allowing her speak to you like that. I didn't say anything. I didn't do anything."

"You were probably in shock," I brushed it off. "I've told you what she's like, but unless you witness it for yourself… Anyway, it wasn't your place to get involved. She's my mother."

"But –"

"I had to hear it," I interrupted his protestations. "I needed to know the truth. Even though I've always known it, deep down, I still had to hear it for real."

"You knew she didn't want you?" he asked, his eyes full of sorrow. I nodded. "Ana…"

"She never acted like a mom," I explained. "She never showed any interest in me. I put two and two together. I didn't know she had considered abortion. I thought the regret came after I was born."

His gaze dropped from mine.

I shook my head, recalling what he had told me about his own birth mother. She had overdosed while pregnant, perhaps as an attempt to abort the pregnancy.

Our paths are intertwined on so many levels…

"More importantly," I spoke, cutting through the tense air building. "I had to tell her how I feel. I've been bottling up my thoughts for years. It was time to unleash the beast!"

I was hoping to provoke a laugh from him, but his face remained stony.

"How are you remaining calm over this?" he asked quietly. "Shouldn't you be screaming, shouting, throwing things?"

I tilted my head to the side.

"You're worried about how I'm reacting?"

He nodded.

"Why?"

"I wouldn't react this way if I had come face-to-face with my birth mother and it had gone badly," he explained. "I wouldn't be sat here, calm and collected."

"You have a different history to me," I said, shrugging. "And we're different people."

He hesitated, his eyes twitching in the corners.

"Are you holding back?" he checked. "Because you can't do that. It'll fester and then –"

"I'm not," I assured him. "I'm okay. Really."

"Promise?"

"Promise," I smiled.

I knew the smile didn't quite reach my eyes, but I was hoping he wouldn't notice.

I shuffled closer to him and dropped my head onto his chest, settling into his side for a much-needed cuddle.

"I know who my mother is – what she is – so it wasn't a surprise to see her act like that. I've had twenty-plus years of it."

"You're not surprised at all?"

"No," I shook my head. "I was expecting something along those lines, even before we knew it was Bob sending the texts. It felt too good to be true from the beginning."

"Ana?"

"Hm?"

"You will talk to me if you need to?"

"I will," I nodded. I exhaled a sigh. "I was angry before, when I was standing in front of her, having to hear that shit, but now… it's gone."

"Gone?"

"I hate that saying of feeling like a weight has been lifted because it never happens, not really, but it kinda has for me."

"What do you mean?"

"I feel… free," I said. "We didn't talk for a long time but it was always there. The knowledge that the door was still ajar, not fully closed. But now it is."

"You feel like you can move on from it now?" he guessed.

"Life is too short to waste it on people like her, even if she did give birth to me," I nodded. "I'm not mad, I'm not upset, I'm just… well, truthfully, I am pissed off that I was duped. I thought I was cleverer than that, especially after everything we've been through. I thought I knew the tell-tale signs of a scammer."

He grunted and wrapped his arm around me, holding me tight against him.

"I could throttle that fucking idiot," he blustered. "I did all the checks! Nothing pointed to anyone other than Carla sending those texts."

"At least it wasn't just me that was fooled then," I snorted. "I honestly don't think he was expecting that."

"It was reckless to pull a stunt like that." He sipped his whiskey. He grimaced slightly as the taste settled on his tongue. "Does he even know who his wife is?"

"He doesn't know about her past, that's for sure," I said. "The look on his face told me that. She must have hidden a lot of from him."

"How long were they together before they became serious?"

"About four months, give or take," I guessed. "They planned the wedding in a matter of weeks. She wanted to sink her claws into him fast."

"She must be a damn good actress then."

"She's a born liar, it comes natural to her," I confirmed. "The problem is, she always slips up. That's what happened with her last husband. The marriage was on the rocks, so she told him she was pregnant."

"And she wasn't?"

"She had a sterilisation when I was five," I revealed. "When Stephen found out, he flipped. He kicked her out and she had to move back in with me and Ray for a few weeks, until she found somewhere else to live."

"What's wrong with her?" he frowned.

"That's a can of worms I'm not prepared to open," I shook my head. "If Bob has any sense, he'll leave her. He seems like a good man. He deserves better."

"You deserve better," he mumbled under his breath, his jaw clenching a beat after.

I pushed my untouched glass onto the coffee table and curled tighter into Christian's side, tucking my feet under myself. I felt the tension building in his chest with each breath.

"I need to know more," he said, his voice gruff and pained.

"About what?"

"The men," he croaked, as if the words had to fight their way out of his mouth. "I have images running through my head that are freaking me out."

"Nothing happened to me," I whispered. I kept my head pressed to his chest, taking comfort from hearing his heart beneath my ear. "None of them touched me. Most of them ignored my very existence."

"But some of them made passed at you?"

"Some," I nodded. He flinched. "There was the guy in the hotel room… and a plumber who had fixed our toilet. They were going at it on the kitchen table. He came to the house a couple of times. One time he cornered me, stopped me going downstairs. He said I looked just like her…"

"What else did he say?"

I closed my eyes.

"He wondered if I was as good a fuck as her," I said, repeating the disgusting words that man had uttered. "I was fifteen. I told him that and he backed off. He thought I was older."

"Where was she?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I want to think she would have stopped them from actually doing anything to me, but I can't be sure. I don't know if she would have protected me."

"For fuck's sake…"

His hands came around me, splaying against my back and arm. He pulled me onto his lap, urging me to straddle him. I buried my face into his shoulder.

"Does anyone else know about this?" he asked. I shook my head. "You haven't told anyone? Not even Kate?"

"Kate knows she's a bitch, but she doesn't know the details," I explained. "What she knows is stuff she saw first-hand… You're the only person who knows."

He didn't say anything for a moment. I wondered if he was going to ask why I hadn't told him sooner, but a part of me knew he wouldn't have expected me to reveal a secret like this on a whim. He told me about Elena when he was ready, not because I was pressuring him.

"Ray knows she cheated on him, right?" he checked.

"Yes. He caught her in the act. That was the final straw for him."

"But he doesn't know she had to witness it?"

I shook my head again.

"Are you going to tell him now?"

I raised my head and caught his eye.

"I think you should," he whispered. He stroked his hand down the length of my back. "He should know why you and your mother can't patch things up. He'll understand, instead of pushing you into making it work."

"But –"

"He wouldn't fight her corner if he knew what she had done to you," he added. "Ray worships you, baby. You should consider telling him."

I didn't want to get into an argument with him over this. Mostly because I knew he was right.

I should tell Ray. He only knows part of the story, I have kept him in the dark for years, it's time he saw the entire picture for himself.

"Ana?"

"What?"

"I think I understand you more now," Christian said. I looked him in the eyes, holding his steadfast gaze. "I get why you waited to lose your virginity – why you waited for someone you felt you could trust."

"I wanted more than a cheap hook-up with someone who didn't matter," I nodded. "From the moment I first saw you, I was attracted to you… but I saw something else in you. I saw a man who could protect me."

"I saw that in you too," he smiled. "I knew I could be myself with you. I knew could be vulnerable with you and not get hurt."

"Always," I nodded. I dipped forward and pressed my forehead to his. "For what it's worth, I'm glad I waited until I met you. Our first time together was pretty spectacular."

"It was," he hummed his agreement. "Although, each time we make love it's incredible. Every time feels like the first. Like I'm getting to explore your body all over again."

His mouth found its way to mine, his lips kissing me in a sweet, unrushed style that sent shivers down my spine.

"Thank you for being right there with me," I said. "I needed you there. I couldn't face her on my own."

"You never have to deal with her again," he promised. "As long as there is breath in my body, that woman will never come near you. We'll take out restraining orders on her."

"I don't think I'll be hearing from her any time soon."

"I'm not taking any risks," he grunted. "It's her loss. She is going to miss out on so much because she's a fucking evil bitch… She won't see her beautiful, intelligent, strong daughter get married… or start a family… or become a world-renowned editor for best-selling authors."

"That last point is a long shot," I laughed. I shook my head against his. "I get your point though."

"You were right," he said. "You don't need her. You are surrounded by love. That's something she will never have."

"Christian…"

"And when the time comes, you will make a fantastic mother," he continued. "I know you will be amazing. There's no one else I would ever consider having a child with. No one will love them more than you."

Tears built in my eyes, trickling slowly down each of my cheeks in a silent, cathartic stream.

Christian held me, not saying a word until the last of my tears had been shed.

"I'm taking you home," he announced.

"With you, I am home," I mumbled.