Chapter 13: If You Love Somebody Set Them Free
Free, free, set them free.
Free, free, set them free.
Free, free, set them free.
Free, free, set them free.
If you need somebody, call my name.
If you want someone, you can do the same.
If you want to keep something precious,
Got to lock it up and throw away the key.
You want to hold on to your possessions, don't even think about me.
If you love somebody, if you love someone,
If you love somebody, if you love someone set them free.
(Free, free, set them free.)
- My last coherent thought of the evening was wondering if a person could die from multiple orgasms.
CPoV
I was surprised to wake up feeling not only calm, but refreshed. And to the sound of retching and gasping emanating from the en-suite. Ana was poised over the commode, vomiting wretchedly, hair askew, yet still somehow the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. Sue the caveman inside me, filled with glee that my seed had so evidently taken root against stupendous odds. Vomiting was the first real sign of the health of the pregnancy that I'd witnessed. I eagerly awaited a bump to present itself. From what I've read, thankfully, twins meant that the pregnancy would show much faster. Mine.
I pulled her hair back, carding my fingers through to detangle it, quickly plaiting it into a neat braid. She had been worshiping at the porcelain god for a while, based on the tears and mucous. I retrieved a washcloth, wetting it with cool water. I cleaned her face gently, asking what I could do to help. She shook her head 'no' and began to vomit again, only this time, there was nothing but bile and she had become clammy. Perhaps this was normal, but I'm taking no chances with my precious cargo. Taylor has a child; I'll ask him. Now, to help my Ana get cleaned up. I'm sure she hates this vulnerability, but she has to let me be strong for her and the babies now.
Guiding her towards the marble double vanity, her head lolling weakly against my chest, I try to muster up the courage to tell her to call Dr. Greene. Anastasia would tell me that every woman experiences similar symptoms, but none of them are my woman and I invest far too much in medical fees to allow Ana to suffer a moment's discomfort. Dr. Greene and Dr. Flynn are on retainer. Speaking of which, it's time to retire the expensive charlatan; we've had a good run, but our current needs have outstripped his capabilities. My life has expanded and his advice is simply deficient.
He was the one who told me I should attempt to talk Leila down so he could send her to a facility where her mind could be healed. Less than a month or two later, she's showing her ass at Ana's job, displaying the colossal nerve to drag Susannah along with her! Once she decided to fuck over all of my attempts to salvage her sanity and provide her with a fresh start, I realized it would've been much easier to commit her ass to an institution on the opposite seaboard where the inmates check in but can never leave. Barely want to live in the same country as the bitch, let alone share the same coast. Hindsight.
It was time to rip a few more people away from the financial umbilical. I've been far too generous to people who've taken my kindness for weakness. Just because I don't miss the money doesn't mean I don't know I'm spending it. The wretched fuckers trying to take advantage of me have never experienced bone-deep poverty or suffered almost daily brutality. Elena lucked out when she subbed for me. I actually honored her hard limits, while suffering through lackluster blowjobs and sparse anal. And she didn't have nearly as many rules she insisted that my subsequent submissives adhere to.
But now that I've cast the bitch into a sea of oblivion and vowed to think of her no more, I find that she's trying to steal from me? To set the dogs on us? To take my sister? Apparently, Esclava wasn't enough for her. I'm far too young to be that crusty bitch's sugar-daddy. Yes, I've since cut off all of her conduits to my funds, but it's the principal of the matter. In some countries, she'd lose a hand or her whole fucking life. Ana may have blurred some of my edges, but I've remained sharp enough to administer a dose of pain Elena won't soon forget.
A sliver of light emanates from Anastasia's library. She hadn't closed the door. She usually extinguishes all of the lights before she leaves a room, so I suppose she was in a hurry after reading her briefs. Entering the office with the intention of turning off the lights, I notice that she'd not shut down her computer. I decide to turn it off, but upon moving the mouse to dispel the screensaver, I realize that her screen isn't locked. Two open folders draw my eye. The first folder is labeled 'Patterson – Briefs' while the second is called 'No Place Like Home' which I assume contains plans for the house on the Sound or the renovation of Escala. Her wishlist must be rather comprehensive based on the sheer number of files within. A document provocatively titled 'Alt-Space' finds my fingers walking to open it up before my mind can fully engage.
The file is a virtual corkboard. No dungeons, no playrooms; Ana wants an alternative space. She wants intimacy on her terms apparently, as this particular plan includes numerous sketches and renderings from different angles. The photos are quite inspiring, as Anastasia has selected various tools and equipment for watersports. I can see why she refers to my playroom as the Red Room of Pain. This space she has conceived is solely dedicated to delivering a hedonistic level of pleasure even I've never envisaged.
A shower room large enough for a rugby team with a staggering number of showerheads, phototherapy with multiple seating areas located at a variety of heights and safety rails and handholds. Situated in another zone, is a Vichy shower and an adjustable massage table. Fuck! She may not like pain, but she's got pleasure fully covered. She has helpfully added a walk-in wardrobe which seems designated for costumes and props? My playroom must be very boring for her considering her pleasure suite is built for full sensory overload. I've never seen anything like this and she's only had a couple days to put this together. Am I meeting her needs?
Begrudgingly tearing my eyes away from those scintillating images, I cast a glance at the other opened folder. I wondered how Anastasia and Patterson, her CPO, interacted. Their relationship seems far more casual than the rigid formality I insisted on with my subordinates, but even I couldn't deny the results. Patterson seems highly dedicated and eager to please.
Another interactive corkboard soon graces the screen, much larger than the previous one. This board features a pictorial organization chart. Adjacent to photos of Ana's friends, me, my family and staff, there are also pictures of Jack Hyde, Elizabeth Morgan, Jose Rodriguez, Elena Lincoln, Leila Williams, Susannah (no last name listed), even Ros, Andrea and Dr. Flynn. Crisscrossing and intersecting lines show that there aren't nearly as many degrees of separation as there should be.
Highlighting the line between Morgan and Elena, I find numerous receipts showing frequent visits to Esclava for various beauty treatments, however towards the end, after Anastasia and I married, Morgan began receiving steep discounts for services rendered. The day before Mia's attempted abduction, Morgan received services practically gratis, only leaving a depressingly small tip which she paid by credit card. Haven't these idiots ever heard of cash transactions?
How long had their nefarious plan been in the works? I don't even have to investigate who sought out who, since Elena was the one who made first contact with Ana at what was then SIP. Since Jack was already monitoring Anastasia's e-mails, Elena must've outed everything that very day. Sure, her e-mail didn't mention that she fucked me, but the tone present in all the e-mails regarding her would have been chum in the water to a predator like Hyde. Fuck!
Ana wanted leverage over our enemies and that's when I found the sloppy trail of breadcrumbs leading directly to Elena's gingerbread house. Not only had the bitch mortgaged her home and sold her personal shares in Esclava (while retaining the shares I stupidly 'gifted' her) to pay Hyde's two-and-a-half million-dollar bail, she had begun selling off many other valuables prior to Hyde's infiltration of Escala. This has been about destroying Anastasia for Elena the whole time! What the demon didn't realize while she was plotting Anastasia's torture and demise to get her out of the way, was that Hyde's endgame always included ending my life. Did that crazy bitch honestly believe removing Anastasia would clear the path for her to get to me? Were she and Leila biologically related?
Information on Isaac was fairly sketchy, but Ana's people had managed to unearth a sealed juvie file that featured petty theft and soliciting. Elena certainly had a type. Patterson had laid everything out neatly for Ana to see. If the documentation became too involved or complicated for Anastasia to follow, she had posted little color-coded sticky notes summarizing the bottom line. What's most troubling is that I could have had this information all the time if I had not stubbornly kept my head planted in the sand, forcing my security team to back off of Elena when they expressed reservations. I almost fired Taylor when he persisted in claiming that Elena was a security risk. Years later, Taylor has been vindicated by a woman barely a buck ten soaking wet. Ana even had Patterson checking into her own known associates such as Kate, Jose, Carla and her numerous husbands, but when I clicked on that link, a pop-up demanded a password. Interesting.
There's also proof of various attempts made by Hyde and Morgan to join clubs and associations affiliated with my family. Thankfully, since they had both used Elena as a reference, when Grace blackballed Elena, they were turned away posthaste. I find myself staggered by the sheer extent of their scheming. No stone was left unturned in their attempts to either ingratiate or infiltrate our circle of acquaintances. According to an attached report, Hyde had photos of me and my entire family along with a schedule of our movements.
Mia was just the weakest link because she had little to no respect for the security I provided and went places that were the devil to secure. Mia has no excuse; she's been living like the child of a billionaire instead of the sister of one. Unless she shows me proof of maturity and discretion, her gravy train will dry up like the Sahara.. Since my life has its share of dangers that have naturally spilled onto my family, I've pulled out all the stops to compensate them for the inconvenience, but I only have to protect them, not keep them in the lap of luxury.
Axing Mia's credit cards and lines of credit first seemed the best course of action. While she'd no longer be the life of the party, she'd at least be alive. Living like a trophy wife, happily unemployed on my dime, had done Mia no favors. She lacked purpose and direction. I see a few messages posted between Ana and Patterson, wondering what the fuck Mia does with herself all day. Ana lacks a sense of self-preservation. She could've been hurt trying to rescue her. Just the other day, Anastasia had been abducted and yanked into a van while helping a plant find a nonexistent baby!
If she'd risk her safety to assist a perfect stranger, there was no limit to what she'd have sacrificed for Mia. Yet, even now, Mia's trying to buck security, convinced the 'threat' is over. She needed to get it through her vacuous head that there'd always be fucking threats and dangers associated with being the sibling of a billionaire. Being young and stupid only makes it worse! To her it was all glitz and glamor with no common sense. One woman wanted to distance herself totally from my money and the other was living it up like she was entitled to it. And I find myself wondering how the hell it all started. When I began paying off my family to leave me the fuck alone.
APoV
Patterson arrived promptly at 8:45 am to retrieve me for my visit to my father. Sawyer, once again trailing silently behind. Does he honestly think I'm going to approach him? Oh, no. Poor fucker hasn't a clue. I can practice the silent treatment, too. I'll keep him on; no need to fire him unless he does something else to fuck up. Though I certainly don't appreciate him gambling with my life, he's only really guilty of listening to the man who signs his paychecks. But I'm not like Christian; if Sawyer undermines me again, I'll make sure he never works in security even if I have to tell the world what he allowed to happen to me. He'd be lucky to get a job as a dog walker after I finished with him.
We reach the hospital where another CPO exits the building and gives Melissa the all clear. I wait for her to open my door, and the unknown CPO gets into the SUV to park and stay with the car while Patterson and Sawyer stay with me. That's just another part of the new protocol: no unattended vehicles. I don't want to think about why this procedure is now a necessity.
We stop at the reception desk to get our visitor's pass and proceed to the elevators. Soon, I find myself outside Ray's room, filled with anxiety at the bad news I'll have to break to him. Then, I think, this is my father; if he sides with that douchebag or defends him in any way, I'm done. I had more than enough of that crap with Carla. Straightening my shoulders, I take a deep breath and open the door.
Ray is perusing the sports section of the paper when I walk in. He looks up resigned, until he notices that it's me. Guess he thought I was another nurse, sent to poke and prod him. The corners of his mouth curve into a slight smile, so quick the average person would miss it. I know he's overjoyed to see me. Twice in one week is a new record for us, since I was lucky if I could see him once every two weeks when I attended WSU. It bothered me that the news I was here to deliver would wipe the smile off his face.
"Hi, Daddy. You're looking so much better today," I observed. He really did. After the collision, doctors said it was touch-and-go, but looking at him now, sitting upright with his face a healthy pink hue, I'd never have guessed he experienced a near fatal collision. I trembled at the notion of telling Ray about what Jose had done, but only for a moment. Too much shit had happened and I've been plagued with dreams of what could have happened to me each time I'd naively placed myself in Jose's power.
RSPoV
After Carla left, dragging Annie along with her, I turned to the bottle and Jose Senior saved me. But just when my daughter finally returned from the hell that was Texas, Senior's wife passed away, leaving behind a son just a year younger than Annie. Citing financial constraints and childcare for Jose Jr they moved away, so Ana never had the opportunity to meet them.
Jose Sr was such a good guy that I never thought Junior would turn out to be such an abusive, stalking, potential rapist. Junior may have harbored a crush on Annie, but I thought it was long resolved that they weren't meant to be and they had fallen into the ubiquitous 'friendzone' as the youngsters call it. Especially now that Annie was married! He took the wedding photos for chrissakes! Kid acts like there are no more fish in the sea!
Senior had admitted a year or two ago that Annie was Junior's muse or some pansy-ass shit. I thought he was homosexual because there was no mistaking that my Annie was a flesh and blood woman, not a freaking statue, or Eliza Dolittle who he could mold into some deity. She was never gonna fall for a guy like him. Not that he wasn't driven or talented, because he was plenty of both, but because Annie had her own bucket full of dreams that she's carried with her from the womb despite all the shit Carla put her through. While Annie supported Jose Jr's decision to pursue photography over engineering, she'd never have accomplished anything following Junior around as he chased his dreams.
And while Junior's a good looking kid, Anastasia was always something more. People usually praise their children, but Annie fell out of the womb beautiful and had improved steadily with age. People on the street often gave her second and third looks which she blithely ignored, her head stuck in a book.
Had I given the boy hope by not having a sit-down with him once I realized he was carrying a torch for her? Would it have been an ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure? Or was Junior in desperate need of an ass riddled with buckshot? Annie wasn't the type to let him down easy. She barely noticed he had a penis on his best days, which had worked heavily in his favor, as she shied away from men in general, attempting to use her curtain of mahogany hair as a shield and cloak of invisibility. She allowed him to see her because she never considered him a threat or an option. He might as well have been a eunuch.
I guess Annie's shy and retreating demeanor gave Junior hope that eventually she'd settle on him for lack of choice, but when Mr. Christian Grey stepped onto the scene, all his dreams, goals and ambitions were shot to hell. I suppose the panic set in when he realized Annie's eyes were fully opened and her gaze wasn't focused on him like he'd hoped. She had gone from 0 to 200 in the blink of an eye. Grey had her lit up like a firework from the inside out. If she was brilliant before, she was incandescent in his presence. I'd lost my baby girl unless he fucked up and broke her heart.
I would've been worried if I hadn't noticed Grey was completely awed by Annie. This guy was hung up so hard, I thought there was an invisible tether latching them together. Here's this billionaire trying to court me, offering up rides on his boat, fishing and hiking trips, just to impress me. He was tripping all over himself to gain my approval. I wasn't ignorant to the amount of deference he was showing me. His hair, his manicure and fine suit screamed money. I could've bought a new truck for the price of the suit he wore with casual ease.
But that desperate, hungry look in his eyes when he looked at Annie told me all I needed to know. She would be safe with him. Annie was the Sun, the Moon and all the stars in the heavens combined to this guy. His speech was thought provoking, but the kids in the audience probably only cared about his looks and his billions. He had it all, but he was like a dragon, hoarding Annie like he'd tapped the Mother Lode.
No, Jose Jr wanted to possess Annie, but he had no way to catch and keep her short of kidnap and Helsinki syndrome. A smarter guy would have thrown in the towel and ceded the field, especially once Grey put his ring on her finger, but no, the fucker doubled down on stupidity.
He'd sunk low enough to bug the girls' apartment in Portland and Seattle, pilfering both sets of keys to surveil Annie up close and personal. Long before graduation and Christian Grey, Junior had already escalated his insidious assault on my daughter, attempting to control every aspect of her life, using what little free time she had to request assistance on far off photo shoots. Had the fucker used one of these many opportunities to sexually assault my daughter, there would've been no limit to the hellfire I'd have rained down on his pansy ass, before I dismembered his still wriggling corpse, depositing the pieces in pockets of the remote wilderness he so loved to photograph.
I'd known Junior most of his life. Senior initially wanted me to be his godfather, but I was still active, and Senior's wife, Rosa, wanted her brother to fill the position. It was bad enough I had Carla and Annie waiting for me back home without exposing another child to a second experience with loss. Even when I was Stateside, I missed his first communion because I had a houseful of sick ladies. Annie urged me to go anyway, but I knew Carla would burden eight-year old Annie terribly, so I stayed home. Great idea in retrospect, as I'd had to rush my daughter to the hospital when her fever spiked to 102 degrees and she needed her tonsils removed. Carla turned out to have nothing more than a trifling cold while Annie had been diagnosed with tonsillitis.
Now I wondered if running into Senior at WSU was as accidental as Annie and I had assumed. Had Junior been stalking Annie as early as high school? How long had he nurtured this fixation? Did I assist him in his pursuit? Sure, I did. There were few moves she made without the intel being passed along to Senior. I thought I was just shooting the shit, bragging on my little girl like any other proud parent. Was his father in on it, too? If so, I had a bigger problem than I thought. Junior had to have been doing this shit for years, amassing expensive equipment to watch her outside of class and work. How had he paid for it all?
I'd almost feel sorry for him if he wasn't so bound and determined to violate Ana in every way possible, raping her privacy as he wished to violate her body. I hopde they threw the book at the little shit. Unfortunately, what he did doesn't qualify for much hard time. But I'm sure Grey's billions are hard at work ensuring that whatever time he serves will be hell on earth, and he'll wish he was dead when he's blackballed from photography for life. Poor fucker probably won't be able to sell as much as a stick figure sketch. And depending on how deeply involved Senior was in this clusterfuck, his ass might be grass, too. Over twenty years of friendship flushed down the shitter. No wonder he hasn't called me. Was he too ashamed by what his son had done to my daughter, or is he busy trying to bail the little asshole out so he can attack her again?
Annie was afraid to tell me… Did she think I'd side with the guy who's been violating her without her knowledge for years just because I like spending time with his dad? I don't give a shit what Senior has done for me, I don't owe his fucking son my daughter. Annie's hands are still fisted tightly at her sides, preparing for a confrontation that's not going to occur. I've always been on Annie's side — all the way, no questions asked.
Tears begin to pour from her eyes as she realizes that I'm not going to betray her like so many others have in the past. Everyone needs someone who'll go to the wall for them. I owed my daughter a massive apology. I brought this bastard into her life and gave him my seal of approval. I'm sure she'd accepted a heap of shit from him solely on the strength of my support of him. He'd betrayed us both, but I'd inadvertently revealed her private information and delivered her to someone who proved to be our enemy.
APoV
Ray looked surprised, then thoughtful. But in between, he was confused and angry. Much angrier than Christian. He expected more from Jose and Jose had fucked us all over. I've never seen him as a potential romantic interest. I wasn't truthful when I'd compared him to a brother. He was more like the irritating cousin that gloms onto you like a burr you can't get rid of. He was always everywhere I went. I wrote it off as a coincidence or evidence that we had so much in common. Too much to ever consider dating. I never had time to do anything unless Kate dragged me out.
Then Ray spoke and gave me a new reason to despise him. "Do you think he kept your car broken so frequently on purpose? I accepted the car because it was simple to fix and had very little mileage on it considering its age. It shouldn't have needed so many repairs," he continued.
Jose didn't want me too mobile. I might have fun and meet other people. Just limiting me to campus was enough to guarantee that I'd never come out of my shell or network. I could've found internships easily had my vehicle been more reliable. Had he even sabotaged my career?
When I think back on how I've supported his dreams over the years when he must have been undermining me on every possible level! Fucking bastard! No wonder he finally made his move after finals! His victim was about to escape his well-prepared trap. He hunted me, profiled me and invaded my privacy. I couldn't hate him more if I tried. But I was willing to put in the effort.
Christian never liked him. It didn't help that the second time he saw him, Jose was trying to assault me. I'm glad that Christian took me to the Heathman. God only knows what Jose might have pulled had Christian just dropped me at my apartment considering the bastard had a fucking key and a live video feed! I could've woken up with Jose instead of Christian who didn't even want to kiss me without written approval.
Jose had proven once and for all that he wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, no matter how heartfelt. He was never my friend. Would he even have been friends with Kate had he not needed to get along with her to stay close to me? Be able to hang around our apartment beyond suspicion? Christian never liked Kate, and wasn't afraid to say so. I guess he was more sure of our relationship than Jose who knew I'd choose Kate who I lived with.
Could he sink any lower in my estimation? I didn't think so. He'd torn his ass with Christian the very first day! I was the frog slowly boiling to death, but Christian, my other paranoid stalker, immediately perceived the danger. I felt so foolish. How could he see in one day what must have been in the works for years? And what made me so willing to discount Christian's opinion? Was I just being stubborn to show that I was in control of my life and not him?
CPoV
As soon as the door closed, I immediately turned inward, recalling the night before. Ana hasn't realized that I remember exactly what occurred. Little by little, snippets have revealed themselves, inundating me with recollections of the crackwhore's more lucid moments. Memories that weren't colored by her pimp's violence or her neglect. Times when her eyes were clear and a smile would light her face. When I loved her, before anger brought on by her abandonment consumed me until I began to hate her. Elena got her claws into me and converted my rage into self-loathing which burrowed itself so bone-deep, it became self-aware and self-perpetuating.
When I discovered Anastasia's pregnancy, I felt torn in two. On one side was the Dom who never wanted children, didn't have time for them, and was sure he would ruin any child exposed to him, tying him forever to a woman he'd most likely already discarded. Then there was the other part of me that had manifested itself the moment Ana came tumbling into my office. Sure, I have a godchild, but it's at best a financial relationship. I pay school tuition and provide a small trust for her post-secondary education. And I only did it because her father (and only responsible parent) put his life on the line for me every day. Outside of that, we have no interaction.
The only living baby I'd ever handled was Mia. Thanks to her, I was no longer the smallest person in the house. It took years to combat years of near starvation despite adequate nutrition and a pediatrician in-house. Who knows how large I would have grown if not for those four formative years? But Mia, red-faced and crying, was more vulnerable than me and she needed me to protect her. Enough for me to finally relent and give my parents my words. To discover that Elena facilitated, or even planned, Mia's abduction was a gross betrayal. It proved once and for all that she never had my wellbeing in mind. Considering Hyde and Morgan's involvement, I'm certain Mia's attempted abduction was the tip of the iceberg. Ana had that hardened cunt dead to rights all along. Then again, she had me pegged, too.
I've decided to let Ana take point on this one because I dropped the ball, not wanting to see what was going on around me. Elena groomed and poisoned me against my family, but once Ana came into my life, Elena couldn't help exposing herself. I ignored common sense and the love of my life to cling on to a delusion that Elena 'helped' me. Instead, she's been helping herself to my money and credit even after I cut all ties. Ana called it negotiating with terrorists, and once again, she's hit the nail on the head.
Fear of discovery dictated my decisions for far too long. All I needed to do was get ahead of the story and shape the narrative. The resources were right at my fingertips and my reach is long. I call Taylor who returns to my office.
"Taylor, you've compiled a dossier on Elena. I need to know what's in it," I state, while inwardly cringing at his grim expression. The intel must be worse than I thought.
"GEH handled its final business affairs with Mrs. Lincoln through a buffer. Though she's made several haphazard attempts to contact you, Mrs. Lincoln hasn't shown up at Escala since the Coping Together ball. Her latest sub Isaac dropped off our radar over three weeks ago," he reported.
"Elena's sub has disappeared?" I asked, leaning forward. This was surprising. "Has she lined up anyone new?" I inquired. Elena, unlike me, required and desired 24/7 TPE. As soon as one sub would leave, she'd have another by the next weekend. Her dungeon should've come equipped with a revolving door. Isaac had gone the distance, remaining with her far longer that I'd have imagined, and he was my age. No offense, but I thought his cock would've led him to greener pastures long ago.
"We have no idea where he is. He hasn't returned to his apartment. His cell phone has no traffic and none of his credit or debit cards are in use. The only reason we got a ping is that he failed to pay last month's rent.
E/N: If you leave me reviews on FFnet and belong to FB, please drop your handle in the review.
Ana's attitude regarding Gail (and by extension, security):
There are actually a few issues at work here, the first being that Ana feels like she has absolutely no privacy, even in her own home. She can't relax and chill out because they have staff. She can't even wash her own panties if she wants. Ana is a very self-sufficient person, yet her basic activities of daily life have all been usurped. She even has CG to wash her ass! For the most part, when the subs were there, they had little or no interaction with Gail. The subs cooked and cleaned up after themselves, so even though they were subs, they still had a certain level of autonomy that Ana lacks because Gail is there four to five days a week. CG and Gail barely let Ana use her own damn kitchen. I think Ana had to actually get permission at one point. When she does, it's pretty much a special privilege. It's Gail's kitchen in Ana's fucking home! Would you feel like the Queen of your castle under these circumstances? Does CG even need a house manager now that he has a wife?
Second, Gail is not nearly as ignorant of the security situation as Ana. She's been with CG longer than Taylor. CG may be a great, generous boss, but in his regular life, especially where the subs were concerned, he was an asshole. There are many scorned women who had to be literally carried or dragged, kicking and screaming out of his apartment. There was a direct correlation between the WSU graduation photo publication and Leila's appearance at CG's apartment. I have a difficult time believing that Leila is the first scorned former sub to show up at Escala, and I'm also pretty sure that some elaborate measures were taken to keep Gail safe there.
In my story, several easily accessible silent alarms had been installed. There is absolutely no problem with Gail giving Leila emergency treatment except waiting to alert Taylor after she arrived at the hospital. I didn't expect her to pick up a phone in front of Leila, dial 9-1-1 and wait for the police; I expected her to alert security that was readily available. She did, however, call an ambulance for Leila to be picked up at Escala! Did Gail take CG's precious privacy into account then? Taylor was out of town. What the hell could he do from Savannah? Every car in CG's purview is lo-jacked including Gail's. Leila would've had a much harder time escaping had Gail done just one little thing. Also, neither CG nor Taylor gave her the riot act about security protocol and risking her life dealing with Leila. Compare that to their actions towards Ana, who they've told pretty much nothing about security other than 'here, take these burly strangers with you everywhere you go.' Ana may be a pushover, but she resents the hell out of Gail, Taylor and CG for this glaring double standard. Guess which of these individuals Ana can actually do something about?
Lastly, she's very pissed at (and disenchanted with) Taylor and has lost basically all confidence in him. She can't exactly kick him out of the apartment, separating him from his girlfriend, can she? In fact, she isn't exactly kicking them out; the expansion and remodeling of the penthouse merely calls for their displacement. Getting them out of her apartment is a welcome side-effect. Gail and Taylor are, for all intents and purposes, a package deal. She hasn't tried to fire anyone or reduce their pay, and as the lady of the house, she could easily get another housekeeper. Her treatment of these individuals is tame compared to what she could do; she could have had Taylor and CG's asses prosecuted for what they did. She could have fired (or at least refused protection from) Sawyer who let her down and fucked her over on Taylor's say-so.
I really believe she agreed/insisted on seeing Leila at GP because she was probably stunned that she was out and about after holding her at gunpoint and being sent to the damn country club/finishing school of a loony bin. Think about it. The last thing Ana saw was Leila being taken away to places unknown. Even if Christian didn't have the book thrown at her, don't you think Ana had a reasonable expectation that the evil bitch was no longer free to move about the country? How much do you want to bet that the witch had tried to e-mail Ana before she showed up at Ana's job? Also, what's the point of security if they can't actually keep you safe? The President has Secret Service, yet he can go to work, travel to different countries and go on vacations. Ana's security only seems able to keep her locked up or keep everyone locked out.
I don't intend for Anastasia to be angry forever; case in point, she still speaks to Carla, who as far as I'm concerned, betrayed and abused her more than CG, Taylor and company combined. Perhaps since she trusted and expected more from them, her disappointment and bitterness is greater.
[I agree with many of the reviews/critiques that stated Ana should have cared more about security, but since they didn't provide actionable intelligence of viable threats, CG and his band of merry men were left looking like overpaid, hypervigilant cockblockers. Christian wasn't telling her about jealous, possibly murderous, people or kidnap threats, he was griping that men were trying to get in her panties.]
About who bailed out Hyde. Doesn't it make more sense that it was Elena? Perhaps Elena was working with Linc, but she had most of the details of the crash and such via Grace that Linc couldn't have possibly known.
Thank you for reading.
Nichole Stewart FB