A/N Thank you to my reviewers. I am so grateful for you guys. Well I don't have any important things to say other than enjoy and please review!

Ch. 16♪

Andrew had thought he would surprise Anna for a celebration dinner, but she was not to be found in her dressing room. More than likely she was with that man she called her friend. He liked Richard as an acquaintance, but he never saw what Anna valued in the man. Once they married he knew that their friendship would have to end. It was not a common thing to be as close to a man, as Anna was with Richard, and not be having sex. He did not need any Parisian Aristocrats gossiping about his soon to be wife.

As he approached the stage he could have sworn that he heard the sound of footsteps. There were no shows and certainly no rehearsals, so there was no need for anyone to be in the theater. He walked quickly to see who was there and almost screamed when Raoul jumped in front of him.

"Bloody Hell Raoul." Andrew said angrily.

"I am so sorry Andrew I did not mean to frighten you." Raoul replied between his giggles. He had not intended to frighten Andrew, but it certainly was funny. "I was just meeting you here like you asked me to in the letter you sent this afternoon."

Andrew was immediately confused. "What? I never sent you a letter asking you to meet me."

"Then who did?" Raoul asked, his nerves beginning to unravel.

"I did." A voice rang out from the auditorium.

Andrew looked at Raoul's face and saw the look of horror upon it.

"I know that voice." Raoul said, his face an unimaginable shade of white.

Both men walked at an incredibly slow pace to the stage. Both not wanting to believe who they thought it was. This man had in turn seemed to manipulate them. They had spent the last two months trying to figure out the best way to capture this beast when all along this man knew of their planning all along.

As they reached the stage they finally saw him. The Phantom of the Opera was there sitting front row center stage with an incredibly devilish smile on his face. How was it possible that this one man could instill so much fear in one being just by the sound of his voice? It was true his voice was probably so beautiful that it was freighting, but there was something else that made a person shrink in his presence.

It was the damn mask.

What did the mask conceal? What was there to hide? Andrew probably wouldn't want to know if faced with the opportunity to find out.

"I am pleased that you two gentlemen were able to meet me on such a short notice." Erik said, inwardly laughing at the fear in the man. "It is rude not to greet your host or is it that I have scared to both to the point to not speaking. It seems that I do have that effect on a person, but not on you Raoul."

"You bastard what do you want with us?" Raoul spat back.

"I have no intentions to harm you M. le Vicomte or you M. Duke, I am just here to put you two in your place. Christine is the one I want no longer. You won that battle. No I want Anna." Erik replied as he looked up into Andrew's eyes as he said those four words.

"Well them I am afraid you are just fighting a losing battle because Anna accepted my proposal this afternoon. She is to be my wife." Andrew told him, quickly trying to make himself sound superior to this freak.

"Yes I know that she is engaged to be your wife, but there is something that she has yet to tell you." Erik said as he gracefully stood up. Letting his superiority fill his six foot plus frame.

"Really? What could she possibly be hiding from me?" Andrew screamed, his anger at this man slowly spilling out.

"She is pregnant with my child." Erik said with a look of seriousness on his face and in his voice. "But I am here to tell you sir that if you try anymore of you tricks you will only send yourself into an early grave. Let me assure you I have killed before. No more plans, nothing of the sort."

Andrew felt like he got the wind knocked out of him. That could not be possible; Anna had only consented to be his wife hours earlier. He looked into Erik's eyes and saw that there was not lying. He was telling the truth. He could see it in his eyes.

"And about your persuasion towards her to help you catch me, it will never work. She loves me; she would not betray me in such a way." Erik added in, his voice full of his furry, anger and hatred towards these two men.

"She would never lie to me damn it." Andrew cried out, his eyes starting to fill with tears.

"Why can't you just leave us alone?" Raoul asked.

"I did leave you alone; I let you have her while I started to die from a broken heart. I let you go to live a life that seemed would make Christine happy. You just decided that you had to involve yourself in something that did not concern you. I would have left Anna alone is she truly loved the Duke, but she does not. She loves me and what is more, she is pregnant with my child. You certainly would not expect me to not claim what is rightfully mine. Something that I helped her create." Erik replied anger laced in his words.

"She would not lie to me." Andrew said again.

"Wouldn't she?" Erik hissed. "She has lied to you about everything these last four months. She was seeing me while she was still seeing you and she accepted your proposal without telling you that there is soon to be a child, my child. No, I believe dear Duke that you are right. She would never lie to you."

Both Raoul and Andrew grew rigid as Erik approached them. Unfortunately both Andrew and Raoul were unarmed while Erik carried his rapier. They both knew that Erik could kill them in that instant if he really wanted to.

"Anna would not lie to me." Andrew growled low in his throat.

"Believe what you like to believe M. but just remember Anna loves me. She always will." Erik answered him, his eyes blazing.

Anna had just arrived to the theater when she heard some one scream.

"She would not lie to me."

Anna heard the voice coming from the auditorium, when she walked in she gasped at the sight.

"No Erik, no." Anna whispered. "Don't do this."

Erik was here fighting for her love. He must have found out about the plan to capture him. What would he think of her? Would he think that she was helping them? Did he think that she had betrayed him? Oh God, what was this insanity?

"What makes you think she will leave me?" Andrew growled at Erik.

"She does not love you like she loves me." Erik said simply.

"Why can't you just leave us alone?" Andrew cried out desperately

The sight before her brought tears to Anna's eyes. These men were fighting over her love. It would not make a difference now, because she knew where her heart truly lay.

"Because." Erik began. "She is my everything and more. She is my whole world. My future. She now carries my future, and I love her just like she loves me."

Erik held up his rapier and extended it out. Andrew followed to where he had pointed it and there she was. Anna was sobbing uncontrollably. Andrew could feel the jealously and the rage when he saw all the love that shined in Anna's eyes. She was staring at this monster.

Anna looked up into Erik's piercing green eyes, it was then she knew. She would be with him till the end of time. Somehow in this cruel and crazy world, they had found their other half. They had finally found each other. She could read in Erik's eyes, that he was saying the same thing.

"I love you." Anna barely whispered, but she knew Erik had heard her when she saw the smile that lit up his face.

"Anna." Andrew cried out hoping to snap her out of this trance this man had put her in.

Anna looked into Andrew eyes, she felt so horrible. She knew that she would never marry him. She would never give him and heir. She would never be his beloved. She had stopped being that four months ago. Anna could not find the words. She hoped he would see her helplessness and her sorrow towards him in her eyes.

"I am sorry." Anna said.

She turned and walked out of the auditorium.