It was 8 in the morning, as Ana made her way to her office. Since she heard the awful news about Christian, she wasn't able to sleep at all.
Christian….
Her mind was consumed only by Christian Grey. Half an hour. That was all it took. 30 minutes. After those minutes crept by slowly, Ana wasn't able to take it any longer and grabbed her phone.
"Hey, Elena. I heard that you all are looking for Christian? I've been told that he's missing?" she asked, her voice trembling heavily.
"Hi Ana. How are you? Yeah, Calinico and I have been searching like crazy! And we were at the end of our rope, so we uhumm— we filed a missing person's report. We're so worried about him. This is not him, Ana." Elena pointed out, and then let out a heavy sigh." Christian wouldn't just disappear on us like this. Something is wrong."
"Yes, you're right. He wouldn't do this. Something's definitely wrong." Ana agreed, while nervously tapping on her desk, her heart pounding against her chest." Do you think that he is still in New York? Or has Christian gone back home?"
"We don't know. And Ana... I don't want to frighten you or anything , but I think you should know this. Uhumm…" she said and cleared her throat. "The last time Calinico and I saw him, he said some things— very cryptic things."
"What kind of things? Please tell me, Elena." Ana pleaded.
"Christian said and I quote: My home is where Ana is. Now that she's gone, I can't live here anymore. This villa feels empty and cold… this is not my home.. I need to be where she is and I have a feeling that Ana needs me just as much. And I know that I won't be able to be close to her, I won't be able to touch her or feel her hair on my fingertips. But… I will be there for Ana— whenever she needs me to. I will protect her." Elena told Ana, making the hairs on her own neck stand up.
As those words reached Ana's ears, a lump instantly formed in her throat, making her eyes well up. God! She missed him so much! And she was so worried about him… Where could Christian be?!
"Elena, do you think his disappearance has to do with the threats he talked about? He told me about some letter with threats." She asked, the fear in her voice evident and clear.
"No, I don't think so." Elena denied, while furrowing her brows." Ugh! I don't know… I'm not sure, Ana."
Elena thought about that possibility, but she and Calinico had promised Christian not to tell a soul about the threats.
"Please, keep this to yourselves. No matter what happens, no one else must know about the threats. The man who wrote the letter made it very clear that Ana will get hurt, if we inform the authorities. So we will obey." Christian had ordered Elena and Calinico.
"But is it possible? Shouldn't you tell the Police? And maybe give them the letters?" Ana asked, the tone in her voice desperate.
"OK, we will inform the authorities in Tinos about the threatening letters Christian received." Elena lied." I'll ask Calinico to bring them to the Police, as soon as possible."
Elena felt awful about lying to Ana, but she didn't have a choice. The person who wrote the threatening letter, warned Christian. If he or anyone would go to the authorities regarding the threats, said person would hurt Ana.
And Elena didn't want to piss off those thugs by going to the Police. If they found out that she had, Elena was sure that Ana would be in grave danger. Elena couldn't bear it if something bad would happen to the young woman. Ana was Christian's everything…
Also, Elena knew Ana could be very persistent. Especially if it involved Christian, that's the reason she lied to her.
"OK, thank you." Ana replied, sounding a bit relieved, thinking that the Police can use the info about the threatening letters for their investigation regarding Christian's disappearance." And Elena, what about his five star hotel and marble business? Who is in charge, now that Christian is nowhere to be found?" Ana asked.
Ana knew how much his empire meant to Christian. He has worked so hard all his life to get it where it is now. It's too important for him… So why did Christian leave it like that in the first place?!
"Well, the night Christian left Tinos for New York, he left his business associate in charge of it all. Calinico and I told him that it wasn't such a good idea, but Christian didn't listen. He said and I quote again: I trust Adon completely with my empire. I had a dream and in it Ana was in danger. To me, nothing is more important than Ana. I can't live without her… I just can't." Elena explained.
As those words tumbled from Elena's lips, tears rolled down Ana's cheek.
Christian… that's how much he loved her. 'Then why did he keep pushing me away?' Ana thought, as a sob escaped her lips.
But then, Ana realized what Elena had said about Adon."Wait.. what?! Who's in charge of his empire?! Adon Papadakis?!" she asked, her brows furrowed.
Elena cleared her throat at that." Yes, Adon began as a simple employee for Christian and worked his way up over the years. Adon comes from a simple and poor family, so Christian helped him pay for his education and made him partner after 10 years." She explained.
As realization hit her, Ana got up from her seat and grabbed her coat." Elena, I have to go now. I have to do something, OK? I will call you as soon as possible." she blurted out and ended the conversation abruptly.
As Ana walked out her office and into the elevator, her mind went back to three nights ago at the company party.
*FLASHBACK*
Adon looked down at her and smirked." No, I can't. I wasn't able to resist you in Tinos. Who says I am able to resist you now?" He said with a cold tone in his voice.
"Let me go, Adon! Now!" Ana demanded, so he did.
Ana straightened herself out and walked with wobbly legs out the party. Adon was following her from a short distance. She turned her face around, but kept walking.
As she reached her car, Ana fumbled with her keys." God damn it!" she muttered under her breath, as her keys accidentally fell on the ground.
At this point, Ana knew that she wasn't able to drive back home. She had way too much alcohol in her system, so she decided to call someone to get her. But just as Ana tried calling her dad, the battery of her cell phone died.
"Aargh! Crap! Stupid phone!" Ana shouted.
"Ana? Miss Steele?" she heard a voice say.
Ana turned around and automatically rolled her eyes." What do you want, Mr. Papadakis?" she asked, very annoyed.
"Hey, I'm just here to ask if you need a ride home, OK? I'm not gonna try anything, I promise, Ana." Adon replied with his hands up in defense.
"Ha! I don't trust you, Adon. Leave me alone!" Ana pointed out and glared at the man.
"Miss Steele, please. Let me take you home. You can't stay here all night, you know. Come on, please?" Adon pleaded, while looking at her with puppy dog eyes.
Ana was so tired and so drunk and just wanted to go home. So even though she hated Adon's guts for treating her at the party like he owned her, Ana desperately craved for her warm bed." Ugh! Fine!" she spat, but kept glaring at the man, while stepping into the white limo.
"But no funny business, OK?!" Ana demanded, as she leaned on the back seat.
Adon nodded." No funny business, Ana." He promised.
~ Twenty minutes later ~
Ana wasn't able to walk to her place by herself, so Adon helped her into her apartment. He opened the door for her and led her to the couch.
"This is me, Mr. Papadakis. Thank you and please shut the door on your way out." Ana ordered and lied down on her very comfy couch.
"Ana, I'm so sorry about what I did and what I said at the party. I really wanna make it up to you. Please, will you have lunch with me tomorrow?" Adon asked, his eyes pleading.
At this point, Ana was way too exhausted and just wanted to get rid of Adon, so she nodded." Fine! OK, tomorrow… lunch; you and me. Now go!" she remarked and closed her eyes.
Mere seconds before drifting off to sleep, Ana heard Adon shut the door behind him." Bye, dumb ass…" she muttered.
xxx
The next day, Ana wanted to act like she hadn't agreed on going to lunch with Adon. However, her boss practically forced her and Mr. Papadakis himself was so freaking persistent. So she did have lunch with Adon, after she ignored the man the whole morning.
They were having lunch at her favorite coffee shop.They sat next to each other and were busy enjoying the food,when Adon received an urgent call. After the phone conversation, he told Ana that he had some bad news. Adon's assistant called to tell him that Christian Grey was missing. His butler and best friend, Elena, had reported it.
"What?! What do you mean, Christian is missing?!" Ana exclaimed, as her throat closed up, cutting off the air to her lunges.
"He uhmm.. he fell off the grid, Ana. They can't trace him; no calls on his cell phone, no activity on any of his credit cards, no sign of him whatsoever." Adon said softly, while grabbing her hand.
Ana was so shocked and scared for Christian's safety that she didn't pull her hand back from Adon's tight grip.
"Christian can't be missing, I just saw him two weeks ago! No, that can't be true…" Ana whispered, as she shook her head furiously, the terrible news hitting her like a ton of bricks.
"You saw him? When? Where? Was he in New York?" Adon asked curiously.
"We… we have to search for Christian. I have to look for him. Now!" Ana shouted and got up from her seat, and tugged harshly on her hand, making Adon loose his grip on her.
Adon grabbed lightly on her upper arms and looked her in the eyes." Hey, the Police is doing their job, OK? They will find Christian." he replied, trying to convince her.
At a certain point, Ana couldn't take it anymore and broke down." I'm so scared. What if I don't ever see Christian again? I wo… won't be able to survive that…" she sobbed, as Adon wrapped his arms around her.
Her first instinct was to push Adon roughly off of her, but Ana didn't have the strength to fight the man off.
"They will find him, Ana. They will. I'll make sure of it." He whispered.
"I… I love Christian so much… I can't believe I said those horrible things about him at the party… I didn't mean one single word, but he… Christian was the one who kept pushing me away. And I still don't know why he had done that…" Ana said, as gut wrenching sobs escaped her pink lips.
Adon kept holding her tightly though.
"He must've had his reasons." Adon commented, the look on his face expressionless.
*End of FLASHBACK*
Ana was determined to find Christian; nothing and no one will stand in her way. She drove as fast as she could to the hotel where she had seen Christian last. She was hoping to find clues there that can lead her to Christian.
After the fifteen minute drive, she stepped inside said hotel and let out a deep breath. As Ana walked out of the elevator and into the hallway, she promised, while hot tears flowed down her cheeks.
"Christian Grey, I will search for you till I find you— even if I have to turn every stone and brick, even if I have to search all of New York and Tinos. I promise, I will find you, Christian Grey. I love you so much… And this time, I promise you that you will not get rid of me that easily… This time, when I have found you, I will hold onto you and never, ever let you go. I promise you that you and I, we will be together. And I don't give a f*** about the threats, I really don't give a rats ass. This time, when I've found you I'm not backing down… I promise you, Christian. Once I found you again, nothing and no one will keep us apart…
And... if someone will even try that, I promise that they will feel my wrath…"
As Ana reached the hotel room, she took in a deep breath. Ana closed her eyes for mere seconds, opened them and clenched her hands into fists.
She then opened the hotel room door, as her heart rammed wildly against her rib cage, not sure what she'll encounter in it…
Note: What do you think of the chapter? And... will Ana find Christian?
Tell me, you guys. REVIEW!
For you who are reading and following my story: 'When did I become so numb?'. Yes, the next chapter is in the works. It's just kicking my a**
a little. I will post chap 10 as soon as possible.
Thank you all for the support... I love you all.
:)
J
