A/N: Thank you all for your lovely reviews and support! I hope you enjoy this next chapter.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 6: Realizations
Christian could only stare at this young woman, who was still gazing up at him. The closed umbrella in her hand was dripping rainwater on his marble floors, and her wet overcoat was hanging loosely over her shoulders, but she didn't seem to notice. He was unable to say anything for a moment, still processing what she had just told him.
"What is she talking about?" Christian finally turned to look at Taylor, who was standing to the side and looking between the two. "Her boss is framing me?"
"She has evidence sir," Taylor said. "She came here to Escala to give it to us… it involves Elizabeth."
Christian blinked, his attention immediately piqued, and his heart began to pound in his chest as he glanced between the two. "Really?"
"I work with her," Anastasia explained, and Christian looked at her. She looked nervous as she bit her lip, and Christian felt something stirring in his chest as she did so. "She just started about a month ago in Human Resources. Her full name is Elizabeth Morgan, but I think it's the same Elizabeth you know."
"Where do you work?" Christian asked immediately.
"Seattle Independent Publishing," Anastasia said. "It's a book publishing company near the Pike Market District. I'm the assistant to the acquisitions editor, Jack Hyde… he's the guy I think is framing you, alongside Elizabeth."
Christian frowned, his hope immediately evaporating into skepticism. "A book editor? The person who's framing me is just some book editor?"
"Miss Steele explained to me that her boss has somewhat of an unhealthy obsession with you," Taylor pointed out.
"He does," Anastasia confirmed, nodding. "Everyone in my office can attest to that. He tries to work your name into every conversation and every sales pitch to new clients. A lot of people think he has a secret crush on you or something."
Christian suddenly felt annoyed. That was her evidence? "Your boss talking about me a lot doesn't prove that he's the one framing me for murder," he pointed out.
"That's why I brought this," Anastasia said, gesturing to the satchel she was holding. "I found these emails on my boss's computer. It's a bunch of conversations he was having with Elizabeth for the past month or so, plotting everything they did to Elena Lincoln. You can see for yourself."
Christian glanced down at her bag, which she held out for him, but he still didn't feel very convinced. Perhaps it was because of everything he'd been through in the past week, but he had a hard time trusting anything this girl had to say. It all just felt too unbelievable. "Why did you come here?"
Anastasia blinked, looking surprised as she lowered her bag slightly. "What?"
"Why did you bring those emails here to me instead of to the police?" Christian asked, an undercurrent of anger in his voice. "That should be where you submit evidence for an open case, right? Why did you bring your evidence to my home so late at night, unless you were just trying to get a glimpse at the most infamous billionaire murderer in Seattle history?"
Anastasia looked shocked by his accusation before frowning in anger. "Why do you have to be so hostile? I don't care how rich you are, I'm just trying to help you! I'm not trying to take advantage of your situation."
"I have every right to be skeptical about some random woman who comes into my home late at night claiming she has top secret information about a book editor," Christian snapped. "I don't know you, and therefore I don't trust your motivations. How do I know you don't just have a vendetta against your shitty boss?"
"Mr. Grey," Taylor said, clearly uncomfortable.
Anastasia looked pissed as she held her bag out for Taylor to take. "Mr. Taylor, can you take these emails so I can go? Obviously I'm not welcome here. And for your information, Mr. Grey, I tried taking these to the police earlier this evening, but my boss happened to be at the police station talking to his cop buddies when I arrived and I was afraid for my life."
Her voice shook slightly at the end of that sentence, and Christian felt a twinge of guilt for snapping at her. Taylor looked reluctant as he took the bag from Anastasia, and he and Christian watched as she turned back toward the elevators.
"Ms. Steele, please don't go just yet," Taylor insisted, taking a step toward her retreating figure. "Can you at least stay for a few minutes so we can find out if this Elizabeth Morgan woman is the same Elizabeth we're looking for?
That seemed to catch Anastasia's attention, and she stopped, not moving for a moment or two before slowly turning back around. "I suppose that would be fine," she said. "Do you have a picture of her I can look at?"
"Yes, we do," Taylor said immediately, turning around to head down the hallway toward the security office, but Christian stopped him.
"I'll get it," he said, his eyes fixed on Anastasia for a moment before turning and heading down the hallway.
Christian went into his study and made a beeline for his safe where he kept headshots of all his past submissives, including one of Elizabeth. He thumbed through the small stack of photographs before finding Elizabeth's, but then hesitated a moment, thinking… he grabbed the entire stack of photos before closing the safe and heading back toward the great room.
He now approached Taylor and Anastasia, who were still standing near the foyer, and held out the stack of photographs for Anastasia to take. She looked confused as she accepted it from him.
"These are all different women," she pointed out, flipping through a couple of the pictures in the stack. "Why do you have headshots of a bunch of brunette girls?"
Christian ignored that question. "One of those pictures is Elizabeth. Find it for me."
Anastasia, realizing what he was doing, shot him a small scowl before turning back to the pictures. She flipped through them, examining each face briefly, before getting about halfway through the stack.
"This is her," she said confidently, picking the photo and holding it up for Christian and Taylor to see.
It was Elizabeth. Christian and Taylor stared at it for a second before glancing at each other.
Holy shit, she knows the real Elizabeth.
"It's her," Taylor said, taking the stack of pictures back from Anastasia before looking over at Christian with barely-concealed excitement. "Elizabeth Daniels is Elizabeth Morgan."
"Unless Elizabeth Morgan is another fake name," Christian pointed out.
"It's still something to go off of," Taylor insisted. "She was hired at Seattle Independent Publishing in the Human Resources department, so we can start there."
"She's on vacation," Anastasia piped up, and Christian and Taylor looked at her. "She left earlier this week. I'm not sure where she went… but now I'm thinking it's somehow tied to the Elena Lincoln murder."
"Fuck," Christian muttered under his breath, running a hand through his messy hair. "She could be anywhere."
"She could also be laying low here in Seattle," Taylor pointed out, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "If this Jack Hyde guy is connected with her in some way, the two of them could be working together to hide her out for awhile."
"Good point," Christian nodded. "We'll call Welch in the morning to look up this Jack Hyde guy, and see how he's connected with Elizabeth Morgan, and maybe Elena too."
"Yes sir," Taylor nodded obediently. "And the emails?"
"I'd like to look over them first," Christian said, glancing at the satchel Taylor was holding. "If I feel any of them could provide additional information to the case, I'll fax them over to Welch."
"Sounds good sir." Taylor said before handing the emails back to Anastasia. He turned and headed toward the security office, leaving Christian alone with Anastasia.
He looked at her, and she avoided eye contact with him as she awkwardly glanced around the great room, taking in the vast grandeur of it. She really was a stunningly beautiful woman, and she likely was unaware of the effect she had on most men… or Christian, for that matter.
"I apologize, Taylor forgot to take your coat and umbrella when you came up here," Christian said, taking a step toward her.
"Oh… thank you," Anastasia said, raising her eyebrows as she glanced down at her wet coat. She slipped it off her shoulders and handed it to Christian along with her umbrella. He took them over to the coat rack and hung them up.
"Do you mind coming with me for a moment?" Christian now asked, gesturing toward the hallway leading to his study.
Anastasia blinked in surprise before nodding. "Sure."
She followed Christian down the hallway and into his study, where he gestured for her to take a seat in front of his desk. He closed the door behind them before moving to sit behind his desk.
"First of all, Ms. Steele, I would like to apologize for how I treated you when you first came here," Christian said, his voice sincere. "It was inappropriate for me to snap at you the way that I did, and I'm sorry."
Anastasia smiled, clearly grateful. "Thank you, Mr. Grey. And please, call me Ana."
Christian nodded. "Ana… I appreciate you coming here and bringing us what you found on your boss's computer. I know it probably couldn't have been easy for you to come here, especially after what you said you experienced at the police station."
Anastasia remained silent, clearly wondering where Christian was going with this.
"You can leave your contact information with me, and Taylor and I will be sure to send you a proper reward for your help," Christian went on, clicking onto his computer and opening up the NDA document file. "Before you leave here, though, I'd like you to sign this non-disclosure agreement to ensure you don't repeat any of tonight's information to anyone else."
Ana frowned slightly. "Um… obviously I'm not going to go repeating any of this stuff to anyone, especially to the people at work who know Jack and Elizabeth. Why do I need to sign a document?"
"It's for both your and my protection," Christian explained, scrolling through the NDA template and supplanting Anastasia's name where necessary. "It's a legal document, and I use them pretty often in the business world. It's just a way to protect confidential information from being repeated."
"Yeah, I gathered as much," Anastasia said, still frowning. "But I have to ask… is me signing this NDA contingent upon me not contacting you and Mr. Taylor after tonight?"
"Correct. Unless you have more information about your boss or Elizabeth you haven't told us yet," Christian said, raising an eyebrow at her.
Anastasia blinked before looking away, clearly trying to think. "No, not that I'm aware of," she frowned after a moment, shaking her head. She sounded disappointed, and Christian couldn't help but stare at her.
"Are you saying you want to help me and Taylor with this?" Christian asked skeptically. "Only a few minutes ago you were asking if you could leave."
"Yeah, I know," Ana said uncomfortably. "But… I just feel like now that I've helped you guys get on the right track by finding Elizabeth, I don't want to walk away now. I really feel like I can help you guys more with what I know."
"Even if that's true, I don't think that's wise," Christian said firmly. "Elizabeth has proven herself to be very dangerous, and if she were to find out you're helping me, she could target you next. It's not safe."
"It's not safe for you either," Ana countered. "Elizabeth and Jack have already framed you for murder… pretty successfully, I might add. You don't know what they're going to do next, but I might be able to help you. It's worth a shot, isn't it?"
"It's not just the danger you'll be put in, Anastasia," Christian stated, and then hesitated a moment. "It's what might come out in this whole investigation. Information about me, Elizabeth, and Elena Lincoln… information the public doesn't know about, and I'm not prepared to divulge to anyone. I'm sorry, but I'm not dragging you into this mess."
"Look, you don't have to tell me anything you're not comfortable with," Ana said, her face going red for some reason. "If it has nothing to do with Elena Lincoln's murder, then there's no point. Also, I just found out barely four hours ago that my boss for the past year is a blood-thirsty murderer, so I doubt there's anything you could tell me that would shock me."
Christian couldn't help but give her a wry, humorless smile. With everything she had been through tonight, he hadn't considered she was stronger than he had initially assumed. "Considering what you know now, are you still going to work tomorrow?"
Anastasia went a bit pale as her eyes widened. "Oh God, I hadn't even thought about that! How can I go back to work after what I found out? I don't think I can go into the office tomorrow. I suppose I can just take a sick day, I have plenty saved up."
"Yeah, but what about after that?" Christian asked seriously. "You're not safe at that company, Ana. The best thing would be for you to take a vacation somewhere or stay with family. Lay low for a little while as Taylor and I get to the bottom of this."
Ana shook her head firmly, however. "I have just as much motivation to get to the bottom of this as you, Mr. Grey. Well, maybe not as much motivation, but you know what I mean," she added quickly. "I won't be able to get on with my life and career until Jack and Elizabeth are gone from the company. I know this is just my first job after college, but it means a lot to me, and I'm still trying to make a name for myself in this industry. I can't just abandon that."
Christian sighed, no longer feeling the need to argue with her anymore. "I still don't think it's a good idea for you to get involved in this, Ana, but I suppose you're not really giving me much of a choice. I still need you to sign an NDA, but my lawyers will have to write up a new one for this particular situation."
"That's fine," Ana nodded before smiling. "Thank you Mr. Grey."
"It's very important that you sign that NDA, Ana," Christian went on firmly. "Due to the sensitivity of the information at hand, I can't let you leave the premises until you do sign it."
Ana seemed to pause for a second, frowning in confusion. "Wait, I… I can't leave?"
"Not until you sign the NDA," Christian affirmed. "You're free to sign this one I have right now and leave, but that would mean you can't be involved in this case anymore."
"And when would the new NDA be ready?" Ana asked.
"Sometime tomorrow," Christian said. "You would have to stay here at Escala overnight as we wait for my lawyers to write up the new one."
Ana hesitated a moment or two, thinking over her options, before finally nodding. "Okay then. I guess I'm staying the night here."
A/N: Hm, looks like Ana and Christian are going to be spending a bit more time together :) What do you think is going to happen next?
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