Christian's POV
So many different emotions run through my body. Confusion being the most dominant. So much has happened in the past few months. The last thing I expected was sitting on the kitchen floor and holding a shaking Ana who apparently just had some kind of OCD attack.
"Ana, what the fuck is going on here?" My voice is stern. Her expression does a complete three sixty. Her eyes scan around the room and focus on anything besides mine. She bites her lip and starts fidgeting with her fingers. "Ana." I grab her chin and force her to look at me. "I really need you to tell me what's going on." My arms begin to shake in anticipation. Something is seriously wrong with her, I can sense it. She hasn't been acting normal since i showed up on her doorstep. She flinches at any mere touch, she refuses to make eye contact, she apologizes for minor accidents…she just said she's been hit.
My vision goes blurry. Every ounce of my skin tingles with rage. I'm forced to clench my teeth so I don't tear out a chinch of my lip. I can't even remember how to breathe. All of the signs are there. I've just passed them off as Ana not knowing how to react to me anymore. The truth is the truth, though. And the harsh reality is what sends me over the edge.
"Ow, Christian. Please." Ana's whimper brings me back to reality. She's looking up at me with such fear in her eyes that it's like a bucket of cold water has been dumped on me. I loosen my grip on her face and stand up. I pace around the kitchen a few times while Ana just stares at me from her position on the floor. I don't notice when she quickly stands and rushes over towards the elevator.
"I'm sorry I said anything. I-I need to go now." She tries to press the button on the wall, but I get to her first. There is no way in hell that I am allowing her to leave me again. No, not again. This time we'll work things out together like we should have done in the first place. There will be no more walking out.
"Oh, no you don't." I grab her wrist and spin her around. "You're not getting off that easy." I say. She can't throw something at me like this and then fucking bolt for the door. I pull her into the media room and turn on the light so the room is bathed in a soft, orange glow. "Ana." I try to speak as calmly as possible. "I really need you to help me out here before i do something I'm going to regret." I manage to speak through my teeth.
Her lips tremble and her wet eyes flaw around the room. I can't deal with this anymore. If something is hurting her, then she needs to fucking tell me so I can help her.
"Ana!" She screams back at me. "Okay, yes. Yes!" Her eyes finally reach mine and are filled with a burning fire. She yanks her wrist out of my grasp and takes a step back. "I've been seeing this guy, okay? His name is Kevin and we've been together since you and I broke up."
Every ounce of my anger evaporates at that very instant. I feel my face fall at her words. My heart slowly begins to tear in two. Ana has a boyfriend. She's seeing someone else. Everything she said is a lie. She doesn't want me anymore.
"Do you love him?" The words come on their own. She stands there with her arms around her middle and tears running down her cheeks. Heat fills my veins once again. "Just answer the fucking question, Anastasia! Do you love him?" I shout the words. I know I shouldn't be yelling, but at the moment it's all I'm capable of doing. If she says yes…I don't know what I'd do. My entire world would be flipped upside-down. There's no point to anything without my Ana.
"No." Her face crumbles and she falls back onto the couch. "No. No. No I don't love him!" She slams her fists down on the leather with each word. "I hate him! I hate him! I hate him!" She somehow screams the words out around her heart jolting sobs. She grabs a pillow, presses it to her mouth and releases a series of howls.
Relief and pain flow through my chest. If my heart wasn't already broken, it sure is now. She needs to talk to me. I walk over and sit close to her on the couch. I lightly rub my hand over her back, but that just makes her cry even harder.
"Talk to me, baby." I say behind the huge clump in my throat. She continues to shake for a few minutes, but finally pulls the pillow away and calms her breathing. I smooth some stands of hair back that stick to her neck. She chews on her lip a few times before answering.
"He hits me." There's no emotion in her voice. Just pure fact. "He kicks me, he punches me, he calls me names, he rapes me…" Her voice trails off as more tears come.
I don't know how I'm supposed to react. Ana has just told me the one thing that I fear the most and yet all I can imagine is breaking a wall down with my bare fists. I take a moment to absorb all this information. Ana is being abused in the worst way possible by some man. Whoever this Kevin fucker is will not live to see another day as far as I'm concerned.
I'm off the couch in seconds and making my way towards the nearest exit. I'm running purely on instinct now. As I'm walking towards the elevator, I pull my phone out of my pocket and press a button that immediately connects me to Taylor.
"Taylor. I need you to-" I don't get the chance to complete my sentence before Ana comes running up beside me. She blocks my path and prevents me from reaching the elevator.
"Christian, please." She begs. "Don't do this. Please. Stay here." She pushes her hands up against my shoulders and tries to push me back.
"Ana, let me through." I place my phone back in my pocket. I'll call Taylor later.
"No, Christian. Please don't go. Please." She wraps her arms around my waist and pushes against me with all her weight.
"Ana." I warn her. I am definitely not in the mood for this. "Move."
She stops pushing and looks up at me through wet lashes. "Please. I need you." She chokes out the words and wipes the tears off her face. When she removes her hands I see that she's removed majority of her makeup. A large purple and yellow mass is spread across the left side of her face. My body goes ice cold. I feel as if I'm moving in slow-motion. I cup her face in my hand and tilt her towards the light so I can see the bruise more clearly. It's worse than I thought.
"Oh, Ana." I whisper and bend down to lightly press my lips against her tortured skin. "Jesus, baby." She goes limp in my arms and crashes into my chest. I hold her tight and silently pray that I'm able to take all her pain away.
"Where else?" I ask into her hair. She knows what I'm talking about and pulls away from me. She turns around and at first I think that she's going to run again, but instead she pulls the zipper down on her dress and lets it fall to the floor. She turns around wearing just a bra and panties. I gasp at what I see. Ana's entire stomach is covered in a mass of bruises. Some are darker than the others, but all are visible. More marks run across her upper thighs and over her sides. Smaller ones are scattered over her arms and a couple are on the base of her neck.
"Ana…" I breathe out. I step a little closer and walk around to see what her backside looks like. Her lower back is the worst, but most of these bruises have already started to heal. I hear her soft sniffles as I gently touch my hand to her back. I turn her around to face me. Silent tears roll down her cheek.
"Now you know." She whispers. "I'm ruined." She drops her head in shame.
A ripple of pain fires through my chest. "Oh, Ana." I pull her close and rest my chin on top of her head. "You are no such thing." My voice is tight and I can feel my throat tighten up. I kiss her hair.
"I'm so weak, Christian. I don't know what to do anymore." She sobs into my shirt.
"Shh. I'm here, Ana." I rub her bare back soothingly. "I'm not going to let anything hurt you."
"I need to go home." She mumbles after a few minutes. I snap my head back and pull her away so I can see her.
"Like fuck you will." I spit. "You will do no such thing."
"Christian, I need to go home. Kevin probably won't be awake anyway."
"You live with him?" This new information surprises me.
"Well…not really." She murmurs.
"Ana!" I grasp her face in my hands. "You will go nowhere near him. Do you hear me? You stay here with me until this is taken care of."
She gives up the fight and leans into my touch. "Can we talk about this?" She asks.
"We'll talk about the specifics tomorrow. You and I will both take off work and sort all this shit out." I run my fingers through her hair. She nods, but I can tell she's not happy about my decision. Well, that's too damn bad.
"Where am I sleeping?" She asks me. I am genially surprised that she's not going to fight me on the matter. But then again, maybe she wants this just as much as I want it for her.
"Wherever you would like. If you want, I'll take the couch so you can have the bed." It'll kill me from being separated from her, but if it's what she wants…
"I think that'd be for the best." She says. "But just for tonight. I'll tell him that I was out drinking and stay the night at a friend's house. I'll call in work and say that I'm sick or something."
"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it." I say. I'll make sure that Ana is safe in my bed and then I can work on this Kevin. This fucker will never be able to walk again if I have anything to say about it.