I wanted to post this chapter yesterday, but after re-reading it before posting, I ended up absolutely hating it... so I deleted the whole thing and wrote something completely different. All of you who are still looking for the clues or just want to know desperately what has gotten into Christian... this chapter might explain a lot...
Ana
I love love love my new apartment. It's perfect, way too big for me alone, but still perfect. But what I love the most is the view. I've spent countless hours just sitting in front of the floor to ceiling windows admiring the beautiful view of Central Park. I can't believe how much my life has changed over the last month.
I live in this amazing apartment, I have the job of my dreams and I have found a true friend in my brother. Gideon is the best thing that has happened to me in a long while. I think since my birthday there haven't been more than two days where we haven't seen each other. When he is here I even manage not to think about Christian for a while, which is exactly what I need.
I'm still wondering what possessed him to treat me the way he did, but slowly I feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I can overcome this heart-break. I've also made a new friend. Her name is Melody and she lives in the apartment next door. We've met two weeks ago when she knocked to ask if I had some coffee for her. I invited her in to have a coffee at my place and we started to talk. She is an actress at the Broadway, but comes from a really rich family who bought the apartment for her. She is really nice and we want to go out together sometime soon. I am not sure that clubbing is what I need right now, but Gideon wants to show me some of his clubs anyway, so I agreed and the three of us want to go clubbing either this weekend or the weekend after, depending on Gideon's schedule.
Tonight, Gideon is coming over for dinner and I want to cook. I haven't done a lot of cooking lately, mostly due to the fact that while I was the one who cooked while living with Kate, all the kitchen supplies were hers, so I didn't even had a pot or pan to cook something. Today, I decided that had to change, so I went on a little shopping spree and stocked up on kitchen supplies. After all I can't live on take out and yogurt for the rest of my life. I asked Gideon if he had anything in mind he wanted for dinner, but he told me as long as it has meat in it, he'll eat it. I guess that is a men-thing...
So, I've decided to make steak with sautéed onions, mushrooms and mashed potatoes. It's easy to cook and yummy. While I am cooking I switch some music on and send Gideon a text asking him if how he wants his steak. I've missed cooking, it's relaxing and as my brother is always reminding me, I need to eat more. I know he is right, but my appetite is only now returning very slowly. So far today I had a banana for breakfast and a salmon bagel for lunch. To me this is a good start, I know it's not enough to gain any of the weight I have lost back, but at least it is enough to prevent me from losing more weight.
I am still in the middle of cooking when Gideon knocks and I let him in.
"You forgot to pick up your mail at the front desk, I got it for you." he says and places it on the kitchen counter, while I get a beer for each of us.
"Thanks" I murmur and take the mail, but freeze when I see the letter on top. What the hell? Why is he sending me a letter?
"Ana, are you alright?" Gideon asks when I just continue to stare at the envelope.
"No, the letter on top, it's from a former really good friend of mine. We had a huge fall out and he became somewhat of a crazy stalker." I sigh, I really thought that Jose was just a good friend, but boy was I wrong.
"What did he do?"
"Well, I kind of knew that he wanted to be more than just friends, but even though he is a good-looking guy, I never saw anything other than a good friend in him. I thought he had come to terms with that, sadly I was very much mistaken. After the break up with my boyfriend I didn't really want to go out, but he had his first exhibition and my roommate left her car for me to use, so I drove to Vancouver to attend the gallery opening. It was a disaster. I walked into the gallery and everyone was staring at me."
I lower my head into my hands, still shuddering thinking about that night.
"What happened at the gallery opening, Ana?" Gideon asks and I sigh.
"My friend Kate and I, we used to live in Vancouver near campus and because both of us had a history of losing our keys, we gave Jose a spare set to keep for us. I thought you know, he is a good friend, so why wouldn't I trust him. I should have never given him those darn keys. He is photographer, and in his mind I am his muse. The entire exhibition was picture after picture of me. Some of them I was aware he took, others not so much, especially the ones of me sleeping naked on my bed with nothing but a sheet covering my hips. It was like I had walked directly into some weird nightmare. And the scariest part is, he introduced me to everyone as his girlfriend."
"What the fuck? Did you call the cops, has the fucker sold those pictures?" Gideon is fuming, and I know he won't like what I am going to say next.
"No, I did not call the cops. I was too shocked and I just wanted to leave. He tried to stop me and we had a rather heated argument, I told him I wanted all the pictures, stormed out and went home. A couple of days later the brother of my roommate came to stay at the apartment I shared with her in Seattle and I told him what had happened. He was beyond pissed and called the gallery right away to buy the pictures, so I could destroy them. But my luck, someone bought all of them anonymously. Ethan, my roommates brother tried to convince them to get the name of the buyer, but they told him they couldn't give him the name."
"Well, believe me, I will get the name. Who does that? Walk into the bedroom of a friend and take pictures of him or her sleeping. Ana that is serious stalker attitude... christ, I can't believe you didn't call the cops right away."
"I know I should have, but it gets worse. The day after Ethan moved into the apartment I came home from work and suddenly someone wrapped his arms around me from behind me, pulled me close and... you know at this point I was still hoping my ex boyfriend would try to contact me and I didn't know anyone besides him in Seattle who would come on to me like this, so when the person spun me around and kissed me... I just wanted it to be him and kissed him back. When I started to realise that it wasn't him who was kissing me it was already too late. Ethan had come home and saw Jose kissing me and he lost it. He pushed Jose away from me and started to beat him up, all the while yelling at me to get the fuck upstairs. I was so shocked, I just ran upstairs and waited for Ethan. Since then I haven't heard anything from Jose, until now."
"What do you think he wants?"
"I have no idea" I murmur, open the envelope and gasp. This can't be happening.
Gideon doesn't even ask for the note that was inside the envelope and just takes it. All that's written down on it is : I am still thinking of you. Love Jose xxx
"Was anything else in the envelope?" he asks and I take the picture out, that is showing me asleep in my bed and him leaning over my head staring down at me. Fuck, how could I not notice him taking all those pictures?
"That's enough Ana, first thing tomorrow morning I'll pick you up and we go to the police. That guy is a crazy stalker, do you have a picture of him?"
"I think so, why?"
"Because I'm going to show it to the building security and Angus, to make sure that the fucker has no chance to come anywhere near you. Do you know how to defend yourself?"
"My stepdad Ray, he showed me how to use a gun and some self defense."
"Perfect, we'll get you a gun as soon as you have your license and I want you to enroll in some self defense classes, maybe you could do Krav Maga, it's a good work out and you learn how to defend yourself."
"Gideon, I don't need any of..." he holds both hands up to stop me.
"Ana, that fucking note and the picture are threads, he is threatening you, don't you see that? Maybe the guy is just a creep with a freaky obsession, but it is also possible that he is a fucking psychopath who is already in town watching you. I'll have someone from my security team following you arround to make sure he is not following you, but I want you to be able to defend yourself if necessary, because right now you are the perfect victim for some sick fuck who believes you are his girlfriend."
"I am not the perfect victim, I can defend myself." I answer a little appalled, but Gideon sighs.
"Ana, you are what 5'3 and 100 lbs, believe me, that alone makes you an easy target for anyone who wants to harm you, therefore you need to be able to defend yourself properly, I am sure your dad showed you some nice moves, but that won't be enough."
"I can handle myself I mean... hey... what are you doing? Put me down, Gideon!" I shriek in protest when he just picks me up, throws me over his shoulder and walks over to the balcony.
"Come on try to get away, Ana. Show me that you can get away and I won't mention it again" he says all serious but no matter what I try I can't get out of his hold and suddenly he puts me down.
"See this, I held you like that for three minutes, that would have been enough time to throw you off the balcony, strangle you or tie you up to rape you. The only thing that happened from your struggle is that you are exhausted and while I am as fresh as a daisy ready to pounce. I am not trying to be mean, but I want to help you and I want you to feel safe. Sure, I could have security breathing down your neck for the rest of your life, but I don't want you to feel like you always have to depend on someone else to feel safe. I want you to know that no matter what happens you can handle it, and learning to defend yourself is the first step in that direction."
He stares at me willing me to get his point and sadly, I have to agree, he is right. I wouldn't have a hope in hell to defend myself against someone his size.
"Fine, I'll do some self-defense classes and get a license for a gun. Man, I need to get stronger" I mutter and he wraps one arm around my shoulder.
"I know, and the first step for you to become physically stronger is to eat regularly and not just a banana and tiny bits of dinner each day. So, let's have dinner, there is something else we need to discuss."
"Okay" I put our food onto plates and we sit down to have dinner.
"So, there is something I wanted to discuss with you for a while now, but I was a little worried you would take it the wrong way, so just hear me out first." I nod and he takes a long sip of his beer before he starts.
"Our my mother's parents, our grandparents... they passed away a couple of years ago. I didn't really get along with them... they always thought I was a constant reminder of my father and what he did. Anyway, after our grandmother died our grandfather changed. It seemed like there was something torturing him, he knew that he wasn't going to live much longer because he was sick. The one time I went to visit him at the hospital I overheard him having an argument with my mother. At the time I didn't understand what it was about... much less so his will, but now I understand."
"What do you mean you didn't understand his will?"
"They were rich, my mother got their real estate, jewelry and shit, but all the cash went to Christopher, Ireland and me. The thing I didn't get was that he had changed his will five weeks before he passed away. It was handwritten and it said that he wanted his money to be divided between all of his grandchildren. He had written the word 'all' in capitals and even underlined it. At the time I thought maybe that was his way of letting me know that he wanted me to have some of his fortune, too. Now, I finally realise he was referring to you. He wanted you to get a quarter of his fortune, and I want to give you the money, it belongs to you Ana."
I stare at him. I didn't even know my mother's parents and for all that I know they wanted her to kill me before I was even born.
"Gideon, I don't want any money."
"Please, just think about it. He wanted that all of his grandchildren get money, so that includes you."
"Gideon, do we really have to talk about this? I mean what difference does it make if I take a couple of thousand dollars or not." I mutter and he snorts.
"We are talking about roughly 12.5 million dollar that are yours, Ana."
"But... that's insane! What am I supposed to do with all that money? No no no, you keep it. I mean look at me, I like to run around in old sweat pants and over sized t-shirts, I am not a freaking millionaire! Much less so when the money comes from people who wished that I wouldn't even exist!" Actually, I feel like I am about to have panic attack.
"Ana, please relax. Think about it, that is all I am asking you. Even you don't need the money now, you can just invest it and make more out of it..."
"More" I squeak. Is he insane? Like going from nothing to being a millionaire wouldn't be scary enough now he wants me to make more out of the money... but maybe if I decide to take it, I could support charities with the money.
"What if I want to donate most of it" I ask and he smiles.
"Somehow I was sure you were going to say that. And that is fine, it is your money Ana. I would like to help you get in touch with some charities and if you like you can also donate for the Crossroads Foundation."
"Since there is a Cross in the name I assume you founded it?"
"Yes, its main purpose is to help abuse survivors." he says and for a moment my mind drifts back to Christian.
"That sounds like a really good cause. Okay, I'll take the money if you help me to get in touch with your Foundation and others."
"Deal, oh and there is one more thing, but let's enjoy our dinner first, eat up!"
I roll my eyes, but eat everything that was on my plate. He is right, I need to eat more to get stronger. I don't want to be an easy target for anyone.
After dinner Gideon asks me to change, so I am sure what ever he wants to show me is outside. I hurry into my bedroom, change into some jeans, a t-shirt and chucks before we leave the apartment and take the elevator down to the garage of the building.
"You know, I never gave you a proper birthday gift, and you have told me that you had this old VW Beetle you loved so much... so I thought..."
He leads me around a corner and my mouth pops open. Holy shit! In front of me brand new light blue VW New Beetle.
"I hope you like it. I thought you could name it Wanda 2.0" he says a little unsure of my reaction.
I really want to be mad at him for buying me something so expensive, but I can't because he actually has put a lot of thought into it, by picking a car that resembles my old car. And he even remembered the name I had given my car although I only ever mentioned it once.
"Oh my god, I love it, thank you so much... but no more expensive gifts, okay?"
"We'll see" he chuckles because by now I am almost bouncing up and down like a three-year old.
"Can we go for a ride?" I ask and he hands me the keys.
"Sure, let's go" and with that we both get into car and I drive towards the I-78 once we are on it I hit the pedal to the metal and for the first time in a long while I feel free and there are no thoughts of Christian, Jose or Jack Hyde...
For those of you who are worried that crazy Jose is going to cause trouble... don't worry too much, after all Ana has a big brother to protect her...
