When I arrive at the Grey's home, I'm asked by the housekeeper to wait in the family room again and this time, I actually feel the hair in the back on my neck rising when Elena walks in.
"Anastasia, what can I do for you?"
"I thought I would come here to share with you what I was able to find out so far." I tell her and she looks at me stone-faced.
"What would that be?"
"For one, I found out that you are Christian's biological aunt and that you adopted him without your sister's permission... in fact, the entire adoption process seems really fishy."
"How dare you! My sister was unfit to parent her child, so we took him in and gave him a loving home!" She hisses at me.
"Your sister was mourning the loss of her husband... you remember him right, the man you were obsessed with, so much so that you never spoke to your sister again because he wanted her and not you." I point out and her gaze turns murderous.
"Now listen to me, you little brat. I will not sit here, in my own home and listen to you accusing me of stealing my sister's child."
"Ok, how about the fact that Christian probably ran away because you touched him inappropriately." I snap at her.
"You are delusional, Anastasia and if you don't leave now I will have you removed by the police."
"Oh, by all means, do call them, because I have a witness who saw you touching Christian inappropriately just days before he went missing and I know that he tried to talk to his siblings about it..."
"Enough!" She yells at me.
"Why, if you didn't do it then why are you getting so angry? Tell me, was that the only reason you wanted to take him in? Did you hope he would grow up to look like his father so you could groom him into your little lapdog?" I ask now angry myself.
"You are a horrible person, Anastasia... maybe I should tell your parents what you are doing here because if you ever harass me again, I will make sure that your mental health is being evaluated!"
"Oh, so you can have me locked up at a mental facility for years like you made sure your sister was locked up in one?!"
"This is my last warning, Anastasia, get out of my house, now!"
"As you wish, but tell me just one thing... does the thought of Christian and I having sex drive you insane... because I could have what you couldn't."
"He is mine!" She yells and gape at her.
"You are disgusting!" I hiss at her and just leave, I need to get out of here, but when I'm just out of the room I see Elliot, shaken and pale in the hallway. We exchange a look and he silently follows me out of the house and into my parent's home where we sit down in the kitchen.
"Do you really have a witness?" He asks me and I slowly nod.
"Who?"
"Kate, she saw your mom touch Christian in a way that isn't fitting for a mom towards her son."
"Fuck, this is so fucked up... why would she do that." He says and I place the picture of Christian's parents on the table.
"What the... who?"
"These are Christian's parents with him when he was a baby. Your mom has an aunt, who lives in Portland, I went to see her a few days ago. Your mom and her sister, Grace, lived with her when their parents passed away. That's where they met Christian's Dad, Lance. He fell in love with Grace right away and so did she, the issue was that your mom was obsessed with him, they had a fallout because of it. He died in a car accident when Christian was just a year old, Grace had a mental break down and needed professional help to get better, while she was getting the help she needed your parents somehow managed to adopt Christian without Grace ever agreeing to it. When she found out she freaked out and your parents had her admitted for years, by the time she got out there was nothing Grace could do to get her son back." I tell him what I was told by Mrs. Evans.
"I don't understand... why would my mom steal her sister's child?" He mutters and I look at him.
"I can only speculate on that part, Elliot. Maybe she wanted to punish her sister because Christian's father didn't love her... maybe she was hoping for Christian to take after his father when it comes to his looks... I just don't know..."
"What if it's true... fuck! He tried to tell me... he fucking told me Mom was making him uncomfortable and I didn't believe him... maybe he would still be here if I had believed him.."
"Elliot don't. Please, don't blame yourself. No one knows what really happened..."
"Maybe not, but I sure as hell will find out. Did you find any clue that he is still alive?"
"No, but the fact that his case was closed so fast and that he was pronounced dead without any proof of him being dead looks very suspicious."
"Are you trying to say my dad is covering for my mother?"
"No... yes... look I really don't know. My friend Nick, his dad looked into it and he has found something. I don't know what, but he told Nick to leave Bellevue right away or he would disown him and that is not like his father at all. My friends went back to Boston this morning, they will try to figure out what his dad has found, but until then I don't have any more leads."
"What about Christian's mom?"
"I tried to get in touch with her, but her husband called me and basically told me to back the fuck off. I get it though, his wife has been through so much, he must be scared that she will relapse into depression when she finds out what has happened to her son."
"Oh my God... this all so fucked up... I can't even bring myself to think of my mother touching Christian in ... fuck I'm going to be sick." He gets out and jumps up to throw up into the sink.
After a while, he calls his girlfriend Sam to pick him up and I try to think of where to go from here. I don't even know if I can trust the cops... maybe I can't trust anyone in this city and I really just want to go home, but I can't. For a while, I just stare at a picture on my phone to give me the strength to go on with the search and take a deep breath. I've started this, now I need to finish it.
I just wish I had more to go on. Some kind of hint that Christian is still alive or where he went.
After dinner, I decide to go to bed early and so I'm already sleeping when I wake up with a start hearing the alarm system go off. Quickly, I call the cops and hurry into my parent's bedroom where I find my Dad's gun and run downstairs where I can see a dark figure running from the house and wait for the cops.
After they have searched the entire house and I couldn't find anything missing, one of the cops helps me to board up the patio door where the glass was smashed in and then I'm alone.
Usually, I don't drink, but I find myself walking into the kitchen, where I get a bottle of vodka from the freezer and turn around to grab a shot glass and in that second the bottle just slips from my hand and crashes onto the floor where it shatters.
I can't even think about the broken bottle because my gaze is fixed on the breakfast bar. Slowly, I step closer and there it is. Before I know what I'm doing I'm on my phone calling Elliot and Kate to come to my place right away and continue to stare at the breakfast bar until finally, they both arrive.
"Shit, what happened here, Ana?" Kate asks.
"Someone broke in and I dropped a bottle of vodka."
"Fuck, someone broke in... did you see who it was?" Elliot asks.
"No, I just saw a dark figure running from the house when I got downstairs."
"Shit, look this is not safe for you, Ana, you can stay with me." Kate offers.
"No... and I didn't call you about that... I was looking through the house with the cops to see if anything was stolen, but I didn't notice that anything was missing... nothing was out of place and then when I was alone I went in here to have a drink and saw it."
"Saw what, Ana." He asks and I point to the breakfast bar.
"No, it can't be..." Elliot mutters and we all step closer to look at the leather band necklace with a set of wedding bands on it. The same necklace Christian had worn every day since his grandpa had passed away when he was thirteen years old.
"I couldn't look... Kate, please look at the engravement." I ask her and she takes the necklace.
"Frank and Elsa." She murmurs and Elliot starts to pace because those are the names of Carrick Grey's parents.
"Did you see the person that broke in, was it a man or a woman, young or old, tall or short... Christ Ana... do you think it was... that... do you think my brother is still alive?" He asks with tears in his eyes.
"I don't know Elliot, it all happened so fast, but I know Christian was wearing that necklace when we went back to the tents that night. But why would he just leave the necklace, why wouldn't he talk to me?"
"I hate to be the one to bring this up." Kate says and we both look at her. „Maybe this isn't a sign for Ana to keep digging... maybe it's a warning to stop looking. We don't know what happened to Christian, suppose he was murdered... maybe the killer kept the necklace and broke in here to warn Ana off." She says and I shake my head remembering the dream that I had all those years ago.
"There is something I haven't told either of you."
"What is it, Ana?"
"When I had the mental breakdown at the police station... on the second night I had a dream that felt very real, but I was so full of drugs that I thought it was a dream... but maybe it wasn't."
"What was your dream?" Elliot wants to know.
"I dreamt that Christian came to see me. He was sitting in the chair by my bed holding my hand. He said that leaving me behind was the hardest thing he ever had to do and that we would be together again when the time was right... I fell asleep again before I could talk to him... what if that wasn't a dream?" I ask and Elliot starts to pace.
"Shit..."
"What is it, Elliot?"
"Two years ago Mia had to have surgery because her appendix was about to burst. When she got released from the hospital she told me that while she was still heavily drugged she dreamt that Christian was standing at her bed telling her that all would be fine and that he was working on finding a way to come home. I never believed her... damn it... what if he is out there, has been ever since... we need to find him." He says and again it is Kate who brings up the uncomfortable truth.
"Even if him coming home means your mother or maybe even both parents will go to jail?" She asks we both look at Elliot because at this moment I know that bringing them down is the only way to find out the truth...
