Hi guys,

this wasn't supposed to be a chapter, but many of you asked to read the discussion between Christian and Carrick, which is why I decided to write it and give it to you as a bonus chapter today. This also gives you a hint of what else might be wrong with this entire situation, because next chapter you'll find out another important layer of everything that happened behind Ana's back...

Carrick

While Grace goes to tend to our sobbing daughter in law, I ask Taylor for a word. Like every married man, I had fights or arguments with my wife before but never in my life would I have left her in a state like this. In fact, had I ever reduced my wife to a drunk, crying mess I would have begged for her forgiveness and would have done anything to make her feel better. For Christian to leave Ana in this condition is unforgivable for a man who claims to love his wife as much as Christian claims to love Ana, so I need to get to the bottom of this.

„Taylor, tell me what happened here tonight?"

„Sir, it's not my place..."

„No, don't give me that... have you seen my daughter in law? This was not a normal argument between a couple... something happened and I need to know what has happened. Ana looks like she has been attacked and I do not tolerate violence, especially against females. If my son has laid hands on his wife I need to know because I will personally hold him accountable for it." I make clear and Taylor takes a deep breath before he starts to speak.

„As you know, your son and Mrs. Grey are trying to have a child... turns out only she was trying." He says and I blink.

„What do you mean... I mean Ana hasn't chea..."

„No, good God no. Mrs. Grey would never do that. Two years ago, during his business trip through Europe, Mr. Grey went to a hospital, he told me it was to get a mold removed. In reality, he had a vasectomy. He never told anyone and somehow, Mrs. Grey found out today. As you can imagine Mrs. Grey was very upset when she found out, they must have had a rather heated argument in his office, because I saw her leave clearly upset and followed her. I took her home and she made it clear that she needed time and space to think and that Mr. Grey was to stay at Escala for the time being. Mr. Grey, however, did not appreciate being kicked out and came home an hour after Mrs. Grey. Gail and I tried to stay out of it, but after he verbally lashed out at her, I had to interfere and physically remove him from the house." Taylor says clearly still shaken from the events.

„Why?"

„During their argument, Mrs. Grey mentioned a divorce and your son he... lost his mind is probably the best way to describe it. He grabbed her rather harshly by the shoulders and started to shake her first... then it seemed he wanted to kiss her, all the while Mrs. Grey tried everything to get away from him... she was terrified and then he ripped her dress and I couldn't allow this to get any further. I might be on Mr. Grey's payroll, but I'm also here to protect his wife and Mrs. Grey clearly needed protection from her husband." He said and I grab my phone.

„Hey, Dad, what's up?"

„Elliot, meet me at Escala."

„What is going on Dad, you sound strange?"

„Your brother just attacked his wife and I am going to have a conversation with him... I need you there to keep me from getting violent myself." I say... Lord knows I love all my children and only want the best of everything for them, but Christian really has done it this time.

„Hold on, Dad." I hear Elliot walk around and then a door closing.

„Sorry, but I needed to get out of earshot from Kate. Now, please tell me you did not just tell me that my brother dared to lay hands on his itty bitty wife." Elliot says clearly upset.

„He did not hit her, but he grabbed her hard enough to leave bruises from what I can tell and ripped her dress... the entire scene was violent enough for Taylor to physically remove Christian from the house to protect Ana and I'm not standing for this. Can you come to Escala?"

„I'm on my way, Dad, I'll meet you at the garage... ask Taylor for the elevator code, Christian probably won't let us up if he knows that we know."

„Yes, I'll do that. See you soon." I hang up and turn to Taylor.

„Taylor, please let my wife know that I have gone to Escala and provide me with the elevator code for the Penthouse."

„Of course, Sir." He says and two minutes later I am on my way to Escala.

When I arrive, I see Elliot already pacing the garage and park next to his truck.

„How is Ana?"

„Your mother is looking after her... she was very upset when we arrived... I let your mother handle it because I needed to find out what had happened to her."

„I don't get it, Dad... Christian adores Ana... I cannot see him ever lay hand on her."

„Neither did I, but apparently your brother is still keeping secrets and it blew in his face when Ana found out... she may divorce him." I let Elliot know and to be honest, I wouldn't blame her if she did.

„Divorce... hold on, before we go up there, please, tell me what he has done."

„Your brother lied when he told Ana he was ready to have a child... he had a vasectomy when he had to go to Europe two years ago."

I watch as Elliot takes in what I just told and his reaction reflects my feelings exactly.

„You have got to be kidding me... he told her they should try... Kate told me that Ana was devastated each month when she didn't get pregnant... this has to be a misunderstanding... no one in his right mind would do that to his wife... and what the fuck was going to do anyway... just let her try and pray that Ana hits menopause early... fuck, that's insane."

„I know... now imagine how upset Ana was... she left Grey House and wanted him to stay at Escala for a few days so she had time to herself and probably so things wouldn't escalate, but of course, he came home and things got worse when she told him that she was considering a divorce."

„Well, I for one am fully on Ana's side, what he has done is as good as unforgivable. If Kate pulled a stunt like that I would never be able to trust her ever again..."

„I know, I feel the same about it, but in the end, it is up to Ana how she will handle this, still I need to talk to Christian now... get his side of the story and hopefully find out what has driven him to do what he has done." I explain and so we get into the elevator and ride up to the penthouse.

Once inside it is quiet until we hear Christian talk.

„... I know, but she wants a divorce... No! I can fix this... I just have to remind her how much she loves me... Don't say that, she has me that has to be enough. No, I won't give in... I can't, I know that..." He says on the phone while pacing the great room and looks up when he hears our footsteps.

„I have to call you back later, my father and brother are here." He says and hangs up.

„Whom did you call?" I ask while Christian is watching us wearily.

„Flynn... why are you here."

„Gail called your mother and me to look after your wife because you left her very upset." I reply sternly.

„I did not leave her... my own fucking staff made me leave." Christian yells.

„To protect your wife from you! And you better lose that attitude right away." I snap at him, Christ, this reminds me of his brawling days as a teenager.

„My wife does not need protection from me, I'm all that she needs."

„Christian, I'm dangerously close to losing it with you. You have reduced your wife into a scared, crying, drunk mess and right now the last thing on earth she needs is you anywhere near her. I have raised you better than that and what I expect from you is to leave her be. Do not try to get close to her until she chooses to talk to you and until you will be able to control your temper or I will recommend to her to get a restraining order." I let him know because clearly he is not thinking straight and seems to have digressed back to his angry teenage self, which was a time I remember all too well.

„She is my wife, god damn it!"

„Bro, get your shit together... you betrayed her, lied to her, hurt her and terrified her all in one day, if you care about Ana at all you leave her alone, because frankly, this is your one free pass, if I ever hear that you have mistreated your wife again, I will forget that we are family and beat the fucking shit out of you." Elliot says and that seems to get Christian's attention.

„I never meant to hurt Ana... but she said she wants to divorce me, that she could find someone else to give her a family... she can't do that Elliot, she is mine." He says and sits down on the floor leaning against the sofa and Elliot sits down next to him.

„Ana is your wife... not your property, she has a free will, man... you can't force her to be your wife. And for the love of God, you can't lose your shit like that with her... Ana is a tiny woman, I've seen you brawl and you could easily kill her with your bare hands. I'm not saying you hurt her on purpose or that you would do it ever intentionally, but you need to fix your anger issue if not for yourself than for her. You are lucky you have a good guy like Taylor working for you who is not afraid to even throw his boss out, can you imagine what would have happened if he wouldn't have been there?" Elliot asks and Christian shakes his head violently.

„I wouldn't hurt her... I just need to keep her."

„But that is not the right way, fuck bro... you knew Ana wants a family... why did you give her hope if you already had made sure it wasn't going to happen?"

„She was pulling away from me... I saw it... she wanted to try so bad... I couldn't tell her, she would have left."

„Didn't you think at some point she would start to ask questions?" Elliot asks and Christian shakes his head. I don't even have words for this... I thought over the last five years my son had finally grown up emotionally too, but right now sitting on the floor with a lost look on his face he reminds me of the scared little boy we have brought home almost thirty years ago.

„Christian, maybe it is time for you to find a new psychiatrist, you have seen Flynn for so long, but at this point, it is obvious that he can't help you." I point out.

„No, John knows me... he understands my issues."

„But clearly he can't give you the tools to fix them." Elliot says.

„All I need is Ana."

„Bro, I love you and I hate to see this, but you may have lost her and if after what happened she does not want to be your wife anymore, you have to let her go. You cannot rely your happiness on someone else, you need to fix what is broken inside you to get there otherwise it's all going to blow in your face like it has done now."

„Has Ana said she is filing for a divorce?"

„No, when we arrive she was too upset and drunk to say anything... your mother has put her to bed, but Christian, you have to prepare yourself that your actions may very well have caused irreparable damage to your marriage."

„No! I can fix this!" He says stubbornly. „If Ana needs space I can give her that. I can start seeing Flynn more often to work on my temper... I can make her happy again." He says and neither Elliot nor I seem to have it in us to tell him that everything he said may very well be worthless because he can't give her the one thing she desires the most, which is a family.

I remember decades ago when Grace and I wanted to have children. How heartbroken we were when she miscarried five times and then had to undergo a hysterectomy after she suffered severe internal bleeding when she miscarried at 20 weeks of her pregnancy.

It was very hard for me, but it nearly broke Grace. The thought of not having children and seeing all her friends pregnant or with their children broke her heart piece by piece each time she saw them. Still, she did not want to give up on her dream, so we adopted three wonderful children. I can only imagine what it must be like for Ana to know that she is fully capable of having a child and being denied this dream by the man she loves... it's cruel and will most likely lead her to resent him should she decided that there is any hope for her marriage.

In my line of work, I have seen many couples divorce because one partner revealed after they had been married for a few years that they never wanted to have children. It's a deal breaker most of the time because it will leave a void in the life of the other partner... one that cannot be filled with friends, family, a career, traveling or anything else.

At this point, I truly believe that the only way for them to somehow overcome this is for Christian to undergo intensive therapy, anger management and in the end get the vasectomy reversed when he comes to the revelation that it family will be the best thing for him. I believe in my heart that this is true, having children would be good for him, sadly if today has shown me anything it is, that he is not there yet... maybe not for many more years and I would understand if Ana was not willing to stay with him until he has reached that point.

„Christian, why are you so scared of having kids... you are great with my kids and Mia's little girl too." Elliot says, but Christian remains silent for the longest time.

„Even if I could deal with all the annoying shit that comes with having kids, I would fuck that child up and Ana would leave me because of it. I can't have that, I need to be the most important person in her life, so I know she won't leave me... if we have kids, she would choose the child over me."

I look at Elliot and he at me, both at a loss for words because we both know Christian believes what he is saying. He honestly believes he would ruin the life of his child solely by being in the child's life and it hurts me that obviously Grace and I didn't manage to help our son overcome his issues because all of this clearly has to go back to the same issues he had when we first met him.

„You don't know that bro... you might turn out to be the best Dad ever." Elliot says and Christian shakes his head sadly.

„That's not true... I'm not made for it... and I can't take that risk." He says and his phone rings, he looks at the screen and gets up.

„It's Flynn, I would like to be alone." He says and even though I don't want to leave I know right now we won't get through to him. He is convinced he has done what he did for the right reasons. Maybe Grace can talk to him tomorrow, for now, I just hope he will give Ana the time and space she needs to process what has happened.

As Elliot and I step out of the elevator and into the garage he looks at me.

„There has to be more to this, Dad... I remember when they first got married he told me that eventually, he was looking forward to having a family with Ana... he wasn't lying, something has changed and I don't get it."

„Maybe we'll find out with time, but you know your brother Elliot, he is a master of keeping secrets, so we won't find out if he doesn't want us too." I reply and soon I'm back in my car hoping that my son will manage to overcome his issues and somehow manage to win Ana's trust back. I can't justify his behavior, but as a father I want my child to be happy and the only times I have seen my son truly was while he was in the presence of his wife.