A/N: Thank you all for your reviews and support! Here's the next chapter for you.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 15: Developments
Christian felt like he couldn't concentrate on his work anymore since Ramkoff left the premesis, so he decided to just head back home to Ana and Lucia at around noon. The worst part about all of this was having to call Ana to tell her what happened and why he was coming home - she was clearly very shocked to hear about Ramkoff's sudden appearance, and she demanded he tell her everything. Christian hated having to recount that entire conversation to her, but he knew it was something she needed to know, so he told her everything Ramkoff said to him - everything except him knowing about the playroom. He felt he needed to tell her that part in person.
When Christian finally arrived home at around noon, he immediately saw Lucia playing with her dolls in the great room with Gail and Ana. He walked in from the foyer, and the three girls looked up at him - Ana immediately stood up and walked over to him, an anxious expression on her face.
"Hey baby," Ana whispered, and Christian immediately pulled her into his arms, seeking her warmth and comfort. "Are you okay?"
I am now, Christian thought to himself, though he didn't say that out loud and he hugged his wife tightly. "Can we go into my office? I have something I need to tell you," he said quietly so only she could hear.
Ana nodded silently, and the two of them headed upstairs to his study, leaving Gail to watch Lucia back in the great room.
"Baby, what is it?" Ana asked immediately once Christian closed the office door behind them. "I know Ramkoff's appearance upset you, but the fact that he came to your office and basically threatened you might actually be a good thing - it can help our case against him when this goes to court. Couldn't it?"
"Maybe… maybe not," Christian said grimly. He reached up a hand and began tugging at his hair fretfully. "Ana, he knows about the playroom and my old lifestyle."
Ana stared at him for a moment, her mouth gaping open slightly in shock. "What?"
Christian sighed before starting to recount the one part of his conversation with Ramkoff he hadn't told her over the phone - the part where Ramkoff indicated he somehow knew about Christian's past involvement with BDSM. Ana listened to him with rapt attention, her brow furrowed as she considered what he said.
"He must have found a way to break Escala's security," Ana asserted after thinking about it for a minute. She began to pace the area in front of his desk thoughtfully. "Or he hacked into our CCTV - those are the only explanations as to how he would know about that."
"That, or he's tracked down one of my old submissives and got her to talk to him," Christian said, still tugging at his hair.
"How would one of your old submissives know that we dismantled the playroom though?" Ana asked reasonably. "They couldn't have know that… and it's not like one of us told someone about the playroom in a casual conversation. Whatever information he has, it must be firsthand."
"Right," Christian said, shaking his head as if to clear it. He was grateful Ana was able to work through all of this logically when he was feeling too flustered to even think straight.
Suddenly, there was a sharp knock on Christian's office door and Taylor walked inside. "Sir - ma'am," he said before closing the door behind him.
"Taylor, please tell me you have some answers for us," Christian glared at his head of security, trying desperately to reign in his temper. "We had a security breach, and no one even fucking knew about it!"
"I realize that sir - we're doing everything we can to find out how he knew about that classified information," Taylor said tersely. "We have no proof yet, but I would assume he had found a way to hack into our security feed and see footage of you at home. It would at least explain how he knew your playroom had been dismantled."
"But does it explain how he knew about Christian's past in BDSM?" Ana asked. "How long could he have been spying on us to know about all that?"
Before either Christian or Taylor could answer that, there was another knock on his office door and Reynolds stepped inside. "Sir," he said to Christian.
"Did you find something?" Christian asked immediately.
"Maybe. Sawyer and I couldn't really find any evidence to suggest that Ramkoff has been following you around or had broken into Escala, but we knew he must have had a source of information regarding you and your past lifestyle."
"Did he speak to one of his past submissives?" Ana asked, frowning at Reynolds.
"No ma'am, not as far as we know," Reynolds shook his head. "Although he may have been getting personal information from somebody about Mr. Grey… somebody with intimate knowledge about his past."
Ana and Christian looked at each other, dawning comprehension on both of their faces.
"Are you referring to Elena?" Ana turned to Reynolds, her eyes wide with shock. "How on earth would she know Ramkoff?"
"She may not, as far as we're aware," Reynolds explained. "But if Ramkoff did happen to know about Elena and her involvement in Christian's life, she would have been the easiest target for him. For the past few months now, she's been going to a bar called Tippery's, mostly just to get drunk and trash talk the Grey's to anyone who'll listen."
"Seriously?" Christian sounded surprised and a little disgusted. Was that really what Elena had been reduced to since he'd last seen her?
"Yep - our last security report said she has gone there every night for weeks now," Reynolds said.
"You guys have been having her followed?" Ana asked, raising her eyebrows while glancing between Reynolds and Taylor. The latter nodded.
"After Dr. Trevelyan found out about Mrs. Lincoln's involvement with her son a few months ago, she basically ostracized her from Seattle society," Taylor explained. "Now, Elena's pretty much got nothing but her hair salons, and those are losing money fast since they lost their GEH backing. She's got no family, no friends, and her life is gone to shit - all she does nowadays is drink and be bitter about the Grey family. On a security level, she's pretty much a ticking time bomb."
Ana snorted derisively under her breath, and Christian couldn't help but smirk. It was honestly a bit gratifying to learn Elena was in such a bad place right now.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
"Elena is in a very vulnerable position at the moment, and somebody like her would have been an easy target for Ramkoff if he were trying to get damning information on Mr. Grey," Reynolds went on. "Sawyer's looking into it now, but she seems the most likely to be a part of this."
"Elena Lincoln and Adalay Ramkoff," Ana scoffed, turning away to look out the window. "How fucking perfect would that pairing be?"
"We shouldn't make assumptions yet - we still don't know for sure if she's involved with all this," Christian said reasonably, although secretly he was sort of hoping Elena and Ramkoff were working together so he would have an excuse to absolutely decimate her for her breach of her NDA. He turned back toward Reynolds and Taylor. "Do you know if anyone else is a suspect?"
"Possibly…"
For the next few minutes or so, Taylor and Reynolds discussed with Christian the other possible security threats, which thankfully weren't as worrying as Elena. For now, Taylor and his security team were going to delve into Ramkoff's activities for the past few weeks and see if anything else came up.
Taylor and Reynolds eventually left the office, leaving Ana and Christian alone together. Christian sighed before rubbing his hands tiredly over his face - even though he tried not to let it show, he was honestly freaked out by what Ramkoff had said to him. How in God's name could Ramkoff have known about Christian's playroom, especially after he and Ana had gotten rid of it? And what other information about Christian could he know that he wasn't letting on?
"Are you okay?" Ana asked softly, moving up to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and Christian's arms automatically wrapped around her.
"I don't know," he said quietly, lightly pressing his face into the side of Ana's head and closing his eyes. "All of this is just so fucked up."
"Yeah," Ana agreed sadly. Her arms tightened slightly around his waist. "Lucia's worth it, though."
Christian felt himself relax slightly, and a small smile formed on his face. Leave it to Ana to help him keep perspective about this whole situation, and he couldn't help but wholeheartedly agree with her. "Yeah, she really is."
Ana pulled back slightly so she was looking up into Christian's eyes, and she smiled slightly, though it looked more like a grimace. "We'll get through this. It might be difficult right now, but we will get through this."
Christian gazed right back at her, and he couldn't help but hope that she was right. "I know."
Ana's smile grew a bit wider and slightly happier. "C'mon, Mr. Grey," she said, stepping away from him and beckoning him toward the door. "There's a little girl out there and she's been dying to play dollies with you all day."
Christian chuckled, feeling a warm contentment in his heart with getting to spend some quality time with his girls. "Well, we can't deprive her anymore, now can we?"
Ana giggled. "Let's go."
Despite all the awful shit that had been going on for the past few days or so, Christian was able to spend a very enjoyable afternoon with both his wife and Lucia, which was exactly what he needed. After lunch, the three of them moved into the media room, where Lucia brought all of her favorite toys, crayons and coloring books for her to play with. For about an hour or so, Christian and Ana simply sat on the floor near the couch as Lucia showed them all of her favorite toys while babbling cutely about them as if they were the most interesting items in the world. After she had showed Christian her plushy elephant for about the fourth time, he playfully snatched it from her hands and hid it behind his back, pretending not to know where it went. Lucia shrieked and giggled as she tried fruitlessly to climb over Christian and get it back from him, and Ana just watched everything unfold while laughing the entire time.
Once Lucia finally got worn out from playing with her toys, Ana decided to put on a movie for them all to watch. She chose The Little Mermaid, and Lucia was enraptured by it the entire run time - she sat docilely between Christian and Ana on the couch, her thumb in her mouth as she stared at the screen. She clutched the plushy elephant she managed to get back from Christian tightly in her arms.
The movie finally ended, and Ana turned to see Lucia had fallen fast asleep, her tiny head resting against Christian's bicep. Christian too had nodded off, his head resting against the back of the couch, and Ana couldn't help but smile adoringly at the two of them.
I love them both so much.
Feeling her heart clench with affection, Ana got up from her seat, reached over and picked Lucia up in her arms, mindful not to wake her as she did so. Christian stirred awake when he felt Ana shifting Lucia, and he yawned and stretched before standing up too.
"Need some help putting her to bed?" Christian asked softly, shuffling after Ana out of the media room.
"No thank you," Ana whispered, smiling humorously at her husband's sleep-rumpled hair and tired face. "Why don't you go off to bed? I can handle putting Lucia down."
Christian shook his head, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "I actually have some work I need to get done right now. I would've done it earlier, but time kind of got away from me this evening."
Ana smirked at him. "Our apologies, Mr. Grey."
Christian smiled lightly before leaning down and kissing Ana chastely on the lips. "No apology necessary, Mrs. Grey. I'll see you in a bit."
"Don't work too hard," Ana said to Christian as she turned around and carried Lucia on her hip toward her bedroom. She heard Christian chuckle from behind her.
Lucia was out like a light, so Ana simply changed her into her pajamas before tucking her under the covers to sleep.
After she was all settled in bed, Ana stood over Lucia for a few moments, gazing down at her in thought. Lucia looked so happy and content, all snuggled up under the covers like that as she slept - it almost seemed like she no longer had a care in the world. She looked like any normal four-year-old child who never had to question where she came from or if she was truly loved by her parents.
She is loved.
With a small sigh, Ana finally turned around and slowly walked out of Lucia's bedroom, softly shutting the door behind her. Her heart felt heavy at the moment, and she couldn't really explain why.
The next morning dawned cloudy and cold, with rain clouds coming in from the west. Even though it was technically a work day, Christian decided to stay home with Ana and Lucia before meet with his father about their case against Ramkoff. Carrick was set to come over sometime this morning, and even though Christian didn't say anything to Ana, she strongly suspected he was about to reveal to his father his past involvement with BDSM. Since Ramkoff seemed to know about it already, it was entirely possible he would try to use it against Christian in court. Carrick needed to be fully informed, if that was the case.
Christian, Ana and Lucia were all eating breakfast in the kitchen when Carrick arrived at around 9 o'clock. He smiled widely when he saw the three of them sitting together like a happy little family.
"'Morning, you guys," he said, smiling down at Lucia. "How are you today?"
"We're good, Carrick," Ana smiled back. She glanced over at Christian, and immediately noticed his less-than-pleased expression at his father's appearance. Ana reached over and squeezed his forearm gently.
"You'll be alright," she said softly, and Christian looked up at her with an unreadable expression on his face. He let out a sigh before finally turning to Carrick.
"Hey Dad. Can I have a word with you in my office right now?" he asked, getting to his feet.
"Sure thing, son," Carrick said, moving over toward him. "By the way, my firm just received the papers for your court date with Ramkoff happening in a few weeks. We can go over them now, if you'd like - we could try to form a strategy."
Christian grimaced, his face impassive. "That sort of relates to what I wanted to talk to you about, actually."
Carrick raised his eyebrows in surprise, but didn't say anything as he followed Christian upstairs to his study. Ana watched them leave, trying not to feel too worried about her husband.
After Ana had finished feeding Lucia breakfast, she took her into her bedroom to get her dressed and ready for the day. When they were done, Christian and Carrick still weren't out of the study yet, so Ana decided to bring Lucia and some of her toys out to the great room for them to play with for a bit. Lucia didn't seem to want to play with any of her toys, however - instead, she climbed up on the piano bench and started pounding discordantly at the keys. Amused, Ana perched Lucia on her lap at the piano and allowed her to play the piano for a bit, as long as she wasn't too noisy about it.
Finally, about an hour later, Carrick and Christian emerged from his study. Ana watched them a bit apprehensively - Carrick's face seemed a little paler than when he had come earlier, but he still offered Ana and Lucia a kind smile when he approached them.
"Hey you two," he said quietly. "I have to get going now, but I'll see you guys later. Alright?"
"Alright," Ana stood up from the bench with Lucia in her arms, and gave her father-in-law a one-armed hug. "Say 'bye-bye' Lucia."
"Buh-bye," Lucia squealed, and Carrick chuckled.
"Goodbye, Lucia."
Carrick glanced over at Christian, who was standing off to the side with his hands in his pockets. Carrick walked over to his son and held out his hand to shake, and Christian immediately took it, looking a bit surprised. They shook hands, and Carrick offered him a paternal smile.
"We'll be in touch, son," he said quietly. "Thank you for telling me everything."
Christian blinked at him for a moment, clearly a bit surprised. He finally nodded, remaining silent.
Carrick said goodbye to Ana and Lucia one last time before turning and walking toward the elevators, Taylor trailing after him.
Once they were gone, Ana turned to Christian. "Are you alright?"
Christian let out a sigh. "I think so," he said before shaking his head bemusedly. "I'm kind of in shock… I told him about my past lifestyle and he's not completely disgusted with me."
"Of course he isn't," Ana said, as if it were obvious. "He's your father - he's going to love you no matter what."
"Yeah, but after hearing that," Christian frowned to himself. "I don't know how I could ever look him in the eye again."
"Did you go into explicit detail or something?" Ana raised her eyebrows in surprise and alarm.
Christian immediately shook his head. "God no - I didn't even tell him about me being involved with Elena, although I think he does know a little bit about that. I just told him the basics about what I used to do and how I decided to move away from all that since I met you. I figured that would be enough information if Ramkoff tries to use that against us in court."
"That's good," Ana nodded, hoisting Lucia up higher on her hip. "Carrick should know about it - not only will he be better prepared in court, but you finally were able to break down one of the walls you'd built around yourself your entire life. I'm proud of you, baby."
Christian looked into Ana's eyes, and after a moment, a soft smile spread across his face. It was the shy smile Ana had grown to adore, and she couldn't help but smile back at him.
The elevator dinged once again, and Taylor stepped out of it into the foyer. He looked anxious about something.
"Mr. Grey," he said warningly, and Ana and Christian looked up at him.
Following Taylor out of the elevator were two people - one of them was a tall man who looked to be in his mid-thirties with dark brown hair and a bomber jacket. The other was Colleen, Lucia's social worker.
Ana felt her blood turn cold.
"Mr. and Mrs. Grey?" Colleen gazed at Ana and Christian from across the great room. She then gestured to the man beside her. "This is my colleague at social services, Mr. Richard Merton. May we have a word with you?"
Christian turned to look at Ana, who gazed back at him. They both knew what was happening, and that didn't make them any less afraid of what was to come.
"What is this regarding?" Christian asked in a would-be casual voice, though Ana could detect his nervousness. He reached over and gently took Lucia out of Ana's arms so he held her in his own.
"I'm sure you're aware," Colleen said, her professionalism shining through. "This morning, it was announced that you will be involved in a court-ordered parental action suit regarding Lucia's custody. Until the matter can be resolved by the court, Lucia is going to have to be taken out of your care and put in a children's home for the foreseeable future."
Ana felt numb; she moved over to place her hand on Christian's forearm, trying both to calm him and help ground herself. She felt Christian practically shaking underneath her hand.
"And when does she need to leave?" Christian asked quietly, his voice strained.
Colleen exchanged a glance with her partner. "We've come to take her right now, Mr. Grey," Merton explained, turning to look back to Christian.
Ana felt her heart practically stop in her throat.
"What?!" Christian snapped, and everyone jumped slightly. "You're taking her now? You can't do that! You have to give us a heads up or a notice or something! You can't just waltz into our home and take our foster child away from us like this…!"
"Please, Mr. Grey," Colleen spoke over him, frowning at him. "I realize this is a difficult situation, but you don't have to make this harder than it has to be."
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Christian yelled. "The foster system is supposed to help children, not tear them away from their homes!"
His angry yelling had gotten louder, and Lucia began to cry. Ana quickly stepped forward and took her from Christian's arms, holding her close to her chest while shushing her soothingly.
"Mr. and Mrs. Grey - I'm sorry, but Lucia is going to have to come with us." Merton stepped forward, and Ana realized he was here to help Colleen in case this got confrontational. "She's allowed to take a suitcase of her clothes and personal effects with her, but Colleen and I are going to have to take her with us, one way or the other. If you try to resist in any way, we're going to have to get the police involved."
Christian looked furious, and just as he was about to scream his head off at Merton, Taylor quickly stepped forward to stop his boss from doing something he might regret.
"Sir," Taylor said firmly, gripping Christian by the shoulder and turning them away so they no longer faced the others. Taylor spoke to him in a low, terse voice that the others couldn't hear, probably regarding the trial with Ramkoff and the repercussions of the police showing up at Escala at this time. After talking for a few moments, Christian seemed to have calmed down slightly, though he still looked angry.
"…I'll be right back," he muttered to the others after a moment, turning on his heel and walking toward the staircase. Colleen and Merton simply watched him leave, not speaking a word, and Ana simply continued to try shushing Lucia, who still hadn't stopped crying.
Finally, after nearly ten minutes, Christian returned to the great room, a small duffel bag in his hand.
"Lucia's things," he murmured, practically throwing it at Merton's feet. Merton exchanged a glance with Colleen before picking it up. "Her plushy elephant is in there - she doesn't like to be without it."
Colleen nodded. "Okay."
Christian turned to Ana and Lucia, and he immediately wrapped both of them up in his arms, hugging them tightly. Ana wrapped her free arm around Christian's waist, tears beginning to fill her eyes as the gravity of this moment settled upon her.
We may never get to see Lucia ever again.
"We love you, Lamb," Christian murmured after a moment. "Ana and I love you very much - always remember that."
And with that, Lucia was handed over to Colleen and Merton, and the three of them headed back over to the elevator with the small duffel bag of Lucia's things. Lucia, who had stopped crying for only a few minutes, began to bawl again when she realized these two strangers were taking her away from Ana and Christian. Her cries were audible even after the elevator doors closed after them, and Ana felt her heart break in two.
Our poor little girl
Ana turned to Christian beside her, and immediately pulled him into her arms. He clutched onto her like a vice, and after a moment his shoulders began to shake as he sobbed into her shoulder. Ana hugged him tighter, the tears flowing from her own eyes as she did so.
"Our daughter…" Christian cried, and Ana felt her heart clench with sadness. "They took our daughter away…"
Yes, Ana thought to herself as she squeezed her eyes shut in distress. Yes, they did.
A/N: Sorry to leave you all on a sad note :( I promise I won't make you suffer for too long though.
Please review and let me know what you think! Also, make sure you follow my Pinterest board for this story at www dot pinterest dot com/strawpaj/this-life-of-ours/