Chapter 21- Under Seige
"Taylor," I answered my phone when it vibrated again.
"T, I've picked up Ana from Flynn's office. We had to exit through the back door due to asshole paps starting to gather out front, but there were more out back. The worst of them were out back. Those fucking savages need to keep their hands to themselves. Harrison is at Harborview. He was knocked cold in the scuffle. I called everyplace Ana was supposed to be today and cancelled all of her shifts for this week and next." Sawyer informed us. He almost sounds dazed. I also can't help but notice he's intentionally not telling us how Ana is handling this mess. "From what I've heard some assholes are gathering at the food bank and Escala has at least twenty freelancers outside. The Seattle PD is starting to set up crowd control. According to Bubba, there are a few paps at the dock already and at my place, so it's safe to assume the Seattle Nooz has identified her. I'm taking her to Mac's place on 99 West Union Street, Penthouse. From here on out, let's refer to this location as W.U. in case they try to hack into our phones. There's nothing to tie anyone of us to that address."
"We'll meet you there in thirty," Grey informs him. "Just make sure it's secure."
"It's Mac's place so I know it's secure. She won't mind and I'm the only link there and it's not like I've ever been photographed with her. The garage code is 39015. Go the bottom level where the private garages are and find PG1 and PG2 and the code on the keypad should be 21323. I'll pull both of her cars out of PG1 and PG2 so we can stash the Audi's there just in case and park them in the unsecured spots assigned to the penthouse right across from the two sealed garages. She's got two Range Rovers with heavily tinted windows we can use to get around if necessary. The media know the black Audi fleet all too well at this point," Sawyer counters before asking Ana to pass him the first aid kit from under the passenger seat.
"I'll send Ryan to get her clothes and other necessities from the houseboat. I'll have him take them to Escala, then we can have Gail bring the items over in her car to W.U.," I inform him. "This way we can hopefully make them believe Ana is staying at Escala."
"Make sure Ryan grabs her computer and all the thumb drives on her desk. Those are her active editing projects. Also, her gun is secured in her bedroom closet," Sawyer counters distantly. I can see the boss isn't thrilled about the gun, but amazingly, other than a frustrated groan, he lets it pass.
"How's Ana handling all of this?" I have to ask. I know the boss wants to know.
"She's deathly quiet. I've never quite seen her like this. She got banged up a bit in the scuffle but she's refusing to go get checked," Sawyer was whispering now. "At the very least we're going to need a doctor at W.U. as she needs to be checked and I need about at least thirty stitches between my head and my leg."
"What the fuck happened Sawyer? How did it get so out of control?" Grey demanded.
"From what I saw, the regular asshole paps were out front but we had no idea the crazy ass freelancers were out back. No sooner than Harrison opened the back door with Ana behind him and me coming up the rear, did all hell broke loose. Cameras flashing, paps fighting, bottles flying, and then the fisticuff broke out. It reminds me of the old days guarding a millionaire who wanted to hang out with young Hollywood at the Hotel Marmont. Harrison took a bottle to the head meant for someone else. I grabbed Ana and practically dragged her to the SUV through the fight. The rear door was effectively blocked off by another fight so I couldn't get her into the car. Then two of the idiots grabbed Ana and the next thing I know, I'm down on the floor with my head bleeding and a few idiots on top of me. I drew my weapon and managed to get a shot off into the air, which caused people to scatter for a few seconds. I managed to shove Ana into the driver's seat and told her to go when I was tackled again, but she wouldn't listen. Fuck no. She backed the SUV up, then moved forward toward where they had me and when I saw her eyes, I knew what she was going to do and a second later she hit the gas and beeped the horn. Did you know she could make an SUV side spin? It was impressive," he laughed before coughing. "God I feel like shit. She then unlocked the passenger door, I hopped in dragging Harrison with me and we dropped him off at Harborview. At that point I took over the driving, stowed Ana in the bulletproof back seat and called you."
"Pull the battery out of her cell phone so it can't be traced," I order.
"Already done," came his weak response. "Wow, I really am fucking bleeding all over the place." He laughs wryly. "What a fucking mess."
"You okay Luke? You don't sound too good," I asked with a quick glance back at the boss, who's face reflected the same concern I'm sure my own did.
"I'm just a bloody fucking disaster and feeling worse every minute," he sighed half-heartedly. "Mr. Grey, you really need to find a way to get Dr. Trevelyan to W.U. We might need Flynn too as Ana's borderline catatonic at this point. No sooner than her adrenaline rush fell off, she got quiet and lost. I took the liberty of getting Reynolds in a rented pick up truck and he's heading toward SeaTac. According to Ryan, there's an air ambulance heading from UWMC in an hour destination SeaTac to meet an overseas flight. All Dr. Trevelyan has to do is get on that flight so we can inconspicuously bring her to W.U. I haven't figured out a way to get Flynn there as he's being watched like a hawk from what Jackson said a few minutes ago. I called him back on and he's watching the good doctors practice and the place is swarming with cops after the melee."
"I'll get in touch with my mother and make sure she's on that helicopter. Good job Sawyer," Grey commented. "Just take care of my girl and yourself. Taylor and I will be at W.U. in just under ten minutes. Where are you now? You sound like crap. If you need to find someplace private and pull over just do it. We'll find you."
"I'll make it to W.U." he barely whispered.
"What's your ETA?"
"Pulling in now. The elevator code to the penthouse is 5487#. Make sure you use the private elevator to the left of private garage PG1. It only goes to the penthouse and opens to the living room."
"This is a cluster fuck of epic proportions," Grey snapped as we pulled into PG1 at West Union. I didn't disagree with him. We ventured a glance at Sawyer's SUV and were shocked at the amount of blood on the front seat, though relieved that none was in the back seat where Ana had ridden after their quick trip to Harborview with Harrison. There was literally a pool of blood in the cup holder and covering part of the dash. The tan leather seats and tan carpeting was also covered in blood. It almost appeared that someone was ax murdered in the front seat of the vehicle.
"Let's get upstairs. Sawyer must have down played his injuries if there's this much blood," I informed Grey. It wasn't difficult to find the private elevator. All we had to do was follow the trail of Sawyer's blood. As we stepped out into the penthouse, it reminded me of a smaller version of Escala, though much more homey. It was colorful, filled with art, and was a clear reflection of the woman who lived here – scattered with tartan prints, paintings of Scotland, and even a set of bagpipes.
We followed the blood trail that led to the first bedroom and found Ana curled up in a large bed, sobbing softly. Grey immediately pulled her into his arms and tried to comfort her, but the contact was uncomfortable. We needed Dr. T to check her out.
"Ana, where's Luke?" I asked gently afraid she would break.
All she did was shrug, but she got off the bed and together the three of us followed the blood trail from the bedroom. When we found Luke he was on the floor of the sewing room with a tourniquet on his leg. He had two large gashes on his head, one over his left eye, and the other at his hairline on the same side. That side of his face was covered in blood and bruises. Both of his eyes were black and swollen, his white shirt and dark suit were covered in blood, and the bloody gash on his thigh had to be four inches long and three quarters of an inch deep. At least he managed to take his belt off and make a tourniquet from it to help stop the bleeding. He was clearly dazed, but still trying to thread a needle so he could sew the wound on his leg closed.
At the sight of him, Ana fell to her knees and sobbed uncontrollably. Mr. Grey was at a loss for words. Sawyer on the other hand, could barely hold his head up as he sat there trying to thread the needle while muttering swear words under his breath every time he missed. I don't even think he realized we were here.
"Give me that Luke," I ordered and he finally looked at me.
"Glad to see you. I'm getting too old for this shit. I think I need glasses to thread the needle," he muttered weakly as he rested his head back against the furniture, closed his eyes, and slumped over unconscious.
"Mr. Grey, I need you to check each bathroom and kitchen for a first aid kit. I'll also need clean towels," I ordered, but he didn't react. "Christian," I shouted at him causing him to look up at me. "Search the fucking bathrooms and kitchen for a first aid kit and clean towels now. Ana will be fine where she is. Luke won't."
With one hand I press down on his leg wound using a thick piece of fabric on the table. With the other, I dial Dr. T and let her know we're going to need a major suture job here. Thankfully she was in a position to grab them before jumping into the chopper and heading to SeaTac.
My next call was Reynolds telling him the second Dr. T was in the pickup, to get their asses to 99 West Union. I don't care how many speed limits or red lights he has to run. Welch texted me that the attack on Harrison, Ana, and Sawyer was captured on video and was airing on the local news which was covering the near riot behind Flynn's office.
When Christian returned with a small first aid kit and the towels, I asked him to turn the television on to the local news. While I managed to stop Sawyer's bleeding, we watched the attack behind Flynn's office. Ana finally stopped crying and as she watched the brutal attack on Luke after he managed to get her into the SUV, her eyes seemed to glaze over. I swear for a minute I thought she wasn't breathing, but she was.
Grey glanced at Sawyer passed out on the floor, then at me. "What the fuck was that? It was even worse than when Luke described it."
"An amateur paparazzi feeding frenzy. People who aren't licensed trying to get the money shot or make the money shot happen," I snapped bitterly. "They never stood a chance against the greedy mob. Luke would be dead right now if it wasn't for Ana's quick thinking with the SUV."
"Shouldn't we make him more comfortable?" Grey asked with concern.
"I don't want to move him because his leg might start bleeding again. Dr. T's ETA is one hour. Right now, as long as he's not bleeding, there really isn't much more we can do," I explained. I indicated to Christian that Ana had fallen asleep on the carpet next to him. He picked her up and carried her back to the bedroom before returning and watching the coverage.
It was a feeding frenzy in more ways than one. It wasn't just the amateur paps, but the licensed ones and even the local and national news were reporting Ana's name, her brief, revealed history with Grey, and then the innuendo began. Implications were made that she was a lying, gold-digger, out for all she could get from the Grey family. They speculated that Christian paid for the million-dollar houseboat that she lived on, which wasn't the truth. They twisted Ana's relationship with Kate, implying that she used Kate to support her. Thirty minutes into the broadcast they even had began digging up dirt on Ana's mother and discussing how in general, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I hate the media and using generalities to cast a shadow over good people. This was the media's payback at Ana for her calling them out on their bullshit months ago. I could feel it in my bones. When they stated they had a reporter going back through the crash records and the shooting to speculate other ways it was linked to Christian, he lost it and called the GEH legal and PR teams and ordered them to shut this bullshit down. At this point, I didn't know if they could.
Over the next thirty minutes of our wait, we turned off the television and reached out to Carrick, Elliot, Kate, Mia, and Ray. Oddly it turned out that Sawyer reached out to Bubba to secure them after the attack and plans were already in process to get them to West Union since Bellevue, Elliot's house, and Escala were pretty much under paparazzi siege.
"How many bedrooms are in this place? It feels smaller than Escala and we're expecting a full house."
"It's actually larger than Escala, but the room sizes are much smaller. I counted at least ten bedrooms, an office, a design room, and a sewing room," Christian replied. "How's Sawyer doing?"
"He's breathing and every so often he mutters some profanity that sounds like fucking vultures before passing back out. I'll take that as a good sign." I can't resist dialing Reynolds and putting him on speaker. "Reynolds, what's your ETA?"
"Two blocks out," came his reply. "Mr. Grey, Elliot, Kate Kavanagh and Miss Grey should be here within the next thirty minutes."
"How did they manage that so quickly?"
"Bubba and his buddies turned them into bikers and got them to a central location without being followed. He borrowed a friend's truck and is already on his way. Dr. T and I are pulling into the underground garage now. Be up shortly."
Two minutes later we heard Reynolds calling out, "Taylor where are you?"
"Second bedroom on the right. We need Dr. T and all of her gear stat," I replied. When they finally enter the room, I hear something I'd never heard before – Dr. T uttered profanity. "Holy shit!" she exclaimed before beginning to treat Sawyer.
By the time my mother and Taylor finished treating Sawyer, the other than Ray, everyone had arrived and Gail was already in the kitchen cooking. Mom checked in on Ana and game her a mild sedative and something for pain. According to my mother, there were small bruises up and down her arms, legs, and torso, but the most damage was emotional.
"How's Sawyer?" I can't help but ask my mother.
"He's lost a lot of blood. He's got seventy plus stitches between his leg and head wounds. More bruises than I care to count, and I think a few cracked ribs. I have an IV hooked up and gave him some painkillers. He should recover with time, but I'd prefer to move him inpatient so we can get a unit or two of blood in him. It will help him recover faster," Mom replied as she snuggled up closer to dad. "After the shooting earlier this year, he's still not quite one-hundred percent and this doesn't help."
"I don't understand how one innocent picture can cause all of this mess," I mutter.
"You need to realize Christian, that months ago regardless of what you, Ray, Ana, or Sawyer said to the media, they were watching and waiting to find more of a link between you two. The photo agencies have been contributing toward a prize pot as to who gets the money shot and breaks the story of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. They didn't buy that you weren't a couple, even though you weren't. Now that you are, it doesn't matter what was true in the past versus what is true now, certain slimier outlets are out for blood because Ana embarrassed one of their own kind on television, and let's be real, you haven't exactly been media friendly over the years," Kate explained. "My dad is ready to help in any way possible. He's unhappy about the hatchet job they are doing on Ana's character."
"Christian, if we're going to be able to help with this situation, we'll need to know the facts," my dad comments. "We can't help you if we're in the dark."
I glance at Taylor and ask, "Is there any booze in this place? I don't know about any of you, but I could use a drink right now."
Gail and Taylor return a minute later with bottles of beer and glasses of white wine and pass it around. I can see the hesitance of Ryan and Reynolds' faces, but I inform them they'll be here tonight and not driving, so feel free. We all sit in the large living room, which features two massive sectionals facing each other.
"First, who's apartment is this?" dad asks.
"It belongs to Mackenzie Donoghue, a friend of Sawyers. She traveled to Scotland this morning for a period of three to six months. Luke assured it using it wouldn't be an issue," I explained.
"So let's go back to the beginning son, and spare no detail. How did you meet Miss Steele?" my father asked.
"She came to interview me for the college paper when Kate was sick," I replied glancing over at Kate who nodded in confirmation. I go on to admit that I was attracted to her from the first moment I saw her, but left out wanting her to be my submissive. I explain how she ended up in Seattle that night and how I intended to seduce her by flying her to Seattle for dinner in Charlie Tango. I sigh as I look at Taylor and go on to explain how Ana wanted no part of it and how she sprayed pepper spray in my eyes, tried to kick a field goal with my balls, broke my nose, and finally kicked me in the sternum. Naturally fucking Elliot and Kate had to laugh. Mia quickly joined in.
"This is where the cover up began," I explained before turning it over to Taylor.
"I was getting out of a cab in front of Escala when Ana bolted from the building. She basically told me to take care of Mr. Grey, got into the cab, and left. I found Mr. Grey on the floor of his bedroom and immediately called Sawyer. When he arrived a few minutes later, we changed Mr. Grey's clothes, took him down to the gym, and I changed into my workout clothes. By then the ambulance was already arriving," Taylor explained. "Once I was certain that Mr. Grey was receiving the proper care and Sawyer was standing guard, I called Miss Steele to offer her a flight to Portland in Charlie Tango since it was on standby on the roof of Escala in case she rebuffed Mr. Grey's advances. She basically put me in my place and informed me that she'd rented a car and was already approaching Centralia." He couldn't help but smirk at the memory as he added, "on the call she referred Mr. Grey bat shit crazy, and as she hung up called me an asshole. Gotta love Miss Steele."
"So Ana signed one of your NDAs?" my dad asked me.
Taylor and I couldn't help but laugh. "Oh she signed it alright, but rather than signing Anastasia Steele, she signed it Anastasia Sevastova."
"The Latvian tennis player?" Kate asked with a smirk. "Wait, you fell for that? Didn't you even look at her signature?"
"I didn't look past the first name," I admit with embarrassment. My dad was glaring at me now. Yes, dad, I thought to myself, I continue to be a disappointment.
"So Kate, did you sign an NDA?" my dad asked.
"Elliot asked me to as I might be privy to details of Christian's business deals when we had contact," she replies. "To me it wasn't a huge issue, as I'd seen my father do it in the past."
Taylor continued, "And then the vehicular assault happened and the bad situation got worse. My team keeps track of all threats on Mr. Grey and the Grey family in general. There hadn't been a whisper of anything like this. Any threats were business related and relatively minor. We were blindsided by the attack on Miss Steele."
"Given what I do for a living," I continued, "I've bent over backward to keep my private life just that – private. Taylor and the security team have gone to great lengths to help me keep my romantic life that way. I've had multiple female friends, for lack of a better word before this year. Some of those relationships ended rather quickly, others lasted a few months. Any woman I've been involved with since beginning GEH has signed an iron clad non-disclosure agreement on the first date, or I walked."
"But you never brought any of them home," Mia snapped. "Why would you hide this from us?"
"Because they weren't serious relationships. Only one of them lasted nine months and even then only because it took me three months to get rid of her," I countered. "Why would I bring someone home to meet my family who I didn't feel was truly special?"
Mia merely nodded in understanding. God I'm a good liar, so it Taylor come to think about it.
"After Ana's accident, I put Sawyer as her CPO outside the hospital room because none of you knew Sawyer worked for me. I didn't want to be linked to this accident because I was afraid that one of my exes might have had something to do with it. There were a few who didn't take the break up well. The one person I wanted to spend time with and help recover, Ana, well, she wouldn't see me. She told Taylor and Sawyer both to tell me to get my shit together," I explained before glancing at Kate and smiling. "Kate can probably explain this better than I could, but Ana has a way of getting to know people and she won over my security team. Her father Ray is the same way. Sawyer, Ray, and Ana bonded over books. Both Ray and Ana trusted Sawyer and that trust is a piece of this mess.
"The night before Ana was discharged from the hospital, I tracked your phone Mom, so I knew when you left the building, then I snuck in to see Ana. Sawyer wasn't happy about it, but when I walked into the room, she was talking to Flynn. Ironically, the two hours I spent there with them provided me with the biggest breakthroughs of my life. I also knew back then that I wanted Ana in my life, but she still wanted nothing to do with me. Oddly enough, it was her that brought me back from the edge that night simply by rubbing my back. To say Flynn was stunned would be an understatement."
I waited for my family's shocked response before continuing. I couldn't help but smile at them as their faces reminded me of Flynn's as it was all happening. "Anyway, she was discharged and completely shut me out. I couldn't blame her. This mess was at the very least partially my fault, and partially the fault of the psycho I'd never met. When she and Ray stayed at Kate's condo, Sawyer, Reynolds, and Ryan took turns acting as her CPO. During this time, Ana and I communicated via email. Yes, I fucked up again and she tore me a new asshole with her blunt evaluation of my issues. It fucking hurt like hell and it sent me into a spiral. Ray visited Escala and helped sort the mess out, but still she was back to wanting nothing do to with me. She made that very clear. And you know me, I always want what I'm told you can't have. I know, I'm an asshole sometimes."
"Sometimes, yeah right," Kate taunted me with a smirk, which I returned.
"We knew someone tried to kill her because of me, but we didn't know why. As most of you know, she was recovering well and had taken her finals remotely before going to the brew house to celebrate with Ray, Taylor, and Sawyer. You know the nightmare that happened there. As she was recovering from that disaster, she slowly began talking to me. Hell, when Ana and Sawyer were recovering in Montesano, she baked me a cake and wrote me a long letter, which she sent back to Seattle with Sawyer's sister. That day she'd sent a package that she had Taylor hold for the evening and I guess you can say she was trying to teach me how to LARP as a real person."
"LARP?" my mother asked.
"Live action role playing," Kate explained. "Ana used to go watch medieval battles reenacted while we were in school. So she wanted you to get out of your ivory tower and set foot into the real world? I can relate to those lessons."
I laugh. "Yes. So that night she sent me a package and we watched Zoolander together remotely."
"Please tell me she sent you the headband? I want a picture Grey," Kate exclaimed. "Ana and her twisted movie nights. You should be honored. Not everyone gets invites to those."
"Trust me, I was honored. I just didn't know what to do after that. I mean, the ball was in my court and I was effectively lost on the other side of the fence, so I did nothing. We exchanged a dozen texts over the next few months but nothing more. The first time I saw or spoke to her was just a few days ago when she moved into the houseboat and I wanted to make sure she was safe."
"Do you own the houseboat son?" Dad asked.
I just laughed. "The houseboat is owned by Bubba from the restaurant. He's an old military buddy and former Hell's Angel friend of Ray's. Bubba's made a good living. He owns half the dock where the houseboat is. He lives next door to Ana on the same dock. When Ana moved, Luke, Ray, and Bubba set up security for her on the dock between cameras and former Hell's Angel neighbors who they trusted. He gave her a discounted rent, which pissed her off to no end I might add, but Ray gave her no choice – it was either there or in Montesano."
"So Sawyer was stuck in the middle between being your employee and Ana's friend," Mom asked.
"Yes."
"And you're sure she's not involved with Sawyer?" Dad asked.
"Definitely not," Taylor replied. "When Ana first returned to Seattle, I was suspicious as she spent a great deal of time with Sawyer as he continued to recover from the shooting. I had them watched twenty-four/seven for weeks. Their relationship is merely friendship. Sawyer noticed the surveillance recently and wasn't happy but understood."
"Sawyer wasn't going to come back to GEH. He felt torn between his friendship with Ana and protecting her from me, or protecting her from the potential for someone to be out there still after her, because Ray, Taylor, and Sawyer realized a few months ago that Jameson's plan was unplanned, so when she dumped the stolen SUV at Mount Saint Helen's, she had to have a way back. After we checked, we found nothing, so we followed the assumption that she either had someone helping her or someone stupidly gave her a ride and then disappeared because after the shooting they realized who she helped. I had a security detail on Ana from the moment she returned from Seattle, but I kept it from Sawyer. Late last week I pushed him for information on Ana and her personal life. He quit. And yes, I realize that I crossed the line that night asking him. Clearly, while I succeed in business, my personal life is an unmitigated disaster, but I finally feel like it's a work in progress."
Kate gives me a supportive smile. "I was where you are four years ago Christian. The best thing that happened to princess delusional me was Ana. I look back at who I was back then and even I hate that person." I completely understand where she's coming from.
"So all these changes you've made in the past few months – hanging out with family, guys night and stuff," Elliot asked "it's the Ana effect?" I merely nod in response.
"So when Sawyer was with Ana today, he wasn't working for you?" my father asked uncertainly.
"He was. I realized I needed him to help with the situation and keep an eye on Ana. He called me out on my bullshit when he quit, but we renegotiated the terms of his job. He became her security team lead and filtered what he deemed pertinent information to the rest of my security to safeguard her privacy."
"So basically you've been seeing Ana for three days?" Mia asked.
"Pretty much, but the media assumed otherwise when someone asshole took a picture of us coming out of Bubba's this morning and this shit storm started."
"How do you know she's not after your money son?" my dad asked before turning to Kate and adding, "no offense but the media has been throwing out some serious allegations since this morning."
Before I can answer, Kate gets into my father's face. "You know what Mr. Grey, Ana has never been like that. Her mother is a wretched, selfish, greedy bitch, but Ana has vowed to be nothing like her. She took care of me all through college. My father wouldn't take a penny from her, though she tried to give him half the rent every month. He wanted her to help get my feet planted firmly on the ground and not become some rich bitch that had no touch with reality.
"That girl sleeping in there has been through hell in her life. Her mother swapped out husbands like underwear and I know husband number three abused her. I know Ray had to drive to Texas and bring her back to Montesano, even though her mother didn't want her to go. He picked her up from the hospital and she was physically and emotionally broken, battered, and bruised. She's a good girl. Always has been and always will be. She never slept around. Hell, through four years of college she never even went on a date or never mentioned that a guy was remotely cute. She's a twenty-one year old virgin for God's sake. She doesn't have an evil bone in her body and the last thing she'd want is Christian's precious money, or status, or to be the center of attention. All she wants is a career and to be normal."
"I'm sorry if I've upset you Kate, but I'm a lawyer and we need to be able to see both sides," Carrick apologized.
"No offense but I hate lawyers," she laughed and Carrick joined her.
I was shocked when my father turned to my Ryan, Reynolds, and Elliot and asked if they shared Kate's assessment of Ana. They all wholeheartedly agreed. He then turned to Taylor and asked the same question. I know my dad thinks very highly of Taylor, so his opinion mattered most right now.
"This relationship or whatever it is between Christian and Ana is complicated. From day one they were both attracted to each other, but Christian moved too fast. My guess at the time was he triggered some memory of her time in Texas, which we had some inkling about. I ran her background check myself and she was, and is, crystal clean. She's working hard and she's driven to make something of herself without anyone's help because she's trying to avoid being labeled as a gold-digger and all of the things she is being labeled as right now. Hell, she's working two jobs – at a hardware store and as a freelance editor, while she's in therapy trying to work through everything that's happened to her. She volunteers at a food bank and Coping Together. In about five months she's been able to save about fifty thousand dollars through her editing. I've seen the daily reports from security - she's working her butt off to make something of herself.
"When she was injured, Christian paid for her medical bills because he felt responsible, but he also put fifty thousand dollars into her bank account to help cover her living expenses while she recovered, which royally pissed her off. She demanded he take it back. He didn't. I was there the day we received the certified letter at GEH that included a cashier's check for that amount and she told him if he didn't need it, to donate it to charity and proceeded to list a few, including Coping Together. She's prideful. She made it abundantly clear this morning to Christian that if this relationship led to something permanent, she wanted a pre-nup so it was clear she wouldn't walk away with anything other than what she brought into the relationship. In her mind, the biggest issue they have are the socioeconomic ones and she wants nothing to do with designer outfits, big houses, or lavish parties." Taylor turns to me and asks, "What were her exact words?"
I smirk and do my best to repeat what she said, "Your wealth intimidates me. I don't want to live in a tower in the sky. All I want is normal – a small house, two-point-five kids one day in the distant future, anonymity, and a partner that loves and respects me even with my flaws."
"That's the Ana I know," Elliot smiled. "She's not impressed by flowers or jewelry. You could offer her diamond earrings or a twenty-dollar Barnes & Noble gift card and she'd take the gift card every time."
Our conversation is interrupted by the sound of bagpipes emanating from one of the phones in Taylor's hand. He glances at the screen and shows us the picture identifying the caller – Mac. "Sawyer's phone, this is Taylor," he answers it on speakerphone.
"Where's Sawyer? Is he okay?" she snaps. "I landed in New York to refuel before the next leg of my flight to Scotland and that video is all over the news. I want to talk to him now."
"First, he's going to be fine. He's been stitched up and is getting IV fluids and pain medication, but he's currently sleeping," Taylor informs her. "You need to know, we're at your apartment."
"I know. Luke sent me a text and I notified the doorman that I had family staying at the apartment and they are not to be bothered. I'm cancelling the trip. I should be back late tonight."
"Do you really want to be part of this mess?" I have to ask and I can see that Taylor agrees.
"Christian, if I'm assessing the situation correctly, your entire family and security team are hiding out in my home because your homes and businesses are basically under media siege. I'm an unknown person in this mess and can be of value to run errands, for say groceries and such. Your security team and domestic staff aren't completely anonymous. It would only be a matter of time before the media followed them to my home," Mac explained.
"What's your ETA at SeaTac?" Taylor asked, effectively shutting me down.
"Midnight."
"Someone named Ryan will pick you up. Watch for your Range Rover."