AUTHORS NOTE: Another quick update due to the fact this was originally part of the last chapter but it got too long and so I split it.

FYI this is the penultimate chapter – just one more chapter after this to come and then the epilogue and this story is complete!

*TRIGGER WARNING* - Suicide

CHAPTER 162

One week later…

I am standing outside the little neat house in Detroit just looking at it. It's still quite early and I look at Jason Taylor who is standing at my side. Christian had insisted I take him with me as I do this. Sadie stands at my other side gripping my hand tightly. She had been shocked when I had told her that I had wanted to track her parents down and she had been concerned that I would get a negative reaction from them. I had promised her that nothing they could say would influence me, and she had given me all the information she had on them. I think that she had been secretly pleased that someone was going to call out her parents on their bullshit. She had then surprised the hell out of me and everyone else when she asked me if she could come with me. I had immediately agreed and so here we are.

Meg isn't here, nor is Lucy it's just Sadie and me… and Jason of course, who is silently waiting for us to make our move.

I take a deep breath, "Ready?" I ask as I look down at Sadie.

"I am" she says and I smile at her confidence, and I realise she needs to do this as much as I do.

We walk towards the front door and I reach out and ring the bell.

We wait and then a few moments later the door carefully opens.

I get my first glimpse of my biological grandmother and I stifle a gasp as she is an older version of Sadie. The resemblance is profound but where Sadie's eyes are kind and soft this woman has eyes of flint, there is no compassion there at all.

She clearly recognises Sadie as her jaw drops open and her hand comes up to her throat as she gasps and takes a step back.

"Who is it?" comes a male voice and a moment later a man appears, he stares at Sadie in shock his eyes bulging. It hasn't escaped my notice that neither have greeted her as I would've expected.

"Good god!" he exclaims before he composes himself once more. "What are you doing here?" he adds haughtily and I can't help the snort I let out at his tone.

He glances at me, and he shuffles uncomfortably. I have no idea if he knows who I am, if he has seen the interview which I did with Lucy then he should do but at this moment he isn't giving anything away.

He glances outside almost as if he is checking to see if anyone is watching, "I suppose you'd better come in" he states and the door opens wider allowing us entry. The woman is staring at Sadie almost as if she cannot believe what she is seeing, but neither of them have been anything close to welcoming.

I glance at Jason who is taking in everything and he gives me a meaningful look, but doesn't say a word.

We walk into the neat and tidy home, and I inwardly smile. Not a thing is out of place, it is freakishly tidy and clean almost like a show home and it speaks volumes of the two people standing in front of me who are also too well dressed and neither have a hair out of place.

"So what is all this about?" the man says as he wraps his arm around his wife who is just standing staring at Sadie.

I turn towards Sadie, "When was the last time you saw your parents, Sadie?" I ask.

She looks up at me and I can see her think, "Erm… it was shortly after Jen was born I think, David brought us to keep up the façade of a normal happy family" she says as she looks at her parents.

I watch their reactions and I see them shift uncomfortably. Neither have asked me who I am which tells me they know exactly who I am, they look at Jason and eventually the woman speaks.

"Who are you?" she asks Jason, who clears his throat.

"My name is Jason Taylor Ma'am" he says simply and the man snorts.

"Which tells us precisely nothing" he says.

I look at him, "Do you deserve any explanation?" I ask and I see the guilt flash in his eyes and he puts his head down.

I take a step forward, "It is clear you know exactly who I am… and who I am to you… grandpa" I say with more than a hint of sarcasm.

"Yes, I know who you are… We saw the interview… we had no idea Sadie was in an abusive relationship" he blusters and Sadie gasps.

"Liar" she hisses and I see his eyes widen at that, it is clear he doesn't like being spoken back to or called out on his shit.

I take a step closer, "You knew exactly what she endured, admittedly it is possible you weren't aware of the extent of the abuse but Sadie came to you and told you she was being abused by her husband and you dismissed her telling her that she deserved it and that it was her own fault for telling him about me".

"I… we…" the woman protests weakly.

"What?" I ask, "How can you justify your actions? Come on I'll humour you, I'd really like to hear how you think what you said and did is acceptable" I wait and the two people in front of me just stare at me in silence. I sigh, "I'm waiting and I'm all ears to hear your explanation, so tell me as I'm genuinely interested to hear your thought process on this" I say as I fold my arms and stare right back at them as I continue to wait for them to speak.

Their faces flush and they don't speak.

Sadie steps forward and I watch her carefully, wondering what she is going to do as while she looks scared to death and is trembling she also has a look of determination in her eyes. "I was not a whore, I was not a slut. I was a sixteen-year-old child who was grieving the death of her boyfriend. That grief made me have one lapse in judgement and made me vulnerable to the suggestive manipulation of a person who was also hurting as much as I was. He was hurting but his pain caused him to behave selfishly and he used me… I have long since forgiven Frank for his part, because while he selfishly used me and manipulated me it resulted in this wonderful man standing here by my side, my son who I should've been allowed to raise and would've done had you had an ounce of compassion in you, but you didn't and instead you held that one lapse against me… you have held it against me my entire life. That one lapse in judgement forced me to give up my first child and subsequently condemned me to years of abuse. You handed me to David gift wrapped, you had taken everything from me. You took my self-worth and you took my confidence away from me when you forced me to give up my son, which made me vulnerable to his abuse and his control, but you didn't care about that. All you saw was the good family and charming ambitious doctor. The superficial façade, but you didn't see the darkness inside him. I came to you for help when that abuse started and you still refused to see it and instead you told me it was my fault, that I deserved it. The worst part is that I believed you, I believed what you said and as a result of believing the people who should've had my best interests at heart, who should've protected me and loved me I spent years in a marriage where I was raped, beaten, humiliated and scorned and because of what you told me I believed I deserved it. But you were wrong and my son is helping me realise that, the son you separated me from. I'm finally starting to realise that I didn't deserve any of it. My daughter told me I didn't deserve it for years and eventually only now have I started to believe that. I met my son and his family helped me to escape and they told me I didn't deserve it and that I was entitled to more out of life than to be raped and beaten by an abusive bully". Sadie stops and reaches out for me she is trembling and I don't hesitate I grasp her hand and pull her close to me. I am in shock at that outburst, I never expected any of that, but I smile proudly at my birth mom as I realise that Caroline has once again worked her magic and she is finally starting to believe what we have been telling her for months.

"I am so proud of you" I whisper to her. I know she heard me as I feel her grip my hand even tighter in response.

"Don't blame us for this, you were the one who brought shame on us" the man blusters and with that I feel my anger rise.

"Shame?" I say calmly as I make eye contact with him.

He hesitates and then nods but it is clear he isn't as confident in his assertions now.

"I see, so she shamed you. I would say that it was you who brought shame on yourselves. I would say that had you behaved like proper decent parents, and had you focussed on the person who needed you rather than yourselves and your own narrow mindedness then I would say none of what happened would ever have transpired. Tell me, when Bryan Lambert died did you comfort her, help her with her grief and reassure her… offer her the support she needed to overcome the grief of someone she loved and come to terms with his death? Did you do any of that?" I ask.

I stare at them and they stay silent but look down unable to meet my gaze.

"Your silence is deafening, but also not unexpected. So, you didn't help your own daughter as she grieved the loss of someone who was special to her… who she loved, that's hardly stellar parenting in my opinion" I say.

"They told me to just get over it, and stop moping they told me that it was just a silly infatuation and that he wasn't important and I was an attention seeker and I should stop it" Sadie whispers.

"They said what?" I say as my head whips towards Sadie and she repeats her words a little louder.

I turn back to her parents who are looking even more uncomfortable. "You said that did you? Seriously!? So let's get this straight you totally disregarded her feelings, you dismissed her grief and you didn't offer her any level of comfort or understanding whatsoever. What did you think she would do after you did that eh? What did you think she would do?" I pause as I'm so angry now and my voice is getting louder as a result. I take a deep breath and lower the volume as I get a grip on my building anger.

"You were clearly useless so she would find someone who would offer her comfort… and she did, she found someone who was hurting as much as she was because they were also grieving, and because she is such a good person she reached out to them, not only to soothe her own grief but to try and help them with theirs. However, what she didn't know was that person was also a selfish manipulative bastard who took advantage of her. But Sadie was hurting she was grieving and because she hadn't been guided and helped or loved by the people who she should've been able to count on she had a lapse in judgement and turned to someone who just used her. The blame for what happened to Sadie lies firmly at your door and you damn well know it, but instead of holding up your hands and owning it and making things right by supporting her when she needed you more than ever you degraded her, you shifted your blame on to her. Claiming she had shamed you, claiming she was a whore, refusing to support her once again you failed her. But your biggest failing came when she was being abused by her own husband and she came to you for help and you turned your back on her. That is completely unforgivable and unacceptable, that made you worse than David".

The two people gasp in indignant shock at that and shake their heads.

"You were" I insist, "You were worse than David, because you systematically destroyed your own daughter, systematically failed her and brainwashed her to believe she was a worthless person. Your psychological abuse… because let's be clear here that is what it was, made your daughter vulnerable to David and his abuse, you damaged her and gave her to him and then you stood by and condoned and justified his abuse by laying the blame for it on Sadie, that is just cruel... and I would go as far as saying warped and evil. But you know what, Sadie is the kindest sweetest person and despite everything she has endured she hasn't been tainted by it, it hasn't made her bitter or twisted it hasn't made her vindictive she has remained a good person. She was a daughter to be proud of, if you were better people you would see how wonderful she is but you failed to see what a good person she is, you failed to see her because you are the worst kind of people, self-absorbed in your own little bubble of narrow minded wickedness. All you saw was her lapse of judgement, a lapse which would never have happened if you had been better parents and better people".

I turn towards Sadie, "I'm done, I've said what I came here to say. Is there anything else you want to say to them?" I ask.

Sadie hesitates, and looks at her parents who cannot meet her gaze and then she looks at me she swallows hard and shakes her head, "Let's go home Elliot" she says.

As we reach the front door Sadie turns and looks at her parents once more, "I'm sorry it had to end this way" she says and I shake my head.

"No Sadie, don't you dare apologise to them you have nothing to apologise for, if they had a modicum of decency in them, they should've apologised to you for everything they have done but they've not said a word which says everything about them". I pause and look at my maternal grandparents with a look of derisive disgust, "You could've had so much, had you just been decent human beings. You had a wonderful daughter but instead of cherishing her you chose to abuse her and you threw her away. Had you acknowledged your mistakes, had you owned them and done the right thing, Sadie would've forgiven you because she is a far better person than you two will ever be. You could've had a grandson, grand-daughter and a great grand-daughter, you could've had many members of extended family who would've embraced you. You chose not to do the right thing, and it's your loss, not hers because Sadie is loved and cherished now. Sadie now knows that there isn't one person in my family who won't stand beside her should she need help. She is secure in the knowledge now that she has all the family she needs and you are not part of it, she doesn't need you".

I watch them and I see my words hit home, the woman takes a step forward and I think she is going to say something but then she stops.

Sadie pauses and looks at them once more, "This is goodbye" she says simply and with an air of total finality.

"And you don't give a shit do you?" I sneer.

"We do" the woman exclaims but the man pulls her back.

"Shut up" he hisses.

"I sincerely hope that you can live with yourselves after everything you have done, but you will as you don't have the conscience or humility to feel any guilt and whatever regrets you do feel you will blame Sadie for won't you, as you have always done… But know this, it is all on you every last bit of it. None of it is her fault" I say coldly.

Sadie steps to my side, "I wish you both well. You won't see or hear from me again as I have no reason to make any further contact with you, goodbye" she says.

I stare at them as they stand there in silence, "Still nothing to say… well it's no more than I expected, well goodbye I wish I could say it's been a pleasure but it really hasn't".

With that Sadie and I turn and leave without looking back.

"You were amazing" I say once we are in the car, Sadie flushes and shakes her head.

"If you hadn't been here I would never have said what I did… Elliot, thank you for reaching out and looking for me and for everything you have done. I see everything so clearly now and for the first time in my life I am truly happy".

I wrap my arm around Sadie and pull her close, "You don't have to thank me" I say.

oooOOOooo

"Here we are, back home again" I say as I feel Christian's plane touch down. I glance out of the window and see it is raining.

I switch my phone on and am immediately bombarded with messages. I roll my eyes as I skim through them. Then I frown as I see notifications for three missed calls from Eamon and two from Ethan. I pause when I then see two missed calls from Meg. I quickly send her a text.

We are back, just landed at SeaTac - Are you ok?

Almost immediately my phone starts to ring, and I quickly answer it.

"Meg, What's wrong?" I ask as panic rises in me.

"El, it's Kate" she says carefully.

"Oh for fucks sake what has she done now?" I snap.

"She's dead" Meg replies.

"What?" I gasp.

"Suicide. Apparently, Ethan has been refusing to take her calls… like us, and Eamon said she had also tried to contact them. They took the call but her mother told her not to contact them again until she woke up and realised what she had done. He said it was brutal… She told Kate she didn't want to speak to her again until she admitted what she had done, showed remorse and acknowledged it. Kate apparently responded to that by going into one of her usual rants blaming you and me for everything and her mother just hung up on her and since then she has refused to take her calls".

"Shit" I mutter as I scrub my hand over my face.

"Eamon called me to tell me, he said he'd tried to contact you but I said you were in Detroit today so you probably had your phone off if you were in the air. He told me what the prison had told him. The people from the prison said… she had been threatening suicide and had been on suicide watch a number of times, since she was convicted but nothing had ever come of it… He said that the way they spoke, it appeared that she was just venting and attention seeking. They apologised for the lapse where she was allowed to make contact with us, they admitted that should never have happened. When Geoff Welch contacted them and David also put in a complaint about what she did she had her telephone privileges taken away from her. Apparently, they told her that she was fully aware that the only people she was allowed to call were her parents, brother or her attorney. She didn't like that and according to them she went into a rage about it and told them that they didn't want to speak to her and she went on to say that it was because they were being controlled by us and that was the reason why she had tried to call us, they said that she just didn't see that was unacceptable. So, it seems that once again Kate didn't see she was doing anything wrong, she felt entitled to reach out to us even though it should never have been allowed. Apparently, the person from the prison apologised again at that point as they realised they had dropped the ball for that and Eamon said that they told him they would be writing to us to express their apologies for that. They told her that her privileges had been revoked for one month and when they reinstated them any calls she made would be supervised. She went crazy when they told her that and she lashed out at them, and she tried to attack one of the guards. They subdued her and took her to her cell. She trashed it, and caused so much havoc they had to move her, so they put her in solitary confinement… and that was when she did what she did".

"How?" I ask.

"She hung herself, with the bedsheets, they said she didn't die straight away so she just hung there until she lost consciousness and… died".

I sigh but I refuse to feel any responsibility for this, "Don't you dare feel guilty about this Meg, this is not on you. That is what she wanted, this was her final parting shot" I say.

There is a silence and then Meg answers, "I know" she says, "Everyone has said that, Christian and Ana said that and so did Eva. After what she did to us… and the baby, I don't have it in me to feel guilty about what she did, I think Eamon does though and Ethan certainly does".

"Listen I'm coming right now" I say.

"Ok, I'll see you soon" she says.

"Elliot is everything ok?" Sadie asks.

"Kate is dead, she committed suicide" I say bluntly. Sadie gasps and reaches for me but I shake my head.

"I'm not upset… I don't feel anything… other than relief, that she can't hurt Meg anymore. Which is sad really considering at one point in my life I did really love her. I loved her but she never loved me and when I finally opened my eyes to that fact and got rid of her out of my life all she has done is cause trouble and try to make me and everyone around me miserable so what I feel at this moment is relief that, that woman is finally out of my life and can't hurt my family anymore" I say with a shrug.

We exit the plane and climb into the waiting car. "Are you ok?" I ask and Sadie smiles.

"I am, I realise that I needed to do that and now it feels finished" she says.

I smile, "Good" I reply.

After dropping Sadie back at home and she assures me she will be fine until Lucy gets back I head to GEH to see Christian and my wife.

I stride in through reception, the security guard just nods at me and picks up the phone to give Andrea a heads up that I'm on my way up as I make my way to the executive offices.

The elevator doors open and I spot Andrea who smiles at me, "Hello Mr Grey I've informed Mr Grey you were on your way up. He is just finishing off and he said he'll be about five minutes if you want to take a seat," she says, and I nod.

"Thanks Andrea, where is my wife?" I ask.

"I'm right here" comes Meg's voice and I turn to see her with some folders in her hand.

I walk up to her and press a kiss to her lips, "Are you ok?" I ask and she nods.

"I am, and no I don't feel any guilt" she says.

"Neither do I" I say as I hold her to me.

"How did it go in Detroit?" she asks.

I grin at her, "Very well, I said what I wanted to say and Sadie was amazing, she took us all by surprise with what she said," I pause and then I quickly outline the events of today.

"Wow" Meg says and I nod.

"I know I was a bit shocked, Jason just stood there dumbfounded but she really was remarkable".

"Bro!"

I turn and see Christian standing looking at me carefully, "You've heard?" he asks and I nod.

"And?" he asks.

I shrug, "And what? Do I wish she hadn't done it, absolutely. Do I feel guilty for what she did? No, I fucking don't as she murdered our son and tried to murder my wife. Any guilt I may feel gets drowned out by remembering how I felt that day when I was waiting in that damned hospital after she mowed Meg down".

Christian nods, "Alright, how did things go in Detroit?" he asks changing the subject.

"Brilliantly, as I just said to Meg I said what I went there to say and Sadie was a fucking legend she stood up to them and told them straight". I pause and snort, "I was shocked I just stood there and thought, go Sadie! Jason never said a word and I think he was shocked at just how amazing Sadie was".

"So, you both feel good about going?" Christian asks and I nod.

"Definitely, Sadie said it feels finished now and she looked so relaxed afterwards, I've never seen her so chilled".

Christian smiles, "It's good she got her closure" he says simply.

"It was" I agree.

Christian is watching me closely and I wonder what he is thinking, but what he says next throws me as it wasn't anything like I expected.

"All the arrangements for Christmas are done, I called Gideon this morning with the details and to clarify all the travel logistics".

"Great, so who is going to be there?" I ask.

Christian thinks for a moment, "All the family of course, mom dad, grandma and grandpa Trevellyan are coming. You, Meg and Ava, Mia and I think Simon is coming as well… Erm… Ray, all my birth family so that's Alex and Edwin, Arnie, Hal and Derek and Brad and his wife and daughters. Gideon, Eva and Jared, Victor, Christopher and Ireland… erm… and Sadie and Lucy… I think that's everyone".

"What about Eva's mom and step dad?" Meg asks and Christian shakes his head.

"Monica and Richard always go to the Caribbean for Christmas, they were invited but politely declined" Christian explains, he glances at me, "So did Cary Taylor - thank god! I did the right thing and invited him along with his partner but Eva told me that they are spending Christmas with Trey's family".

I stare at him, "Fucking hell! Carmella will have her work cut out feeding that amount of people" I say.

"There will be security there as well, Gideon is bringing Angus and Raul and as you know they are more like family to him than employees. Sawyer has agreed to join us and Taylor and Gail will also be there. Gail has offered to help Carmella with the preparation. All the hotel rooms are booked, the only people staying with us at the house will be you, Meg and Ava, Mia and Simon and Gideon, Eva and Jared".

As I go to speak Christian's phone buzzes and glancing at it he quickly answers. "Gideon, what's up?" he asks.

I watch as surprise fills his face, as I listen to the one-sided conversation. "Really?! So soon?... well yes obviously, we knew it was coming but I thought it would be in the New Year?... Well, that's surprising but brilliant news… yes… Of course, there is no question about it of course he can… Gideon he's your fucking brother… yes I'll call the hotel… oh ok, oh right no that's fine if you want to do that… yeah he's here now, yeah… no he's not… of course alright then my friend I'll see you in a couple of weeks' time, bye".

He pushes his phone away and looks at us, "That was Gideon… Ryan is being released in time for Christmas. He will be living with Christopher and Ireland when he gets out until he gets back on his feet. So, Ryan will also be joining us for Christmas in Aspen".

"Wow" I say.

Christian nods, "It was expected, we knew that he was going to be released sooner rather than later as there was just no reason for him to be there now, but the last Gideon had heard was that it wouldn't happen until the New Year. He and Gideon have built bridges and are working hard to build a meaningful bond. It is clear that he isn't any sort of threat to anyone else and the fact Gideon, Christopher and Ireland are willing to help him out has gone a long way to persuade the authorities that it's pointless him being in there any longer, so the timeline was accelerated and he is being released on December 23rd".

"It's going to be a full house then" Meg says with a grin.

"It is but it's going to be good, our family has changed beyond all recognition this past year so it is the right thing to do… don't you think?" Christian asks looking at me.

I smile reassuringly at him, "I do" I reply.