The Truth of the Matter

After waking up from yet another nightmare about Ana, I looked at the clock in my office, it was just after midnight. I still couldn't sleep in my bedroom. I paced the great room, and then found myself in front of my playroom. This was the first time I'd been in here since I showed it to Ana. I wasn't surprised to find that it didn't hold the same appeal it once did, what surprised me was the anger I felt about even having such a room. She made me dependent on the lifestyle, therefore, dependent on her. What a fool I'd being. Control, control my ass, I didn't have any she had it all, kept me from my family. She had to have known, if I had spent enough time with them, gotten involved, I would have realised they loved me despite all the bullshit she fed me.

Next thing I know I was on the floor crying, can't remember the last time I cried, my hands were covered in blood and Taylor getting me up from the floor, he walked me into the kitchen. Mrs Jones started removing splinters from my hands and dressed it. I had destroyed the playroom with my bare hands.

That morning Taylor brought a crew in to get rid of what was left of the playroom. I had ignored all of Elena's attempts to contacts me and her desperation was beginning to show by the tirade of angry voice mails I had received, I knew sooner or later she will show up here. I had Taylor change the codes to the penthouse and made sure Elena was put on the proscribed list at Grey House, I didn't want that woman anywhere near me.

The phone calls from Elliot had started again and this time it wasn't just him. I had missed the Coping Together gala and my parents weren't happy, even though I was never a keen attendant, I at least showed my face for an hour.

So you can imagine the surprise on my mom's face when I turned up at the house that Friday asking to stay for the weekend. She told me I was always welcome and didn't need to ask.

Things were tense between me and my family they knew something was wrong and it wasn't helped by Kate's constant glaring and questions about exactly what had happened with Ana. I did my best to ignore it, but the guilt I wore was starting to weigh heavily on me. I sat there with my head down, I was about to break I knew it, I just didn't know in which direction. It was finally decided for me when my mother asked Elliot if it was the lovely young lady he talked about, then Mia asked you mean Kate's roommate. My vision blurred and when mom asked what had happened, the dam broke, I begged her not to ask as I couldn't tell them I was too ashamed. I kept whispering how sorry I was. Mia knelt in front me and held my hand and told me if I didn't want to tell them it was fine, but I was apologizing to the wrong people. I knew that, but my apologies to Ana as far as I knew were falling on deaf ears.

After another sleepless night and an awkward breakfast with Kate and the family before she left. Going on a hike with Elliot was perfect, also gave me a chance to test out Flynn's theory about how my family might receive my news about Elena. We took the Coal Creek Trail, it was a few miles from my parents and was quite an easy trail because the last thing I needed after last night was a difficult terrain.

I had planned to tell Elliot about Elena, I just didn't know where to start. Elliot quickly solved that problem by bringing her up. Apparently she had contacted mum to talk to me when she got the papers dissolving our partnership and her attempts to contact me didn't work. Turns out my mum told her she couldn't get hold of me either.

When Elliot asking me why, was the perfect opportunity to tell him everything and I mean everything. He calmly asked me if that was how I had hurt Ana, I told him no. Then he lost it. I was shocked to find that his anger wasn't directed at me but at Elena. Flynn was right he didn't blame me not in the least even though I told him at the time I wanted it, he still didn't blame me, he blamed himself and the fact that as my older brother he should have seen it. In that moment I knew it was going to be worse for my parents especially my mom. He asked what I meant by dissolving our partnership. I told him I was going to gift her percentage in the salons.

If I thought Elliot had lost it during the hike I was wrong. When we got back to my parents there was Elena's car in the drive. Elliot jumped out of the car before it had come to a complete stop. Well, there goes breaking the news gently to my parents. When I walked in my mother was standing in front of Elena trying to prevent Elliot from doing what, I wasn't exactly sure. Elliot wasn't the kind to hit a woman, but right now I knew his mindset wasn't right.

When my mum screamed at Elliot asking what the hell had gotten into him. "Your so called friend sexually abused my little brother from the age of 15, that's what gotten into me." It would have been funny if not for the gravity of the accusation. The amusement on my fathers and Mia's face over the situation disappeared, my mom's face paled considerably, then slowly turned to look at Elena. She immediately started to defend her actions, going on about how it helped me, stopped me drinking but then as she looked at the faces around her, her voice started trailing off.

My mum turned back round to look at me; the guilt on her face broke the already fragile heart I'd recently discovered I possessed. Then a steely determination set on her face, she spun around with a speed I didn't know she had or capable off and backhanded Elena. She went flying, but oh Grace Grey wasn't done she went after her and slapped the other cheek, grabbed Elena by her hair dragging her to the door. Elena's protestations feel on deaf ears. By the time my mum was done, a huge chunk of Elena's hair was left in her grip. I guess all that peroxide must have ruined her hair.

Then my mum broke down and she did what I had now expected she blamed herself. Eventually, my mum calmed down enough to throw Elena's hair out the door. Sat me down to hear what I had to say. I had lost my youth; time with my family had a false sense of relationships all because of her. Even though I didn't go into details about what had happened with Ana. I explained to my family that it had been an eye-opener, quiet how I couldn't really explain, hell I didn't understand it myself.

As the next couple of weeks went by, I spent more time with my family, focused on my business and tried my best not to think about Ana but that proved to be difficult considering I woke up every night screaming her name. It was the focus on my business that brought me face to face with Ana this morning.

GEH has publishing needs and we've spent quite a considerable amount of money using an outside source. Ross felt it prudent we acquire our own publishing house, except that wasn't such an easy task. Most publishing houses were far too big and that was a moot point as they were not willing to sell, so we focused our energy on smaller houses. SIP fit our purpose to a tee, except it will be bankrupt in a year and with the amount of money needed to keep it going, I might as well start my own publishing house.

All of a sudden that changed, SIP announced a crop of new writers, some very well established and had also acquired the technology to branch into the electronic side of publishing. How they managed that is anyone's guess. So we made our bid for SIP, Roach happily accepted, everything was going smoothly until Roach called this morning and changed his mind, no explanations just had a change of heart.

Well in the mood I was in this was not the kind of shit I needed to hear, so even though SIP is Ross's acquisition I made my way over there.

Should I have known Ana worked there, yes. As background checks are done on every employee of any company we look to acquire. Ana's name would have up and a red flag would be raised due to her connection with me, no matter how brief. Taylor would be made aware of this. But it appeared Taylor was still in a pissy mood.

Well, my pissed off mood had completely disappeared by the time I made it to Roach's office. Roach knew why I was there and I'd barely put my butt on the seat when he started. Though the news of GEH acquiring SIP has been embargoed for a few more weeks one of their writers had found out and he had told his new editor who just happened to be one Miss Anastasia Steele. Well, so what, Roach was going to back out of a perfectly good business deal because of personal issues that had nothing to do with him. My anger had returned and with it a great deal of annoyance. Who the hell did Ana think she was, granted I hurt her, but she has no right interfering in my business. If she didn't want to work for me, she was free to leave. It's not like I would have anything to do with the publishing side of things. The fucking impudence.

Roach watched me as I rattled on, then calmly proceeded to pull the rug from under me. Ana had been hired as an assistant to one of the editors; she was quite brilliant and quick on the uptake from the very start. She'd helped the editor prepare for a trip to New York, except the day before the trip the editor failed to show up for work, all attempts to contact him failed, Roach was forced to send Ana as she had prepared most of the presentation for the trip. To say Ana was a hit in New York according to Roach was a vast understatement. It was Ana who brought in the new writers and the Tec for e-publishing. Due to the circumstances concerning the editor who failed to turn up for work, Roach never got round to dealing with Ana's contract, therefore Ana could leave with the writers and possibly the Tec. Fuck, that shut me up. When I turned to look at Taylor because I wasn't quite sure I heard it right, he had his jaw on the floor, clearly this was news to him as well. Anastasia Steele had me by the balls.

Without Ana SIP was not worth the money and what little reputation it had would most likely be destroyed by their new writers suddenly walking. SIP would survive bankruptcy with the new acquisitions they had. There's a part of me that's a little proud of her, she clearly did her homework and knew SIP would still be fine without GEH because I didn't see Ana letting that many people lose their jobs because she didn't want to work for me.

The word apology and Ana have been mentioned several times, but when Roach asked me if I had apologized it hit a nerve. I said I was sorry but had I apologized. Sorry for what, Grey. That's how I found myself here after six weeks, waiting for a reply I wasn't sure would come. I start to look at the long email I sent Ana telling her everything from the crack whore and her pimp to Elena, the subs why my particular taste for Brunettes with pale skin. What happened when I told my family? When I hear a knock on the door. "Come in."

"Sir, Miss Steele is here."