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Chapter 2
Looking down at his sleeping wife, Christian realizes with a fair amount of astonishment that he's happy, really and truly happy. It's Ana, of course. Ever since she came into his life, she's been making colors brighter, tastes sharper, air sweeter. As that thought glides into his brain, she smiles in her sleep, her dimple emerging on one side and he can't resist kissing it. His lips brush against her cheek and her shoulder hikes up to her chin as if he's tickling her and she giggles. For a moment he thinks he woke her but then realizes she's still sound asleep. Wondering what she's dreaming of, he grins and softly skates his fingers across her jaw and down her throat. Her skin is so silken that he can't imagine it's possible that anything's softer.
How did he manage to get through that long year without her? Without knowing if he'd ever get her back? She might have met someone and married him over there in the UK. Then what would he have done? The pain and loss of the year he spent pining for her taught him a few things about life and about himself. He has to wonder if he would have appreciated her as much as he does had he not suffered. Now they're married: he feels secure and so does she. Life will probably never be serene, especially if the tabloids have anything to say about it… but it can still be content and even to some extent peaceful—peaceful of the soul, anyway.
He gently extricates himself from the mattress to avoid waking her. More than anything, he wants to stay cuddled with her in the big, warm bed but he has an important meeting scheduled for the morning that he can't miss. Later on, he has a staff meeting that requires his presence as well. Sighing, he heads to the bathroom to take a shower.
In the frigid conference room, Jonas shuffles papers looking for the one he needs. At the very bottom of the pile, he finds it. Naturally. "Here's the P&L statement for fiscal year 2012. Not too shabby for a company about to go under."
Christian takes the spreadsheet, scanning it quickly and handing it off to the man sitting adjacent to him. After the redhead eyeballs it, he conveys it to the next person in line.
There are four men and two women sitting around the oblong table for Excalibur's monthly meeting to vet possible candidates for rebuilding. The process is highly selective and some months do not bear any fruit. This month, however, there are two viable contenders so every detail must be considered and the meeting promises to stretch into the evening.
As Christian is about to offer his opinion, Janine knocks on the door and he calls out for her to enter, only mildly annoyed that she interrupted them. A break is a break, after all.
"Mr. Grey? Daniel Butler is on line 2 for you, sir."
Nodding at her, Christian looks around the table. "Excuse me for a minute," he says and gets up to get to the phone at the end of the room. "Grey."
"Christian. I just learned something I thought you might want to know. Ten minutes ago I received a call from Phillips. He's trying to get Natasha back—unsuccessfully, I might add—and hoped to enlist my help. I told him no can do."
"Christ! Why would he want to do that? He's the one who arranged the whole thing."
"Apparently he's having regrets. The man in Paris, the trafficker who arranged the transfer, won't help him. He told him he never reneges on a transaction. He also informed Mr. Phillips that the girl is quite content where she is and the owner is very pleased with his purchase."
"And yet?"
"And yet Lucien wants her back for his own, I suppose. I thought I should let you know in case he manages to succeed. I doubt he will but just on the slim chance…"
"Thanks, Daniel. I appreciate the heads up. I'm in a meeting right now but I'll call you back later in the week so we can discuss this at greater length."
"Sounds good."
The line went dead. Christian has to chuckle—he and Butler have a lot in common, not the least of which is the complete lack of telephone etiquette.
No sooner does he return to the table than the intercom buzzes again. "Mr. Grey, there's a woman in the lobby asking to see you. She's been trying to reach you by phone all day, she says, and finally just came to the office. She claims to be an old friend of yours."
Christian feels his hackles begin to rise. "Blond?"
"Yes, Mr. Grey."
"I'll be right out." He turns to his executive staff. "Gentlemen, ladies, I'm sorry to interrupt again but I have to step out for a moment. Please continue the meeting and let me know if any decisions are made."
They all nod and Jonas stands, leaning over to whisper in Christian's ear. "Is everything okay, boss?"
"I'm not sure yet. We'll see."
Feeling his heart thump against his chest, he strides out of the conference room where Janine awaits his instructions. "Send her up directly to my office. I'll wait there for her. If my wife arrives, under no circumstances is she to enter my office. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Mr. Grey. Understood."
"Good." He decides to take the stairs the two flights to his office rather than wait for the elevator. He has excess nervous energy to burn. While he climbs the stairs, he ponders the situation. Is it Natasha? How did she escape? Or did Lucien manage to free her? Could it have been done so quickly that Daniel just found out about it and already it's a fait accompli? Seems undoable.
He enters his office and begins his deep breathing technique to calm down. Less than two minutes pass when he hears a timid knock. "Come in, please."
The door opens and there stands a blonde. But it's not Natasha Yenin. It's Kim Simpson from the club.
"Christian, I'm so sorry to bother you at work. I had nowhere else to turn."
"Kim, come in and have a seat," he gestures to the chair opposite his desk. "What's going on?"
She sits down and immediately begins to wring her hands. "It's my ex-husband. He found me and he's harassing me. I'm afraid I'm going to end up another statistic, Christian. Gregory is absolutely crazy—he won't listen to reason."
"I see. Would you like me to relocate you?"
"I hate to do that but it may be the only thing left for me to do. I'm not sure I have the resources to do it."
"That's not a problem, Kim. I can help you out there… if that's what you want to do. We can take measures against him so you don't have to run."
"Like what? An order of protection is just a piece of paper. He'll kill me before that does me any good."
"How about you disappear for now and once he gives up, you can always come back, if you like."
"I'll have to change my name—everything. It's so unfair."
"Do you have any other ideas, Kim?"
"Not really. My parents live in Hawaii and my brother is overseas in Germany with the army. I have few reliable people I can count on here… but still I feel as if Seattle is my home."
"I understand, Kim. Look, do you have any safe place where you can stay while you mull it over?"
"No, not really." She stops to think for a few moments and shakes her head. "No."
"Here." Christian takes a notepad from his desk and writes out an address. "This is the address for my houseboat. Currently no one is living there. I have an apartment, too, which might be safer for you but right now there's a visiting executive from London who's using it. Once he's gone, you can move in there. For now, stay at the houseboat and lie low. Don't use your cell phone at all. In fact, shut it off and leave it in your apartment. Okay, Kim?"
She nods, tears streaming down her face now.
"Here's the key," Christian says, as he removes two keys from his sterling silver ring and hands them to her.
"Thank you, Christian. You're so kind." She sniffs and wipes tears from her eyes using a fingertip then tries to muster a smile when she looks up at him again. Holding out her hand for the keys, she attempts conversation. "I like your key ring, by the way. It's an unusual design."
Christian allows her the distraction. "It's a Triskelion symbol of Sicily—most used by the Celtics. I like the distinctive shape. Anyway, give me a call from the phone there once you're established so I know you're safe. I'll send my driver home with you now so you can pack some things. He's very good at losing anyone following. He's ex-military—Seal—and he's got CIA experience as well. You'll be in good hands." He picks up the phone. "Taylor, Grey. I have a friend who needs assistance. Can you head over to Excalibur now to pick her up? Yes. Oh? Is she here now? Very good."
He disconnects. Taylor just informed him that he dropped off Ana five minutes ago in front of the office building. He'd left strict instructions not to let her into his office. What must she be thinking? Now he's going to walk out beside Kim and Ana will think something's going on. "Excuse me for a moment, Kim."
He exits the office and sure enough, there's Ana in all her glory sitting in reception, her eyes blazing. He walks up to her.
"Hello, my sweet and beautiful wife."
She narrows blue eyes already glowing with suspicion. "What's going on? Why couldn't I come into your office?"
He sits down next to her. "Janine? Can you go to Conference B and see if anyone needs refreshments? We're going to go late tonight so we'll need sandwiches and coffee at the very least."
"Yes, Mr. Grey."
She turns to leave and he directs his gaze back at Ana. "First, I'm going to have to postpone our dinner tonight. I'll try to get out of here by seven so let's just change our reservations to eight o'clock. Is that okay by you?"
"Yes, of course. I'll pop out and do some shopping. What else?"
"I had a visitor, a blond woman. Right before she arrived, I received a call from Daniel, telling me that Lucien is trying to spring Natasha from her Saudi home. My imagination ran wild and I thought it might be Natasha visiting. I told Janine I didn't want you entering my office because if it was Natasha, I didn't want her near you. Turns out, it was Kim. Do you remember Kim from the club that night?"
"Blonde? Leggy? Run-of-the-mill gorgeous?"
Christian grins. "That's the one. Kim's a good person and she needs my assistance for a personal problem. I'll explain later, okay? Right now I'm having Taylor take her home to pack some things and she'll be staying at the houseboat for a little while."
Ana scrutinizes his face. "Okay."
"Come in and meet her, baby. I'm not hiding anything from you."
She stands up with him. "Okay," she repeats.
Glancing at her in amusement, he can't resist the quip, "Unusual to find you speechless, Ana."
"Give me time, Mr. Grey. I'm currently at a loss but it's a temporary condition, I assure you." She sticks out her tongue at him.
"I wouldn't suspect anything else, Mrs. Grey. And be careful of that tongue or I might have to misuse it." He escorts her into the spacious room where Kim sits patiently waiting. "Kim, this is my wife, Ana. Ana, Kim Simpson."
Ana extends her hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Kim. My husband speaks highly of you."
"I think highly of him, too, Mrs. Grey. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance as well. You are just as beautiful as I'd expect but more beautiful even than your photos suggest."
Feeling awkward at the compliment, Ana stammers out a thank you and looks at Christian. "Well, I'll leave you to your business and I'll meet you here at seven?"
"Yes, that should be fine. Will you remain in the area?"
"In all likelihood, yes. If I stray too far afield, I'll let you know, Mr. Grey."
"Very good. I'll see you later." He stands and kisses her goodbye, wondering what's going on in that enigmatic mind of hers. Does she distrust him with other women? He certain hopes not since he's never given her the slightest reason. Frankly, he's not looked with interest at another woman since the day he walked into Archipelago all those months ago. Well, now he could almost say years, since in a couple of months it would be two years since they met.
At ten to seven, they still haven't made a final decision on which company to take on. Christian has had enough and is more than ready to leave the office with Ana. "Okay, look, everyone is tired and we're not making any headway. I suggest we table the discussion until tomorrow afternoon. We'll all sleep on it tonight. Hopefully that will give us a fresh perspective."
Jonas smiles. "I second that. I've now been here for twelve hours so I'm ready to call it a night."
"Good. I'll see everyone in the morning," Christian stands up, eager to get out. But when he steps outside, Ana is nowhere to be seen. Maybe she's waiting outside his office? He takes the steps two at a time but when he arrives there's no sign of her. Everyone else is long gone. He knows there's probably a reasonable and mundane explanation but he can't control his reaction: his heart starts to pound in his chest. Where is she? He whips out his phone.
The call goes to voicemail. "Ana, where the hell are you? It's seven and I'm here and you're not. Please call me and let me know what's going on."
Twenty minutes later, she still hasn't arrived. He's not sure what to do: should he wait here or go home? His phone vibrates. Taylor.
"Yes?"
"Mr. Grey, I've taken care of Kim. She's safely ensconced at the houseboat and we weren't followed, sir."
"Good. Do you know where Mrs. Grey is currently?"
"No, sir. I thought she was with you?"
"She was supposed to be but she's not here and she hasn't called. Can you—" As he is about to ask Taylor to start looking for his wayward wife, he hears a noise behind him. Swiveling his head around, he sees Ana with a big smile on her face. "Nevermind, Taylor, she's here."
"You had better have an explanation, Mrs. Grey."
"I do, Mr. Grey. But I am positively famished and might faint if I don't eat first. Can I provide you with my explanation on our way to the restaurant?"
"Fine. I want you to know that if your explanation doesn't meet my expectations, I plan to tan your hide tonight."
She grins. "Promises, promises. Let's go."
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