Chapter 31

Christian PoV

"No, not like this," Ana cried out, rushing over to the bleeding woman. She grabbed her arms from the guards' hands and dug her own fingers into Leila's arms to stop the bleeding. Soon the flow slowed and sure enough the bleeding stopped altogether, with Ana's thumbs pressing directly on the arteries.

"How did you know to do that?" one guard asked.

"My mother killed herself this same way," Ana replied in a clipped tone. "I learned how to stop the bleeding in this situation so I would never have to see that again. How far out is the ambulance?" she asked.

"Coming down the street now," Anita answered. "I've given them the code to get directly to this floor."

"Good thinking," Ana replied. "Hang on Lucy Leila. You're not dying in my conference room. Not today." Leila was still as a statue, but breathing very shallowly. Tears began streaming out of Ana's eyes and I knew she was reliving her mother's death.

"Angel?" I called out cautiously.

"I'm fine Christian, I'm just trying to concentrate," she assured me. Though I was anything but assured. "No, you can't help. I'm just waiting until they can put a tourniquet on her and stop the bleeding that way." Somehow she knew exactly what I was going to say before I even said it. I knew then that I was dealing with CEO Ana. A side of her I hadn't seen since Hyde-Gate. She was taking charge of the situation, totally in control of it. I could see then that she had earned this title and did her job well. Even now when she was handling a situation that had nothing to do with interior design or architecture, she was the boss, and we were all following her lead.

"How did she get a letter opener?" Reynolds asked. "This room was empty save for the chairs and table."

"She must have had it on her," I suggested. "Tucked in her sock or up her sleeve maybe."

"Probably," Ana agreed. "I know it wasn't in this room. I don't even own a letter opener, so she certainly didn't get it from anywhere near here."

Moments later, the EMTs and police arrived. I gave as much info as I could to the officer while the EMTs worked on getting Ana's fingers out of Leila's arms. "Good thinking on stopping the bleeding in this way," one EMT commented. I noticed he was also ogling Ana. It bothered me that he was looking at her that way, but I had to quell my jealousy. Ana wouldn't like it for one thing, and for another, I had no reason to be jealous. She was mine. I was hers. It was just as simple as that. No need for me to bring up the green-eyed monster for no reason.

Finally Ana was free and was frantically washing the blood off by squirting half a bottle of sanitizing gel on her hands. "Not enough," she commented to herself. She strode out of the room, past the officer who was calling her name and into her office. I followed, the officer close behind me and saw just as she went into the bathroom.

"I need to speak with her," the officer said.

"I figured as much," I said, not bothering to hide my condescension. "This is after all her building, her company, her office, and it was her hands keeping that woman alive. I'm not at all surprised that you have a question or two."

"Mr. Grey, that tone is hardly necessary," she replied.

"Then don't point out the fucking obvious," I retorted, walking towards the bathroom to make sure my Angel was alright. "Ana? Can I help you?"

"I'm just trying to get the blood from under my fingernails. I wish I had a nail brush in here," she said. I couldn't help her there.

"There's a rookie out here who wants to speak with you," I told her.

"Mr. Grey! I've been on the force for six years!" the officer complained.

"Could have fooled me," I replied. Ana chuckled quietly at that. After a few more moments, she emerged from the bathroom, ready to answer questions. I could tell that she still felt like she was covered in blood and that I would have to go to great lengths to prevent her from bathing in bleach later on.

"What do you need from me?" Ana asked the officer, sounding exasperated.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"That woman made a last minute appointment with my assistant, Anita, under the name of Lucy West. I arrived to the office minutes before she did. She came in and I immediately knew she wasn't here as a prospective client, but to see me personally."

"And how did you know that?" Seriously, how did this cop get out of the academy?

"You don't show up for an appointment at Steele Designs to meet me, Anastasia Steele CEO, wearing torn, dirty jeans, a ragged shirt, and not having bathed for what smelled like weeks," Ana retorted. Score one point for Ana.

"And why did she come here?"

"She's an ex of Christian's," Ana answered. I was glad she didn't add the word "sub" onto "ex."

The officer glanced at me accusatorily. "Are you not here to ask me questions?" Ana barked, pulling the officer's glare back to her. "Perhaps you should keep your focus on me instead of him."

"Well, it's just that I know who he is," the officer replied, suddenly sheepish. "I know the kind of businessman he is and I'm wondering what he did to her to cause her to look like that and to attempt to take her own life." My blood boiled, and from the looks of it, so did Ana's. God help you, officer, I thought.

"That's it. We're done here," Ana snapped. "If you're going to come into my office, and accuse my boyfriend of doing something to cause that poor confused woman to attempt suicide then you can leave. This is private property and I reserve that right. He did nothing of the sort. They haven't been together in a long time, and from what I gathered, she'd moved on. So perhaps you should be looking in to her history before you go pointing fingers at the people in this room. She came to me. I didn't ask her to come. I didn't even know who she was until he walked in and addressed her as Leila. She was already in hysterics before he arrived, laughing in a crazy-person way, and the moment we left her alone, she did this. I still have no idea why she was here, nor what she wanted."

"Um, okay," the officer replied. Neither Ana nor I noticed right away, but Ana had backed the poor woman right into the door. The officer was cornered by a very angry Anastasia Steele, CEO extraordinaire staring her down in a pair of six inch stilettos. I don't think I ever wanted to fuck her as badly as I did in that moment. The idiot officer and her cohorts needed to get out as fast as fucking possible. "Please remain in the area for questioning."

"Oh, no, I thought I'd quickly hop on a plane to Japan for no reason. Are you serious? We both have companies to run and I just opened a restaurant. Where the hell would I go? Get the fuck out, now." She threw open the door and practically pushed the cop out. The officer had a quick word with her partner and within a minute they were safely in the elevator away from Ana's murderous glare. I think if they were going to accuse anyone of harming Leila, it'd be Ana, not me. Though I hoped they'd think twice before doing that. I feared that Ana would rain her wrath upon the entire law enforcement department in all of Washington.

Once the officers, EMTs and Leila were all gone, Ana was able to resume her day. She slid right back into her routine as if the interruption hadn't happened at all. She let me stay in on all her meetings, telling each client that I was simply job-shadowing. Those that recognized me giggled knowingly. Unfortunately for me, her next client was waiting in the lobby and I had to quell my raging hard-on. But she would get it later. And hard.

Ana PoV

I could tell that Christian was turned on by my exchange with the troglodyte cop. Unfortunately, I had a full docket, and the morning snafu with Leila didn't help matters. The next client after the nine a.m. slot that Leila commandeered left, claiming she didn't want to work with a design firm that was frequented by crazy people. I had to roll my eyes at that. Her statement alone told me she'd be one of those impossible-to-please clients, and I was glad to be rid of her. We had a solid client base, new ones weren't as necessary as they once were.

Now I mostly worked by referral only. We didn't even have to advertise but for the few web ads that we pay for on Facebook, Twitter and a few other big social media sites. That and our referral program gets more clients than we could ever need. This potential merge with Grey Construction could bring in even more. In fact, my next meeting was with Grey Construction's PR department and Elliot's COO. Apparently, he liked the hands on work more than the office work, so he hired a guy to be his COO while he could still do all the hard labor at as many of the construction sites he could.

Kate and Ethan attended the meeting as well, since while they posed as a designer and architect, they still had a controlling interest in the company and as such were required to be part of the meeting that would affect the structure of the company.

Two hours into it, we decided to rebrand both companies as one, giving it a completely new name. That way, neither company would appear to be the bigger of the two halves. I decided to discuss the possible name changes with the families so we could all come up to a conclusion together.

I escorted the reps from Grey Construction to the elevator and when it opened, several officers emerged, one of which being Officer West from when Mrs. Lincoln was here. I thanked Grey construction for the meeting and tried to send them down with my siblings, but the officer said Kate and Ethan needed to stay.

Leading the officers and my siblings into the conference room, I motioned for Anita to call Christian back, as he'd planned to go to lunch with Elliot. "I wouldn't," Officer West said, eyeing me suspiciously. "I need to speak with you and your siblings alone, without the influence of Mr. Grey."

I narrowed my eyes at him, but nodded at Anita to not call him just yet. On my way into the room, having entered last, I gave Anita a signal, telling her to wait 10 minutes and still call him and our lawyers. She was very good at reading my signals and understood perfectly. I caught her almost imperceptible nod as I closed the door. "What's going on, West?" I asked. "Are you aware that the woman that was here this morning used your last name?"

"Yes, my wife's name is Lucy," he answered. "Leila Williams is one of her friends... we're hoping she makes a speedy recovery and can divulge more information as to why she came here. When the officers who were here earlier reported what happened, I figured it warranted some further investigation, Miss Steele."

Crossing my arms over my chest, I replied, "What further investigation?"

"Well, it's fairly obvious that since Mr. Grey entered into your life, some rather disturbing things have happened. First Jack Hyde tries to turn Seattle into a crater, and we find out he's Mr. Grey's biological father." My siblings gasped at that news… it wasn't something that I'd told them, and apparently neither had Christian. "Then the woman, Elena Lincoln comes in here guns blazing, and we find out she and Christian…" I glared at him, daring him to continue that statement. "Well, we find out that they knew each other and then she turns out to be your grandmother."

I bristled at those words. This cop was cruisin' for a bruisin' and I wasn't above dishing out those bruises. "Would you like to make your point before I throw you out of my building?"

"I'd watch your words if I were you…" one of the nameless officers stated. I looked at her, recognizing her from earlier that day. She was the one that eyed Christian as though he was the number one suspect in a crime that wasn't even committed.

"Officer Downey, that's enough," West said. Smart move. "And today, one of Mr. Grey's former associates shows up here and then tries to kill herself after meeting with you. Care to explain how all that fits together? How did you and Mr. Grey meet, anyway? It seems rather suspicious that all of these things started happening after you two became an item. You let this mysterious man into your life, and he brings destruction down around you. I think there's something to all this. There's more to Christian Grey than meets the eye."

I spared a glance at my siblings who hadn't been told about any of those things. At least, not what they didn't absolutely need to know. "First of all, thank you so much for laying my personal secrets out in the street. This was information that I hadn't divulged to my siblings just yet, and you had absolutely no right to do that. Secondly, you pompous ass, what has happened in this building is sheer coincidence. This is where I work, so naturally people are going to come here to find me when my home address isn't listed. And thirdly, yes, there is more to Christian Grey than meets the eye, like his monster cock, would you like me to describe that in detail as well?"

"You're very close to interfering with an officer of the law and that's—"

"Shut the fuck up," I said, cutting Downey off. "I swear to whatever god you pray to, I will throw you out that window if you speak again." Turning towards West again, I decided to give them the story.

"Christian and I met at a benefit that his parents put on every year. It was the first year I went. Jack Hyde, my rapist, was also there. He somehow managed to skip out on his parole meetings, get a fake ID, get a job at a gossip rag in Seattle, find the benefit and me… all without the brilliant Seattle Police Department even having a clue until he showed up here with enough explosives to put a hole in the fucking planet! He also was the man that got my mother addicted to drugs, left her, me, and my siblings for dead. The fact that he also happens to have lent his genetic material to make Christian is mere happenstance.

"Elena Lincoln had been a family friend to the Greys for a long time. She found out that I am her biological granddaughter and wanted to have a relationship with me. After I found out about her sordid past, I wanted nothing to do with it. And if you dare go into detail about who and what she is, so help me, I will slap you across the face." I raised my hand in warning.

"Leila Williams is one of Christian's exes. She saw me in some photos online with him, noticed that I look a hell of a lot like her, and wondered what I had that she didn't. You saw her," I said pointing at Downey. "She's not exactly all there. She figured out I'm the CEO of Steele Designs and came to see me. Yes all of these things were less than unpleasant, and they all happened under my roof, and they all involve Christian in one way or another, but the bottom line is, he's mine and I'm his, and between the two of us, we have enough resources to have every single one of your jobs. So don't fucking test me, West!"

"You're threatening an officer of the law?"

I shook my head. "It's not a threat, it's a promise. Christian and a team of lawyers will be here in seconds. If you know what's good for you, you'll leave before the lawyers serve you up several different lawsuits in a single blow."

"Lawsuits? You're going to sue me?"

"Seattle PD, you're damn right," I replied. "You cannot come into my place of business, on a piece of property that I own and start accusing people I love of being criminals. Besides, you know you don't have anything to go on; just a bunch of coincidental nonsense that not even you can make sense of because you're not part of this family. You have no fucking clue what Christian and I have been through before we found each other, and you have no right to know. And I'd bet that your superior has no clue about this little intervention you're here for."

West swallowed audibly at that last statement, and I knew I had him. "This is about Leila isn't it? Your wife isn't Lucy. You were with Leila. What her boyfriend? Husband? What? Oh, so you expected me to tell my life fucking story, but you won't even say one thing about why the fuck you're here? The woman is bat-shit crazy, West. She decided to slit her own wrists when she saw her ex with a new woman, using a weapon she brought herself. Simple as that. I can't help that she lost her marbles while screwing you."

With that, the door burst open with a fuming Christian Grey, followed by my lawyers, his Dad, and a few others that I hadn't met, so assumed were his lawyers. Officer West paled, upon seeing them and immediately ordered his subordinates out of the room, following behind them with his tail between his legs. "He's Leila's boyfriend," I told Christian. "Or something. I dunno. Either way, he abused his position on the force to stonewall his way in here and interrogate me."

"I got you, Angel," Christian assured me. "He won't be back. And his job is long gone. That's for sure." I smiled as I let him wrap me up in his arms. Something told me Officer West wasn't going to let this go.