Chapter 32

Ana PoV

I reveled in the feel of Christian's arms around me. I just wanted to go home and get lost in him, but there was still work to be done. And questions to be answered. The looks on my siblings' faces told me as much.

"Okay, so I have a question or ninety," Kate stated. "What the hell was that all about? Jack Hyde is your biological father, Christian? What did Elena do to you?"

He glared at me. "Oh, no, Mr. Grey. You can direct that death-stare at Officer West," I retorted, pointing at the closed door where West had just scurried out of. "He's the one that said it out loud. You know I would never."

"You're right, Ana. I'm sorry. Yes, Kate. Jack Hyde is my biological father. For all I know, he raped my mother and I'm the result. I have no idea. Ana has assured me that his genetic connection to me is merely happenstance and has little to do with who I am."

"Damn right," I agreed.

Kate nodded, too. "Yes, of course, it was just a shock is all. I guess our families are even more connected through the generations than we thought. Elena had a sordid past?"

"Yes, she hurt me as a child and has done the same to other children since. For me it was past the statute of limitations, but once I informed on her, they opened up an investigation. She has been abusing and molesting young boys for a long time," Christian told them. I remembered the reports we received as the police department conducted their search. The demon wench kept photos and even videos of her tormenting the young boys. Granted if they were grown men, it'd have been different, which is the platform she and her defense had been running, but no amount of consent from thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen year old boys was ever going to make what she did legal or remotely okay.

"Oh, Christian. I'm so sorry that happened to you," Kate said, her hand covering her heart as if to convey her empathy. "I can only imagine the horrors that you faced with her."

"What's worse is until recently, I thought she helped me. Now I see that all she did was manipulate me. Yes, it calmed me down, and I was able to re-focus on my goals, but in the end, I never stopped being angry at the world until Ana came into my life."

"And who was Leila?" Ethan asked.

I described that morning's events, leaving out the words Dom and sub and replacing them with girlfriend and boyfriend for Christian's benefit. "But I thought you'd never had a girlfriend before," Kate mentioned.

"I never brought a woman home to meet the family before, nor ever talked about any of my relationships with anyone. I can't help if they assumed I was celibate and/or gay. I was… a very private person, and I didn't want my relationships paraded about like a float. When Ana quite literally fell into my life, all of that changed," Christian answered.

"Okay, I guess all of that makes sense. Now Ana, how the hell did you say all that to that cop without even batting an eye? I already looked up to you, Steele, but dayum."

"I just handled it the way I would handle anyone trying to pull one over on me. The fact that he was a cop was irrelevant. I'm all for police when they protect and serve, but when they abuse their status and power like Officer West just did, I take issue with it. I know that Hyde paid a few cops back in North Carolina to turn a blind eye to what was going on in our apartment, so maybe that's soured my opinion of the boys in blue. Either way, he was out of line, had no real reason for coming here other than to find dirt on me or Christian to use on Leila's behalf. I hope the poor woman is alright of course, but what her boyfriend, or whatever he was, did was reprehensible.

"These are the reasons you're CEO," my brother Ethan mused. "There's no way I could have spoken to a police officer like that and gotten away with it. Go Sis!" I couldn't help but laugh.

"I agree," Kate said. "No way either of us could have handled that situation any better than you did." I smiled affectionately at them. I loved them both, but they were right. There were reasons I was CEO and not them. It had me wondering what I'd do if I did decide to leave Steele Designs and become a restaurateur.

Later, I was busy giving a summary of my morning to the lawyers when Christian said it was enough for the day. I couldn't agree with him more. What I thought was going to finally be a normal day with normal clients and meetings spiraled out of control into this horrid mess. "Why can't we ever just have a day? Just a normal day?"

"Because we're far from normal, love," Christian told me. We were making our way out of my office and towards the elevator. The police had long gone; Anita and Reynolds were doing damage control with the clients that were still in the building and rescheduling the rest of my appointments for the day. Christian was briefly on his BlackBerry, speaking with Andrea, his PA, and having all of his meetings rescheduled too. Sometimes it was nice to be the CEO.

I gave Anita and Reynolds a thankful wave and followed Christian out to the parking garage. I was too emotionally and mentally exhausted to even think about how to open the door to the car let alone get in it, buckle up, and drive. Thankfully, Christian opened the passenger door for me, helped me in, strapped me in and strode casually around to the driver's side.

"Where's your car?" I asked, gazing around the lot and not seeing any Saabs or Audis anywhere.

"Taylor drove me," he replied, "then he left when I told him I'd drive you home."

"I want to soak in my hot tub." He agreed wholeheartedly and we made our way to my house in companionable silence. The house was empty when we arrived. Kate and Ethan must have decided to stay at the office and get some work done.

We walked up the stairs to my room and quickly shed our clothing before venturing out to the hot tub. "How are you doing, Christian?" I asked.

He furrowed his brow at me. "What do you mean?"

"I mean with Leila today and what she did… I never did find out her real reason for coming. Did she want you to show up? Was that her plan all along? Or did she really come there just to size me up and scout what she thought was competition? And why on earth did she even have that letter opener with her, let alone use it to open her veins? It's a lot to process, and if I know you, you're finding ways to shoulder all the blame for it. So I ask again… how are you doing?"

He took a deep breath before responding. "I'm… okay… I don't think I would be if I didn't have you in my corner. Clearly Leila needs help. And, I intend to see to it that she gets it. During some of your meetings today, I was texting back and forth with Welch trying to find out what she's been up to lately.

"He found out that her husband committed suicide. She never even called the police, just left him hanging in the garage and ran away. Then she met Officer West through one of her old friends that was in the lifestyle. She didn't know, but he'd been blacklisted by the community for ignoring safe-words and breaking hard limits.

"I don't know if he did the same with her, but she was showing signs of having been broken. Way more than any sub ought to be. I think West might have preyed upon her grief and insecurities and tried turning her into a slave. She was squatting in an apartment owned by a couple that's gone on vacation for a few weeks. That's where the call came from when she spoke with Anita to schedule the appointment with you."

Once he was done explaining to me, I remained silent for a moment. He still hadn't really told me how he was doing. He said what he was going to do and explained what could have led to Leila's breakdown, but still now how he was doing. "I ask again, Christian… How. Are. You. Doing? You still haven't answered the question."

"I'm okay… really, Ana. I'm learning to not shoulder the blame as you put it. I had no hand in her husband committing suicide, nor her connecting with West. She was in the lifestyle long before she met me and afterwards. I had no influence in West's treatment of her, nor her decision to find you. Whether or not her goal was to get me alone or if suicide was her plan all along, I have no idea. What I do know is that I have the ability to help her, and I'm going to do it. Regardless of whose fault this is, she needs help, and I have the resources to see it's done. That's that."

I smiled. "Alright, there's the CEO I know and love. I'm glad you're not taking on the blame for this. It's a shitty series of events that led to her breakdown, but none of them had anything to do with you. In fact, part of me thinks that she was looking for the safety and comfort that she felt when she was with you. Yes I know you enjoyed harsh play and punishment your subs, but did you at any point make them feel unsafe? Didn't you make sure they were always comfortable and eager for more?"

"Yes, I did," he agreed. "Safety was paramount. And they were always told to let me know if they were uncomfortable with anything."

"Then there you have it. She knew 'safe and comfortable' meant you, and that's what she wanted. Then when she found out you were off the market, she wanted to know what I had that she didn't. It's not that simple of course, but to her grief-stricken and possibly abused mind, that's all she could think of. Now let's enjoy our time in the hot-tub."

He smiled, glad to change the subject. "I never thought to put one of these in Escala," Christian mentioned as we sunk into the water. "I had that huge bath tub, yes, but no jets. I wonder what the regulations are for outdoor hot tubs on the thirtieth floor of a building."

I shrugged, relaxing into the churning water, doing my best to resemble a stewing vegetable. "Well, there are buildings that have pools on the roof that are taller than Escala. I'm sure you could finagle your way into getting one on the balcony. Or hell, you could have it indoors, I suppose. Or install a jacuzzi bathtub."

"I'm trying to think ecologically. With as often as you like baths, and I know you're not the only woman who does, I think it would be un-environmentally conscious to fill that big bathtub so often. That's a lot of water." I couldn't disagree with his logic.

"You live here now; why do you want to install a hot tub at Escala?" Was it about Kate and Ethan still living here? About the playroom? It was my house. Hell, I could kick out Ethan and Kate if he wanted me to. They were both more than able to find housing on their own; and quite frankly, it was about time they did just that.

"Just thinking about the value of the property going up if it had a balcony hot tub."

"Value of the property… didn't you give it to Taylor and Gail?" I was confused.

"Tried to," he replied. "They won't accept it. Not for all the tea in china, Mrs. Jones told me. Taylor is currently looking for an apartment closer to here that they can share. Mrs. Jones wants to remain in my employ, but she's unsure as to what capacity since you already have a housekeeper. I know she's been keeping to the kitchen when she is with us, but she knows that's your playground and just wants to find the right fit for herself."

"Where is she now? Escala?" He nodded. "Call her and send her over here in a couple hours. I have a business proposition for her. And call Mia, too. Get here over here ASAP. She should be done at the diner by now. This is just as much her decision as mine, seeing as we're business partners." We got out of the tub, slipped into some comfy lounge-wear while I explained my plan to Christian. Thankfully he agreed with me and thought it was a marvelous idea. We then made our way downstairs to the great room to receive our guests. Mia arrived first so I was able to speak with her about my plans before Mrs. Jones got there, in case Mia didn't agree. She agreed enthusiastically, thankfully, and couldn't wait to get started with the preparations. Mrs. Jones arrived then, accompanied by Taylor. Mia and I put together some easy snacks and offered drinks to the lot.

"So what's going on?" Mrs. Jones asked, taking a sip of wine.

"Well, as you know, Christian has moved in with me full time. I already have a housekeeper, so your expertise is not being put to use at this time. Also, he informs me that you two are refusing to accept the Escala apartment as your home. So you'll have little to do, and if you're like me, and I know you are, you're going to go bat-shit crazy without a job, soon. Right?"

"Yes, I will," she agreed, looking down. "I'm sorry to say, but I am a bit of a workoholic. I love what I do. I only have to clean once a week at the Escala home since no one is living in the main part of the penthouse. And with not much cooking to do other than what I do here sometimes, I am going to go absolutely bonkers."

I nodded. "I'm wondering, since you're such a wonderful baker slash cook, and I know you'd run a tight ship, if you'd like to help us open our next restaurant and be the manager?" Gail looked back and forth between me and Mia, trying to decide if we were serious or not.

"Really?"

"Yes! We want to open a coffee shop slash bakery," Mia explained. "Mostly coffee and tea, but with some pastries and the like for breakfast and yummy baked goods, with maybe some salads and soups for lunch. The first name we agreed on was Jonesin' for Java, but we wanted to run that by you, first."

"Jonesin' for Java? Really? You want to use my name?" She sounded enthused, but I couldn't tell for sure. "Maybe you could spell it a bit differently? Like J-O-N-Z-I-N? I just think that spelling it like my name might look a little weird. But I love the idea and I'd love to manage it!"

"Jonzin' for Java! I love it!" Mia said, clapping her hands together with glee. "Oh, we can make the Z in 'Jonzin' look so cool on all the signage!" We decided to head over to Mammaw's to have dinner and discuss more plans. Taylor and Gail hadn't been there yet to actually eat, so it was a bit celebratory, too.

And cue the brainstorming. The group of us threw out ideas for what to do with the restaurant, how to design it, and Christian, ever the businessman, offered insight on how to fund and market it. We'd been through all of this with Mammaw's Diner, but with each new project, the work would be slightly different.

Christian's phone rang, taking him away from the table. We continued to throw out ideas for the evening and ultimately decided to visit Mammaw's as a group and have dinner together. Mia and I were very happy with how the restaurant was doing. Full house every night, happy wait-staff, happy cooks, happy managers, everything was wonderful. The food was still top-notch and they were following our recipes to a T, and we were actually turning a profit. Enough that we could start investing in a new project, hence Jonzin' for Java. Gordon Ramsay couldn't have done it better himself.

Christian was uncharacteristically quiet throughout the meal. He smiled and responded at all the cues, but didn't offer anything to the conversation. He also was barely touching his food, which was a huge tell. "What's wrong?" I asked him.

"You're far too observant for your own good," he replied, smirking at me.

"You've hardly said a word since your phone call earlier, you're not eating, and you're more tense than usual. Something's going on. Tell me."

"Nothing's wrong per se, just trying to figure out how to tell you."

Oh lord. "Tell me what?"

"Welch has the DNA results," Christian whispered to me. "Took him a bit longer due to some other issues at Grey House. But he emailed them to me and told me about it on the phone earlier."

"Oh! Bhutan! Holy Cows, I'd completely forgotten about that! Did he tell you over the phone?" I ask. With everything that happened since he'd been in my office, the DNA test completely fell out of my conscious memory.

Christian nodded. "He's your father," he said lowly. I grinned. That was the first good thing that had happened in regards to biological relations since Christian and I met. Pierre was an up-standing man, successful, and already had a loving family. I couldn't but admit to being excited about the idea of having more siblings. I loved Kate and Ethan more than anything, but there was always more room to love more people. I had always wanted a nice big family, and now with entering Christian's family and finding out about Pierre, I was adding five siblings. Though I'd have to be sure that I didn't let Kate and Ethan think that they were anything less than the best siblings I could ever ask for.

"Then I guess we should plan a trip to Paris," I muttered. His eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. And on that note. "Christmas is coming up soon, maybe we could spend it in France."

"France?! Who's going to France?" Mia asked, having heard the last part of my suggestion.

"Um, I was just suggesting that Christian and I go there for Christmas," I replied. "I don't know how much you know, but I've just learned who my biological father is. And he's from France."

"What? No way! Christian, you never tell me anything." She pouted, pushing her bottom lip out.

"It wasn't my story to tell, Mia. You know how I am about privacy." She kept pouting, but nodded in understanding. I remembered that she wasn't there the night we mentioned it to Kate, Ethan, and Elliot. She'd still been at the diner. And then I'd neglected to bring it up when I'd seen her after that. I didn't keep the info from her on purpose.

"I didn't intentionally keep you in the dark, Mia. I just realized you weren't there when I first mentioned him to the family. You were here. I guess he was the farthest thing from my mind when I saw you afterwards. Jeez, I'm sorry." She leaned over and gave me a one armed hug conveying that all was well. "His name is Pierre Bhutan, and he saw one of the news stories about me and put two and two together. He'd had a summer fling with my biological mother and never knew about me. We just did a DNA test and sure enough, he's my father."

Mia started clapping again, which apparently is her way of showing excitement when she can't jump up and down. A few restaurant patrons looked on in amusement, fully aware of who we were. "Anyway," I continued once she calmed down. "He wants a relationship with me. He knows that I already have a wonderful, loving father, and he's not trying to replace him, but just wants to get to know the daughter he never knew he had. And I'll admit, I'd like to get to know him, too. I like the idea of not all of my biological family being crazy or criminals. Plus, he has three kids, and I'd love nothing more than to have more siblings to dote upon at Christmas time."

"We should call him tomorrow," Christian suggested. "Put the bug in his ear about us coming to France. He'll have to discuss it with his family, of course, but I doubt he'll say no. Have you been to France?"

"Years ago," I replied. "And only overnight for a business meeting. Didn't really get to see much while I was there. I'm excited to use my French again."

"Oh! Parlez-vous français?" Mia asked in flawless French.

"Oui mon ami, couramment," I answered. Mia smiled and prattled on in French, ignoring the fact that two others at the table didn't speak a lick of it. "Mia, Taylor et Mme Jones ne parlent pas français."

She started giggling, and apologized to Taylor and Mrs. Jones for her slip. "Well, do you two want to go on your own or should we make it a family thing?" Mia asked.

Whoa, the Greys and the Steeles in France with the Bhutan family? Oh dear heavens, no. "Um, I think, since it'll be my first time meeting the rest of his family that it should just be me and Christian," I replied. Mia pouted a bit but said she understood. "On that note, Mia, have you ever wondered about your biological parents?"

She shrugged. "Not really. I mean I have such great parents already, I don't need any more."

I nodded. "I understand that. I never had a desire to know my biological family at all. I mean, I knew my mother, but I didn't ever care to know which one of the sleazy johns was my father. Interestingly enough, it wasn't any of them. In fact, if Pierre Bhutan hadn't found me, I'd have never looked for him. But now that I know… I can't imagine not knowing, can't fathom not wanting to meet the rest of his family and know my other siblings. I have no idea if relationships or friendships will form out of this, but now that they're within my grasp, I have to try."

Christian wrapped his arms around me. "I'll admit to being vaguely curious once or twice as to who my father was. I was reasonably sure he was just another lowlife like my mother, and I was right, but I do feel a bit relieved now that I know. Unlike you, I'd have never wanted anything to do with that bastard, but at least I'll know about any genetic predispositions to heart concerns or cancer and the like."

"Exactly. We both have some shady characters in our family trees, but I think it's only made us all the better for it," I told him. He smiled, leaned over, and kissed me sweetly. And as if on cue, Taylor stood up from the table, then got down on one knee. Holy shit!

"Gail, I've known you for four years now, and every one of those moments have been amazing. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?" He presented her with a small red box. Cartier. Jeez, I knew Christian paid him well, but dayum. Inside was a platinum ring with a simple square cut diamond ringed by tiny rubies. Just Gail's style.

"Oh, Jason. Yes of course I will!" Happy tears sparkled in her eyes as he wrapped her in his arms and slid the ring onto her finger. We all cheered and clapped, which earned more attention from the other restaurant-goers, who then joined in the fun.

"This calls for a toast," I declared. We still had a bottle of champagne chilling in the fridge from commemorating the opening night, so I had our server fetch it for us with some glasses. We toasted the happy couple and had fun for the rest of the evening. It was nice to feel normal for once.

Christian PoV

I didn't know why, but I felt like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop when it came to Bhutan. Perhaps it was only because in the short time I've known Ana, every biological relation we've discovered has been less than stellar. Then again, perhaps my intuition was working correctly and there was something to know. Welch had done a thorough background check and nothing came up. Pierre Bhutan had been an upstanding citizen since day one. Even his parents checked out. Welch was in the process of running checks on the former wives and children to be sure, but something told me those would be clean too. I needed to let it go and tell Ana the results before she got upset with me for withholding information.

Taylor's surprise proposal definitely took the thunder of the evening, for which I was grateful. He had picked out a lovely ring for her and wouldn't let me help at all. I had offered to call it his early Christmas bonus, but he wouldn't hear of it. "No sir. I've been saving a while now, and I've got it. You pay me well enough as it is, I don't need a bonus for this ring. Save your money for your own woman's ring." He'd winked at me then. In all the years I'd known him, he'd never once winked at me, or anyone for that matter. The lines between boss and employee were blurring if not disappearing all together. And I couldn't find it in me to be upset about that fact.

After dinner, Ana and I returned home and got lost in each other. Then it was back to business as usual. I went to work, she went to work, we got home, had dinner, had each other, then slept. A routine was finally forming, and it was nice. I liked it. I had made the decision to propose to her on Christmas Eve, preferably under the Eiffel Tower. Yes, it might be cheesy and overdone, but something told me she was going to love it.

Thanksgiving was fast approaching and with that, the decision of whether we would attend Thanksgiving with her family or mine. "Why not both?" she'd suggested. "We could have it here. Your parents haven't been here but twice, so it makes sense. Let's host our first Thanksgiving together, babe."

She had me at babe. "Alright, let's do it," I agreed. "Turkey or ham?"

"Both," she answered. "That's a Steele tradition, anyway. I think we should mix our rituals with your family's a bit. What does your family do?"

"I'm afraid this is one instance in which the Grey family is rather boring. Normal turkey with normal side dishes and all the fixings. Oh, my mother will likely insist on providing the bread. She makes amazing dinner rolls." My mouth was salivating just thinking about it. Nothing beat my mom's dinner rolls. Nothing at all. "I think we do a wine toast and say what all we're thankful for, and that's about it."

"Wow, well, I guess this is a case of Steele Takeover," she replied. "Our Thanksgivings are always memorable. Just let me handle things, love, 'kay?"

"Okay," I agreed. As much as I'd always loved being in control of my entire life, I was happy to relinquish this to Ana, if not a few other things that she's sort of acquired since I've known her. She's taken control of my heart, that's for sure.