NOTE FROM RIOTTORI: THIS IS ANOTHER SHORT CHAPTER BUT I WANT TO MOVE THE ACTION ON. I'M PLEASED THAT WE'RE GETTING MORE OF STRONG ANA - I MUCH PREFER HER THIS WAY. THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS. ONCE I POST THIS, I'LL WRITE MORE SO I SHOULD DEFINITELY PUBLISH MORE TODAY. ENJOY...

Christian:

Divorce? My wife is talking about divorcing me? I feel the blood drain from my head as if I'm slowly turning to stone. She wants me to be with Alice? I can't, I physically cannot be near that girl. I could do her damage, lasting damage. I feel the rage flex my hands into fists.

The things she's written about, the lies that followed the truth in the first chapters, may have just killed my marriage. How can I prove to Ana that I never touched her? That I wasn't lying in Black's office?

Hatred rips through me and I clench my fists harder. I have an urge to beat the shit out of one specific brown-haired girl.

"No," I say, decisively. "If I'm in the same room as that...that...I'd kill her."

I look at my wife's face and see relief crash over it.

"What?" I ask, wondering at the root of the relief. She shakes her head and the look disappears.

"Then you pay her off. I reckon a million will do it." It's not the money that bothers me, it's that she's won. I played right into her hands. I'd lost everything because of my stupidity and now I was going to give her a financial reward. "A million to sign the NDA and then we can bury this ugly episode."

Her words sound full of promise. Ana has stunned me once again. Bury the ugly episode and move on. I reach for her, to bridge the space between her to take her hand, to thank her, to say sorry, so much emotion encompassed in one touch, but she rears back, away from me. I realize I have misunderstood. The 'we' she was referring to is the family, not just her and me.

She stands, my cue to leave. "I'll handle everything. Fax me over an NDA and I'll have her sign. I'll arrange the money through Grey Publishing, make it look like I'm paying her for the manuscript."

"No, Ana. I don't want you to meet her. She could be dangerous."

She fixes me with a stare, fury residing in the bright blue. "So can I."

Alice:

She wants to meet me to discuss my manuscript. I received a simple letter stating that Grey Publishing was very interested in my work. I thought they might be. I read the letter again, lying on my bed, and I allow myself a little laugh. After the upset of the past few weeks, I deserve a little happiness. I can't wait for the meeting. It is going to be so much fun.

Christian:

She won't tell me when the meeting is taking place so I've taken matters into my own hands. My wife can be so stubborn sometimes. I've hired my guy to be on constant surveillance outside Grey Publishing and another to watch Miss Thomas' house.

I did my background check in the end. Alice Thomas, 24. English major, graduated with honors. This I knew. Lives with her mother in suburbia. Mom, abandoned by husband, Alice's dad, when she was pregnant with Alice. Never re-married. No serious relationship. Works sporadically as a waitress. Spends money on booze. I could ruin them, I could annihilate them. I will. As soon as she signs the NDA. Alice Thomas is going to wish she'd never set her sights on Christian Grey.

Every day I wait for the phone call to say that Miss Thomas is on her way to meet my wife. And today is no different.

Ana:

I have contacted her. I have arranged a meeting, a little tet-a-tet with the woman who stole my husband. I'm going to get a proper look at her instead of the rushed encounter at Christian's office, the obscured view of her at Lorenzo's. I am perfecting my act, the hurt little wife, the loser. I almost can't wait to bring another shade of Ana to life. The voice cackles in the background.