AUTHOR'S NOTE –

This chapter is another collaboration of AJ and I. We decided to take this chapter into another twist. Many women today, like always, have been facing sexual harassment on their work place. This had put a lot of insecurities to women that are trying to make their way to the top in their careers. Unfortunately today, although we are in the 21st Century, women are still facing this problem on their work places. Unfortunately, not many of them are able to voice their fears and not all of them are able to stop this vicious cycle, which leads to many women either abandoning a particular position or even resign from their work place.

Quoting AJ – "Please, let's face this reality, and realise that sexual harassment is around us if we open our eyes and see it. It is our choice to put a stop to this. My mother was a victim to these mishaps, but she was lucky enough that her boss found out, and she was courageous enough to report it.

Each year, above 15,000 (5% to 15%) complaints are reported… but it makes us all think… like many situations not everything is reported, and many chose to keep suffering in silence because they are afraid of showing weakness or even on being judged. Please let's join forces and fight this all together, as men and women. IF you see someone is being mistreated on the work place or anywhere whether men or women (because sexual harassment isn't only experience by women but also men) we should either put a stop to it, or report it right ahead. It would save a lot of trouble to the victim and we all would be living in a safer environment.

To sum up, I would like to thank you all for taking your time in reading this note and I want to thank you all for giving us a chance to raise awareness on these situations."

I hope you enjoy this chapter and PLEASE REVIEW! :)

Sera's POV

I quickly removed the ear buds and stood up immediately facing the person behind me. I was shocked at him. I didn't expect him here.

'Ms. Grey… you seem distressed by my presence.' He started coyly.

'Um… H… Hi Mr. Thompson…' I greeted back gently. 'Please daddy… don't take long… don't take long…' I kept mumbling the sutra over and over again in my mind.

'Why the formality?' He asked smirking as I tried recovering and not showing weakness. 'Come on… we've known each other for quite some time now…' He said again as he brought up his hand to my cheek as I quickly removed it. 'My my how much you've grown since I've last seen you… It was at l'Estillo if I remember correctly… right?'

'My father will soon be here…'

'Oh… I know…' He said again as he grabbed a lock of my curls and brought it to his nose.

'Um… do you want some coffee, tea, water Earl?' I asked him as fast as I could and got out of the closed space he was leaving me in.

'Coffee… I like it strong and hot…' He said again from behind while I switched on the electric kettle.

'Tell me Sera, how are you after that night?' He smiled wickedly again as he moved to the glass door and closed the blinds.

'Please daddy… please come!' I begged in my heart.

'I remember seeing you cringing in pain… Damn when you were younger you were easier to handle. I loved the time when your father trusted me with you… I could touch you all over…' He continued as he moved forward while I moved backwards. '…until you grew up… you were 11 if I remember correctly… and you didn't want to be in my presence. I remember you begged your Daddy Warbucks to take you wherever he went…'

'Earl… please… you've had what you wanted…'

'Oh no… I haven't Sera… I truly haven't… You see… the plan was that I would grab the DVD of that night and send it to your father… I was going to bribe him with it… You know selling it to the news company… It would actually have been good…' He continued as he kept moving forward. 'Do you remember that night?'

Flashback – In the Alley – L'Estillo club

'Oh yes Josh! Do her good!' Earl started. 'Move a bit to the left… There…'

'No… please… I'll do anything… I have money… I'll give you the money…' I begged. 'Please… don't… I have money… I'll give you money…' I tried again… 'PLEAASSSEEEEE' I SCREAMED AS HE PUSHED HIS THROBBING ERECTION INSIDE OF ME.

'Oh Sera… I don't want your money… I want to ruin your father's empire!'

'Please Josh… Please don't!' I begged again as he continued trusting harder and harder.

'You think because you're daddy's princess you'll be having it easy… you're wrong! Big time!' He continued as his laugh echoed into my ear. 'Pinch her… yes that's it… pull her bra off…' He continued. 'Oh my… daddy must be very proud with this…What I would do to that body… Josh move over and hold the camera…' He ordered as Josh took the camera and exited me. As I felt his weight shift off me, I tried making a run for it, but it was to no use. Earl grabbed my foot and lifted me off. He threw me against the wall and came over to me. I tried getting up but it was too late. He was on top of me and in few seconds he was inside me instead of Josh. 'Oh God… you're so tight…'

'Show her face…' Josh guided.

'My my Sera… this is what daddy kept… my jewel… remember back when you were young? How much we played while I took you to the park? Wow… those were the times… but this is better… way better…' He continued.

'Please… stop…' I begged.

'Fucking shut up slut…' Earl ordered again as Josh hit me straight across my face and held me. 'The deflowering was the best scene… Daddy will be so proud of that… Oh God… you're so damned tight…' He said again as he hit me again. 'You can be my call girl… How would you like that now?' He continued as I tried pushing him off. 'Pathetic… you think you can get rid of me this easily?' He laughed again. 'Don't worry Sera… I'll let Josh do the honours…' He said again as he grabbed the camera from Josh and quickly changed places. 'I got a taste of how you are…' He smiled again as he came over my face while Josh entered me again.

'Josh…'

'Yes… Yes… say my name while I cum…' Josh replied as he increased his speed while I felt thick liquid over my face. I looked up and Earl was there. He grabbed his genitalia and pushed it in my mouth.

'Wow… That was great…' He said again as he stood up and waited for Josh to finish but soon the back door opened. I thought I was imagining it, but I saw two men running.

'Fuckk…' Earl shouted as he closed the camera and made a run for it leaving Josh there. 'Say anything about me Sera, and your father is dead…'

'Josh…'

'Yes…. Yess… that's it…' He said as he pushed harder. I felt something warm coming inside me. Was that a man coming? Please…I hope not.

All of a sudden I felt Josh being torn away from me.

End of Flashback

'You remember don't you?' He said again as I held stronger to the cabinet. 'I do… you were so good… You know… I'm still not tired of watching the video over and over again. Only I realized that I don't have to bribe your father… because as the General Manager, I could destroy this slowly… and I did… until you came along…'

'I kept your secret…'

'Oh… I know you did… Daddy dearest still doesn't know anything…' He smiled again. 'It became easier… you were destroying yourself slowly… your father did leave this abandon ship… The plan worked perfectly well… until you fucking came along with your 'revolutionising' ideas…'

'Please, what do you want from me?'

'Nothing special… Just… let's see…' He continued as he took out the DVD. 'Maybe send this all over the news.'

'Please… please don't!' I begged as I moved forward trying to get it off his hand.

'Yes… that's it…move forward…' He said again as he grabbed me from my wrists and threw me to the floor. From the angle I was I could see dad's red emergency button. I tried making a run to it, but he quickly grabbed me again. It was at that moment that dad entered the room slowly, only to find Earl pushing me over his desk hitting me across my face.

'You fucking bastard!' He quickly grabbed him from me and hit him down. I quickly moved and pressed the button. 'Sera… get out now…' Dad ordered as he held him from his chest.

Christian's POV

I was on my way back to work when my phone vibrated. I quickly picked up as it was Prescott.

'Grey…' I answered sternly.

'Mr. Grey… There is a problem with your office cameras. At one point they were working and now it's blank…' She replied. 'By any chance did you disable your cameras? Because we're not getting any signal here…'

'What? No… I went out for lunch… I left my daughter in the office.' I panicky replied as I sped to GEH.

'Mr. Grey… we'll take the situation in our hand…' She replied.

'Get someone down to my office now…' I ordered as I hung up and parked straight into first spot I found.

I could feel it in my bones that something had happened. Samantha ran straight to me as I entered my area.

'Mr. Grey, Mr. Thompson is in your office. He said he has urgent issues to discuss…' She informed me as I quickly took a look and realized that the blinds were closed. 'Sera!' I thought to myself.

'Get security here now!' I ordered as I ran to my office and barged in. I was glad I did so at that moment.

'You fucking bastard!' I quickly grabbed him from my daughter and hit him down. She quickly moved and pressed the button. 'Sera… get out now…' I ordered as I held him from his chest. 'Samantha aid to her now…' I ordered again as security gathered around. He disabled the security cameras… he waited for me to leave my daughter alone. I hit him straight across his face, and from his jacket two CD's fell with it. I shoved them under my desk with my foot as security grabbed him.

'Fuck…' He said.

'Earl you crossed the line this time… you touch my daughter and you see it with me.'

'Hahahahaha Mr. Grey… the point wasn't on touching your precious Jewel… the point was on getting to you… and if your perky nosey girl didn't save your last project, I would have taken out another important asset to this company…' He smirked as I hit him straight across his face.

'You'll hear from my lawyers, and if you are intelligent enough you will let my lawyers get to your lawyers…'

They took him away, but I still didn't know what happened. He disabled the cameras, he knew what to do. I picked up the DVD's and took a look at them. It's a good thing that I kept a 24/7 voice recorder. I moved to my wall unit and opened the Green book. I removed the microchip from the recorder and inserted it straight to my laptop. I picked up my daughter's ear buds and heard the full conversation. I felt turmoil at how I didn't figure this out. I then realized what one of the DVD's included. He was part of the plan of Josh's rape… she covered for him to save me… I realized at the moment that she would go to the extent to keep me safe… even if it meant that she would be suffering… I could only imagine what that prick done to my daughter.

I placed one of the DVD's into the drive. I was astonished at all the information. He had everything on my company… he had everything on GEH… he could have sold me out… I could have gone to dust with all of this.

One of the DVD's was covered… I could only assume what there was on the second one. I moved to my safe and locked all information there. I quickly changed the code just in case there was someone else that was working with Thompson. I had to re-check GEH's body. There was no way I was going t let anyone destroy what I've built.

As I finished my task, I moved to the women's bathroom. Samantha was still aiding to my daughter's face. She held a cloth with packed ice to her face. Her lip was split and bruises were already forming on her neck.

'Samantha… can you give us a minute?' I asked her as she exited the rest room leaving my daughter and I staring at each other. She removed the cloth and I could see a red palm marking on her cheek. I touched her hand lightly almost asking permission. I didn't want to scare her from me too now. 'May I?' I asked her as I took the cloth with ice from her hand. I sat beside her facing her and brought up the cloth to her face. She flinched in pain but I held it in place with even pressure. 'Are you ok?' I asked her gently while she nodded. 'I know what happened… I know everything…' I started.

'You heard it all…' She let her gaze drop.

'Hey… don't be ashamed!' I encouraged as I lifted her chin. 'Why didn't you tell me about it peanut?'

'Dad… he said he'll kill you…' She replied. 'I only have one father… I don't want to lose you too…'

'Why did you keep this burden to yourself?'

'I could handle it… for as long as you were alive and your reputation was ok… I rested my mind.'

'…so is that why you had that outburst when I didn't talk to you?'

'Yeah…' She admitted. 'I wanted to tell you… I really did want to… but I wanted to keep you safe…' She replied. 'That is the one thing I could do myself… keep you safe…' She said again.

'Is that why you flinched when Thompson cut you off during the meeting?'

'Mhmm…' She replied as I placed the ice back to her face.

'Sera… I need you to tell me everything about that night… everything in detail…'

'No dad… No… Please don't make me…' She panicked.

'Sera… you need to let me in… you need to open up… I need to know everything in order to keep you safe…'

'I promise you anything you want… you can ground me for all my life if you'd like… you can take anything from me… just… please… don't make me relive it…' She begged with tears in her eyes.

'Ok… ok…' I comforted her. I knew this was early for her.

'I was praying you'd come dad… I was praying you'd be here…' She cried.

'Shh baby…' I hugged her tight.

'I wanted to stall him so you can come and nail him… when you told me you fired him I was relieved and scared at the same time… I knew what he could do to you… I knew what his ways were…'

'How long has he been doing this?'

'Remember when you used to have video call conferences?'

'Yes… You were 5, or 6 yea…' I stopped in my tracks as she dropped her gaze.

'When you gave me the period and sex talk… I realized that something wasn't good…'

'Is that why you asked me about how people touch?' I asked again as she nodded slowly.

'That's why I never wanted to leave your side whenever you brought me to work… That's why I clung to your hand…' She admitted. I felt ashamed at that moment… During those times I used to think that it's because she wanted to push it to the limit. It wasn't the first time that I forced her to go with Earl… How could I do that? 'I know what it takes to be as powerful as you dad… I understand that with your importance… there will be people that love us and hate us…'

'Sera… you could always have told me!'

'…and what? Risk that you die? Risk losing my only father? Risk losing you? Every morning I wake up with the fear that one of you will end up a victim of some hater… Daddy I cannot lose you… I'd rather suffer than watch you or mum die…' She cried as I hugged her tight to me. She loved me… she loved us enough to want to keep us safe… I kissed her forehead and held her tighter. Her arms wrapped around me and she returned the hug as I let her cry into me.

'Shh peanut…' I encouraged as I rubbed her back.

'I'm sorry daddy… I'm sorry I disappointed you…'

'Honey…' I let go of the embrace and looked straight into her eyes. 'I've never been proud of you than ever Sera! You chose to suffer and take all this pain to keep me safe… You had the guts to do it… I wouldn't have been able to take it…' I admitted. 'Sera, you just shown me that whatever I did to you… whatever pain I put you through, you still fought for me… you fought for my life and love…'

'I love you dad… I've always had…' She cried again. 'I'm just tired of all these bad things happening… What did I do to deserve all of these?' She said between sobs.

'You did nothing wrong Sera…' I said again as I lifted her face. 'You did nothing wrong… the world around us is what's wrong Sera… there is evil around us and we have to continuously fight it.'

'…but I'm tired of fighting… I want to give up dad…'

'No Sera… you are not going to give up… I will fight for you… Just trust in me…'

'What if Elena destroys you too? What then?' She spit out.

'You know?'

'Yes dad I know… You try to hide things… but last night I went in your study and read all the files… I know I'm not supposed to look into your files… but I heard you and my grandparents' discuss… I wanted to see if I can help…' She explained. 'I fucked up… I went to Eric… I believed him and I fucking trusted him… I let him tie me up and I let him fuck me up… I didn't fight… I tried telling him to stop… but that's it… I… I… I didn't put up a fight dad…' She cried. 'He said it's normal…and that it's ok… After he got what he wanted he told me about Elena… about how you fought for me… and how stupid enough I am to still go to him…' she sobbed. 'I'm fucking stupid… that's what I am…' She cried as she got up and paced away from me. 'I had to be fucking stubborn… I had to let my heart guide me rather than my mind… I chose to listen to what I wanted to…'

'Sera…' I stood up and stopped her from her shoulders. 'Sera stop it…' I ordered again as I hugged her tight. 'Sera, listen to me intently. IT wasn't your fault. Eric went by 6 different names. Each and every time he chose to destroy young girls like you…' I explained. 'It is not your fault!' I said again as I hugged her tight. '…but you need to promise me something… you need to talk to John about this… if you don't want to talk to me… you have to talk to John…'

'No… no dad… I'm not talking to anyone…' She said panicky as she pushed me away. 'Don't you see? Talking never solves fucking anything dad! Bad things still happen no matter how much we talk about them… Things are still going to happen and the past already happened and there is nothing you or John can do to change it…' She panicked as her eyes darted. She was having a panic attack… It's exactly how they were back few months ago. I moved forward and hugged her tighter. It always calmed her down. I just had to keep holding her… Her legs were giving out slowly. I picked her up bridal style and sat down with her on my lap. 'Dad… please… don't make me…' she begged.

'I'm sorry Sera… but you have no control about this… you are as self-destructive as I am… You are a carbon copy of me.' I explained as I held my chin over her head. 'Just please… I'm asking you one thing… Don't give up on me… I want to get back all that lost time… It's never too late… but I need you here to do so… We'll start over…'

'It's the third time we're saying this…how many times are we going to start over?'

'Until we get it right… I am your father and I am never letting you go… I will keep you here… I will do anything it takes to have you with me… I won't lose another child…' I confessed. 'I love you peanut… I love you very much… you are a piece of me… just don't give up on us…'

'How can you love someone so fucked up? How can you love someone so damaged? I've put you and mum through misery…'

'Stop it Sera… it is our job to keep you safe… and you want to know why I still love you? Because you are my baby girl… you are what changed my life… I was an idiot on taking you for granted… I was a jerk in thinking that if I keep my distance we would be better… the issues your mother and I had make me lose track of my life… made me lose my train of thought…'

'Dad…'

'Let me finish Sera… I love you and I've never stopped loving you… that is why I don't give up on you and that is why I need you to hold on for a little longer…'

'Dad a trip to some country won't fix anything. What I want is my father… I don't want your money… I don't want your riches… I don't want your frikkin' jets or first class seats… I don't want any of that… All I want is a father…' She looked straight into my eyes. 'All I want is someone to love me no matter what… All I want is to know that you are going to be there picking me up whenever I'm going to fall… I want to know my father… I want to know what lies beneath that stone hard face… I want to know all those gross details you used to do when you were young… when you were my age… I want to be able to talk to my father without feeling ashamed…'

'You shouldn't be ashamed of me!'

'Really dad? I shouldn't? She asked. 'You said it yourself that you regret having us…'

'I didn't mean it that way…'

'The words are plainly simple dad…'

'Sera… what I meant is that I couldn't keep your brother and you safe… I feel guilty for lacking in being a parent… There is no pain bigger than seeing your own kids getting hurt…' I explained. 'The only thing I regret is that I couldn't get to you on time… I couldn't catch you before you were in deep anorexia… I couldn't catch you when you almost killed yourself… twice… I wasn't there to keep Earl and Josh from hurting you… and I couldn't keep my past from both you and your brother… Sera please… don't give up…' I begged. 'Will you give me another chance?' I asked her while she nodded gently.

'Are you going to tell mum about today?'

'I have to peanut… we don't keep any secrets between us… they are the reason that a relationship fails…'

'Do you love mum?'

'With all my heart…' I replied as I held her tight to me. Her body was failing on me faster than I could keep her awake. 'We should go home.' I said again as I lifted her off.

'No…' she fought me. 'I can walk…' she jumped down.

'Sera… you don't have to be independent.' I said again as I held her before she crumbled to the ground.

'It's embarrassing…'

'You're my kid… who has a problem should bug off…' I said again as I picked her up and made our way out. 'I'm taking you to my mother… she needs to check you over…'

'Dad… I'm fine…' She insisted as I took the elevator down.

'There is no arguing in this… You need to be checked out…' I cut her off. I unlocked the car and placed her gently into the passenger seat. I put on her seat belt, and realized that I've left the DVD's in my office vault. 'Shit… Sera… I'm going to leave you for a second in the car… I'll be locking it. I need to go and get some things... I won't take long…' I told her, but I doubt she heard me. She was out of herself in seconds.

As I went back up again I was already on the phone with my mother. She wants to keep her for observation. The past few days we've been so busy that we lacked her diet. She wasn't taking care of herself. This time she's not going to relapse again… not under my watch…

PLEASE REVIEW! :)