Chapter 13

CPOV

Well, getting punched by Anastasia's father was a shock to my system. I knew he didn't like me all that much, every since the scandal of my sex life became public knowledge, but I think that man truly hates me.

"Annie,-" Ray begins, only to stop and glare at me. Normally when a man looks at me like that, I glare right back, unfazed, but this is my girlfriend's father, I can't have him on my bad side anymore than he already is.

"Christian, can you give us a minute?" Anastasia being the sweet girl she is, is trying to defuse the problem. Poor girl must be stuck between a rock and a hard place, her father and I.

I don't want to leave her, but I have no choice, and it will give me the opportunity to talk with Taylor.

"Sure, baby," I know it's risky with her father sitting right there, but I kiss her head before I leave. "I'll be right outside."

Now that Ray knows Anastasia is okay, I know what their conversation will likely be about; getting me away from his little girl. Anastasia is a grown woman, therefore she can do whatever she wants without her father's consent, but what if he convinces her that she is far too good for me, which she is.
Instead of focusing on that, I need to focus on this fuck up that's happened tonight. Taylor is still standing guard just outside the door, so I wait until the door is fully closed before I begin.

"I take it that was your warning knock?"

"Yes, sir." His face is impassive, but I know he wants to smirk at seeing my spilt lip. "I saw Mr. Steele heading towards the room, and while he is Ms. Steele's father, he didn't look thrilled, so I thought alerting you would be best, given the current situation."

"Good thinking," I can only imagine what Ray would have done if he actually saw me kissing his daughter. Thankfully he only saw me getting off the bed.

"What do we know?" I begin the debriefing.

"Well, sir, as you know, Barney found the photos of Ms. Steele's photo session on Mr. Rodríguez's personal computer. Since they are official photos of the shoot from yesterday, and we banned the use of personal phones and cameras, it has to be an inside job."

"I agree."

"Welch is checking out everyone that was in attendance during the shoot."

"Make sure you check out that assistant that was willing to tie Anastasia up. He seemed a little too happy to be doing the task."

"Yes, sir."

"Do we have anything new to speak of?"

"Barney discovered that Ms. Steele blocked Mr. Rodríguez's number and email address from all her devices. Apparently, Mr. Rodríguez has been trying to get in touch with Ms. Steele for some time now. It's likely her silence, along with seeing the photos of you kissing, that caused him to snap."

"Anastasia never mentioned Rodríguez was bothering her enough to block him. Last I knew, they were friends, but now that I think about it, I don't remember the last time they interacted. Why wouldn't she tell me he was bothering her?"

Before we can continue, Anastasia's door opens and Mr. Steele walks out.

"Taylor, may I please have a word."

"Of course, Mr. Steele." Taylor steps away from me to speak with Ray.

Sawyer comes up next to me and hands me the bag of food for Anastasia and I, along with our drinks.
Before I can go back inside Anastasia's room, Ray speaks, and he's loud enough for me to hear.

"I just want to thank you for saving my daughter, not just for tonight, but for saving her from being attacked after graduation."
What the fuck is he talking about, not just tonight?

Wait.

He's thanking Taylor for protecting her after graduation? What happened after graduation, and why the fuck don't I know about it?!

"Mr. Steele," Taylor's voice brings me from my unanswered questions. "I will always protect your daughter as if she were my own."

"Well, thank you." They shake hands. "I am in your debt."

I resist shaking my head and rolling my eyes when he glares at me. I swear, this man will never approve of me.

"What the fuck was that about, Taylor," I hiss quietly when Ray walks away, so he wont hear me snapping at my employee and have more of a reason to dislike me. "He attacked my wife after graduation and you didn't tell me?!"

"Ms. Steele asked me not to, sir." Is his lame excuse. "I didn't see a reason to involve-"

"Oh, well by all means," I cut him off as I sneer sarcastically, "As long as Ms. Steele asked you not to tell me, your boss!"

I push passed him so I can speak with Anastasia about this.

"Christian, I am so, so sorry for my dad's behaviour." She begins as soon as I walk in, seeing that I'm pissed. "I just want you to know, I wont stand for it."

"He wont change his opinion of me, Anastasia, so there's nothing we can do." I growl, trying to control my temper, as I set our dinner down on the side table.

"What's the matter?" She obviously can sense when something's wrong with me.

"Apart from this fucked up situation," I run my fingers through my hair as I begin to pace her hospital room. "How about your father thanking Taylor for saving you from being attacked the night of your graduation and you not telling me about it, or better yet, you telling my employee to keep shit from me." I'm not sure which is worse at the moment.

"You weren't supposed to find out, and if you did, I didn't mean for you to find out this way. I didn't think my dad would say anything in front of you."

"You know I think your father said it loud enough for me to hear, just to piss me off."

"Christian, please." She stresses. "Don't start in on my dad, I just heard it from him, I don't need it from you too."

"What did he say?" I begin to worry.

"Just the usual, nothing new, nothing for you to worry about."

"Nothing for me to worry about?" I repeat, continuing to pace. "Anastasia, your father despises me. He was trying desperately to get you away from me when we were just friends, I can only imagine what he's planning now that he knows we're in a committed relationship. I've tried to play nice, believe me, I have, but he's never going to like me, and I know he's going to convince you to leave me. I fear he's going to succeed in taking you away from me."

"Christian, come here."

I pull my hand out of my hair, that I didn't realize was there, then go to her side and sit next to her on the bed.

"Nobody, and I repeat, nobody will take me away from you, or convince me that you're not it for me." She tries hard to convince me, and it's working. "I've known you for years, Christian, I know you better than anyone, and I'm not going anywhere."

"I'm sorry, baby," I sigh as I hold her close. "But why wouldn't you tell me about what happened the night of your graduation, Anastasia?"

"Well, you have a tendency to overreact and it was dealt with."

"I do not overreact," I reply offensively. "I react appropriately according to the situation."

"Christian, you are known to go thermonuclear over the smallest things." She tells me straight. "Besides, it doesn't really matter because Taylor took care of it and José hasn't bothered me since. Honestly, discovering it was him tonight was a shock."

"He hasn't bothered you since?" I question, "What about you blocking the bastard from contacting you?"

"What are you talking about?" She asks confused.
...

RAYPOV

That cocky son of a bitch really gets on my nerves, I don't know who he thinks he is, or why my baby girl is fascinated with him.
Bile came up in my throat when I heard him refer to my Annie as his wife, and I nearly went back to kill him for saying such a thing. If he took Annie away and forced her to marry him, he will have the biggest target on his back. Dating is one thing, but marriage?!
He is pure evil in my eyes. A man that tortures women is nothing but a monster.

I am convinced that Grey somehow had a hand in tonight's events. That's right, I'm blaming Grey for the death of my friend's son.
Annie must have been mistaken about José Jr. coming onto her after graduation, he was always such a good kid, he wouldn't do something like that. I am sure Grey has got into her head already and made it worse than it seemed. I wouldn't be surprised if Grey hired someone put the gun in José Jr.'s hand to justify what they did to him, all without Taylor's knowledge.

I'm coming back to the hospital first thing tomorrow morning, when Annie is released from the hospital, and taking my daughter away from that sadist.
As soon as I make it back to my hotel room, I take matters into my own hands and make arrangements for Annie to come back to Montesano with me. I know the distance is nowhere near as far away from Grey as I would like, but I am taking her away from his evil clutches once and for all. It was one thing that she was friends with this sick fucker, but now he's convinced her to be with him, and I wont stand for that. He'll only end up hurting her, and I will not allow him to corrupt my sweet little girl, not on my watch.

She's always defending him, he's probably already brainwashed her, so I need to act fast. I should have asked Annie for more information, because I really want to know how long this so-called relationship has gone on for. Last I knew, they were just friends, only friends, and nothing more.
I've already called an old Army buddy of mine, he has a brother that works private security and gave me his number. I explained my situation to him, and he's going to meet me at the hotel I'm staying at tomorrow so we can come up with a plan to get her away.
If I need to, I will hire this guy to be Annie's security, so I know she wont go back to Grey.
I planned on hiring this guy as a CPO for Annie anyway, someone I choose to protect my daughter, not someone on Grey's payroll, but then I thought better of it and came up with another plan. I'm going to push Grey out of our lives for good.
Fuck Grey! Fucking sadist bastard!

KATEPOV .

Ana isn't back from the charity event yet, so she must be staying with Grey tonight. Instead of calling it a night, I decided to stay in the main room and flip through channels. Just as I change the channel to a news station, I see the news about the Coping Together shooting that happened earlier tonight.

"Oh my god!" I quickly stand when I see the video footage they play. It shows Grey holding Ana on the ground before they take her away in an ambulance.
Why didn't anyone call me?! I'm her best friend, for goodness sake! I quickly call Ray as I make my way out and to the hospital.

"This is Ray." He answer calmly.

"Ray!" I probably shouldn't be driving and talking on my phone while I'm panicking. "I just saw the news, is Ana okay?"

"She's fine physically."

"Oh, thank god." I say relieved, but, "No one called me."

"Don't worry, Katie, no one called me either. I found out the same way as you."

"Why wouldn't they call you?!" He's her dad!

"Grey." He growls Christian's name full of hatred. "That selfish son of a bitch didn't bother to notify her father."

I know Ray doesn't approve of Christian, and I don't like him either, but Ray doesn't like him because of Christian's sexual preferences. I just can't stand his arrogant high-handed asshole self, and he's so fucking controlling.

"José was the shooter, Katie." Ray tells me. "Grey's men killed him."

"José?" I feel the blood drain from my face.

"I'm sorry, honey. I know you girls were close to him."

I can't help but feel guilty. After graduation I got fed up with José bothering Ana. I knew she didn't like him and he was acting like a love-sick puppy, constantly coming around, calling and emailing her. I knew it was getting to her, and I was concerned, so I took it upon myself to block all his calls, texts, and emails from all her devices. I am surprised that Grey's goons haven't figured out about the blocks on Ana's devices. Ana just assumed José gave up the idea of them being together and backed off, she never knew I blocked him and I never told her what I did. It's clear that he must have been obsessed with her, and since she hasn't spoken to him, because I blocked him from contacting her, he must of snapped. I've arrived at the hospital, trying to get the courage to go in there and tell Ana what I did, that it's all my fault José snapped.
...

APOV

I am so angry at my dad for mentioning the whole José graduation saga in front of Christian. He had to of done it to upset Christian, but pissing Christian off isn't going to make me leave him. I have seen and heard Christian have plenty of temper tantrums over the years, even being on the receiving end of a few of them myself, and I am still here. I don't know who is worse, my dad or Christian. They both are set in their own ways, so overprotective and can't see reason besides their own. A part of me can understand them, they both want me safe and the best for me, but part of me doesn't understand why they are so stubborn. Christian suggested we eat while we talk, so that's what we are doing. I don't know what he's talking about though, because I never blocked José from contacting me, I just thought he gave up the stupid notion of us being together and stopped bothering me.

"Well, someone must have done this." Christian tells me. "It would have been nice to know you had a threat, this matter could have been taken care of sooner, and what happened tonight wouldn't have happened the way it did if we knew."

"I didn't block him, honest, and I'm only ever with you, or at home with-"

A knock at the door interrupts me, and soon Taylor pops his head in.
"Pardon the interruption," He says, "But Ms. Kavanagh is here to see Ms. Steele."

"Oh my gosh," I totally forgot about Kate, I'm such an awful friend. "Yes, send her in."

She practically flies into the room, all hysterical and wind-swept, nothing like her usual well put together self. I can sense Christian's annoyance when she hugs me a little too tight, but these two have never got along.

"Oh, Ana, I saw the news, and they showed a video, then I called your dad and he said it was José who had done this." She continues rambling on and on.

"I didn't think he would do something like this, he was our friend. I just thought it was an innocent crush, I never thought he would go this far, and now he's gone."

It hadn't really sunk in, until Kate's reaction, that my friend is dead.

"Ana, I am so sorry, this is all my fault." She continues rambling.

"What you talking about, Kate?" I wipe a lone tear that I didn't realize had fallen. "How can any of this be your fault?"

"I did it, Ana, I did it. I caused this, it's all my fault." She continues her cryptic talk.

"You did what, Kate? I don't understand what you're talking about. Please, calm down and tell me what's the matter."

"He was driving you crazy, and I couldn't handle seeing you like that, so I- I- Errrr..."

"What the fuck did you do, Katherine." Christian demands.

"I'm sorry, Ana, I really am." She sniffs, "Um, after about a week of José harassing you, I took your phone, iPad, and laptop, and I blocked José from contacting you in every way possible so I wouldn't have to see you get so annoyed with him. I didn't think he would go crazy like this, because of not being able to talk to you, I just wanted him to stop bothering you."

I hug her when she starts to cry hysterically.

"You did what?!" Christian shouts outraged at Kate's confession.