Chapter 8

Tuesday 25th April.

Christian

I wake up with Ana still wrapped in my arms sound asleep, I have calls to make so I gently lift her from my chest and slide out of the bed, checking to make sure she is still asleep. She must be exhausted because she hasn't even noticed she's been moved. I quickly pull the cover over her and head to the kitchen to make some coffee.

I pick up my phone and check to see if there have been any leads of Hyde. I have 3 messages from Welch.

We have a lead on Hyde; he's been seen meeting with a woman on the outskirts of Seattle. We aren't sure who she is but were working on it. I'll let you know when we find out.

Christian, we have information on the woman. You need to call me to discuss what we've found.

It's urgent! Hyde must have caught on to the tail and he's disappeared. The woman he was meeting's gone as well. You really need to call me.

I figure now's the best time to find out what's been going on so I dial his number and wait for him to pick up.

"Welch, it's me. What have you got?"

"Christian, we managed to track Hyde down again he's in Seattle. He was spotted hanging around Escala, but when there was no sign of you for two days he gave up. He's staying at a motel with this woman, Jacqueline Baxter. We aren't entirely sure how they know each other, but there's some kind of connection between her and someone names Patrick Letham. From what we know he was sent to prison 7 years ago. He got out after 4 years but he assaulted a woman and was arrested again. We found out that he contacted Hyde last year but we haven't gotten round to why yet."

"Thanks Welch. Keep an eye on him; I'll make arrangements to get out of Seattle. He will be looking for me no doubt and he will eventually come looking around Bellevue. How have the background checks went on the new security personnel?"

"We will sir, they all came back clear. Taylor is going to have them all set up and ready to go on the security system today. They have all signed the NDA and he's taking them through their basic training along with Sawyer later today. That is if you don't require Taylor to keep check on the house."

"Great. No Hyde doesn't know about this place yet and by the time he figures it out I'll be gone. Tell Taylor to get the training done today and meet me at my mother's house tonight along with the rest of the team."

"Yes sir. I'll call you if we get anything else."

I put the phone down and sift through what he's told me. The only name that jumps to me is Patrick, but I know there are hundreds if not thousands of Patricks living around Seattle. I text Welch and tell him to email me the files on Baxter Letham and Hyde, this way I can have a, look myself.

I pour out two cups of coffee and head back up to Ana, when I get into her room I notice her sitting on the balcony enjoying the view. It's a rare occurrence to have such a beautiful day in Seattle and she is enjoying every second of it.

"Good morning, I brought you some coffee."

"Thanks, its amazing out here. It's so peaceful, and warm for a change. I didn't thing Seattle could ever be quiet." I smile and take a sip of my coffee.

"I know that's the reason I love it here. Like I said, you can take the time for yourself to think things through."

"I know, so what are the plans for today then? As much as I loved spending the weekend watching movies I'd much rather do something a little more productive today."

"Well, I'm going to go for a swim and hit the gym, feel free to join me. There's an office just down the hall if you want to catch up on any work or emails."

"I need to catch up on some of my work e-mails but I could definitely be doing with hitting the gym. I've not been going in months since my promotion."

"Alright, well how about I go down and make us some breakfast and then we can both catch up on some work then head down to the gym?"

"Sounds perfect." She smiles and finishes off her coffee before going back into the room and heading to the bathroom.

"Oh I almost forgot. Taylor dropped off some more clothes for you in case you needed any, I'll leave them on the bed for you."

"Thanks."

I head downstairs and make a start on breakfast. Pancakes and Bacon, simple and easy. It doesn't take me too long to whip it up and I then head up to the study. Ana is hard at work typing away quickly that she doesn't even notice I've came into the room until I set the plates down on the table.

"Wow, when you said you were making breakfast I was expecting toast or cereal, no offense."

"None taken, pancakes are one of the few things I can cook to perfection. Don't ever ask me to cook steak though, unless you want it cooked to a cinder."

She lets out a small laugh and gets up from the computer and comes over to tuck into breakfast. We both eat silently both enjoying the warm food. I finish first and sit back drinking the last of my orange juice.

"That was delicious. Thank you Christian. I shouldn't be much longer with my emails, but I will definitely need to let my food go down before I try any exercise." She blushes and my heart jumps. I won't to say something to her about last night but I don't have any idea what to say.

"Of course. I have some work to do as well so we can take our time with that and then when you're ready we can go down to the gym." She smiles and nods before returning to her seat and continues typing away.

I lift myself from the chair and retrieve my laptop, opening it up to the thousands of emails I have to get through. Most of them are irrelevant or will have already been dealt with by my Andrea but there are still a few hundred that require my attention.

The first email I click is from my mom, sending me picture from her trip and telling me she should be home for the weekend.

Then it's on to Mia who gushes about how lovely Kate is, and how happy she is that Elliot has finally found a woman who can keep him in line.

Business emails, most of them asking for my approval for projects, asking form my approval to pay people. A few invitations to high profile event, all of which I must decline. Then the final email I need to look at today, Welch.

I open the attachments and print them all out; I find it easier to look through something if I have the paper copy in front of me, that way being able to make notes if I have to. I print all three files and head over to pick them up. Ana is sitting right beside the printer so she lifts them up for me and goes to hand them over. She has a quick glance and her face goes white.

"Ana are you okay. You look as if you've seen a ghost." She just stares with a blank expression.

"Ana! Are you alright." I begin to worry; I spin her around in the chair and kneel in front of her, hoping that seeing me will pull her from her trance. Her body begins heaving and I grab the bin sitting under her desk just in time before her stomach tenses and expels the contents.

"Christian why do you have a photo of that man?" I look down to see the first file is that of Patrick Letham. Judging by her reaction this is the Patrick who hurt her.

"He's been in contact with Hyde. My P.I. called this morning. He managed to find out a few things about Hyde, he has been seen around Seattle meeting with a woman and he receives a letter from Patrick a few years ago. I was going to try and establish some kind of connection between them if I could."

"That's the man that my mom married. That's the man that tried to…" The tears start to escape her eyes fast. I pull her down into my arms and let her cry. When she's done she sits back and looks at me with worried eyes.

"He had a son. Patrick, he was married before he met my mom and his ex-wife had a son. I never knew anything about him but he wouldn't have been much older than me. Could Jack be his son?"

I stare at her with disbelief.

"I mean I suppose it could be possible. I'll call Welch and have him dig up anything from the past. Maybe we can find out who Patricks ex-wife was." She tries to smile but I can tell she is petrified inside. She stands back up and sits back at the computer reading something. I return to my chair and write a few notes down.

I flick through Patrick's file, it doesn't mention he was previously married but there's no mention of his wife's name. He had two kids, both from different woman, a son and a daughter, still no names. He had been arrested for rape and attempted murder, but was released when the woman dropped all charges. Then the second time he was arrested was for assault and attempted rape, I know that was Ana by the time scale. He spent 4 years in prison before being released, but stabbed a woman and raped her two days later, then turned himself into the police. He was now serving a life sentence after the woman later died in hospital.

Jack's file came back pretty clean. His mom gave him up for adoption after he was born; there was no mention of a father. He had been arrested as a teenager few times for petty theft and breaking and entering. Then later on he was arrested for attempted rape, again knowing this was Ana. Other than that he was a pretty boring man.

The final file is Jacqueline Baxter. I begin to look through; she seemed like a pretty nice person to start with, until she turned 18. She was arrested several times for possession of drugs, always released after someone paid a sum of money no doubt. She had a son, Jack Baxter. Jack was younger and was put into the system after the state deemed her an unfit mother. The last page of her file contained photos. This time it was me who was throwing up.

"Christian, are you okay, you passed out for a few minutes. Do you need to go lie down?" I open my eyes and I'm greeted with Ana who looks beyond worried.

"I'm okay. No I'm not. I think I know how they are all connected." I sit up and pick up the phone dialling Welch. Ana just stares at me waiting for me to explain.

"Welch speaking."

"It's me Christian. I know the connection."

"How do you know how they are all connected and I don't?"

"Well I've had some help."

"Okay, go on."

"I'm not entirely sure, but search for Jack Baxter. If I'm right you should be able to figure it out on your own." I put the phone down and Ana looks at me with concern.

"Ana, I know this is going to sound insane but hear me out." She nods and waits for me to explain my theory.

"Well that woman. That's my mother. I ran away and to be honest when I think about it I had never been to any doctor appointment in my life so it's no wonder they couldn't find out anything about me. Patrick's face looks a little familiar to me but I couldn't figure out why. I'm pretty sure he was the man I always used to see with my mom. He was always coming into the house and giving her money or drugs and on a few occasions sleeping with her. If I'm right here they are all connected they won't just be out to hurt you anymore."

"So you mean, that your Patrick's son?" She looks horrified but she still doesn't leave.

"No, I don't think so. I can have a DNA test done if I need to but I don't think I am his son. My mom was a prostitute and a drug addict and I think Patrick was her Pimp. They had a son, Jack Baxter but I'm guessing he changed his name later on in life to avoid being connected to her."

…...

Welch eventually calls back and confirms my theory, but I'm curious as to why I wasn't mentioned inn her file, and why I wasn't taken away from her. My mind starts to do overtime and I pick up my phone to call Welch and see if he can figure it out.

"Welch. I need you to do me a favour. That woman Baxter. That was my mother, but it didn't mention her having two kids, is there any way she had me without anyone knowing?"

"It's possible, but it would be more likely that you were taken from someone else. Probably for money or drugs. I can check and see if any kids went missing when they were born and run some analysis and see if we can come up with anything."

"Yes please do that and send me what you find. Thanks."

Ana has gone for a bath after we worked out or frustration at the gym. I can't relax though my mind is on edge. I need to know what is going on, and where I came from. Just as my head feels like it's about to explode my phone rings.

"Grey!" I can't help but snap then realise it could be my mom. To my relief it's not.

"Boss, its Taylor. We're heading over to Bellevue now."

"Great. You know the code to get in. Make sure you aren't followed."

"Of course boss." I put the phone down and head up to have a shower and break the news to Ana that we need to leave tonight.

Just as I go to step in the shower my phone makes a noise and I grab it, hoping its and email from Welch.

"Christian, we've ran a few searches. I can tell you now; you were taken from a hospital from birth in Florida. Your birth parents passed away a few years ago, they had been searching for you for so long and had paid out a lot of money to one account. It came back to Patrick, I'm sorry."

"Thank you Welch." I throw the phone back onto the unit and get in the shower. I'm not upset by the information, as much as I would have preferred not to have been taken from my family and tortured as a child, it landed me with another amazing family and I'm glad. I make a mental note to find out if my birth parents had any other children; I will make sure they don't need to worry about money for the rest of their lives.

I take my time in the shower and enjoy it as the water hits my back. I get out when I start to feel tired and quickly get dried. I decide that instead of traveling in a suit it would be much more comfortable to wear joggers so I grab a pair from my closet and throw them on with a plain black t-shirt and grey zipper. I head out of the room and go to get Ana and let her know the plans.

Ana.

I lie on the bed and let my mind absorb everything that's happened today. All I can think is that Christian might be Patrick's don and the thought makes me feel sick. I close my eyes and just imagine I'm lying on a beach somewhere with a normal life and nobody chasing after me trying to kill me. I'm interrupted when he comes into the room but as soon as I look at him I melt. I couldn't ever shut him out of my life again, even if he was Patrick's son.

"Ana, I'm afraid to say we need to leave here tonight. Jack's still in Seattle and he will soon realise I'm not at home and come looking for me. I've arranged for us to go and visit my parents in Aspen for a few days and then possible my sister, Elliot and Kate afterwards. I know it's a lot to take in and you are busy focusing on work but it's for your safety as well as my own."

"Okay, I don't mind I would gladly be travelling with you and not constantly worrying if someone's going to come running through the door with a gun. I need to ask you though, did you find out if you are Patricks son?" I look up at him and he smiles.

"I'm glad you would happily come with me, it means a lot that you trust me. To answer your question I'm not. I was taken from a hospital when I was born; they used me to get money from my birth parents. Unfortunately they passed away a few years ago."

I'm stunned, he doesn't seem to be affected by any of that information at all, but I'm glad he isn't related to Patrick or Jack.

I stand up and stretch before walking over to him and wrapping in a hug. God knows it's what we both need right now. Thankfully he wraps his arms around me and gives me a gentle squeeze; I'm definitely safe with him.

He interrupts the beautiful moment and I jump when he begins talking.

"Ana, I know this is probably the last thing you want to be asked right now and I might even have imagined it, but did you mean what you said last night?" I instantly feel my face burning, I thought he was asleep when I said that but there's no use in lying about it, it would probably just crush him if I did.

"No you didn't imagine it, but I did mean it. I know we haven't known each other that long, but in the time we have spent together I have learnt so much about you. I know you care about me and you've been with me through such a hard time and listened as I told you about my past. It means so much to me that you stayed to help me through everything that happened with Jack, and you didn't freak out when I told you about Patrick." I blush as I say it but he takes me by surprise but stepping back. I expect him to turn away and leave but he doesn't.

He takes my head in his hands and stares right at me, as if he is seeing something for the first time. I stare back at him and notice the tears forming in his eyes.

"Anastasia, I have loved you from the minute I set eyes on you. I was devastated when I had to watch you suffer through so much pain, but I'm glad I was the one to be there and help you through. You have taught me what it means to be strong and I was in awe when I watched you power through and come out the other side. It killed me to ever have to say goodbye to you but at the time I thought it was the best thing for us. I wish I could turn back time and change it, but it made me realise how much I wanted to have you in my life. I'll admit our meeting hasn't exactly been under the best of circumstances but I wouldn't do anything differently. I love you so much."

He brings his head down to mine and firmly plants his lips on me, slowly first then he skims my lips with his tongue, waiting for permission to explore my mouth. I open my mouth and let him in, enjoying as our tongues dance together.

After a few minutes we pull back and I can't help but feel complete.