APOV

Yesterday had been a lot of fun, having the whole family around for Sunday lunch. Theo introduced Ava to Claire and Eamon and had to field questions about when they were getting married off Elliot and Ethan. Poor girl, I'm surprised she didn't run but she gave as good as she got.

We also discussed my son's wedding and having everyone together, it was easy to plan. Oriella didn't want her parents anywhere near her wedding and I could understand why. Seeing the messages her mother had sent to Oriella because she hadn't been back there, I have a good mind to go around and give her a piece of my mind.

Lucy had brought the conversation over to her, wanting to start planning her sweet 16 birthday party. Christian had not wanted to discuss it, putting it off for another day but with everyone there, Lucy demanded his attention.

A party is being held in my husband's nightclub, not many kids can say they will have a party there. The club will be closed that night and will be full of our family and the friends that my daughter invites. It's safe and secure and we know all the exits. That place is guarded anyway but on the night of my little girl's party, it will be doubly so.

"I'm exhausted after yesterday" Kate complained, coming into my office.

"What did you do" I laughed.

"Absolutely nothing. I come around for Sunday lunch and it turns into a grand meeting."

"You're not used to intelligent conversation at the table where you have to use your brain" I said, dodging the pen that went flying in my direction.

"Dinner in my house, is usually Alex letting us know how work has been going with Luca or the twins telling us what they plan to blow up next."

"Perfect family meal then" I laughed.

"How many more patients do you have in today" she asked.

"I have one more, Gia Maio but she's running late."

"Maybe a no show."

"It wouldn't be the first time. She rings up for an emergency appointment and then doesn't show. That's the only thing I don't like about doing a mixed surgery. The children and their parents turn up on time but some of the adults think they can turn up when they want."

"Ana, Miss Maio is here for her appointment" Chelsea said through the intercom.

"Thank you, can you send her through."

"I will let you get to work, see you Thursday, I'm taking off" Kate told me.

"Ok Kate, tell Chelsea she can leave as well. Have a fun evening"

"When don't I" she laughed, leaving my office before a knock on the door signalled my last patient of the day.

"Come in" I called out as the door opened and she stepped inside.

"Miss Maio, please take a seat. What can I do for you."

"I did a test and it says I'm pregnant but I wanted to confirm it." she said, smiling to me.

"Congratulations" I told her, pulling a sample bottle off the shelf. "If you can do a urine sample for me then I can confirm it and we will go from there."

"Cool" she said standing up and walked towards the door. Before she opened it, she turned around to face me. "I wonder what the father will think when I tell him."

"I'm sure he will be happy."

"Yes, he will. His wife may not be though" she said, laughing.

"His wife."

"Yes, he has a wife and children. Now an additional one on the way" she said smugly, rubbing her stomach.

For someone like me whose marriage is sacred, her comments were pissing me off.

"I hope he will do the right thing then. The test" I said acknowledging the bottle in her hand, which she looked down to as if she realised for the first time that it was there.

"I'm sure Christian will when I tell him" she said smiling as my breath faltered. "I'm sure Luciana and the boys will love the new addition too."

"What" I asked, breathless.

"You said yourself that he should do the right thing by our baby didn't you" she laughed coming back towards me. "Did you not realise that all the times he was late home, that Christian was with me."

"You're lying."

If there was one thing I could trust in, that was my marriage, my family.

"Really, I work at his club. I have worked there for months behind the bar. Ros's office isn't big but it's big enough to fuck in."

"Sit down" I told her. "Sit the fuck down" I said, punching her in the face so she fell back into the chair, clutching her bloodied nose.

She was looking at her purse which she had left on my desk but I reached for it before she did, opening it to see a gun inside.

"What were you going to do, shoot me" I asked, pulling my own gun from my drawer. "Who are you."

She shook her head, a sneer on her face before I grabbed her hair and slammed her face into my desk.

"Who are you" I asked again, releasing her.

"Gia Maio, mother of your husband's unborn child" she said, her words not as strong now she had a gun pointing at her head and blood pouring from he nose.

"You can't do this. Terry, I need help" she said, into a locket which hung from her neck, one which was soon in pieces under my foot.

"Do you not know anything about my family. Do you really think that we wouldn't have thought about cops trying to come in and record my conversations, try to listen in from outside. The offices are all sound proofed and there is enough technology, enough jammers in place to stop even the best listening devices from working. Your connection to whoever is outside is useless. David, Ian, my office now" I said over the intercom.

Within seconds they were through my door, assessing the situation of my gun pointed at a patient's head.

"There is someone called Terry outside, check the car park" I told them as Ian left to alert our security outside, while David stayed with me.

"Ana" Mia said, coming to my door.

"I'm fine, who is left in the building."

"Just us and her. Chelsea left just after Kate."

"You can't do this, I'm a cop."

"A cop now, really. Back up would've been through that door the second they realised that they couldn't hear you, try again."

I ignored her spluttering, pressing my husband's number on my phone, leaving it on speaker so everyone could hear.

"Hey Princess, have you finished early" he asked.

"No, I'm with my last patient of the day" I said, trying to sound strong. Hearing Christian's voice, I just wanted his arms around me but I didn't want to appear weak in this woman eyes.

"Ok, Ana. Is everything alright."

"Not really. I'm with a woman called Gia Maio, she said she works in your club."

"Who, hold on." I could hear him tapping away on his computer. "She works at the club with Ros downstairs on the bar. She started a couple of months ago. Ana what's wrong, what's going on."

"With what she is telling me, she's expecting your baby after an affair that has been going on for the past few months."

"WHAT THE FUCK" I heard him shout. Even Gia jumped hearing how angry he was. "Princess talk to me."

"What's there to say. Someone is trying to mess with our marriage."

"It's not hard to mess with. Look at me and then look at you. You're old, washed up. No wonder Christian went looking for someone else" she laughed before I smacked her across the face, silencing her words.

I could hear Christian shouting at me, not to listen to her and I wasn't. I knew Christian, knew everything about him and being a cheater was something he most definitely was not.

"Are you expecting me to break down at your words, crumble. You don't know anything about me and you certainly don't know anything about my husband" I told her, ignoring her cries. "Christian, I'm going to need to borrow your warehouse."

"Ana, ok. I'm not far away now."

I sat back at my desk, watching the shaking woman before me. Whatever she expected to happen here, what person she expected to find, had obviously not gone the way she had planned.

"Where do you think you're going" I asked as she tried to get up, being pushed back into the chair by Mia. "Do you think this is a game that you just get to walk away from, I don't think so. Where is Maria" I asked seeing recognition in her eyes.

"Don't know who."

"Try again" I said, cocking the trigger back. "Maria Ramirez, where is she. You're obviously part of her little game."

She shook her head, jumping when the door banged open and my livid husband appeared.

"I don't know" she said quietly now.

"Really, you come here on her behalf, armed and you don't know where she is."

"Armed" Christian asked as I pushed her purse across the desk to him so he could see the contents within.

"Yes, I think Miss Maio came to shoot me."

I looked to the computer screen in front of me, writing Gia's address on a piece of paper and handed it to Elliot who was stood over her now. Christian was itching to touch me, his hands coming closer all the time but I knew if he did at the moment, I would break down and I wouldn't give this woman the satisfaction of seeing that.

I stood and walked around my desk, stopping in front of her.

"What was your plan here today, what did you hope to achieve."

I gripped her hair, pulling her head back when she tried to ignore me.

"Your silence will do nothing; your screams will only prolong the pain that I'm going to cause. You don't want to speak, fine. Doesn't matter. By the time I'm finished with you, you will. Night night" I said before I hit her with my gun, knocking her out cold. "Move her to the warehouse."

My words were spoken, I knew that but it didn't sound like me. They sounded hollow, like they were not my own.

Everyone started moving as I headed for the door but I didn't get far as I hit a wall. A wall that wrapped me up in his arms.

Christian lifted my chin so I would look him in the eyes. His pain was there to see, pain that matched my own.

"I would never" he said before I silenced him with my finger to his lips.

"I know. If there is one thing I trust more than anything in this life, it's that I trust us, our marriage. She's with Maria, I saw it in her eyes when I mentioned her name. Another game she's playing which that woman thought she could just walk away from. I need to know though, before I do anything to her. If she's really pregnant."

"Ana, Christian. I'm going to get Mia home and then I will meet you at the warehouse" Ethan told us.

"Someone needs to check the club. If she has been there for months, who knows what she has heard or planted there. She said you had sex in Ros's office. We need someone to check the phones in there have not been bugged."

I could see the anger radiating off Christian when I mentioned what she had described.

"Ros, I want all information on Gia Maio, where she had access to….Ok, how often was she in your office...Why the fuck didn't you report it then" he said angrily. "Call Barney, get him to sweep the whole club. Do not open until it is done" he said before ending the call.

"Ros said that she was only invited into the office when she had her initial interview but she found her in there a few days ago."

"What was she doing" I asked him.

"She was dropping off the paperwork for the alcohol delivery they had just received but Ros said that some of the other papers on her desk had been moved."

"Why didn't she tell you."

"Ros isn't exactly the most organised or tidy person. She said that the papers could've been moved when the stock sheets were placed on her desk."

"Wouldn't Ros's office be locked when she wasn't in there."

"Yes, if she's not in the building. Once Ros is there, she is in and out of the office all night so the door is usually open. We will get the cameras checked. Everyone who works in our businesses is checked, not just a resume check but also, they're put through the system by Lorenzo. She would've been clean otherwise she would have never gotten through the door."

I sighed, my body shaking for a second as I tried to get my head around everything that had happened in the space of half an hour. Christian wrapped me in his arms as everyone left us alone. His whispered I love you's were what was keeping me together at that moment.

On our ride to the warehouse, I didn't speak. Christian was by my side throughout but he let me get my thoughts in order.

What I was about to do wasn't normally me but I wouldn't standby and let someone mess with my marriage.

Stepping out of the car inside the warehouse, a large group had assembled. My family were here, the men anyway. All wanting to know that I was ok. I couldn't tell them though, couldn't acknowledge them because I needed to stay focused and get through this first.

My sons were about to see a different side of me and I just wish I could send them away. They were born into this life though, see this side everyday. They had just never seen the anger come from their mother before. I just hoped they didn't see me differently when this was over.

Thank you for reading. Christian's pov is up next.

It is written and will be posted once I finish editing it.

Take care

Caroline.