Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, friends, but I have things going on in my life that just made it impossible to post earlier. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 24: Kavanagh Media and the Mile High Club both die a quick death (Christian's POV)

December 15, 2016

"Holy shit, I didn't see that coming at all," Ana commented as we both had our jaws dropped open in shock as we watched the news story play out in front of us.

It was early morning, and we'd stopped getting ready for work to turn on the television, as we had just been alerted to unfolding events at Kavanagh Media. The place was burning down, both figuratively and literally, before our eyes.

For a week, Kate had remained completely silent about the lies her father had spread about her, at least publicly. But Eamon Kavanagh wasn't able to speak again either because of the gag order she'd filed against him. There were plenty of other matters to keep him occupied, though, beginning with the charges the IRS was bringing against him for tax evasion. I hadn't had anything to do with that one. I might have had something to do with the stories that leaked about his baby mamas in Northgate. I made sure Kate knew about them before the stories hit the press.

Kate wasn't as disturbed by the news about her father's extramarital affairs as I'd expected her to be. Turns out, she wasn't surprised at all. She knew the kind of man her dear old dad was. No, Kate was more disturbed by Ana's news... by our news... about our engagement... than she was by the news about her father. Ana told me that Kate had freaked out on her and insisted that Ana needed to get to know me better before marrying me. She thought Ana was being too naive. Ana brushed it off, but it pissed me off. I still didn't like Kate, and she'd lost points with me on that score, but I could also see that Kate appreciated the help my dad and I were both giving her personally. She seemed to be making an attempt at civility, so I reciprocated, especially after Ana calmed me down by explaining how Kate couldn't trust any men from my walk of life just because of her own shitty background. I was trying to be patient, but patience wasn't something that came natural to me. I had to keep reminding myself that she was Ana's best friend, and I had to make an effort to get along with her. Besides, Ana said that Kate had accepted the fact that we were getting married and was now being supportive, even if still a bit skeptical. Whatever. I didn't really care what Kate thought, but I was worried that she might influence Ana to postpone our wedding, and I didn't want that.

But regarding dear old dad, nothing seemed to surprise Kate. However, then, word got out that Washington Federal was foreclosing on the Kavanagh's private estate in Mercer Island, which was worth $5.5 million. Kate was shocked by this news because she knew for a fact that it had been a wedding present from her mother's parents, so there was no reason there would have been a mortgage. Kate assumed that her dad had taken out a mortgage on it to pay off other debts, which completely disgusted her even more.

Once all that came out, Kate's mother finally did what she should have done years ago. She left Eamon and filed for divorce. She and Kate were now on speaking terms again, but Kate was being cautious. Her mother claimed that Eamon had forged her name to take out the mortgage on their house, which she said she never would have done in a million years. Kate didn't seem certain that she was telling the truth because she'd witnessed her mother side with Eamon in the past when he had clearly been in the wrong. Nevertheless, Diane Kavanagh was helping Ana by altering the wedding dress she'd bought a few days ago. That's all Ana would tell me about it, just that Diane had signed an NDA and was making the alterations needed. The rest, she said, I would just have to wait until Christmas Eve to see for myself.

Once the tide was turning against the former King of Seattle Media, Kate finally went public, earlier this week. She started on Twitter and followed up on Instagram, and she told the world what had really happened when her father had spread those vicious rumors about her. Ana and I gave her permission to mention our names but nothing at all about our lives, just the fact that her dad had ordered her to capitalize on her friendship with Ana and write articles that would invade our private lives, which she refused to do.

From that point on, all I needed to do was sit back and watch the shit show. I didn't need to put Eamon Kavanagh out of business at all, as I had considered doing. He took care of that all on his own. Once Kate told her story, and the news came out about his financial woes, and his affairs and illegitimate children, more victims of Eamon Kavanagh began to crawl out of the woodwork. There were about half a dozen women who claimed he had sexually harassed them. Two of them claimed he'd also assaulted them. The police came knocking on Kavanagh's door, and it was all captured on video. The entire world got a good look at his dirty laundry as it aired on every news network except his own.

It was the husband of one of the women he'd allegedly assaulted who had apparently set fire to the Kavanagh Media headquarters last night, and the fire fighters were still working on controlling the massive blaze so that it didn't spread to neighboring buildings. Thankfully, all of the employees working the night shift had gotten out in time, so nobody was injured. Nobody, that is, except for Eamon himself, who'd arrived in the early hours of the morning when the fire was out of control, ran into the building, and had not yet made it out. The fire had been too dangerous for an attempted rescue at the time. Besides, the fire fighters had attempted to stop him from entering the building, but he'd resisted them, even going so far as to punch one of them in the nose. Yeah, that was all captured on video, too. It was one of those shocking scenes that the news station kept replaying every five minutes.

"Why the hell would he run into a burning building like that?" Ana asked as she watched the news clip being replayed for about the tenth time.

"Well, we knew he was a lunatic," I commented. "But my guess is that there was something valuable in there that he was trying to get to. Something he couldn't let get destroyed in a fire."

"If it was all that valuable, why wouldn't he have put it in a fireproof safe?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Maybe he forgot to, or didn't have a chance to. Who knows? But look… that was almost two hours ago, and he still hasn't come out. I don't think he's coming out." He'd essentially killed himself, whether he intended to or not.

"I need to go check on Kate," Ana said worriedly. "She may have hated him, but there's a part of her that still loved him. I know there's a part of her that still longed for a loving father he never was and never would be. This is going to be just as devastating to her as what he did last week."

That was my Ana, always concerned about her friends.

"Why don't you take a couple of hours off and go check on her," I suggested. "I've got my physical therapy session for my shoulder at 8, and then I'll go in and meet with Ros. We need to discuss Singapore today and make some decisions. It can't wait."

Ana nodded absently, her eyes still glued to the TV screen. "This is horrific. Holy shit!"

By the time Ana arrived at the office, it was close to noon, and Eamon Kavanagh's body had been removed from the completely destroyed former home of Kavanagh Media. If they'd discovered his motive for running into the burning building, I hadn't heard. Then again, I had been busy working, not watching the news all morning.

Ana ordered lunch as soon as she arrived, and as we ate our chicken salad wraps, she told me that she'd driven Kate to her mom's house, and both of them were completely shattered, even though he had always been awful to them both. She also said that they hadn't heard from the brother (the legitimate one) at all. Kate and her mother had both been calling and texting Ethan, but so far, he hadn't answered.

"Do you think Kate's going to cancel on Aspen?" I asked Ana. I knew that would bother her more than it would me, but we were counting on Kate to take our wedding photos.

"No, not at all. She's looking more forward to it than ever. But… don't be mad, OK? I invited Diane. She was just so devastated by everything that's happened in the past couple of weeks, and now this. I felt so bad for her, and I thought getting away from Seattle for a happy event would be good for her. Are you… angry?"

I smirked. "You just told me not to be mad, and now you're asking if I am? No, Ana, I'm not angry. As long as she keeps quiet, and she's already signed an NDA, so that's OK. I don't mind. Do you know her well?"

"Yeah, Kate and I have been best friends since we were Freshmen in college. I've spent lots of weekends at her house over the years. Her mom was funny if her dad wasn't around. She loved hanging out with us, drinking wine coolers and painting our fingernails while we watched Glee. She would always tell us we made her feel younger. But whenever Eamon was home, she was… edgy. I don't know why she stayed with him all those years."

I could guess why. A lot of reasons why, although with all the stories coming out now, especially the foreclosure on their house, there clearly weren't as many zeroes behind his net worth as she'd probably thought, which explained why she'd finally filed for divorce. "Pre-nup," I blurted without thinking.

Ana stared at me, clearly taking a moment to figure out my meaning. "Pre-nuptial agreement? Right. Of course. Oh, God! That's another thing we've forgotten! We need a prenuptial agreement, Christian!"

What? Why the fuck? "No, we don't," I responded adamantly.

"Of course we do," Ana insisted. "Christian, you're worth billions, and I'm… your assistant! Of course you need a pre-nup! Men like you always get one. I might be… inexperienced... with your lifestyle, but I'm not ignorant."

I sighed. "Ana… Listen to me, and listen closely. We will NOT have a prenuptial agreement. I WANT you to have half of everything. Hell, if you ever leave me, I'll be a broken man. You can take it all. I don't care. Do not press the issue. I'm not going to change my mind. And I won't regret it. What I WOULD regret would be getting my lawyers involved and forcing you to sign some paper agreeing to go your merry way with whatever the agreement said you could keep when we divorce. Do you expect us to divorce someday?"

"No, of course not," she answered quickly. "You're it for me, Christian. For life. When I make a commitment, I keep it. I'm not being naive. I know we'll have problems, but we'll work through them when they come. I'm certain that I'll want to stay married to you for the rest of our lives."

"So am I," I assured her.

"But… are you sure about the… pre-nup?" she pressed. "I mean, you're a billionaire, Christian. How can you not…?"

Now I was really getting irritated, so I wasn't gentle when I told her, "I know what I am, Ana. I keep track of my bank accounts and investments. I also know that I want to share it all with you, and keeping it all for myself never made me happy. Now, will you fucking drop it before I really get pissed off?"

She met my glare with an inquisitive look of her own. She clearly wasn't intimidated by me, but she also didn't seem satisfied. "I'll drop it, if it's that important to you. But for the record, I really don't have a problem signing one. I know we won't ever need it, but it's just a thing rich people do. If you change your mind, I won't be offended. Now, I've said what I wanted to say, and I'm dropping it, like you requested."

"Thank you," I said, and changed the fucking subject before she could change her mind about dropping the matter. "I wanted to tell you that Ros finally confirmed that she and Gwen will join us for Christmas."

"Oh, good. But I thought she said they couldn't make it," Ana said.

I revealed, "Well, it's not great news for them, but hopefully we can cheer them up. I didn't know this until today, but she and Gwen are trying to have a baby. Gwen completed her first round of in vitro fertilization, and she was pregnant. They purposefully didn't want to do anything that would put stress on her body, like traveling to a high altitude. But… she lost the baby, so they can come now."

"Oh, that's terrible! Poor Ros and Gwen! They're going to keep trying, aren't they?"

"Yes," I affirmed. "Ros said that they knew she was high risk for losing it. They're going to keep trying until they're out of zygotes. Ros said they're doing OK."

Ana nodded. "Gwen said she's coming to the Christmas party here tomorrow. Hopefully, she still will. Elliot confirmed, too. I'm sure he can't wait to see Holly again."

I smiled. "He's whipped. They haven't even had their first date yet, but he's already talking like I've never heard him talk before. She definitely won't be a one-night-stand type of date. He's already asked me if I'd change my mind about inviting her for Christmas."

"No, that won't work," Ana said. "Holly already has plans with her family on Christmas Eve. Apparently, it's a really big deal in her family. She was even named after Christmas, and so was her sister, Noelle."

Leave it to Ana to have gotten to know her work colleague so well that she knew this useless bit of personal trivia.

We saw for ourselves how smitten both Elliot and Holly were the following night at our office Christmas party. Ana had done a great job planning it. She'd hired a caterer to provide all kinds of appetizers and party food. She also planned a few senseless games. I watched but didn't participate myself, even though Ana tried her best to get me to.

I had suggested that we arrange the catering with the Mile High Club, and even though Ana felt we'd overused them lately, she went along with it since the cost would have been significantly less than an outside caterer. That, however, led to a series of events that ended in my firing the manager and shutting down the restaurant for the rest of the year.

Flashback: December 8, 2016:

"Kevin Herrington is a first class asshole," Ana announced as she entered my office looking extremely pissed off… and hot as hell.

"Who?" I asked. I didn't recognize that name.

She rolled her eyes and spat, "You don't even know the name of the manager of the restaurant you own? You know, the one who served us the same food two days in a row for the buffet lunches we had there two weeks ago? And who chose those hideous orange tablecloths that you hated so much?"

"What did he do now?" I asked. If anyone else had used that tone with me, I would have probably have kicked them out of my office. But not Ana. Never Ana. Besides, I knew it wasn't me she was angry at. It was this Kevin Herrington asshole.

Ana explained, "I've been trying to have a conversation with him about our office party since yesterday morning. As soon as we arrived at the office, I looked at the online catering menu and made some choices, but the website was difficult to navigate and I wanted to add a few special appetizers to the platters that I'd already chosen. Besides, after how he messed up with our office luncheons, I wanted to make sure he knew exactly what we wanted. I called him three times yesterday and left messages, and then twice today, but still no response. He's been avoiding my calls, and when he finally couldn't avoid me because I went there in person, he talked to me as if I were an idiot. He point blank refused to add the extra appetizers, even though the party is over a week away. And… he went so far as to call me a stupid bitch."

My eyes popped. "He did what?!" Oh, hell no. "Taylor, get Reynolds," I shouted. I knew they'd hear me from the security room since our CCTV included sound. "We're going to the Mile High Club. Right fucking now."

Twenty minutes later, I was banging on the door of the manager's office at the Mile High Club, with Ana and all our security right behind me.

"What the hell do you want?" the fucking asshole had the nerve to yell from the other side of the door.

"Is that the way you greet all our clients, Mr. Herrington?" I asked in my calm but deadly business tone. I was seething, but I controlled it.

There was a pause, and then, the door opened slowly. When the asshole saw my angry face, he tried to back pedal. "Mr. Grey? How can I help you, sir?"

I glanced around his office and was disgusted by what I saw. One of the other staff members, a female, was sitting on the only desk in the room, which was cluttered with papers. Her clothing, what little she was wearing, was disheveled enough to leave no mystery as to what they'd been doing before I interrupted them. His own shirt was untucked and buttoned wrong, and his fly was open. Disgusting. And this was what I was paying him to do at work?

"Who are you?" I asked the woman.

"Umm… I'm Bambi," she answered.

"Bambi?" I asked. Was that her real name or a professional name? Was she my employee or another kind of working girl? Granted, I'd forgotten Herrington's name when Ana mentioned him earlier, but I think I'd remember having an employee named Bambi.

I asked her, "Do you work for me?"

She smiled flirtatiously, which only pissed me off even more, as she replied, "I do if you want me to."

"Get out," I ordered her.

"Umm… what?" she asked confusedly as she batted her fake eyelashes.

"You heard me," I said. I turned to Taylor and asked him to escort her to the exit.

Once the prostitute had left the building, I asked Mr. Herrington, "Do you make it a habit of engaging in this kind of behavior at work, or was today an exception?" It was a rhetorical question, of course. I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear him try to talk himself out of this.

"That wasn't what it looked like," he told me fearfully.

"What was it, then?" I asked. My tone made it clear that I was losing my patience.

"It was a job interview," he insisted.

Behind me, Ana snorted at the same time that I did. I turned and glanced at her. Just that glance calmed me down a little. I turned back to Mr. Herrington, and asked him, "What job did you have in mind for her?" I wondered if he'd have the nerve to answer me truthfully. I knew full well what kind of "job" he expected from her, and it had nothing to do with my restaurant.

He was obviously pulling the answer out of his ass as he said, "A server."

I didn't even respond to him. Instead, I turned to Ana and told her, "I see now that you and Mia were right about the name of this place being distasteful. Hell, even my manager seemed to think the Mile High Club was a place for quick hookups. Mia's comments about needing to station security guards in the restrooms to keep patrons from going at it when they came in for lunch wasn't that far off."

Ana laughed, which calmed me even more. "When did she say that?"

"Thanksgiving," I replied. I smiled at her, but then turned back to the asshole and frowned at him sternly. Getting back to business, I asked him, "Would you care to explain to me, Mr. Herrington, why you called my girlfriend a 'stupid bitch'?"

"What?" he asked, trying to sound innocent but really only sounding like the scared little rat that he was.

"Do you need me to refresh your memory?" I asked him in my calm business tone. "She's been trying to talk to you for the past two days about the catering order for our office party next week, and when you didn't return her calls, she came in person to discuss it with you. You were rude to her and called her a 'stupid bitch.' Does that ring a bell with you now?"

"I never called her anything of the kind!" he insisted.

"So now, you're calling her a liar, too," I noted.

"No!" he cried. Yeah, there were actual tears in his eyes, but I didn't believe for a moment that he felt any remorse, only fear, because he knew what was coming. "This is just a misunderstanding. She must have misunderstood me!"

I turned to Ana and asked her, "What do you think, babe? Do you think you might have misunderstood him?"

Instead of answering me, Ana took the opportunity to ask Herrington, "Why didn't you return my calls, Mr. Herrington? Were you too busy organizing your paperwork?"

Her tone was friendly, but the point was well made. His office was a complete mess. I wasn't sure how he was able to get any work done like this. Well, apparently, he didn't. But how had I not known how bad things had gotten here at my restaurant? I normally paid much more attention to my new investments than I had to this place, and now, I was regretting it. I had planned to wait until after the new year to straighten things out since I was already so busy with GEH business, but I realized now that it couldn't wait. We couldn't stay open another day with this idiot in charge.

"I was busy," the asshole answered Ana.

"Yeah, we saw just how busy you were when we arrived," I commented. "Tell me something, how much revenue did the Mile High Club bring in this past month?"

He looked like a deer in headlights, and I thought my question had been incredibly simple. "I'll need to look that up, Mr. Grey." He moved to sit down at the desk, where there was a desktop computer that hadn't even been turned on yet.

"Don't bother," I told him. "Whose idea were the ugly orange tablecloths?"

He looked at me blankly. Then, he seemed to grow some balls as he answered defensively, "Those fall-themed tablecloths were designer. So are the Christmas-themed ones that we've replaced them with this month."

"Yeah, they're ugly as hell, too," I commented truthfully. "And explain this, Mr. Herrington. We had two business luncheons here a couple of weeks ago. We ordered a buffet lunch for each. Why the hell did you serve us the same damn food two days in a row when you knew it was the same people attending both lunches?"

He looked blank again, like he had no idea what the fuck I was talking about. "That was what you ordered," he finally managed to answer.

"No, it wasn't," Ana responded. "You have three buffet options on your catering menu. The first option is roasted turkey with rosemary mashed potatoes and glazed carrots, with carrot cake for dessert. We ordered the first option for Tuesday. Everything except the dessert was correct on Tuesday. The second option on your menu is pan-seared sea bass with rice pilaf and mixed vegetables, with cheesecake for dessert. We didn't order the second option, but we still got the cheesecake from it both days. The third option on your menu is lasagna. There's a meat option as well as a veggie option, and we ordered both, along with the mixed salad. We were supposed to have apple pie for dessert. But instead, we got the same roasted turkey as we had on Tuesday, and the same cheesecake, which we didn't order. I'm sure I communicated all of this in the email I wrote you the following Monday, which you never responded to."

Leave it to Ana to know all of these details just off the top of her head. I hadn't even realized she'd chosen the menu, and that this idiot had gotten it wrong.

The bastard looked as if he was about to argue with Ana, but I spoke before he had a chance. I asked, "How long have you been the manager here?"

He answered, "Um… about a year. I'd been here about four or five months when you bought the place."

"Well, that was a year too long. You're fired, Mr. Herrington. Clean out your personal shit and get out."

He looked shocked for some reason. I'm sure he must have seen this coming from the moment we kicked out his whore. "How are you going to run this place without me?" he asked incredulously.

"That's not your concern," I replied. "I suggest you get your things and leave now, or my security will forcefully remove you. You no longer work here, so you're trespassing."

He stared at me for another moment, then turned and started gathering his stuff without another word. Ana and I watched silently as he gathered photographs from the top of the desk. A wedding photo of him and a blonde. So, the asshole was cheating on his wife with a prostitute. And another photo of the same blonde holding a baby. Then, a toddler, which might have been the same baby a couple of years later. This asshole had a family. If I were a nicer person, I might feel bad for firing him. But I didn't want anyone like him working for me.

Once he was gone, escorted down the elevator and out the front entrance by Taylor himself, I asked Ana, "Did you see those pictures of his family?"

She nodded. "I feel sorry for his wife. I wonder if she knows the kind of man she married. And how the hell did he get this job in the first place? Just look at this mess? How was he able to keep track of anything?"

I sighed. "I've completely neglected this place, and that has to stop now. We're going to need to begin the work here earlier than planned. I need to talk to Mia and Elliot. Can you call and see if they're available for dinner tonight? Tell Elliot that Gail's making meatloaf and mashed potatoes. That'll get him there."

"Have you talked to him yet about the renovations you want?" Ana asked.

I replied, "Only about our plans, not about hiring him doing the work. I don't even know if he can fit it in, especially in the timeframe that we'll probably need it. I don't want to have to close this place down for more than a month."

"Knowing Elliot, he'll manage to fit it in. He's pretty resourceful that way," Ana observed. "But what do you want me to tell Mia?"

"Tell her what happened here today with this asshole former manager. Tell her I'll be hiring a new business manager as soon as possible. This is going to be her restaurant, so she'll want to be involved in straightening out the mess."

"It's just going to overwhelm her," Ana warned me.

"No, I'm still in charge, and I'll make sure the mess is cleaned up before I leave it in her hands," I said. "And… I'll need your help finding a suitable business manager. Shit, I just keep piling work on you, when what you need to be doing is finding your own replacement so you can start focusing on your publishing house."

"I'll get to that when the time is right," she assured me. "I'm not ready to start there yet anyway. I really want to finish my degree first."

Her Executive MBA, which she'd put on hold last September due to her dad's health, and then her traveling with him to Europe. She had taken evening classes last Spring while also working for me but had taken the summer off because of our traveling schedule. Her plan at the time had been to continue taking evening classes in the Fall, but she'd decided in August to delay because of Ray. She'd planned to start taking classes again this January. But I was planning a trip to Dubai, which would conflict with her classes, which I'd forgotten about.

Instead of mentioning Dubai yet, I asked Ana, "Can you think of anyone at GEH, maybe in the Accounting department, that we could transfer here? Is there anyone there who you know has managerial skills?"

She looked pensive. "Nobody at GEH comes to mind, but I remember a classmate from last Spring who was interested opening her own restaurant. She might be a possibility. But she's Korean, so I'm not sure the upscale French restaurant that you envision would be a good fit for her. I think she envisioned a Korean fusion food type of place. Let me do some research on your current employees at GEH."

I nodded. "If we have to advertise the job, it'll probably take us longer to reopen. But Mia might have ideas. She knows a lot of people in the hospitality business."

Thankfully, both of my siblings were available, so we all enjoyed Gail's meatloaf as Ana and I filled them in on the firing of the Mile High manager.

"What's going to happen with the kitchen staff?" Mia asked worriedly. "Are they all going to be laid off… at Christmas?"

I sighed. "I don't see how we can stay open with no manager. Besides, we'll have to close for the renovations anyway."

"Tell me again what renovations you want," Elliot said.

"It's mostly cosmetic," Mia replied. "Really just paint, changing the lighting, and replacing the furniture. The restrooms could also benefit from an upgrade, but that's where the majority of the work will be. The kitchen is fine. We won't need to change anything there."

"What are we talking about with the restrooms?" Elliot asked. "New plumbing, or just new fixtures?"

"I'm not aware of any plumbing issues," Mia answered. "But everything looks dated and dingy. We need modern fixtures. And new tile. I figured the tile would take the most time to replace."

Elliot shrugged. "Not more than a couple of days. If we start on it next week, we can probably finish the job before Christmas, if it's just what you've described, with no surprises."

"Do you have time to start it next week?" I asked him surprisedly. I knew how busy he always was. Grey Construction was a very successful business. I hadn't expected him to be able to get to it until the new year.

Elliot replied confidently, "I can hire a crew to start Monday. We won't be ready for them until then anyway. We'll need to order materials in the meantime. I won't be there all the time to oversee them, but I can check in everyday to make sure they're doing it right. I have a reliable foreman I can put in charge who just finished another job."

"I can be there," Mia confirmed. "I want to make sure it's done the way I want it."

"It will be," Elliot assured her. "I normally wouldn't take a job this late notice, but it's a family thing, so we'll make it work."

"Wow, it's a good thing I already commissioned Juliette to do those paintings," Mia commented. "Hopefully she'll have a couple of them finished before we open. Maybe I can purchase more of her already completed stuff. We don't want to open without the right art on the walls. We need everything to look just right."

Ana suggested, "Why don't you use the ones you already have in your personal collection for now, and then replace them when you're able to get the ones you've commissioned?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Mia agreed. "I'll just need to get them framed, but it shouldn't take too long."

"I just thought of something," Ana announced. "Somebody needs to take over the Mile High Club's social media accounts and announce the temporary closure and plans for reopening as Ciel de Grey."

Mia perked up. "I can do that! I just need the log-in information."

Ana and I looked at each other blankly. No doubt, Kevin Asshole Herrington had that information, and we weren't likely to get it from him now. At the same time, Ana and I said, "Barney!" Yep, great minds think alike.

I turned back to Mia and told her confidently, "We'll get our IT guy to change the logins and get them to you tomorrow."

She nodded but looked pensive. "We still need a business manager before we'll be able to reopen. I can't do any of that. I don't know anything about keeping financial records or any of that shit. And I want to make sure we're making money. We need somebody who knows what they're doing from the business end. Besides, I wanted to be more… undercover, remember? It's looking like that might not be possible, but I still don't want to have to handle things outside of the kitchen."

Well, I'd hoped she'd have someone in mind, but that comment made it clear that she didn't. "We'll find someone, Mia," I assured her. But I had no idea who that person would be.

(End of flashback)

A week had passed since we'd closed the Mile High Club for good, and Elliot's crew was making progress, so I felt confident we'd be able to open Ciel de Grey in early January. Mia had agreed to new restroom fixtures that were already in stock, so the new toilets and sinks had already been installed, and the new tiling had been completed. Ana and I had stopped by last night after work, and we'd both been impressed with the new look. The dining room had been painted two pale gray colors that Mia had chosen, in a painting technique to resemble clouds. The lighter colored walls completely changed the atmosphere, even without any furniture yet. The new lighting was being installed today, and the new tables and chairs would be delivered early next week, so it was coming along well.

All we needed was a business manager, but we weren't having as much success on that end. Ana and I had spent most of Saturday at the now closed Mile High Club, just trying to straighten the mess that Kevin Asshole Herrington had left of the office. There were dozens of invoices that hadn't been logged yet, which Ana took care of with her usual finesse. There were multiple unpaid bills, which I took care of immediately. And, I was pissed off, but at this point unsurprised, to see that we were hemorrhaging money. The Mile High club spent more on food and supplies than we brought in each month, and that was before we even paid our employees. Why the hell had I waited so long to take a closer look at this place, I wondered again. One thing was for certain, I would need to take more charge over Ciel de Grey once we reopened. Whoever we ended up hiring as our new business manager was going to need to report to me at least weekly, if not more. And I would need to make sure we were charging the right price for each menu option to make sure we were recovering our costs.

Then, on the afternoon of our office Christmas party, Mia stopped by my office unannounced… with Isaac of all people. I almost didn't recognize him because his hair was no longer copper like mine. He'd bleached it blonde, which I now knew was his natural color. It suited him, I thought.

"Isaac!" I greeted him. "It's good to see you. I didn't know you were already back in town. How did your exams go?"

"I'm confident I aced them all," he replied. Damn, was this the same kid who was suicidal just a few weeks ago? "I hope you don't mind that I stopped by today without making an appointment. Mia said you wouldn't care."

"He won't care when he finds out why we're here," Mia assured him. "Christian, did you know that Isaac has been managing a restaurant in Santa Monica for the past couple of years while he was at UCLA?"

Well, yeah, I did know that, but it was Applebees, so I didn't think much of it. I knew his career goal was to manage a real business, not a chain restaurant that served crap food. It was a good job for a college student, but not a future goal.

"So, you're thinking Isaac should be the business manager at Ciel de Grey?" I asked Mia, knowing that's where she was going.

"Yeah, I think he'd be really good at it," she replied.

I asked Isaac, "Is that what you want to do? Manage a restaurant instead of interning here at GEH?"

Isaac answered, "I'm open to the idea of managing an award-winning Michelin-rated restaurant, which is what Mia believes the Mile High… or the new restaurant, Ciel de Grey… will become. If I can be a part of the process of getting it there, all the better. I have some questions, but I'm open to the idea."

"What questions?" I asked.

"Well… I wanted my internship to be with GEH. I wanted that on my resume. So… is Ciel de Grey a subsidiary of GEH? I mean, you own it, right? Would I be able to complete my internship with GEH while working as the business manager of Ciel de Grey?"

Those were details we would need to figure out. I had already submitted the paperwork for Isaac's internship to UCLA, and it had him doing office duties in my Executive Office at GEH. I would need to tweak the application and get the changes approved by his academic advisor. It could be done. But was this the best option for Ciel de Grey, and for Isaac?

Mia's enthusiasm was good to see. I was happy to see her putting all her energy into Ciel de Grey, which got her mind off of the kidnapping. I knew she was still having nightmares, but she was going to be OK. She still had a few weeks before her professors from Paris would come and complete her exams here in Seattle, which could actually be done at Ciel de Grey if we closed for an afternoon. I knew she was nervous, but it didn't seem all that important to me now if she passed or not. She'd already proven to me that she was an excellent cook. It was good for her to have this work to focus on now. But was she making a good call concerning Isaac?

"Technically, yes, the Mile High Club is owned by GEH," I answered Isaac. "As for doing your internship there, I can't answer that just yet. I'd have to get it approved by your academic advisor first. Are you sure that's what you want?"

Isaac looked at Mia, and she smiled back at him. Oh, shit. He liked her. And at the moment, she looked like she might like him, too. Or maybe she was just really enthusiastic about having him as her business manager. Part of me wanted to keep him away from Mia, knowing his background as I did. Mia knew his background, too, but she didn't know the level of evil that he had experienced as I did, having experienced the same evil. Would Isaac want to continue with the BDSM shit he'd learned from Elena, like I had for five years after ending my contract with her? Shit, shit, shit!

But I couldn't predict anything just from one look that this kid gave my baby sister. I could watch them closely and make sure he knew she was off limits. I couldn't let my fears of his interest in her dictate this business decision.

Isaac answered me, "If you can make it clear that I'm still doing the internship with GEH, then yes, I think I'd prefer the challenge of managing Ciel de Grey."

"But you said you could only work 25 hours a week, and running a restaurant will probably take more of your time than that," I reminded him. "I need my business manager at Ciel de Grey to be in charge, fully. I don't have time to manage it myself. I need someone I can depend on to run it the way I would, while answering to me. I'll expect weekly detailed reports. We've been losing a great deal of money in the Mile High Club, and that has to change if Ciel de Grey is even going to get off the ground."

Isaac looked pensive, like he was weighing everything mentally. He asked, "Have you considered the option of opening in stages? I'm thinking mainly of staffing issues, and the expense of paying them. So, what if we started out with the lunch menu, as well as the catering menu, since that's why you bought the restaurant in the first place. I know it's something you want to be known for, providing high quality business lunches."

I was impressed that this kid knew that. I'd never had a conversation with him about it.

Isaac continued, "At first, maybe we could be open for dinner just three or four nights a week, like Thursday through Saturday. Once our name gets out and demand calls for it, we can open more evenings. I think we should hold off on the Sunday brunch idea until we know we're succeeding. Even then, it could be once a month instead of every week, just to see how it goes." He glanced at Mia again and added, "Of course, these are just suggestions."

Mia didn't look happy. "I really like the Sunday brunch idea," she said with a pout. Yeah, I knew she did, but she had no idea how much work it was going to be keeping it going week after week.

Isaac quickly jumped in. "If that's important to you, then we could start having Sunday brunch sooner, and hold off on dinner until we know we're succeeding."

"You'd probably both need to be there at least six days a week, maybe seven if you open on Saturdays to start off with," I mused. "I think taking things in stages is a good idea. You'd probably still need to work… at least 30 hours a week, Isaac. Mia, it'll probably be more than 40 for you, even if you aren't open for dinner yet. You'll have staff to train as well as inventory to take and supplies to order. Are you up for that?"

"I can do it," Mia insisted.

Isaac glanced at Mia again. Yeah, I could see that he didn't want to let her down. He definitely had a thing for her. "I can manage it," he assured me. "I only have the one class, and it's mostly online. I can work around it. I mean, I'm sure I can do a 30-hour week with no trouble. Maybe 40 hours, but…"

"No, that would be irresponsible of me to expect you to work full-time while completing your degree," I interrupted him. "If you're only open for lunch during the week and Sunday brunch on weekends, then I think 30 hours a week will suffice. Let's see how it goes before we open for dinner."

Mia was pouting again as she reminded me, "The view of Seattle at night was one of the best features of the Mile High Club."

"It was the one good thing the Mile High had going for it," I agreed. "But by the time Ciel de Grey is ready to open for dinner, it's going to be one of many reasons people choose to dine there. The top reason will be the excellent food, and then the ambiance. The fantastic view of Seattle will be an added bonus."

Mia seemed satisfied by that answer. I still wasn't certain that having Isaac as business manager was a good idea, but I didn't say so. I needed to take some time to consider it.

It wasn't until later that night, as we were on our way home from the Christmas office party, that I was able to discuss with Ana the possibility of having Isaac as the business manager of Ciel de Grey. The party itself had gone off without a hitch, even with the change in caterers, who had done a fine job. I was also relieved to see that Elliot and Kate Kavanagh got long OK, as Ana had predicted they would. Sebastian had invited Kate as his guest, and I was worried there would be drama, but Kate was proving to be a very different person than I'd thought her to be.

This became very obvious in the trivia game that we played, when Sebastian and Kate embarrassed the rest of the room by knowing pretty much every answer. I already knew Sebastian was a genius, but Kate seemed to know more of the trivia answers than he did. She blew Elliot out of the water, leaving him speechless, which wasn't normal for Elliot.

Elliot was impressed by Kate's obvious intellect but still not interested in her romantically. No, he had eyes only for Holly Steiner, who was finally beginning to respond in kind. At first, she'd seemed a little afraid of him, which I thought was funny. Elliot had a reputation for being easygoing and charming, so he didn't usually scare ladies. He usually had no problems charming their panties off. Holly didn't make it easy for him. I knew that their first date was scheduled for the following night, and I could hardly wait to find out how it went.

Then, on the way home, Ana and I discussed Isaac.

"I actually think he'd be better at Ciel de Grey than in the executive office at GEH," Ana commented once I'd filled her in on everything and asked for her opinion. I always wanted to know Ana's opinion on everything, but this one surprised me. I thought she'd agree that we needed someone more experienced at Ciel de Grey.

"Why?" I asked.

She explained, "Well, if Isaac does have an obsession with you, then it'll be better for him to only have to report to you a couple of times a week instead of working with you day in and day out."

"I'm concerned at the moment that he's more interested in Mia than he is in me," I told her worriedly.

Ana shrugged. "What if he is? Would that be so bad?"

I glared at her, which only made her snigger. No, my Ana wasn't the least bit intimidated by me. "Ana… have you forgotten about his background? He'll probably want to tie her up and use a cat of nine tails on her."

Ana raised her eyebrows and asked innocently, "You mean like you wanted to do with me?"

I should have predicted that response from her. But life with Ana was just so damn blissful that I often forgot that I'd ever wanted my old life with her. She'd just disarmed me so much that I didn't even know how to respond to her.

She knew what to say, though. My perfect angel. She squeezed my hand, which was already holding hers, and told me, "Christian, you're a different man now than you were then. That witch may have damaged you, but she didn't destroy you. And maybe Isaac is a different man than the one you're afraid he is, too. You at least ought to give him the benefit of the doubt. If something happens between him and Mia, trust her. She won't let him do anything she doesn't want him to. And you're assuming he's even going to want that at all."

Well, damn. I knew she was right, but I didn't like it.