Chapter 15: Protecting her Dom
Anastasia made it to her office with all of her buttons closed except the top two, so her breasts were fully covered and her appearance was professional, if a bit frazzled. That car ride had been intense, and she wasn't at all prepared for the meeting she was supposed to have with Lydia and Sally, which was supposed to have started five minutes ago.
"Ana! Are you OK?" her personal assistant Hannah asked as Anastasia barreled into the office.
"Just running late," Anastasia answered. "Are Lydia and Sally waiting for me?"
"Lydia's in her office, and I think Sally is with her. Do you want me to call them?"
Anastasia caught her breath before replying. "Ask them to give me ten minutes. Ask them to come to my office at 10:15."
Those ten minutes gave Ana time to make herself a cup of tea and also to mentally prepare for the meeting with Lydia and Sally. She knew that the discussions about their other manuscripts would go fine. She knew exactly what they'd been working on, which authors they'd accepted, and which ones they were considering. She just needed to be updated on where they were in the process. But she had taken Memoir of a Submissive from Lydia, so she knew she was going to have to explain to both Lydia and her assistant Sally why they couldn't publish this work. It was going to be a tricky conversation.
As expected, the discussions of the other manuscripts they were working on went well. There were three other new works for which they were just beginning the process, and Anastasia felt all three of them were promising. Good. As always, she was impressed with Lydia's attention to detail. Lydia had been working for her since nearly the very beginning of Bennington Steele, and she had an eye for a successful story, and for detail. Both were essential qualities in a good editor, and Anastasia felt lucky to have Lydia on her team.
Sally had been Lydia's assistant for about six months now, having replaced the previous one who moved to California to go to graduate school. Sally was a tall thin blonde who reminded Anastasia a bit of a Barbie doll. She overdid the make-up, and her clothes were a bit too risque for the office, but nothing that warranted a reprimand.
Anastasia saved the discussion of Memoir of a Submissive for last. "I've decided that we can't publish it. There are too many issues that just won't work for us," Anastasia told them, hoping they'd leave it at that.
Both women seemed surprised.
"Really?" Lydia asked. "I'm shocked. I thought the first three chapters were amazing."
"They were," Anastasia agreed. "So were the next three chapters that followed. But after that, the writing style changed. By the end of the manuscript, it's so… different… that I don't believe the same person could have possibly written it all."
"You think it's plagiarized?" Lydia asked.
"That's a very real possibility," Anastasia answered. "At any rate, the penmanship of the second half is so bad that I don't believe even good editing could fix it."
Sally spoke up for the first time. "I read the whole thing, too, and I agree that the end is a mess. But I don't see why we can't just get the author to delete those chapters. I mean… the middle is what's really going to sell. People will buy it just for that."
"What do you mean?" Lydia asked. She was the only one of the three of them who hadn't read the middle or end of the manuscript.
"What I mean," Sally answered slyly, "is that Leila Williams names the men who were her Dominants. One of them was Christian Grey. In fact, he's the main one that she writes about. She even includes their BDSM contract. It's a tell-all about a famous person by someone who had a very intimate relationship with him. It will definitely sell."
If Christian had heard anyone call his past arrangement with Leila Williams a "very intimate relationship," Anastasia knew he'd have balked at those words. She marveled at the difference in the contract she'd signed with Christian the night before and the one Leila had written about in Chapter 8. The two contracts couldn't have been more different, yet both still be considered BDSM Dom/sub contracts. Christian had insisted on never sharing intimacy with any of his submissives. Until Ana. Intimacy was written into their contract, and he was already giving it to her. He was already an excellent Dom. The very best, in Anastasia's humble opinion.
Anastasia knew she needed to handle this situation with Lydia and Sally delicately. Chances were, after her "date" with Christian tonight, there would be images of them in social media. No doubt, there would be paparazzi at the gala who would all be looking out for payday shots of famous people attending the gala. When Christian Grey was spotted for the first time ever with a woman on his arm, the paps were going to go wild. Anastasia was already anticipating this because they'd talked about it last night when the issue of her security came up. As soon as those images got out, people would know that she and Christian were "dating." And as far as the rest of the world outside of their lifestyle were concerned, they were. They'd agreed last night that Christian would issue a public statement to admit they were in a relationship as soon as his publicity team recommended it, which was likely to be shortly after tonight's gala, probably tomorrow.
Anastasia knew, at the moment, that if she made too big of a deal about Memoir of a Submissive, she would alert Lydia and Sally that there was something here they needed to pay attention to. On the other hand, if she seemed to blow it off, they might not realize the seriousness of their need to keep this under wraps. She was also worried about how they were going to react when they found out that she and Christian were "dating," which they almost certainly would in just a few hours. If they believed what Leila Williams had written about Christian, what would they begin to think of Anastasia, their boss? She needed to somehow create doubt in their minds about the validity of Leila's story.
Anastasia planned her strategy. The best way to create the doubt that she needed to, she decided, was to question the integrity of the author. This wasn't difficult since Anastasia already had serious doubts that Leila had written the entire manuscript herself. If this turned out not to be enough, then she would admit to them that she knew Christian Grey personally. Even though Anastasia was so friendly with all of her employees that they all called her "Ana," none of them knew much about her personal life. However, they knew that she had a close working relationship with BB Bennington since she had used his name in the company's name. She'd go with six degrees of separation. She knew it would work because it was actually the truth. There was no need for her to go into any details or disclose anything she didn't want to.
Anastasia said, "Sally, I'm sure you must have noticed the discrepancies between the writing style in the first part of the manuscript and the end. I really don't see how they could possibly have been written by the same person. And if that's the case, we have no way of knowing what part she did write, if any. We can't publish any part of this."
"But we have indemnification clauses to cover such concerns, if part of it is plagiarized," Sally reminded her. "I mean, I agree, the end is shabby writing, but I think the first part, and especially the middle, will sell. I think we have a golden nugget here if we get rid of the end."
Anastasia replied calmly, "What if the end is the only part of it that she actually wrote? And if we're doubting her integrity already, then who's to say she hasn't lied about other parts of it? The very things that you think will sell, and by that, I'm sure you're referring to the revelations that she makes, could very well be inventions of her imagination."
"But what if they aren't?" Sally asked. Anastasia felt annoyed because it was clear that Sally wanted nothing more than the gossip and scandal. This was what she thought was the golden nugget. It made Anastasia angry. She decided that it was time to nip this in the bud.
"Look, Sally, I know for a fact that she isn't telling the truth about all those men," Anastasia admitted.
"Not just any men," Lydia interrupted. "Christian Grey. If it turns out that we publish something about that man that isn't true, that's going to be our necks on the line. He has a reputation for being a bit of an Alpha Male. That man would probably eat us alive if we were to publish this work."
Anastasia did her best not to react to Lydia's words. "Yes, exactly," she'd said, as calmly as possible. "Look, I know Christian Grey. I don't like to advertise this, but I know him well."
Well, that much was true, even if it had only been true for a few hours.
Anastasia continued, "This… what she's written about him... it's not Christian."
Actually, it was very much Christian, but this was what Anastasia needed to keep hidden. She would protect her Dom at all costs.
Anastasia continued, "Yes, Lydia, I agree that he's an Alpha Male. That's how he's gotten so successful so quickly in the business world. Did you know that BB Bennington, who provides our financial backing, is a very close friend of Christian Grey? BB's another Alpha Male, and a good friend of mine. I've gotten to know Christian really well through BB. I will not publish something about him that I know for a fact to be false."
OK, so not false, but very damaging. The white lie was necessary. She had to protect her Dom.
Lydia looked apologetic, but Sally only looked disappointed.
"I'm sorry, Ana," Lydia said. "I didn't know he was your friend. I only know him by reputation, and he's so aloof and secretive."
Anastasia responded, "He's private about his personal life. As am I, normally. The only reason I am telling you this is so you'll believe me when I tell you that I know it isn't true. Just trust me, and drop it. If Leila Williams is lying about writing this entire manuscript, which I believe she is, and she's lying about her... whatever she claims it was... with Christian Grey, which I know she is, then she cannot be trusted."
In fact, Anastasia believed that Leila was telling the truth about Christian, but nobody else needed to know that.
"OK, consider it dropped," Lydia responded.
"Good," Ana said. "And, Sally… remember that everything we read, whether we publish it or not, remains confidential. You're the only person at Bennington Steele besides me who's read this. If word gets out about it, I'll know it came from you."
Sally looked a little green. A little too quickly, she responded, "Of course, Ana! I'd never reveal any of this information to anyone."
That response was a red flag to Anastasia. She suspected that Sally had already been gossiping about the memoir, and she'd probably already mentioned Christian's name. She would have to check Sally's social media accounts to make sure she hadn't posted anything. But if she deleted the posts before Ana saw them, she wouldn't have any way of knowing if others had read about it already.
Once the meeting was finished and Lydia and Sally had left her office, Anastasia breathed a sigh of relief. Crisis averted, she hoped. But she didn't give herself time to relax. Instead, she opened up Facebook. She'd check there first, and then Instagram. She needed to be diligent about protecting her Dom. She needed to make him aware of this development whether she found anything in Sally's social media accounts or not.