Author's Note: I'm about to travel again, and this time I won't be taking my laptop, so I won't be able to update the story for about a week. Hopefully, you won't lose interest in the meantime. I'll do my best to post again tomorrow so we can be done with Sally Jacobson before I'm offline, but I make no promises. I hope you're still enjoying the story.

Chapter 31: Monday Morning Madness

Mon, March 11, 2019

As planned, Anastasia met Taylor and Prescott, her new CPO, the next morning when they picked her up in the same shiny black Mercedes Escalade that she'd ridden with Christian to work in on Friday morning, which felt like a lifetime ago. She expected a normal workday. Monday mornings were usually spent in her office reading reports her commissioning editors had submitted at the end of the workweek. On Monday afternoon, she always wrote responding emails to acknowledge and give feedback on their reports.

Christian had wanted to be there to introduce Anastasia to her security staff, but he was already at work, where he'd been since 7:00 a.m., meeting first with Ros and Henry from M&A, followed by a breakfast meeting with a potential acquisition. He'd meet with his security team immediately after breakfast, which would take some time to work through details related to Leila Williams and Elena Lincoln. There was also the fraud issue to deal with, also related to Elena and the audit that would be complete by now. He already knew what to expect, and it was all he could do to push his anger aside so he could focus on the potential acquisition. But he did manage.

As Anastasia got into the waiting car, where Taylor was standing at the right rear door, which he'd opened for her, she was surprised to see a third person in the front passenger seat whom Taylor introduced as Sawyer. He was a tall muscular guy with short hair a couple of shades lighter than Anastasia's chestnut brown, a closely trimmed beard and mustache, and tattoos that covered what she could see of his neck under his gray button-up shirt with the top button undone. Anastasia guessed Sawyer's upper body was probably covered in tattoos, but she couldn't see them under his charcoal gray suit. She noticed that he was dressed exactly the same as Taylor. Sawyer was a handsome guy whose good looks would get attention. Anastasia wasn't sure that was a good thing if he was supposed to be her covert security, which Taylor explained was one of his usual assignments. Sawyer would also stand in as her CPO when Prescott was off duty. Today, he was headed to GEH with Taylor after dropping off Anastasia and Prescott at Bennington Steele.

When Taylor introduced Prescott, who was seated in the backseat next to her, Anastasia realized that Christian's security officers had a uniform, a charcoal gray suit with gray shirt and black shoes. Anastasia would have humorously referred to them as the "men in gray," if not, thankfully, for the fact that Prescott was happily a female. Anastasia was thankful because she wanted to be safe, and there were some places a male CPO wouldn't be able to comfortably follow her. Christian had been very thoughtful in hiring Prescott, even before BB had suggested it. How had he known they'd reach an agreement so soon, she wondered.

Prescott's charcoal gray suit was crisp and feminine cut, and the gray blouse appeared to be silk. She looked very professional, Anastasia thought. She was a tall, muscular African American with a short neat afro and large dark red lips. Other than her lipstick, the rest of her make-up was minimal, but she didn't need much. Anastasia thought she was beautiful, but her large size was intimidating, which was a good thing. She didn't appear to have an ounce of fat anywhere on her muscular body, which impressed Anastasia and made her thankful once again for her Dom's thoughtfulness. She felt confident that this woman would protect her well.

At 200 Spring Street, Taylor left Sawyer with the car and walked into the lobby to introduce Anastasia to Reynolds, who would be the regular lobby guard. Anastasia recognized him easily by the charcoal gray suit, gray shirt, and black shoes. Yes, definitely a uniform. Other than that, Reynolds reminded her of her dad, with his graying buzz cut and rigid posture. Definitely a Marine, Anastasia thought. She wondered if he might know her dad, as they appeared to be similar in age. When she had time to chat with Reynolds, she'd ask. Today, though, she needed to get to work and make sure Prescott was settled at her new work station just outside Anastasia's office, next to her P.A., Hannah.

Meanwhile, Christian and Ros were congratulating themselves on another win. The breakfast meeting had gone much better than either of them had expected, since they hadn't realized how eager the owner was to sell. They'd saved a lot of time by closing on a deal today that they'd expected to take several weeks, and they'd gotten the company for a third of the price they'd agreed they could spend on it. If only the rest of the day could go so well, but Christian knew things were going to go downhill from there.

"Let's hear about Leila Williams first," Christian began as his security heads sat down in their usual seats.

"She's been off the grid since Friday night," Barney announced. "She withdrew a couple hundred from the ATM on First near the aquarium. She disappeared into the aquarium and wasn't seen coming out. Her shadow lost her there, and she hasn't been online all weekend. She hasn't used her cell phone. She must have a burner phone."

"She didn't go back to her condo?" Christian asked.

"Negative," Barney replied. "Not even to pack a bag. After her shift ended Friday, she went straight to that cash machine, then the aquarium."

"She got my message?" Christian asked Taylor.

"Loud and clear," Taylor replied. "When she left work Friday, she took a bus down to the aquarium. She didn't even check to see if we'd taken the car. She knew we'd already done it. I'll be surprised if she returns to her condo at all. She's probably afraid to because she knows she's in deep shit. There's no way she'll ever be able to repay you for her college tuition."

Christian said, "I don't give a fuck if she repays it, but I don't want her to know that. I just want to make sure she doesn't publish that damn manuscript. Do you have any guesses where she's gone?"

"No, Sir," Taylor answered. "We've checked for communications between her and Elena Lincoln. So far, nothing on Mrs. Lincoln's end either. She was at a social event in Tacoma Friday evening. She worked at her salon on Saturday until 4 p.m., and then you saw her at Down Under later that night. If she contacted Leila at all, there's no evidence, but it's possible she's also got a burner phone. My best guess is that Ms. Williams got a friend to help her leave town. She probably knew you were having her followed, so she figured out how to get away by going to the aquarium and leaving through an emergency exit."

"She always was a sneaky little shit," Christian agreed. "Keep looking for her. Let me know when you've found her."

"Yes, Sir," Taylor agreed.

They moved on to Elena Lincoln, talking at length about the evidence that Barney had found to connect her to child pornography. There was absolutely no other explanation for the paper trails that Barney showed them. By the end of their conversation, all four of them were convinced that Elena had been grooming underage boys and girls to be submissives to assholes who had paid her thousands, which she'd laundered through her salons. The trouble was proving it. If they didn't handle this situation delicately, Elena would get away with it because they couldn't pin anything on her. Most of the information they had hadn't been obtained legally, so they couldn't exactly turn her in without implicating themselves.

"I'm going to talk to my contact at the FBI," Barney said. "Hopefully, I can convince them to do an undercover investigation. Get somebody on the inside to get the evidence they need."

Christian felt that the situation was urgent. Now that he knew what Elena was doing, he felt he had an obligation to stop her. The scales on his eyes had been removed, and he saw her for what she truly was: an evil pedophile who had hurt countless children. He needed to make sure she couldn't hurt any more innocent kids.

While Christian was busy discussing Elena Lincoln with his security heads, Anastasia was plugging away reading reports. She'd gotten though over half of them so far, and she had three more to go, which she was sure she could finish before lunchtime. But then, her phone rang with an internal call.

"Anastasia," she answered.

"Ana, it's Lydia. Do you have a moment. There's something I need to discuss with you in private."

"Sure, I can take a minute. Come to my office," Anastasia told her Lifestyles editor. When she hung up, she directed Hannah to send Lydia in when she arrived.

A minute later, Lydia walked through the open door of Anastasia's office, closing it behind her. She didn't waste any time getting to the point.

"I'm worried Sally's going to be a problem," she told Anastasia. "Now that the news is out about your relationship with Mr. Grey… Congratulations, by the way. Your pictures from the gala were lovely. Anyway, Sally's been acting strange since the news broke. At first I wasn't going to say anything, but I just overheard a conversation she was having on her personal cell phone in her office. I wasn't trying to eavesdrop; it just kind of happened. She's not supposed to have personal conversations like that at work anyway, especially not in the office where anyone can overhear."

"What did you hear, Lydia?" Anastasia asked.

"Well, it turns out that the reason she was so eager for us to publish the memoir… It wasn't only because of the secrets it revealed… or claimed to reveal about Mr. Grey. It seems that Sally herself is into… the lifestyle. The conversation she was having in her workplace was… it was about submission. I think she must have been talking to another submissive. One who was at least familiar with the memoir. I don't know if it was the author or someone else. I interrupted her phone call before I could determine that because I felt it was inappropriate for her to have it at work, and for me to listen in."

"Thank you, Lydia," Anastasia said, keeping her tone professional. "I agree that it was very unprofessional for her to have that conversation during work hours. I think it's appropriate to write her a formal reprimand, and put it in her record."

"No, it's worse than that, I'm afraid," Lydia said. "I heard her mention Mr. Grey's name. She violated her NDA, which we both reminded her of just Friday. I have grounds to terminate her over that. I'm worried about acting prematurely, though, so I wanted to bring the matter to you right away."

Anastasia sighed. "That's certainly worse," she agreed. "She's your assistant, Lydia. If we fire her, you're going to be without an assistant until you can hire a new one."

Lydia frowned thoughtfully. "I don't expect she'll be difficult to replace, if that happens. I'm disappointed in her. Until this memoir happened, she's been a good assistant. Not perfect, but good. But her indiscretion is unforgivable. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever for her to talk about BDSM and Christian Grey in a private conversation at work. It was extremely inappropriate and unprofessional."

"I agree," Anastasia said. Her esteem for Lydia had just grown exponentially, but she had a serious problem on her hands now: how to deal with Sally without creating an even bigger problem. "You're right about being careful not to act prematurely, though. Let's make sure we follow protocol. That means I need a written report from you before anything else."

That would also give Anastasia time to think. Sally could become a much bigger problem than she already was if they weren't careful.

As soon as Lydia had left her office, Anastasia called Christian.

"Princess," he answered. "This is a surprise."

"Is this line secure?" Anastasia asked. "I've got a serious issue that I need to discuss with you, but it's important that it not be overheard."

"Yes, my calls are secure," he answered. "My security staff are in my office right now. I'll send them out so we can have privacy."

"No, they need to know," Anastasia stopped him. "This is a security issue. My Lifestyles editor just reported that she overheard her assistant… Sally Jacobson… the one who read the entire memoir… She overheard her talking on her personal cell phone at work. She was talking about submission. Lydia seemed to think that Sally is a submissive herself and she was either talking to Leila or someone else who knows about the memoir. And she mentioned your name. Now, Lydia wants to fire her for violating her NDA, and I agree. But I'm worried that she can't be trusted to be discrete, even with the NDA. If she's violated it once while she was at work, what's to stop her from violating it again when she's no longer my employee?"

"Shit," Christian muttered. "Does she know about you?"

"What about me?" Anastasia asked, not understanding his question.

He sighed. "If she read the entire memoir, she knows I'm the Grey Wolf. If she's paying attention to the gossip sites, she knows we're dating. So she at least suspects you're a sub, if she doesn't already know who you are."

"Shit," Anastasia spat. "My God, she's going to blackmail me, isn't she?"

"I'll be surprised if she doesn't try," Christian agreed. "But you're not going to pay her hush money or let her keep working for you either."

"Um… I'm not?" Anastasia asked confusedly.

Christian knew he was pushing a boundary right now, in a gray area. Generally, he didn't want to control Anastasia's work life. But this was more than that. Their personal lives were interfering with her work, and he had to take charge. He had an obligation to protect her. He only hoped she saw it the same way.

"Here's what we're going to do, Princess," Christian announced. "Let's meet for lunch in my private room at the Mile High Club. I'll see you there in half an hour, along with my security heads. We'll come up with an action plan for dealing with Sally Jacobson."