Chapter 8:

I took three days of contemplating, rereading my sister's casefiles, and rereading her letter before I arranged a meeting with Seattle's own reigning Prince. The Christian Grey is scheduled to meet with me at my office at 2 this afternoon. I have questions for the man, and I hope he will be straight forward and honest.

At exactly at 2:00pm, my secretary beeps in that my client has arrived. With my usual coolness, I ask her to send him in and to bring cold drinks.

As always, Christian walks into my office as if he owns the place. He is dressed in a dark grey Tom Ford suit that fits his body like a glove. I stand to greet him with a smile and my offered hand. He smirks at me but takes my hand in both of his.

"Mr. Grey, please have a seat." I offer him a chair then take my own behind my desk.

"Is everything working well with my security?"

"This isn't about your account, Mr. Grey." The door opens and Hannah rolls in a cart with ice-tea, lemonade, and orange juice. She nods at me and leaves the room, still not liking the multibillionaire sitting before me. "This is personal." A slow smile grows across his face and this egoistical male must think that I am longing for him. I shake my head. "It's about you and my sister."

The grin drops immediately. "I've told you everything about my time with Miss Pearl."

"Did you see her again after the relationship was ended?"

"No, I told you, once we were done, we were done. I don't do repeats. I do not give second chances."

"I have one more question. Did Mrs. Lincoln ever try to get you to go back to Aurora?"

Christian took his time thinking about. "She did mention that maybe I was too hasty about ending the relationship, but she didn't know that it was Rory that ended it. "

I watch his face carefully. He is telling the truth. He shows no signs of falsehood. "Did you speak with Mrs. Lincoln about your relationship with Aurora?"

"The usual. How Rory pleased me." My stomach turned as my thoughts went to the ways that Rory pleased him, taking a belt to her ass, being tied to crosses, spanking benches, tethered to beds and the other implements that Mr. Grey enjoyed using to dominate his play toys. "Miss Steele, why these questions?"

"Mrs. Lincoln is implicating you in the murder of my sister." I was blunt. I wanted to see his reaction. Grey came to his feet and his face turned almost purple in rage.

"That bitch is doing what?"

"Sit down, Mr. Grey and control yourself." I said sharply. "Mrs. Lincoln knew about Trista, and I believe she had plans for my niece."

"I'll fucking kill her." he said lowly. He sat back in the chair. "She fucking knew and never told me?"

"I believe so. I also need to know the relationship status between you and Mr. Lincoln and his son, Robert, Jr."

"Pure hatred on both our parts. Lincoln hates me because I bankrupted his business and well, you can guess why else he hates me."

"And his son?"

"I don't know. I barely know the kid."

"He's the same age as you, Grey." I remind him. "What I am going to tell you next is privileged information, so you need to keep your damn mouth shut and your temper under control. Do you understand Mr. Grey?" He nods his head, but I notice that his fists are balled. "The night of the bachelor party, the Lincoln's had one of their boy's nights out. During this time, Lincoln, Jr. and your brother got into an altercation. A few punches were exchanged. Lincoln, Jr. was able to get a hair sample from Elliot which he proceeded to have planted on evidence that was in the evidence room at the FBI lab. The person who did the actual planting has been arrested and will be prosecuted to the fullest. Jr. is in custody and will probably be talking soon enough. You see he is in protected custody, and no one knows he has been detained. Not even his father. Lincoln, Sr., thinks his boy is out on a bender of sex and drink."

Christian sat and stared at me. "What… why?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know why the Lincoln family is hellbent on destroying you or someone you love."

"Elena." He said with venom. "The bitch can't stand if I am happy."

Yeah, that bitch can't stand for anyone to be happy…unless she can make a profit off it. "Elena, I believe, threaten Aurora. I know Aurora found out some things that she never should have found out. She left me a letter telling me about Elena's business dealings on the black market. For some reason, Aurora believed that Elena wanted to sell Trista. To tell you the truth, I believe my sister because there were photos found of a younger Trista on the dark web and it was traced back to Elena. My sister also wrote to me not to trust you because Elena is your lapdog, or so that is what she thought." I take a deep breath. "Once again, Mr. Grey, are you involved in this crap?"

"I would never sell a child into sexual slavery, nor do I condone pedophilia."

"I hate to tell ya, buddy, when you bankrolled Lincoln, you were condoning pedophilia." I shook my head at him when he started to defend himself. "You went into business with the same pedo who preyed on you when you were just a fifteen-year-old boy. Now, put yourself in the shoes of a fifteen-year-old Mia or even better yet, Trista…what would you do if any man or woman lured them into a BDSM sexual relationship?" I watch as his face turns red, nearly purple in rage. "Yeah, I thought so, you would kill them. Now, consider me, I am the mother of a child that has been targeted by sexual deviants on the dark web. She has been offered up for $100,000. We have around the clock security to keep her safe because of Mrs. Lincoln and your past with her!"

"You are blaming me?" His voice rose in shock.

"Yes, I am because when could have gone to your parents and told them the truth about that woman and you could have walked away from her when you became an adult, but you kept running back to her for some damn reason." We stared at each other for the longest minute of my life. He is furious at me as I am with him. "Have you told them anything? Do they know about your lifestyle?"

"I can't tell them about me and Elena. They will hate me."

"And, who told you that? Elena? I don't think they will hate you, but they will be disappointed in you because you didn't trust them enough to protect you. They will be hurt because you have let the same woman who molested you be apart of their life. I know that the family has taken a few social hits because of their social relationship with Mrs. Lincoln, but your father has done a fine job of keeping it under control." I stood up and walked around my desk and stood before him. "I need to know that you are not involved in this shit. I went out on a limb to save your ass, and yes it was to protect Trista and Aurora, but I swear, if I find out otherwise, I will nail your ass. Believe me when I say this…I will not show any amount of mercy for you. It doesn't matter to me if you are a Platinum Member of SSE or not, I will be your worse nightmare."

He studied me closely and then cooly stood up and button his jacket. "Miss Steele, I swear on my grandfather's life, a man that I adore and admire, that I am not into trafficking of children, men, or women. "

Observing his manners and the cadence of his voice, I know this man is telling me the truth. "Okay, then…I guess we are done."

Before Christian can say anything, the door to my office opens and Ross flies in with a huge smile on his face. '=

"He broke, Ana. That little bastard broke and is spilling the beans…"