Chapter 47: Protecting Grace

"I wish you'd tell me what's going on, Christian," Anastasia pleaded. It was Wednesday evening, and they'd ended their extended TPE session at the agreed time, two days after they'd begun. They'd agreed that they loved it and wanted to do it again regularly, but they didn't make any definite plans yet.

Anastasia noticed that Christian was distracted, but he wouldn't tell her what was wrong. It was obvious that something was deeply troubling him. He'd barely eaten any dinner, only picking at his food and not talking much. He kept checking his phone more than usual. He'd left the library a couple of times during their dinner there, and Anastasia knew he was headed in the direction of the security room. She could hear his and Taylor's muted voices, but she couldn't make out their words.

"I wish I knew," Christian responded as he watched her chew her last bite of chicken. He couldn't tell her what he suspected. He couldn't tell anyone that his beloved mother, his angel, had become a murderer all because of his bad choices.

After dinner, Christian suggested they watch a movie and cuddle in his bed. Anastasia still hadn't gotten dressed, and he was enjoying keeping her naked. But as much as he enjoyed his girlfriend's gorgeous body close to his, his mind was on his mother and Elena… and he just wasn't feeling like playing tonight. But having Anastasia's warm, soft body close to his comforted him, even as he was in turmoil with worry.

He still hadn't heard from Mia. Earlier that afternoon, security had alerted him that Elliot had also shown up at Elena's house in one of his work trucks. He'd been there about half an hour, and then they'd all left. Elliot had returned to a work site even though it was time for his work crew to go home for the day. Once they were all gone, Mia and Beatrice had joined him there. But security couldn't get close enough to see what they were doing.

What the hell was going on? Christian had a sinking feeling that he knew exactly what they were doing. He was a smart guy, and Elliot's cement truck was still running. If they were doing what he feared they were doing, it was probably a good thing his security couldn't see inside the work site.

Had his mother really murdered her former best friend? And were two of his siblings and his best friend's twin sister currently covering things up, literally hiding the dead body?

And why weren't they answering their phones? Why were they keeping it all from him?

Halfway though the movie, Anastasia stopped it. "You're not watching, and I'm just not into it," she explained. "I'd rather read if you don't want to tell me what's wrong."

Christian sighed. "It's not that I don't want to tell you, Ana," he said. "But I can't tell you what I don't know. I'm still waiting…" His voice trailed off. He couldn't tell her what he was waiting to find out. He didn't want to involve her. What if the police questioned her later? It was safer for her to remain innocent of all the facts.

"It's OK," she assured him. "Just know that I'm here if you want to talk about it."

A few minutes later, once Anastasia had immersed herself in a manuscript, Christian finally received a text message from Mia.

Mia: Lunch tomorrow. Escala. I'll explain then.

Christian: Is everyone OK?

Mia: I'll explain tomorrow.

Christian: Just tell me if Mom is OK.

Mia: Mom's drunk off her ass and passed out on the living room sofa. I'm going to bed.

Christian: Is Elliot OK?

Christian: Are Carson and Gabby OK? Did they see Mom drunk?

Christian: Does Dad know what happened?

Mia didn't respond to any of Christian's messages, so Christian tried Elliot's phone again. Still no answer. Shit. He'd have to just wait until tomorrow. He hated waiting, and feeling so powerless.

Christian didn't sleep much at all that night. He snuggled with Anastasia, feeling comforted by the smell of her hair, but he didn't close his eyes more than an hour or so all night. When he did drift off, he had nightmares of his mother being questioned by the police, then tortured in prison. His angel, who had rescued the tiny malnourished tortured 4-year-old child that he had been when she'd found him in the Emergency Room that day, had acted on his behalf today. He was the reason she'd murdered her former friend. He couldn't let her go to prison for protecting him and his siblings.

He was watching Anastasia's face in the pale morning light as she awakened. He had blackout shades, but he never used them on workday mornings. He'd always awakened before dawn anyway before Ana came into his life and his bed. At the moment, she looked adorable as she stretched and blinked her eyes. Her breasts were uncovered, and he was enjoying ogling them, even though he'd seen plenty of them the previous day.

"Did you sleep at all?" Anastasia asked him sleepily.

He shook his head and pulled her close. He didn't want to talk. He wanted to fuck.

After giving her two orgasms in good-ole missionary style, Christian got her to ride him and gave her another in cowgirl before he couldn't hold back his own. By the time they showered together, he had recovered enough to empty himself down her throat as she deep-throated him. In spite of his worries about his family, he really liked having Anastasia here with him when he woke up. He was convinced by now that he wanted her to move in with him. But he knew it was still too soon to suggest it to her.

Sadly, he had to dress her today, as she couldn't spend another day nude in his library. For one, they weren't doing TPE today. She probably would have been game anyway, but her father was arriving sometime today, and he wasn't sure what time. Anastasia needed to be ready to greet her dad when he arrived. She would continue working in Christian's library because it was already set up for her and was more secure. Jack Hyde was still plotting a kidnapping, and Christian's security was feeding him false information just to entrap him, today with any luck. Christian would keep Ana close until Hyde had been apprehended.

After not eating dinner the previous night, Christian was hungry enough to finish off the pancakes that Mrs. Jones made them. Anastasia wasn't quite as hungry, but she loved pancakes, so she ate most of hers as well. As they ate, he informed her that Mia was coming for lunch and that he needed to have a private conversation with her. Anastasia agreed to have lunch alone. After breakfast, they both went to work in their respective work spaces, Anastasia to the library, and Christian to his office.

Christian got very little work done, though. Elliot still wasn't answering his phone. At least he did reply back that he was busy working and would talk later. What the fuck was that about? Elliot had to have known that Christian knew he'd been there yesterday at Elena's house and that Mia and Beatrice had been at his work site later. Why was he refusing to answer his damn phone? Work had never kept him from answering Christian's calls.

Last night, Christian had considered calling Gabriela and Carson just to see what they knew, but he thought better of it. Hopefully, Mia had managed to keep the whole thing from them, and his asking questions would have only peaked their interest, which he needed to avoid. He still wondered if they'd seen Grace drunk, which would have been a first if they did. Their mother very rarely drank more than just a glass of wine with dinner on special occasions. None of them had ever seen her drunk.

Halfway through the morning, as Christian stared blankly at the computer screen in front of him, not really seeing it since his mind was still on his mother's dilemma, Barney knocked on his office door and walked in without waiting for a response. He closed the door behind him.

"We need to talk," he told Christian. "I need to tell you something. I know Elena Lincoln is dead. But I'm in her computer right now, and I'm… keeping her alive, so to speak. You can't repeat that to anyone, not even Taylor or Welch."

If this had been anyone else, Christian would have seen red flags. Was Barney attempting to extort him? But no, that wasn't who Barney was. Was it? What the fuck was going on?

"Why?" Christian asked simply.

"Because they don't need to know," Barney replied. "I'm committing about a dozen white collar crimes already, and I expect to add to that list before this is over. Welch and Taylor don't need to know. If they knew, they'd be accessaries."

"No, that's not what I mean," Christian said. "Why are you doing it?"

Barney answered, "Because it needs to be done and I'm the best person to do it because I know how to cover my tracks and make sure people believe she's still alive and getting ready to jump bail. She's… cleaning up all her assets. Making it so that people don't ask too many questions when she disappears."

"I still don't get why you'd risk it," Christian said. "If you get caught… do you realize how much prison time you'll get?"

"I won't get caught," Barney assured him confidently. "And it's worth the risk to me. Your mother is the last person in the world who belongs in prison for what she did. Elena Lincoln was a menace to society. Your mom did us all a favor."

Christian just stared at Barney blankly, still trying to figure out his angle. He hadn't asked for a payoff, and it didn't appear that he was going to. What then was he risking his neck for?

"OK, I'm going to tell you a story," Barney told Christian. "I see you don't get it, so hopefully this will help. This is personal for me, even though it's too late for me to fix my own family. What's happening in yours is so much like what happened in mine, it feels personal. I couldn't do anything back then, but I can do something now."

"Barney, what the fuck are you talking about?" Christian asked confusedly.

Barney explained, "When I was growing up, I had a single mom. I was an only child, and it was just me and my mom after my dad left us. I don't even remember him. But my Aunt Dahlia helped a lot. She babysat me while Mom worked. The three of us were really close. When I was nine years old, Aunt Dahlia met someone. His name was Bill, and at first, he was great. He taught me how to play baseball. They got married, and I was the ring bearer in their wedding. Then, not too long after they got married, things changed. He started by touching me more than was normal. Long story short, he molested me. It went on for over a year, and I was too afraid to tell anyone, because he'd threatened to hurt my mom and aunt if I told them."

"Damn," Christian commented. He stared at Barney wide-eyed, waiting for him to continue.

"One day, my mom came home early from work and walked in on it. Oh, I forgot to mention, my mom was a badass. She had a license to carry, and her loaded Glock 43 was in her handbag. She took it out and shot the bastard between the eyes. He died instantly."

"Holy shit," Christian muttered, hardly believing his ears.

"It should have been a case of self defense. If Mom had had a good lawyer, I'm sure it would have been. But she served time. She got ten years, but she only served seven. By the time she was released, I was nearly grown. It was Aunt Dahlia who raised me after that, but she never forgave herself for bringing that bastard into our lives. She was really depressed, so I basically raised myself. I mean, she held it together as best she could, and always made sure I got a good education and had all the basic necessities. She did her best, but she became an alcoholic. She tried to quit a few times, but the disease was bigger than she was. She fought hard for me, though. I think she was just waiting for Mom to be released so I wouldn't go into foster care. Mom hadn't been out of prison six months before Aunt Dahlia decided to take a camping trip up around Hart's Pass. The thing is, she wasn't into camping. At all. She never intended to camp. She drove herself off a cliff. It was ruled an accident, but she killed herself. Mom and I both knew it. She'd even said her goodbyes because she knew she wasn't coming back. We just didn't realize it until it was too late."

"My God," Christian said. "That's horrible."

"Yeah, it was," Barney agreed. "Mom was devastated. She never got over losing Aunt Dahlia. They were really close. And also… prison had done a number on my mom. She never went into detail about the horrors she experienced, but she never recovered. She went to prison because she was protecting me, and she never got over what they did to her there. She lived another five years, if you can call it living. She couldn't hold down a decent job, mainly because of her prison record. Before prison, she'd had a decent job as a dental hygienist, but she couldn't find work in that field, so she resorted to bartending and waitressing, but none of those jobs lasted long. But by then, I was in college, and I was making enough through all my odd jobs to support us both. She developed an addiction to pain killers. Her heart finally gave out. She had a heart attack almost five years to the day that we lost Aunt Dahlia."

"My God, Barney, why didn't I know any of this?" Christian asked.

Barney answered, "You didn't need to know until now. I'm never going to get either of them back, but, by God, I can keep your mother from experiencing the same shit. And that's exactly what I'm doing."

Christian nodded. Enough said. He now understood Barney's motives, and he was appreciative. "Thank you for explaining. What do you need?"

"Well, I'd kind of like to know what exactly happened," Barney answered.

"You and me both," Christian responded. "Mia's coming over later. She's going to fill me in."

"That's good," Barney said. "You need to make sure she knows what I'm doing. Make sure your mother knows to play along. We can protect her, but only if she follows the script. We need a script, by the way, which I'm working on, and we need to make sure that we all follow the same script. If anybody goes off script, it could jeopardize all of us."

"Damn, Barney, you sound like you've done this shit before," Christian commented.

"No, I've never covered up a homicide," Barney responded sardonically. More seriously, he added, "But I would if I could do it over again. If I could have kept my mother out of prison, she and Aunt Dahlia might still be with us."

Half an hour later, Mia arrived. Finally, Christian got the full story of what had happened.

"It was an accident," Mia insisted. "If you'd seen her right after it happened, you'd know. She had no intention of killing Elena, just… torturing her."

"Torturing her?" Christian asked dumbfoundedly. "You're telling me that Grace Trevelyan-Grey went there with torture in mind?"

"Why does that shock you?" Mia asked. "You assumed she went there with murder in mind."

"It's just so unlike Mom," Christian observed.

Mia nodded in agreement. "I think she just reached her breaking point when Elena targeted Carson and Gabby after knowing what she'd done to you, too. She wanted her to suffer the way she made you and Carson suffer."

"I suspected that much," Christian said.

Mia's eyes got misty as she asked, "Christian… do you remember the electronic probe thing that Elena used to… shock you with?"

Christian cringed. "That's not something I can ever forget, but I'd rather not talk about it."

Mia ignored his comment. "That thing was what Mom used. Elena told her what she used to do to you with it. And according to Mom, she didn't resist when she… used it on her."

Christian's eyes popped. "Mom used the probe on Elena? You mean…?"

Mia nodded. "I mean she stuck it up her pussy. Yes, she did! And then she turned it on full blast. Elena warned her to use the lowest setting, but Mom wanted her to suffer. She didn't know what that thing would do. She thought it might made Elena pass out, but not… fry her pussy. But that's what happened. We could smell it. Burnt flesh."

"Oh, good God, Mia!" Christian exclaimed.

Mia ignored his outburst. "It was her heart that caused her death, apparently. I think she probably had a heart attack. Mom said she tried to perform CPR, but Elena was still hanging there on the Saint Andrews Cross, so I'm not sure how Mom did CPR, if she did. She was in shock. Her hands were shaking violently when we arrived, and she was crying. She didn't mean to kill her."

"Do you honestly believe that?" Christian implored. "Not that it matters, not really. The fact remains that Elena is dead, and Mom is responsible. But do you truly believe she didn't go there with the intent to kill her?"

"I do," Mia answered, "but only because I saw her and heard her as it was happening. And I know her. She's our Mom. I know when she's lying, and she wasn't lying. I can't explain the CPR thing. As a trained physician, she would know that Elena needed to be on the floor, but she wasn't. I don't know why. But you're right, it doesn't matter. A jury of her peers would almost certainly find her guilty. She went there with motive and opportunity. It looks really bad. And that's why Beatrice and I acted as we did to protect her. She shouldn't go to prison because of killing someone as horrible as that. She actually did us all a favor, not just her own children, but everyone else's too."

"Why didn't you answer any of my calls?" Christian asked accusingly.

Mia sighed. "We were trying to protect you, Christian," she answered. "If you'd known, you would have wanted to be right there in the middle of it all, ordering us all around, like the king of the universe that you think you are."

Christian was offended. "That's not fair…"

"Hey, I love you," Mia cut him off. "But yeah, that's exactly what you would have done."

Christian objected. "Taylor wouldn't let me leave because the paps would have followed. So no, I wouldn't have been there drawing more attention to it all. But it would have been nice to have known what was going on instead of being in the dark all fucking night."

"You would have wanted to be in charge, even if you weren't there in person," Mia insisted. Bee and I agreed on that because we both know you well. All three of us have dominant personalities. We know. And besides, I didn't want to text any… sensitive information. It was better to keep you in the dark than for that information to get into the wrong hands."

"You don't trust my security?" Christian asked.

Mia shrugged. "This goes way beyond just trusting them to do their jobs. Any law abiding citizen will call the police when they see a crime happening, or suspect one is happening. I think we were lucky that your covert security didn't call the police. We half expected them to. And we didn't know what you might order them to do if you'd known what we were doing. We couldn't take that risk."

Christian wasn't happy, but he decided to let it go. What's done was done. It pissed him off, but there was no point in dwelling on it.

"Did you really bury her body in Elliot's work site?" he asked.

Mia nodded. "The fewer people who know that, the better. Elliot is scared shitless. He's got a child on the way and is afraid he's going to get caught and go to prison with a newborn baby, and Kate will leave him… You know Elliot, always worrying about shit."

"We'll make sure nobody finds out," Christian agreed. "The only person I'm talking to about this is Barney." Christian filled Mia in on Barney's story and his determination to help them protect Grace.

"Is he here now?" Mia asked. "We should work on the script with him and make sure we're all on the same page. I'll make sure Mom knows what to say and not say. Shit, I wish I could stay longer. I've got to get back to Boston on Monday."

"How much does Dad know?" Christian asked.

"Everything," Mia answered. "And he's totally on board with our plan. He'll keep to the script. It's Gabby we'll need to be careful about. She's… too good. It'll be hard for her to lie to people's faces. The less she knows the better. Carson can handle it, but not Gabby."

"Did they see Mom last night?" Christian asked.

"No, thankfully I was able to send Gabby off to spend the night with her friend. They had a school project they were working on, and I encouraged her to stay overnight, which she was happy to do. So she doesn't have a clue. Carson was in his room, but I don't think he heard us. He was listening to music until bedtime. He seemed normal this morning, like he didn't suspect anything was going on."

"As intuitive as Gabby is, she's likely to figure something out," Christian worried.

Mia nodded. "Well, let's write her into the script and decide together how to handle her and Carson. I don't want them to know too much. They're too young."

"Agreed," Christian said. He called Barney on his phone, and Barney appeared a minute later.

The three of them spent another couple of hours writing the script for Elena Lincoln's departure from Seattle to the Cayman Islands, and then on to… nobody would know where.

Author's Note: Merry Christian, readers! I have a question for you, call it a Christmas gift. You decide: should Christian tell Anastasia about Elena's death and Grace's involvement, or should he keep the secret even from her?