Chapter 58 - Cocktailgate

I sit in the chair by the bed and watch my wife sleeping peacefully, apparently without a care in the world. I notice that for some reason she’s on my side of our bed, wearing one of my T shirts instead of a silk nightgown.

I swirl the whisky round in the glass tumbler before taking another slug.

As always when she sleeps, Anastasia looks beautiful, and sweet, and innocent.

Looks can be very deceiving.

If you had asked me before tonight, the one thing I would've been certain of was that my Ana was always honest with me. My Ana was not deceitful. My Ana was not a liar. If Ana gave me her word, I was sure she would keep it.

So, although she was not my obedient submissive, and although she refused to promise to obey me in our wedding vows, at least I believed that if she gave me her word about something as important as not going out drinking with Katherine fucking Kavanagh while there was a fucking madman on the loose, she would have fucking well kept her word.

If I hadn't trusted this was the case, I would never have left Ana behind on this trip. I couldn’t put off going to New York, not when we were so critically close to closing the crucial deal with the Taiwanese shipyard owners that Ros and I have been working on for months. 

But I would have insisted that Ana had to come with me, so I would know where she was at all times, that she was safe, whatever objections she’d have raised about not wanting to leave her job when we had only just come back from our honeymoon. Why was she so worried about her fucking job anyway? I was hardly going to let them fire her was I?

Now I’m fucking pissed with myself for being so weak with her about her job, relenting about her working just to keep her happy, but in doing so putting her at risk. What the fuck had I been thinking? It’s no good organizing a security detail to guard her round the clock, if she’s then going to split the team up by acting like an errant teenager, rebelliously staying out gossiping and drinking four strawberry mojitos one after the other.

Neither was there any point in the effort I had gone to in shielding her from all the worrying implications of what was on Hyde’s computer if Elliot couldn’t be more discrete.  But he had to go blabbing about every little detail to his fucking interfering big-mouthed girlfriend Katherine fucking Kavanagh. 

My brother really needs to exert more control over that female, or she is going to walk all over him and completely emasculate him. I shall certainly be having words with him first chance I get.

Luke Sawyer reported that it was Miss Kavanagh who persuaded Mrs. Grey to go to the stupid fucking Zig Zag Café, and that although Belinda Prescott reminded Mrs. Grey of Mr. Grey’s instructions, Mrs. Grey insisted that as Mr. Grey wasn’t there, Mrs. Grey was going to this stupid fucking café.

This act of defiance was undoubtedly due to Kate’s influence. Seeing as Kate was aware of the increased security measures I’d ordered, did she not have the slightest concern for her friend’s safety? Did it not occur to her that they were taking a risk in going against my instructions? How could she not comprehend that I put these measures in place for a very good reason?

Okay, so I’d gone against Taylor’s advice in not apprising my wife of all the facts regarding the security implications of the information Barney discovered on Hyde’s computer about my family. 

Taylor had been of the opinion that Ana would be more likely to be cooperative with all the security measures if she knew the potential scale of the risk. Fuck that, I'd told him in no uncertain terms. I was not having my wife worried unnecessarily just to make the job of the security team easier. They would just have to work round the situation to comply with my instructions. That's their fucking job, it’s what I pay them to do, and with Prescott, the female CPO now in situ, there is no reason why my wife can't be escorted at all times, 
wherever  she goes. So she doesn’t  need to know all the gory details, and sometimes ignorance is bliss. I do all the worrying for her, so she doesn’t  need to. That’s my job.

While she was at this bar, not only did she neglect to ring me to let me know she'd changed her plans, Ana didn’t even extend me the courtesy of picking up my calls or responding to my text, no doubt because she knew that I would be furious that she'd gone back on her word to me. It seems my wife has no problem in ignoring my express wishes, but is apparently unable to stand up to Kate’s corrupting influence in persuading her to go out drinking.

From what I gleaned from Sawyer, Ana seemed upset that Kate knew more about the Hyde situation than she did. Surely she can appreciate that there was no need for her to be concerned, because it is her husband's responsibility to worry about these things, not hers. Fuck Kate for stirring things up like this.

When  I received Sawyer’s report apprising me of Mrs. Grey’s change of plans for the evening, fortuitously I’d already made sure I’d spoken to everyone of importance at the New York event I was attending. 

When I was unable to speak to Ana, and when Sawyer updated me with the fact that Mrs. Grey had not even stuck to her promise to have just one drink before returning to Escala, I was enraged even further.

I  knew with the extreme level of frustration and anger surging through me, there was no chance of me getting any kind of a decent night’s sleep in my New York apartment. I fucking hated the fact that I had no control over events in Seattle, despite all the plans I had put in place.

So I ordered Taylor to organize our six hour flight back to Seattle as soon as possible, rather than hang about needlessly until the following day – my private jet is always on standby ready to leave at a moment’s notice in any case.

At least then I knew I would be back in the morning to wrench back control, and deal with the fact that Anastasia had gone back on her word to me, a matter I considered so vital that I couldn’t let it go unremarked upon or unpunished in some way.

However, I ordered Taylor not to let anyone know of our imminent return, because that would spoil the element of surprise – I like to keep everyone on their toes.  Just before we took off at around a quarter to one in the morning, I sent Ana an email warning her of my displeasure and that I would see her tomorrow, but I didn’t elaborate about exactly when that would be. Now she could worry all night about how pissed I was with her.

Theoretically, it should have been possible to sleep on the flight back, but of course I couldn’t, nor could I settle to use the time constructively to get any work done. It was so fucking frustrating, and all that kept popping into my head were images of me punishing Ana. The cane has always been my instrument of choice, but I’ve gotten rid of  them now. However, it's always possible to improvise, and I have a very creative imagination.

Taylor eyed me warily for most of the flight. To his credit, he never even hinted at any kind of 'I told you so', which must have been going through his mind. He’d tried to warn me that Mrs. Grey might not take kindly to being kept in the dark about the increased security measures, and I’d overruled him. I guess I have to remember he has gotten to know my wife’s stubborn and defiant personality quite well over the course of these last few months.

“So tell me again, what exactly did my wife say to Prescott, when she tried to remind her of my orders?” I asked him as I sat brooding, trying to get my head around Ana’s betrayal.

The security detail must have been caught on the back foot, because I’d told them that Mrs. Grey and Miss Kavanagh would be  going straight back to Escala. I was  furious that this made me look like a fucking dick who couldn’t keep his wife under control, because first chance she got, practically the minute I left town, she’d countermanded my instructions. I was also mad because the team wouldn't have had a chance to make any kind of a security sweep of the club before she arrived, thereby increasing the risk to her safety even further.

“I believe she replied that you weren’t there, and firmly repeated her instruction to be taken to The Zig Zag Cafe in a tone that brooked no argument, sir. Sawyer and Prescott felt they had no option but to comply with Mrs. Grey’s wishes, as the only alternative would have been to physically restrain her, which they are only authorized to do when there is a clear and present danger to her safety, and at this time there was not. Therefore, the most secure option was to escort her to this club and keep her under close protection.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get they felt they had no other option,” I practically snarled at him. But part of me wished they had just picked her up, thrown her in the back of the car, and made her return to Escala.

“Mr. Grey, I appreciate this isn’t really a good time to bring this up, but I need to apprise you of the fact that your sister is also being less than cooperative with regard to her CPO,” Taylor said quietly, obviously deciding that he might as well put all the shit out there. “Miss Grey keeps telling Wainwright to  ‘just piss off and leave her alone’, and that he has no right to follow her. He reported to me that Miss Grey made some totally false allegations about him being a pervert, because he followed her into a store when she wanted to buy some lingerie, but I can assure you that Wainwright was just following instructions and doing his job, sir.”

“What is it with all these fucking defiant women?” I bellowed, as I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration.  All I was trying to do was protect them against this sick bastard Hyde who was still on the loose, because who knew what he was capable of? 

We now had evidence that implicated him in both the sabotage of Charlie Tango and the arson attack at Grey House, so until he was caught and locked away, the threat was a very real one indeed. The thought of any harm coming to my baby sister because Hyde wanted revenge on me made me sick to my stomach, so why couldn’t Mia just accept the measures that, with the agreement of my father, I’d put in place for the safety of all my family?

“Tell Wainwright that he must continue to carry out his duties regardless of any resistance or uncooperative behavior he encounters from Miss Grey. It’s just a fucking shame that women CPOs are so hard to recruit, because my sister might possibly be more receptive to being accompanied by another female.”

I was also well aware of the fact that because Wainwright was not particularly good looking, that might also have been a contributory factor in Mia’s dislike of the man. However, knowing my sister’s character, I hadn't felt it a good idea to have someone that she might have been attracted to, and be tempted to start flirting with.

“I agree, sir. We were extremely lucky to get Belinda Prescott to agree to relocate from Georgia to Seattle for Mrs. Grey’s security detail. There are very few female operatives of her caliber, with her background, that are available. That’s why they can pretty much name their price.”

I’d had no problem in agreeing a very generous package to tempt Ms. Prescott to join our security team. As far as I was concerned, it'd been worth every penny for my peace of mind, knowing that Ana could now be escorted wherever she went. Fat lot of good that was if my wife could not obey just a simple request to spend her evening socializing with her friend at our apartment, rather than in a far riskier public place.

During that long flight back, all that kept running through my mind was that I really, really wanted to give my wife a severe punishment beating. I wanted to beat the shit out of her actually, which confused me when I’d thought I wouldn’t be feeling that way again. 

Ana’s insolent behavior was causing all my old ugly inclinations to resurface. She had betrayed me. How fucking dare she go back on her word to me after I put my trust in her? I would have sworn she wouldn’t do that, so how had I got it so wrong? 

Was my love for her affecting my judgment, was I losing my logic and rationale? I just kept turning it over and over in my head, stoking up the raging fire of anger that kept exploding within me.

~~~

As I’m just finishing my second tumbler of whisky, Anastasia suddenly wakes. It’s around six in the morning.

I watch as she struggles to regain her senses, no doubt hindered by the large amount of alcohol she foolishly consumed last night. I hope she has a really unpleasant hangover to serve as a reminder. I’d like to give her my own special reminder as well, but I'm struggling to overcome the virtually overwhelming desire to punish her, against the fact that I've vowed never to do that to her again.

She left me last time I beat her. Whatever has happened, I don’t ever want her to leave me again. My overpowering, overwhelming, all consuming love for her is why I'm trying to protect her, and why it is so fucking frustrating that she refuses to let me.

I have all these conflicting feelings surging through me and I'm struggling, really struggling to keep a lid on my feelings, especially in view of what transpired when we finally landed in Seattle.

All hell broke loose the second we touched down, and re-established contact with the security team. Both my cell and Taylor’s had numerous urgent missed calls and messages, including one for me from my wife.

“Hi. It’s me. Please don’t be mad. We’ve had an incident at the apartment. But it’s under control, so don’t worry. No one is hurt. Call me.”

An incident? What kind of a fucking incident? Ana’s voice  sounded pretty shaky in the voice-mail, so what the fuck had been going on?

Taylor immediately contacted Sawyer, and we both listened on speaker phone. Sawyer first assured us that Mrs. Grey was safe, then calmly informed us that fucking Hyde got into the apartment last night - that is Ryan let him in to trap him, when he realized that was who the supposed delivery man he could see on CCTV was, his suspicions having been aroused because this guy was wearing heavy gloves despite it being a warm August night. 

After a violent struggle, Ryan overpowered him and knocked him out. Hyde was now in hospital under police guard, but wasn’t thought to be seriously hurt.

It was a brave decision on Ryan's part to let Hyde in considering he’d been left on his own, shorthanded because the other two officers were still out protecting Ana. Brave or foolhardy, I'm still in two minds about that. Maybe had he known that Hyde was armed, he might have thought twice. That madman had a fucking gun. Hyde was in our home, with a fucking loaded gun for fucks sake.

“What about Gail?” Taylor and I both asked virtually simultaneously.

“Ryan had a choice to make. Spend the couple of minutes he had before Hyde arrived in the service lift to call for back up, or make sure Mrs. Jones was safely secured in the panic room. He correctly prioritized  the safety of Mrs. Jones. She was out of harm’s way in the panic room for the entire incident.”

“Thank fuck for that,” growled Taylor. “Although I’d argue the wisdom of letting him in at all. Ryan took one hell of a risk.”

“He had to make a split second decision. Seeing as we’ve had no intel at all regarding Hyde’s whereabouts up to now, he felt it was too good an opportunity to miss to finally apprehend the fucker. He was confident he could handle him.”

Confident? Perhaps overconfident, I'm still trying to decide, because he’d only just managed to contain the fucker before Sawyer arrived back at the apartment with Ana. What would have happened if Ryan hadn't managed to overpower Hyde? What if Hyde had shot him and Sawyer had walked in blind and unprepared?  Was Hyde’s intention to kill Ana or kidnap her? I can’t bear to contemplate either option, but I suspect he most likely wanted to kidnap her, and then do all kinds of unspeakably disgusting things to her while he held her to ransom.

But thank Christ Ryan did manage to overpower Hyde, and I can't argue it’s good to know the fucker has finally been apprehended. It’s just a shame the police had to be involved, but I reluctantly concede that in reality, there was very little option to do otherwise.

As she wakes up, I can see that at first Ana is surprised to see me, and then wary. So she fucking well ought to be.

“Hi,” she whispers.

I don’t trust myself to speak to her or kiss her at all, because the anger is burning so strongly within me, that I need to keep a very, very tight rein on myself. 

“You’re still mad,” Ana works out.

No shit. That doesn't even begin to cover how I'm feeling.

“Mad. No, Ana. I am way, way beyond mad.”

I am torn. Torn because I can hardly bear to speak to her after the way she’s behaved, and yet I want to take her in my arms and hold her tight, and breathe in her wonderful scent.

I listen as she kind of apologizes, but as she admits she doesn't actually mean it, what’s the point of her spouting meaningless words?

My wife tells me that she doesn’t want me to be mad at her – maybe she should have thought of that before, when she was out sipping her fourth strawberry mojito, mindlessly gossiping with Kate, while forcing the security detail to be spread too thinly.  She wasn’t so worried about how mad I would be then was she?

“Don’t be so cold,” she pleads.

Cold? I wish I did feel cold, because it sure as hell would be better than this burning, all consuming rage I'm trying to quell. I'm trying to resist the urge to drag my wife straight to the playroom, forcefully restrain her, and beat the living daylights out of her, before fucking her so hard that she wouldn’t be able to walk for a week. Then she’d sure as hell not be so fucking defiant and unrepentant. 

The only thing holding me back is the memory of how it felt when she walked out on me before when I beat her, and that was a mild punishment compared to anything I’d give her now if I let myself go. 

So I have to keep myself at a distance – it’s the only way I can cope right now, but it’s killing me.

Then Ana completely disarms me by suddenly coming over and crawling onto my lap and curling herself up against me. Part of me wants to push her away, because I'm still so angry with her, but I can't manage it. The urge to have a fix of her scent to calm me down is far too strong and irresistible, so I indulge myself as I bury my nose in her wonderful hair, and wrap my arms around her soft body.

“Oh, Mrs. Grey. What am I going to do with you?” I sigh, as I kiss the top of her head, feeling slightly more relaxed. Despite everything, my Ana is here in my arms and safe.

~~~

Ana can't be feeling too guilty about her actions, because she goes back to sleep like a baby after we've spoken a little more.

She tells me she’s angry with me too. I don’t even want to go there right now, I don’t dare start that conversation the way I’m feeling.

 I leave her to sleep, because Taylor and I need an urgent debrief with Ryan and Sawyer , especially now the police are involved. We need to agree exactly how much of our own private investigations and intel we're willing to share with the cops.

The fact that we've undoubtedly broken countless privacy laws will need to be smoothed over in some way, but I know the police envy us our freedom to snoop as we wish with our state of the art technology.

 The investigating detective’s attitude will influence how much of our intel we'll share to ensure that a conviction can be secured against Hyde. So far, Ryan and Sawyer have given the detectives who’d attended in the early hours only the bare minimum of information.

As Ryan points out, the fact that Hyde was apprehended armed and inside my property confirms his hostile intentions. There’s no question we could prove he had entered under false pretences with a fake identity. Had Ryan knocked him out in a public area, it might have been more complicated, and Hyde potentially could have argued about it being a case of mistaken identity.  

Once we’ve agreed our tactics, I head off to revert to my tried and tested method of dealing  with unresolved tension, sexual or otherwise. I put myself through a punishing workout in the gym, and then go for a run. As things stand right now, I don’t even feel able to confide in Flynn, until I get myself under better control.

When I return, I check in on Ana, feeling compelled to take her a fresh orange juice to get some fluids and vitamin C into her, knowing that she'll be dehydrated after her drinking session. She's awake and looks much more refreshed this time round. But I still don’t feel like talking to her, so I head off to the shower.

Ana follows me in there, obviously assuming that we’ll make love, I’ll forgive her and everything will be fine and dandy between us again. She just doesn’t get how fucking furious I still am with her. However easily seduced part of my anatomy is to her advances, I just can't do this, because if I let myself go, I know that feeling as I do right now, I'm perfectly capable of hurting her, and I mean really hurting her, so I don’t dare let the flood gates open. I can't trust myself.

“Don’t.”

I can't do this, and I really don’t want to discuss all the issues with Ana here in the shower, so although she tells me I'm overreacting, I leave her to it. I head to my office to make some calls, and I'm on the phone to Welch when Ana appears in the doorway. I shake my head at her – I don’t want her here, listening in to this conversation, so she wanders away again.

She’s still going to work, and although I don’t want her to, there isn’t really any security reason why she can't, and to be honest I think some distance between us might be good right now.

Later that day, I have an uncomfortable session with Detective Clark, as we play cat and mouse around any possible legal infringements regarding my teams' actions in monitoring Hyde up till now. Clark tells me that the cops have found worrying equipment in the van that Hyde arrived in.

A mattress, enough horse tranquilizer to take down a dozen horses, along with a garbled note addressed to me that makes no sense.  Kidnapping  Ana was most definitely his intention. I feel physically sick at the thought of him taking my wife.

Detective Clark and I discuss the fact that Hyde has convictions in Detroit. I was born and adopted in Detroit. It seems logical to assume there must be a link here somewhere, and I make a mental note to get Welch to prioritize this strand of his investigations straight away, rather than leave it to the cops.

Clark wants Ana to go to the police station to give her statement. Really? I ask if he saw the paparazzi hoards outside the apartment on his way in, so does he honestly expect her to have to fight her way over to the station, when it would be far easier for him to call into her office?

I'm not too worried about what Ana will say to him, knowing she's ignorant of a lot of the uglier details, so I don’t insist that I need to be present when he interviews her, as this hopefully gives him the impression that we have nothing to cover up. We finally agree that he will call by her office at three that afternoon. I email Ana to advise her, and all she emails back is okay. I think she's finally realized she can’t joke me out of my anger this time.

But clearly she has had time to reflect and think things through, because a while later she emails me, asking what time I decided to come back to Seattle. She’s worked out I came back before I knew about Hyde, even though I don’t actually admit it.

And then she lets rip about why she’s pissed with me.

- Because I never tell her anything.

- Because I'm like a boy crying wolf. 

- Because she thought they would be safe.

- Because Kate knew more than she did.

- Because treating her like a child guarantees she’ll act like one.

As usual she is forthright in her email. I reply that we'll discuss her issues later, but that I am still fucking pissed too.

Issues indeed. She thinks she has fucking issues. What about all my fucking issues that she's brazenly ignored? Oh, I’ll show her all about issues.

I brood about where to take this, how to react. I need to deal with this, resolve my anger in some way. Ana needs to understand how frustrated she makes me feel. And that’s the key to the solution I come up with. Frustration. 

I won't let myself resort to physically beating her. Instead I’ll take her into the playroom, restrain her on my wooden cross, and then use my tried and tested techniques for bringing a disobedient sub to heel. 

I'll be using a very powerful wand vibrator, to show Anastasia what a fucking expert I am at edging, tease and denial, erotic sexual denial, orgasm denial, call it what you will. It will undeniably be a very frustrating experience that I am going to take great pleasure in subjecting my errant wife to.

~~~

Fuck, fuck, fuck. What have I just done?

I’ve never had anyone safe word on me before, but that’s what’s just happened.

“Red. Red. Red,” Ana cried out, and now she’s sobbing uncontrollably.

It’s like a powerful slap reverberating through me, the shock waves recalling me instantly from the cruel pleasure I was taking in making Ana suffer extreme frustration over and over again, to exact my revenge on her.

I release her from her restraints as fast as I can, and then we sit on the bed together. I cradle her while she sobs inconsolably, and I know I’ve pushed her way, way too far. I’ve allowed my rage to consume my sense of balance in dealing with her, and it is unforgivable of me.

What the fuck have I done? I was so determined to bring her into line, because she won’t do as she’s told. But this? Is this what I wanted to achieve?

“You have to stop doing this. For a start, you only end up feeling shittier about yourself,” she sobs.

As usual, Ana has got to the nub of the matter. When I do these things, when I find ways to punish her when she disobeys me, at the time I'm so sure it’s going to make me feel better. 

But I'm learning that it never does, not when I see the consequences of my actions. Actions always have consequences. This is what Flynn has been trying to get me to see, but I've been in such a red haze of rage and madness that I lost sight of it.

“You said on the Fair Lady that you hadn't married a submissive,” she reminds me.

“I know, I know.”

“Well, stop treating me like one. I'm sorry I didn’t call you. I won't be so selfish again. I know you worry about me.”

I think that is probably the biggest concession I'm going to get from Ana. She has at least acknowledged that she was selfish. She doesn’t see her actions as any kind of a betrayal, or that she lied to me. She simply says she changed her mind, that women do these things. She decided she wanted to have fun with her girlfriend, so that was what she did.

“I never promised to obey you, Christian,” she adds.

“I know.”

“Deal with it please. For both our sakes. And I will try to be more considerate of your… controlling tendencies.”

“I’ll try.”

She tells me she doesn’t need protecting, that she can handle whatever it is I'm keeping from her.

“I've had your stalker ex-sub pull a gun on me, your pedophile ex-lover harass me – and don’t look at me like that. Your mother feels the same way about her.”

“You’ve talked to my mother about Elena?” I’m horrified.

“Yes, Grace and I talked about her,” she calmly confirms. “She’s very upset. Blames herself.”

“I can't believe you spoke to my mother. Shit!”

I knew Ana met up with my mom for lunch, but she never mentioned that they spoke about Elena. I thought we’d managed to bury all that under the carpet, never to be spoken about again.

“I didn’t go into any specifics.”

“I should hope not. Mom doesn't need all the gory details. Christ, Ana. My dad too?”

“No!” Ana replies vehemently. Ever since the prenup disagreement, I know she's felt uncomfortable with Dad, so I'm not surprised she hasn't had any kind of a chat with him. Thank fuck for that.

Ana still wants to know more about the information we have on Jack, so I reluctantly open up and tell her what we have – she’ll probably only get it from Kate anyway if I don’t. I tell her about the possible Detroit connection because that's where I was born, and we end up discussing some of my childhood, even though I insist all that shit is in the past and done with. 

But Ana knows better than that. She knows that each and every one of my Fifty Shades began when I was that abused little boy that my parents saved from a living hell in Detroit.

~~~

“Don’t you get it, Elliot? Kate was totally irresponsible in persuading Ana to go out for cocktails at that stupid fucking Zig Zag Café, instead of going back to Escala as Ana had agreed with me.”

I’ve phoned my brother to try and get him to bring Kate into line.

“I guess Kate  just assumed you were being your usual controlling and overprotective self with Ana, and didn’t see any harm in them having a girl's evening out together. Apparently, you don’t like Ana going out without you while you’re around, so Kate figured while you were away on business was a perfect opportunity for them to catch up. And they had your security team with them, it wasn’t as if they sneaked off on their own.”

Laid back as always, that’s my brother. But Elliot needs to understand that life isn’t always one big joke.

“Yes, but that tied up two of the security detail all evening. Both of them having to sit and watch the girls gossiping and drinking stupid fucking cocktails, leaving the apartment understaffed and vulnerable. I don’t see why Kate felt the need for them to go to some tacky bar instead of going back home with Ana.”

“It’s called getting out and having fun, Christian. You should try it sometime,” he jokes.

“Elliot, I don’t call it fun when there was a madman on the loose with the possible intention of  kidnapping members of my family. And Kate was very well aware of this, as you felt it necessary to blab all the details about the increased security to her, and then Kate used this knowledge to manipulate Ana into going against my instructions. I'd chosen not to enlighten her about any of this, because I preferred to shield her from all that shit, but Kate made that out to be a bad thing.”

“Well maybe she has a point, Christian. Of course I told Kate what was going on – we talk about everything, I don’t hold anything back. And anyway, Kate had seen for herself the extra security measures, so I wasn’t going to lie when she asked me about them. Maybe if Ana had been more aware of what was going on, she wouldn’t have been so easily persuaded to rebel against your decree. You do overreact with all this security business, bro.”

“What you fail to understand, indeed what everyone fails to understand, is that I was not overreacting. It turns out that fucker Hyde had set himself up with a false identity in order to gain access to  my apartment, having somehow discovered that I was out of town. He was armed when he was apprehended in my apartment. Worse still, the police discovered a mattress and drugs and other equipment in the van he used that proves he planned to kidnap Ana and do God knows what to her.”

“Shit!  I had no idea he was that sick. That’s pretty shocking…” Elliot gasps. Finally I seem to be getting through to him.

“Exactly. Now do you comprehend how serious the situation was? Kate keeping Ana out just to spite me, by proving I can't control them, put her supposed best friend at great risk. It also left the apartment vulnerable, because two thirds of my staff were out babysitting the girls at that stupid fucking cocktail bar. The one remaining officer only just managed to contain Hyde before Ana walked back in with Sawyer. She could have walked right into the arms of a kidnapper, just because Kate decided she knew best, and that they should go out for cocktails. Now do you get why I'm pissed with her?”

“Yeah, I guess I do, Christian. The fucker actually  had drugs ready to…?”

“So the police tell me.”

“How’s Ana taken all this? She must have been pretty shaken up I'm guessing.”

“It’s been a pretty rough time,” I tell him briefly, not wanting to elaborate about the terrible confrontation Ana and I have just been through, or the horrifying nightmare I endured last night, no doubt brought on by the whole situation. At least we seem to be coming out the other side of things now.

“Look, I meant it about getting out and having some fun to help get over all this. Ana’s still so young, she’d only just finished college when she married you, hadn't she?”

“Yes,” I agree reluctantly.

“And I bet she gets bored to tears with all those endless stuffed shirt functions you drag her to. What you both need is a weekend away from all the stress here. Why don’t you take her to your place in Aspen? It's a year round resort, not just for skiing, so it doesn't matter that it's August. You’ve never really made use of it, despite having that huge refurb done. I think your wife is entitled to see your property, isn’t  she?”

“I don’t know, I've got a couple of deals at very critical stages,” I argue.  But I can't deny that part of me finds it a very appealing idea.

“Fuck work, Christian. That’s what you have staff for. And if you still insist on working, you'll have your cell phone and your laptop with you. Plus I'm sure Mrs. Bentley would love to have you visit, because she must sit there twiddling her thumbs most of the time.”

“Maybe you’re right. I’ll think about it. But for now, I just want to say that I get that you and Kate are totally into each other, but you need to take a firm stance with that woman, or she’ll always wear the pants in your relationship. Is that really what you want? She’s a very strong willed and tenacious young woman.”

“Yeah, I know, but I’ve got her under control. I just let her think she’s wearing the pants, but in reality I know I can get her to do anything I want. She’s just so different from any other girl I’ve ever known.”

“Yeah, and you’ve known more than your fair share, haven’t you?” I point out sardonically.

“Can't deny that’s true, so that’s why I know it’s special with Kate. I'm ready to settle down with her, and actually, I'm  planning to propose to her first chance I get. I want to marry Kate.”

“Really? You’re sure about this?” I ask incredulously.

“Yep. I've sown all my wild oats, and I'm crazy about her, so why not? After all, married life seems to suit you, little bro.”

“If you're sure that’s what you want, then I guess I have to offer you my congratulations.”

Shit. Kate is going to be my sister in law? Well then,  I guess I'm going to have to try to get along with her. To her credit, she's never breathed a word to Elliot about her discovery of the contract she found in my jacket pocket, or what the implications of it were.

“Well, I haven’t asked her yet, and I really don’t know if she’ll say yes. She might think it’s too soon, or that she doesn’t want to get married, shit like that. I don’t know, I've tried dropping hints and asking subtle questions, but now she wants to know why I'm acting weird.”

“Women. They are a complete mystery at times. Definitely from another planet. Look, here’s a thought. Why don’t we organize a family trip to Aspen? Do you think Mia would be up for it?”

“If you ask Ethan along, I’m sure she would,” Elliot snickers.

“She does seem pretty smitten with him, doesn’t she? Ana assures me he’s a decent guy,” I ponder.

“Yeah, he’s a top dude, and I'm not saying that just because he’s Kate’s brother. Mia could do a lot worse than Ethan, but he seems to be dragging his heels for some reason. Kate reckons it’s because he’s not convinced that Mia isn’t just being swept along. He thinks her feelings might not be real, that she’s being influenced because it’s all just so neat and convenient, with him being her brother and Ana’s friend.”

“Ethan will soon learn that no one can influence our baby sister to do anything against her will,” I chuckle. “So what do you think? We could all fly to Colorado in my private jet. Are you up for it?”

“Yeah, and seeing as it’s really nice and romantic there, maybe I could propose to Kate over the weekend. I think I know the type of ring she’d like, and they have the best jewelers there, don’t they?”

“They sure do, Elliot,” I confirm. No question, Aspen caters for the very high end market. I'm sure he could find her a suitable ring there.

“I only intend to do this once in my life, so I want to do it properly. You know, get down on one knee and ask her to marry me. Ana told Kate that’s what you did, right?”

“Yes, I did,” I say proudly, a big grin on my face at the memory. “The full hearts and flowers experience.  As you say, if you are going to propose, you should do things properly, Elliot.”

“Let’s do it then. Let’s go to Aspen for the weekend,” Elliot laughs.

“Okay, I’ll get Taylor straight onto making all the necessary arrangements.  But I’d like to make it a surprise for Ana, so do you think you can manage to persuade your future fiancée to keep her mouth shut about it?” I ask him wryly.

“Leave it with me. I told you, despite what you all think, I wear the pants in our relationship,” he insists.

“Whatever. I'll email you the details,” I smile as I hang up. 

Clearly my brother is delusional, but I guess that’s what love does to a man.

I don’t own any of the Fifty Shades Trilogy or the characters therein. They belong to E L James. I’m just borrowing them for fun and not for profit. Please refer to the Legal’s page for further details. This work is not to be copied or reproduced in any way without permission.