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Christian Grey
CEO, Grey Enterprises Holdings, Inc.
I turn back to Fred and Barney to continue our discussion of the tablet and next steps.
Back in my office, I notice Ana’s reply to my earlier message.
From: Anastasia Grey
Subject: Hyde
Date: September 1 2011 15:53
To: Christian Grey
That’s good news.
Does this mean you’ll lighten up on security?
I really don’t see eye to eye with Prescott.
Ana x
Anastasia Grey
Editor, SIP
From: Christian Grey
Subject: Hyde
Date: September 1 2011 15:59
To: Anastasia Grey
No. Security will remain in place. No arguments.
What’s wrong with Prescott? If you don’t like her, we’ll replace her.
Christian Grey
CEO, Grey Enterprises Holdings, Inc.
There’s a knock on the door. I’m expecting Ros for our four o’clock, but it’s Andrea who pops her head around the door. “Mr. Grey, Ros is running late. She’ll be with you in ten minutes. Can I get you anything?”
“I’m good, Andrea, thanks.” She closes the door and I open the revised deal terms for Geolumara. I need to read it through and check that all my suggestions have been incorporated. When I look up, I have a response from Ana.
From: Anastasia Grey
Subject: Keep Your Hair On!
Date: September 1 2011 16:03
To: Christian Grey
I was just asking (rolls eyes). And I’ll think about Prescott.
Stow that twitchy palm!
Ana x
Anastasia Grey
Editor, SIP
From: Christian Grey
Subject: Don’t Tempt Me
Date: September 1 2011 16:11
To: Anastasia Grey
I can assure you, Mrs. Grey, that my hair is very firmly attached—has this not been demonstrated often enough by your good self?
My palm, however, is twitching.
I might do something about that tonight.
x
Christian Grey
Not Bald Yet CEO, Grey Enterprises Holdings, Inc.
I send a quick e-mail to Ros to bring signature copies for the Geolumara deal with her, and there’s another e-mail from my wife.
From: Anastasia Grey
Subject: Squirm
Date: September 1 2011 16:20
To: Christian Grey
Promises, promises…
Now stop pestering me. I am trying to work. I have an impromptu meeting with an author. Will try not to be distracted by thoughts of you during the meeting.
A x
Anastasia Grey
Editor, SIP
There’s a knock on the door, and this time it’s Ros, twenty minutes late.
“You look well.” Flynn motions me into his office.
“I am, thank you.” I take my usual seat and wait patiently for him to take his. When he’s ready, he gives me his expectant look.
“So, what’s occurring?” he asks.
I fill him in on the week’s events, starting with my rushed flight back from New York. Hiding my amusement, I watch his eyebrows ascend farther up his forehead as my tale unfolds.
“That’s it?” he asks, when I finish.
“More or less.”
“So, let me get this straight. You canceled two important meetings to fly home to check on Anastasia, because you were angry with her that she hadn’t followed your instructions, only to find this Hyde character had broken into your apartment to kidnap your wife.”
“In a nutshell. Yes.”
“She safe-words on you, and that’s never happened before—I don’t want to know the details, unless you really feel a need to tell me—but you resolve your differences, and following that, you have a nightmare that she dies.”
I nod, trying to dampen my sudden anxiety as I remember fragments of my dream.
“Anything else?”
“I took her to Aspen with some friends. I punched a guy’s lights out because he touched her. And this afternoon Hyde was refused bail. And I got a text from Leila.”
He closes his eyes, and I don’t know if it’s because he can’t believe what he’s just heard, or because he’s collecting his thoughts, or because he’s pissed at Leila.
“Christian, that’s a hell of a lot to take on board. I’m surprised you’re not more stressed.”
“Yes. You’d think. But my stress has been tempered by something altogether unfamiliar and frankly alarming.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. Something you alluded to in our last couple of meetings.”
“Go on,” Flynn prompts.
“I have a general and creeping sense of happiness. It’s quite unsettling.”
“Ah. I see.”
“You do?”
“It’s obvious. To me anyway.” His expression, frustratingly, gives nothing away.
“Please. Enlighten me.”
“Well, I would hazard a guess that Jack Hyde’s kidnap attempt and his subsequent incarceration have justified your feelings about Ana’s security, but the threat he posed has now been eliminated. So, you’ve been able to let down your guard. Ana’s safe.”
Ah! Makes sense.
“But I would also say this is not a new phenomenon. You’ve experienced a great deal of happiness over the last few months. Your engagement. The wedding. The honeymoon. We’ve talked about this before. You have a tendency to focus on the end result and not the journey to get there. You were focused on getting married and anxious that wouldn’t happen. Yet it did.” He pauses, I imagine for emphasis. “Christian, you are the master of your own happiness. I imagine that in your subconscious you don’t think you deserve to be happy. But let me set you right on that. You do. You are allowed to be happy. After all, it’s an unalienable right written into your constitution.”
“I think you’ll find it’s the pursuit of happiness that’s enshrined in the Constitution.”
