CHAPTER 32

Five o' clock quickly comes around and as I make my way out of Grey Publishing, I see the familiar SUV sitting waiting at the kerb for me.

Taylor climbs out to greet me and he opens the car door for me and I thank him as I climb in.

"Hey baby" Christian says as soon as I sit down beside him. He reaches for me and pulling me close he kisses me.

"Hi" I reply as I return his kiss.

"Why were you having lunch with Elliot today?" Christian asks as I pull away.

I inwardly smile. I'm guessing he has been wondering all afternoon why I was with Elliot, but the fact he has waited until now to ask me about it tells me how much he has grown.

I sigh as I remember the reasons behind Elliot's impromptu visit. "He got a response from Miranda who has made contact with his biological mom" I say.

Christian frowns at the tone of my voice as he has figured out that it wasn't good news.

"What happened?" he asks with obvious concern.

"She doesn't want to meet him. She said she will write him a letter to explain the circumstances surrounding his birth and she will tell him the name of his biological father but she said she doesn't want to meet him. The only reasons she gave Miranda were that her family know nothing about Elliot and she wants to keep it that way. I can understand her reasoning to a point as it was a long time ago. But I can also understand why Elliot was upset about it".

"And he turned to you?" Christian asks.

"Yes" I say slightly defensively, "Why shouldn't he, I'm his sister in law… I'm as much his family as you or Mia?" I add.

Christian immediately pulls me close, "I didn't mean it like that, I just wondered why he chose you in particular" he says.

I look at him carefully and wonder if he is feeling hurt that Elliot didn't choose him to speak to. "He thought I'd have more empathy with his situation than anyone else… considering my own non-existent relationship with my mom and the way she has behaved towards me all my life" I explain.

Before he can respond, I hear his phone buzzing and he curses as he fumbles for it. I watch as he glances at the screen and declines the call.

"Who was that?" I ask.

"Eamon Kavanagh" he replies dismissively.

A moment later his phone buzzes again and he frowns and this time he answers the call.

"Grey" he snaps, making it clear he is irritated at being disturbed.

I watch him and I see his eyes widen and then anger fills them and his free hand balls into a fist. I immediately wrap my hand around the curled fist to try and calm him down. He turns towards me and wraps his arm around me and while he is still listening, he inhales the scent of my hair and I know he is trying to calm himself down. I wonder what the hell has happened to provoke such a visceral response and then I think about things logically. I quickly realise that it is Eamon Kavanagh on the phone as Christian has just said his name so the only thing I can think of is Kate, and if it is Kate, it means she has done something.

As I am thinking this my phone starts ringing and I pull away from Christian and pull it out, I smile when I see Eva's name on the screen.

"Hi" I say as I answer.

"Hi sis, just giving you a heads up. Gideon and I are at the airport and we are boarding one of his planes and flying to Seattle as we speak" she says grimly.

"Why? What's happened?" I ask.

"Kate fucking Kavanagh! Gideon owns a number of media outlets and he has been made aware of an expose article on the entire Grey Family written by Kate. She is committing career suicide by doing this. Gideon has managed to get an injunction in place to prevent her from getting it published. I have no idea how many favours he has cashed in to get it in place so quickly".

"Shit" I mutter and I look up at Christian, immediately understanding his reaction of a moment ago.

"Hang on Eva" I say, and I touch Christian's arm. "Christian" I say carefully.

He immediately gives me his full attention, "Yes baby" he replies.

"Eva is on the phone she said that she and Gideon are flying to Seattle as we speak. Kate has written an article on the Grey family and Gideon has put an injunction in place to prevent her from publishing it" I say.

"I know" he replies simply and I am guessing that Gideon has been talking to Eamon and Eamon has given this information to Christian.

I return my attention back to my sister, "Eva are you still there?" I ask.

"I'm here" she replies.

"Christian knows, he is talking to Eamon Kavanagh as we speak and he said he is aware of Gideon's input" I say.

"Yeah, he's been liaising with Eamon for most of the afternoon and he asked Eamon to bring Christian up to speed" she says.

"Thank you" I say gratefully, "and thank Gideon for me please" I add. I pause and then realise that they are flying to Seattle and I want them to stay with us.

"Are you going to stay with us while you are here?" I ask.

There is a slight pause before Eva replies, "We can do, I think Gideon has arranged for us to stay at one of his hotels in Seattle but we can stay with you… I'd prefer that" she says.

"Well consider it done, you are staying with us" I say firmly.

Eva tells me that she has to go as the plane is about to take off and I quickly look at my watch, it is nearly 5.30 so they will be landing here about 9.30 this evening. I call Gail and ask her to prepare two guest rooms for us and I apologise for the short notice. Thankfully she dismisses my apology and assures me it will be done. I glance at Christian and see he is still talking to Eamon and I wonder if Elliot is aware of the situation, so I quickly call him.

"Hello" he says as he picks up the call.

"Hi El, have you heard about Kate?" I ask warily.

I hear him sigh, which tells me he knows. "I have, I'm with dad at the moment deciding what is going to happen. Dad has been talking to Eamon and Gideon after Gideon raised the alarm about what she was doing. Eamon has assured me he knew nothing about it. He has seen the article though, and whilst it is all pretty much true he said it's written in a way that sounds really negative towards the whole family".

I sigh and rub my forehead with my hand, as I think. "Eva called me. They are flying out as we speak, so they will be here about 9.30 this evening… do you and Carrick want to come over and we can discuss it together? If we are all together it will be easier than making various calls… plus we should show a united front against whatever it is she has said". I wait as he thinks about that and relays what I have said to Carrick.

I hear Carrick in the background agreeing and saying that they will come over later. I turn towards Christian once more and attract his attention again.

"Christian" I say, and he turns towards me, "Are you still talking to Eamon?" I ask and he nods.

"Invite him round tonight when Gideon and Eva get here. They should be landing about 9.30 tonight, I'm talking to Elliot at the moment and he and Carrick are going to come over when they arrive so I think Eamon should be there too" I say.

Christian nods in agreement and relays what I have said to Eamon. I am at a loss as to know what to do. I have no idea what this article she has written says and who she has taken aim at; but as Elliot said it paints the whole family negatively, I am assuming that Christian and I are mentioned. Plus Eamon called Christian which kind of confirms that and I am also assuming Elliot will be in the firing line. I wonder if Eamon has a copy of the article.

"Does Eamon have a copy of the article that Kate wrote which he can bring with him?" I ask Christian and he asks Eamon the question and then nods at me.

"Ask him to bring it with him so we can read it" I say and he passes that on and then nods at me again confirming that he will.

I feel the car come to a halt and I realise that we are home. I don't wait for Christian or Taylor to open the door and I climb out and head into the house.

Dinner is a sombre affair. Christian is still naturally and very understandably angry with Kate so he is not in the best frame of mind and he is very quiet throughout dinner. I pick at my food and push it around my plate as I don't have any appetite whatsoever now.

"Please eat, baby" Christian says suddenly.

I look up and see him watching me, a concerned expression on his face.

"I'm not really hungry" I say and he shakes his head at me and reaches across the table for my hand.

"Please don't let it upset you. I promise you we will sort this; Eamon is totally aware of the fact that we are going to destroy her and he isn't going to stop us as he agrees that she has crossed a line" he says.

I nod but hearing that doesn't make me feel any better.

"Eva will know what to do" I say confidently and Christian smiles at me.

"I don't doubt that for one moment, and I'm certain she is probably putting together a plan as we speak. The way she handled the Frank Lambert situation was spot on" he says generously.

I smile and I reach for his outstretched hand and squeeze it.

oooOOOooo

A few hours later…

I look around the table. I am sitting next to Christian and on his other side is Elliot, next to me is Carrick, and next to Elliot sits Eamon then Gideon and Eva are opposite us. We all have tired grim expressions and we have all read the article and I was in tears at how vicious Kate has been. She was in a privileged position within the family and she has used that information against us.

It is mainly a character assassination of Elliot, discussing his lifestyle before he met Kate, how he slept his way around Seattle and she actually calls him a manwhore at one point. I had snorted loudly at that when I saw it as she was no angel in college. She had more than her fair share of men staying the night. She also insinuates that Elliot forced her to have a child she didn't want. We all know that wasn't the case and she stops short of actually saying that as she is not too stupid to realise we would sue her if she did, but the way she portrays Elliot isn't nice. She accuses Carrick of being only interested in Christian and his wealth and the advantages that provides him with and the connections he can make and hints that he has used Christian's name and influence in his own career. She has made her usual accusations of Christian being controlling and how I had been swallowed up by him and the entire Grey family and allowed it to happen. She surmises why that is and comes up with the fact that I was dazzled by the wealth after coming from such a simple background, hinting that I put up with a controlling, abusive husband for the sake of the vast wealth and lifestyle I now enjoyed. That hurt as I have never been interested in Christian's wealth; it is him I love not his money, and knowing the reasons why Kate married Elliot when she didn't love him make me even more angry. It is almost as if she has shifted her own motives on to me and my marriage to Christian. Once again though she stops short of actually accusing Christian of anything but the way it is written the message is clear and she paints him to be an unstable, abusive monster.

I am thankful that she hasn't mentioned the court case with Elena, or the abuse Christian suffered at her hands. But even she wouldn't be so stupid as to broadcast that fact after the deal that was struck at the time of the trial where Christian testified but remained anonymous. What has hurt me most and made me really angry is she has talked about Christian's early life before he was adopted by the Grey's. Something we had talked about and she had assured me she would never divulge. Seeing that and the way she has twisted his problems to make him look like some kind of psychopath and insinuated that his early years are to blame for the way he treats me has made me determined to destroy her.

My thoughts are disturbed by Eva speaking. She looks around the table and shrugs.

"Well, you all know what I think" she says.

I smile, her solution was to publish the security footage of her on to the internet. She said once that got out into the wild nobody would take anything she said seriously and once it was out there, she wouldn't be able to stop it. She had also suggested that Elliot should make a public announcement of his divorce as the papers were signed and it was all official and that he should be candid in his reasons.

There had been some discussion about this as Elliot hadn't wanted Ava to discover what her mother had said about her at some point in the future if she stumbled across it on the internet in years to come.

It seems we have come to a stalemate as nobody seems to know how to prevent her from doing this. Then I have an idea.

"How about we send her a copy of the footage and tell her if she gets the article published, we will release it?" I ask.

Elliot shakes his head, "She won't care and she will probably call our bluff. The very fact she is doing this says she doesn't care anymore. She has lost everything and she is a loose cannon" he says sadly.

Eva rubs her chin thoughtfully, "If that is the case then there is nothing stopping her at some point approaching Ava and doing something to try and turn her against you. I still think we should come out fighting. You can protect Ava while she is young, but Kate isn't playing fair so neither should you. You won't be turning Ava against her mother, or poisoning her mind. You will simply be telling her the truth. You did what you had to do because mommy said some cruel and wicked things about the family as a whole which were twisted in a way to make everyone look bad. You have plenty of years to formulate what you are going to say to Ava when she finds out… because believe me Elliot she will find out one way or another what her mother is like and what she said about her. It's better if it comes from you. She will be asking questions soon why mommy doesn't live with you anymore and asking where she is and you have to be honest with her when those questions come and prepare her for the day when she does find out the whole unpalatable truth".

Elliot snorts, "Kate had so little to do with Ava she hasn't even noticed she has gone yet" he says sadly.

Eva shrugs, "Even better then, it gives you time to prepare. The longer she is oblivious the longer you have to prepare yourself for the day she does eventually ask… and if that is the case my guess would be the first question she will ask is when she goes to school and she sees other kids with their moms. She will realise that she doesn't have one and that is when she will ask you about it".

Elliot sighs and nods, "Alright, I agree in principal so how do we go about this then?" he asks.

Eva leans forward and points at the article. "The injunction will only hold so long. If a publication really wants to publish it, they will eventually find a way around it or challenge it. Eamon has assured us that none of the credible press are willing to touch it so it will be one of the bottom feeder publications who will take the risk. That will undermine her credibility from the get go. If we… or more specifically you come out first with an announcement of the divorce and the grounds for it and I mean you lay it out clear and don't leave anything out, how she treated you and how she treated Ava, but do it in such a way that you hope she will find the happiness she is desperately searching for and make it clear you hold no ill will towards her despite how she has treated you. So, then she immediately looks like the bad guy looking for retaliation when her article comes out". Eva pauses and then looks at Christian.

"As for what she said about you, I think your best bet is to stay quiet and simply confirm the accurate parts of the article when it comes out. Don't go in there all guns blazing making threats of legal action as that will make it look like there is no smoke without fire. She has made you out to be a controlling abusive monster so don't add credence to those claims by behaving like one. If you confirm the aspects of your childhood…" Christian opens his mouth to protest but Eva holds up her hand to stop him.

"Let me finish… if you confirm the facts, there is no story it's as simple as that. There is no exclusive as you are telling your side and you can make it clear that it is in the past and no longer an issue and that you cannot understand why Kate is bringing up things which are a non-issue, thus attacking her credibility even more".

Eva turns to me and smiles, "You will be the final destroyer sis! You will be the one who finishes her completely. You will come out and you will say there will always be the people who think you only married Christian for his money. Your response is simply that and nothing more, you respond that there will always be people who will assume that but to hear it coming from someone who you considered a close personal friend for years and someone who was your sister in law shows just how wrong you can be about people and their motives. You'll say that you know the truth about your marriage and you'll basically take the moral high ground saying you should've realised that Kate didn't think of you in the same way you thought of her after previous comments and remarks she had made about you and that is when we will release the security footage of Kate" Eva says.

I nod, all I want to do is release it now and destroy her once and for all. But as Eva said it has to be done in the right way so that she looks the bad one and the one who is just looking for revenge and taking a classless cheap shot to do so.

Eva looks at Eamon, "Are you ok with this?" she asks him and he nods.

"I've disowned her after this latest stunt. I have made it crystal clear to everyone in the industry that Kate is no longer my daughter after this behaviour. She will find it very difficult to find any work as a credible journalist after this and she will probably end up as a muck raker at one of the internet news sites" he says sadly.

"She is very stupid if she thinks this will help her career" Eva says thoughtfully.

I think about that and I look up, "Unless that is exactly what she is thinking" I say

All eyes are on me now, "What do you mean baby?" Christian asks.

"Kate is not stupid. She is selfish, she is a bitch but she is not stupid. She knows that this would be career suicide. This is to see if we come out fighting, to see if we respond. She is basically rattling our cage to see if she can get a rise out of us and therefore giving credence to her claims. So, if El just makes the announcement of the divorce and wishes her no ill will and all the best for the future she really has nowhere to go as she knows she will look like a vindictive cow. What she is banking on is Christian coming out all guns blazing, Carrick threatening legal action and then the article will be confirmed, as I'm sure she will make it clear that, that is what we are doing. We call her bluff; we do nothing and we simply ignore her. I bet you any money that once El makes that simple statement that will be the last we hear from her… if not and she is stupid then we put into action plan b where El will make another statement saying well these are the reasons why we divorced I was prepared to be nice, but if you are going to be like that well this is the truth of the matter and then we follow the rest of the plan".

Everyone looks at me and I see Christian grin proudly at me.

"I'm happy with that" he says simply and there are murmurs of agreement around the table.

Eva smiles at me, "Ok, we'll do it your way. You know Kate better than I do so I'll follow your lead, if you think this is just to start the ball rolling for her then we will deny her that" she says.