Hell Hath No Fury

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Misquoted and misattributed to Shakespeare.

"Heaven has no rage like a love to hatred turned. Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned." The Mourning Bride. Act III, Scene VIII. Spoken by Zara. William Congreve (1697)

Prologue

Elena

I am still reeling from the events of last night. As I always knew that he would, Christian Grey returned to me. Yet as I never even suspected that he might, he ultimately rejected me. Yes, it was the final goodbye, our last contact. I had no idea that it would come to this. I had no hint that he would become so in love with his wife that he would turn away from me when I offered him the only kind of comfort that he understood. But when I touched his hand, when I stroked his fingers, he looked at me in shock.

At first I thought it was because my touch was so gentle, so tender. But then I saw the horror in his eyes and knew. He could not bear the very thought of my touch. And then I knew. She, and probably his mother as well, had completely poisoned his mind against me. He was looking at me differently, as if I really was the child molester or pedophile that they claimed that I was.

He was afraid of losing Ana. He was clinging to her now as he had once clung to me. She wanted a child. Yet he had decided that if she had a child, she would love that child better than himself; that she would choose the child over him. His thoughts were in a state of pure chaos. Considering his past, his strain of logic was unfathomable. His own mother had not chosen him, although anyone would be hard-pressed to say what she had chosen, other than the drugs.

If he didn't want tender care or sympathy from me, what did he want? I doubt that he even knew, really. I made light of my attempt to console him, physically that is. Whatever he needed, it wasn't me. I am a woman with my pride. I left him and wished him well. And then I sent him a text explaining that I understood his feelings and that I thought he would make a good father.

Seeing him again had once again ripped open some of the old wounds from our last parting. I hadn't seen him in over two months. I had certainly known of his marriage. The whole state was consumed by the details, as if it were a royal wedding or something. But then again, everyone loves a Cinderella story and little Anastasia made the perfect Cinderella. And Christian, because no one knew otherwise, was the perfect Prince Charming.

How often did I read a headline or view a picture and laugh to myself? He was quite lucky that his fifteen subs chose to honor their NDA's. Any one of them could have made a small fortune telling her story to press. And what could he have done once the cat was out of the bag? And boy could I tell stories, but not without ruining my reputation.

I am lucky that no one ever learned the true reason for my falling out with Grace. There was nothing that she could say, nothing even close to the truth, that wouldn't also have implicated her son in a rather salacious story. Worse than that, it would have started reporters digging around for more. And not just into my background. No, she may have placed some constraints on my social circle, but she couldn't do as much damage as I am sure that she would have liked.

But I have neither forgiven nor forgotten. And I am still in possession of the one piece of information that can blow all of their lives apart. And I don't have to go near any of them to use it. Once I set the wheels in motion, there will be nothing that any of them can do to stop it. Taylor made his threats, but none of them cover this. And Christian may be hurt, but Grace and Carrick most certainly will be, and far more than he will.

I suppose that in my own way, I have loved him all these years. Those paragons of virtue such as Ana and Grace would call my love twisted and unnatural. But what do they know? Do they know the depth of Linc's hatred for him? Do they know that the beating that I took for him would most certainly have killed him? I have never been the soft and vulnerable type. The only time in my life when I ever felt worthy of pity was when I was lying in that hospital bed.

I suppose that the only truly selfless act of my life was when I sent Christian away and told him not to act out his anger on Linc. Yes, I wanted to protect my own reputation, but I also knew that at that point in time, in a head to head match up, Christian would have lost. Linc was the physically stronger man and had more confederates that he old call upon to finish the job.

For these last months, I have been sustained by the knowledge that in the end, Christian would return to me. Last night should have been my night of triumph and yet it was the final defeat. But what was it that Yogi Berra once said? "It's never over 'til it's over." Well, folks, it ain't over yet.

For now I intend to bide my time. Timing is everything in matters of this nature. Right now, so close to our last farewell, Christian might be expecting something from me. He might be suspicious of any sudden revelations in his life. I walked away with my dignity, but I have not quite walked away forever. I can wait. I certainly know how to wait. And it will be worth it to watch as the Greys' lives unravel around them.

Grace

The events of the last week have shaken me to the core. The idea that Ana and Mia both nearly lost their lives to that awful man continues to haunt me. Jack Hyde has suddenly become a name that inspires fear. I thought that nothing could be worse than the revelations about Christian and Elena, but we nearly lost both of them and my first grandchild. Could there be any greater horror?

Once again, I blame myself. I should have known that there was more to our increased security than some random nutcase who had become obsessed with my wealthy son and his family. And Mia is just so impulsive and headstrong. I should have stood up to her and told her that she had to live with the close security until Christian said that it was safe. It is a pity that he has always been so overly scrupulous about the issue of security. What did Ana say? That he was the boy who cried wolf.

I should have known that sooner or later some kind of unsavory character would surface from Detroit. There was still unfinished business there. I sensed it. That was part of the reason that we moved; that, and the fact that the city was falling to pieces around our heads, even twenty-four years ago. It seems almost fantastical that this man had lived with Christian in his foster home for a mere two months and had then ended up as Ana's boss in Seattle twenty-four years later. But such coincidences are not impossible. And the bitterness of this man's feelings of revenge are not unheard of.

Equally stunning is what Christian told us tonight. It was Linc who actually had put up Hyde's bail, which had allowed him to get out of jail and perpetrate these crimes. That was also an act of revenge. And it is one more crime that I can attribute to my ex-friend, now enemy, Elena. The fact is that if Christian had never become entangled with her, then her husband would not have desired to exact such a horrendous revenge of his own.

He has claimed that he had no idea of what Hyde was capable of. However the crimes of which he was accused were hardly parking tickets. And, he said, how could he have known that Elizabeth Morgan would be such a willing accomplice? The fact is, that Linc is not nearly the stupid fool that he claims to be.

Now of course that Christian has financially ruined him, he is claiming that he had no idea that Hyde was such a threat to our family's wellbeing. Linc may be many things, but he is not an idiot. Hyde tried to burn out the server room at Grey House and kidnap Ana. There was also some evidence that he tampered with the helicopter. Why Hyde was granted bail in the first place is a mystery, even if it was set far out of his own reach. Carrick is presently looking into that.

Even now, I must admit that I am nervous about things. Ana has recovered from her attack. She refuses to worry any more about the bruises and she is aching to get back to work. As a result, both she and Christian are working from the apartment. He doesn't trust her to stay at home. And she won't let him leave Taylor with her. She insists that he keep him close.

I suppose that I can't blame her. Security has been tight for them since the crash, right before they got engaged. She must feel as though she is living in a constant state of high anxiety. In a few days, I will have to address that with Christian. Yes, she is a young and healthy girl, but that kind of stress isn't good for any pregnant woman. Things can be very precarious in the first three months, which is why so few couples announce that they are expecting until twelve weeks or so. She needs to stay relaxed and happy. The constant surveillance is not keeping her relaxed. And she needs to work to stay happy.

I am not pleased that Christian went to see Elena that one last time. Especially since it led to the argument with Ana that created a situation where she no longer trusted him. However, if it means that he is finally done with her once and for all, then I suppose hat that is good. I was surprised that he would have even thought to go running to her. It's an indication of just how shaken he was by the news that he was going to be a father.

I am really not shocked that his initial reaction to impending fatherhood was one of fear. So much of his emotional immaturity and instability is due to those early years. In addition to the fact that his biological father completely abandoned his birth mother, the men who were in her life were very abusive. In fact, it was months before he would even trust Carrick, no matter how kind and gentle he was both to him and myself. Even now he is fearful that he will be a "shitty," to quote him, father.

I have spoken with Ana confidentially and apparently, his reaction to the news was rather stunning. First he went into a fury, then he stormed out in a rage, and finally he returned home well after midnight in a drunken state and finally passed out as she was trying to put him to bed. Then she saw the text and knew that he had been with Elena. Finally, she snapped and refused to tolerate any more of his adolescent behavior. He knew her feelings about Elena very well. She felt betrayed. And she now had the baby to think about.

I wish that she had thought of that before she went off on her mission to save Mia. Of course, there is no way to know now what might have happened if she had let someone know. This is the kind of thing that Christian had hired Taylor to take care of. This is his area of expertise. Instead, she put herself and the baby in mortal danger. I hope that both she and Mia have learned their lessons about letting the experts take care of security.

To see Christian at her side in the hospital was a terrible shock. But then, he had had a very great one of his own. He admitted to me that seeing her lying on the ground, cold and unconscious, knowing that it was the result of a man's attack had brought back all of the memories that had been haunting his dreams for years. In those moments, he was back in that wretched apartment with his poor mother who he had not been able to save. And like his mother, he was afraid that she was dead.

Thankfully Taylor was there to hold him back. Who knew what her injuries were at that point? And what further damage could have been done by moving her? At least he was able to travel in the ambulance with her. One of the EMTs told me that for a while they thought that they might have to treat him.

It is difficult to say how the breakthrough was made. Perhaps, it was the fact that he finally realized that he was no longer alone in life. First he had accepted Ana. Then, when he was at his lowest and most fearful point since those days alone in the apartment with his poor mother, he knew that he was not alone. A team of doctors and nurses were caring for his wife. His family was surrounding him to support him in those dark moments.

It was at that point that the final wall came tumbling down and he finally accepted my love and compassion. He actually let me hold him. He let me comfort him as he had never done before. But he had also finally recognized Elena Lincoln for the evil being that she is. He will never go near her again, not because it would upset Ana, not because we have told him not to, but because he is finally free. We are all free of her malevolent presence in our lives.

It was the final demon that he had to face down from the past. Was that why he sought her out? We will never be sure. Did he really think that she had any kind of solace to offer him? Did he need to go and find that out for himself? He does not need to know and neither do we. All that matters is that he is free of the past and can move forward with his life with Ana and the baby.

Christian

At last the ghosts have been laid to rest. My mother, my birth mother, died, but Ana lives. I could do nothing to save her, but I could save Ana. Ana once told me that she was much stronger than my mother. But it was hard to believe her. My mother, Ella, was like Ana. She was small built, dark haired, and yes, I can finally admit it, she was beautiful. And I loved her.

I will no longer call her the crack whore, even though that was what she was. Flynn has helped me to see that as long as I refer to her as that, I am placing a negative value judgment on myself. As the son of a crack whore, I felt worthless and unworthy.

This event was horrible on so many levels. Jack Hyde tried to destroy my life by taking away from me two of the women I love best, Ana and Mia. And unknowingly, he would also have taken my child. He was a brute and a beast, like the pimp that used to come in regularly to beat the hell out of my mother. I thought for a time that he was me or I was him. But Ana showed me that that was wrong.

He was angry and bitter because the Greys did not adopt him. But he had had a mother to go back to. Nobody could have adopted him if they wanted to. Eventually he could, and would, go back to his mother. Things didn't turn out so bad for him. Or they wouldn't have if he hadn't brought this upon himself. In a perverse way, by trying to destroy my life, Jack Hyde actually gave it back to me. I would never want to repeat the experience, and I would certainly change it if I could, but it has taught me that I am not only capable of great love, I am worthy of it.

Ana believes that our child will come into this world "programmed" to love us both. She claims that he or she will love and trust us simply by virtue of the fact that we are his or her parents. I try to think of what that would be like, but there is no point of reference. I have no idea of what my own biological father was like. Ana's father died the day after she was born and she never knew him. Her mother has told me that he only held her once. But to Ana, he is a mythical hero created by her mother. She doesn't quite believe her, but then, she doesn't have to.

At least her parents were married. At least, when the chips were down, her father married her mother and gave her his name. Even though she would eventually take Ray's name, he was there when she was born. Whoever the bastard was who fathered me, on the other hand, abandoned my mother to the streets. I guess I'm lucky that she didn't take up the drugs until after I was born, so I suffer none of the effects of pre-natal drug abuse. No, but I do suffer from the effects of post-natal child neglect.

At least I am at peace with my mother's memory. I no longer feel conflicted about her. As Ana has told me and Flynn has reinforced, the same circumstances that dealt me a shit hand of cards at the beginning of my life, dealt the same shit hand to her at the end of hers. And she must have loved me in some way, because while she was living, she didn't abandon me. And she easily could have.

It is okay for me to have loved her. But it is also okay that I now love Grace in her place. Ana explained to me how she has never felt guilty because she loves Ray as her father. He was the one who took her in when she couldn't live with her Mom's third husband. When her scatterbrained Mom wasn't there for her, he was. And her own father was long dead. It was okay for her to love Ray and take his name.

I love Carrick too. He is the father that wanted me. He was the father that accepted me when my Mom wanted to bring me home. He is my father and Elliot and Mia are my brother and sister. The five of us may not be held together by any biological bond, but we are held together by love. And sometime in May, Ana tells me, there will be a new little person to love me who is a part of me as no one else in the world is. And, yes, I do believe that he or she will love me . . . unconditionally.

Price

"Mr. Price," says Julia. "That gentleman is back to see you."

I look up from my desk in annoyance. I have a lot of work to do in preparation for my next meeting and I don't have time for this.

"Tell him that I'm busy," I growl.

"Mr. Price," she says, flinching at my tone. "He is very persistent. He says that he will keep returning until you see him."

I run my hand back through my hair in frustration. This fellow claims to have information that I must know. He claims that I will be very grateful when I see him.

"Okay," I sigh. "Let him in."

A rather ordinary man comes walking in. There is nothing about him to indicate that he is this overwhelming personality who has demanded that I see him. He is dressed neatly in a brown suit with a bow tie. His hair neatly clipped and he is wearing glasses. He is carrying a leather briefcase.

"Mr. McBride, sir," states Julia politely.

"Mr. Price," he says. "I'm sorry to bother you, but it's a matter of great importance."

"My time is valuable," I say. "State your business so that I can get on with my work."

"Mr. Price, you are originally from Traverse City, Michigan, are you not?" he asks.

"Yes, yes," I reply impatiently. "That's a matter of public record."

"And you came out here to the west coast to attend Stanford in 1983?" he continues.

"Once again, anyone can find my biography on Wikipedia," I answer. "Now tell me something that I don't know or I will have you tossed out of here and inform security never to let you in the building again."

He looks at me coolly, not at all intimidated by my threats. This guys has balls, I have to give him credit for that.

"And when you were in high school," he continues. "You dated an Ella Gracy, did you not?"

Now he has my attention. I haven't heard Ella's name in almost thirty years. What the hell is he up to?

"What do you know about Ella?" I ask quietly.

He narrows his eyes.

"Now that I have your attention, may I please be seated?" he asks smoothly. "I have a little story to tell you."