“Don’t, please.” I recoil from him. There’s no way I can tolerate his touch now, it will

slay me. “I can’t do this.”

Grabbing my suitcase and my backpack, I head for the foyer. He follows me, keeping

a careful distance. He presses the elevator button, and the doors open. I climb in.

“Goodbye, Christian,” I murmur.

“Ana, goodbye,” he says softly, and he looks utterly, utterly broken, a man in agonizing

pain, reflecting how I feel inside. I tear my gaze away from him before I change my mind

and try to comfort him.

The elevator doors close, and it whisks me down to the bowels of the basement and to

my own personal hell.

Taylor holds the door open for me, and I climb into the back of the car. I avoid eye contact.

Embarrassment and shame washes over me. I’m a complete failure. I had hoped to drag

my Fifty Shades into the light, but it’s proved a task beyond my meager abilities. Des-

perately, I try to keep my emotions banked and at bay. As we head out onto 4th Avenue, I

stare blankly out of the window, and the enormity of what I’ve done slowly washes over

me. Shit – I’ve left him.The only man I’ve ever loved. The only man I’ve ever slept with.

I gasp, and the levees burst. Tears course unbidden and unwelcome down my cheeks, and

I wipe them away hurriedly with my fingers, scrambling in my bag for my sunglasses. As

we pause at some traffic lights, Taylor holds out a linen handkerchief for me. He says noth-

ing and doesn’t look in my direction, and I take it with gratitude.

“Thank you,” I mutter, and this small discreet act of kindness is my undoing. I sit back

in the luxurious leather seats and weep.

The apartment is achingly empty and unfamiliar. I have not lived here long enough for it

to feel like home. I head straight to my room, and there, hanging limply at the end of my

bed, is a very sad, deflated helicopter balloon. Charlie Tango, looking and feeling exactly

like me. I grab it angrily off my bedrail, snapping the tie, and hug it to me. Oh – what

have I done?

I fall onto my bed, shoes and all, and howl. The pain is indescribable… physical,

mental… metaphysical… it is everywhere, seeping into the marrow of my bones. Grief.

This is grief – and I’ve brought it on myself. Deep down, a nasty, unbidden thought comes

from my inner goddess, her lip curled in a snarl… the physical pain from the bite of a belt

is nothing, nothing compared to this devastation. I curl up, desperately clutching the flat

foil balloon and Taylor’s handkerchief, and surrender myself to my grief.

End of Part One