Fifty Shades Freed (Christian & Ana)(221)

"Well, if it isn't my paycheck," Jack answers scornfully.

I don't have time for his bullshit. "I have a problem."

"I know. Your security followed you to the bank."

What? How the hell does he know?

"You'll have to lose him. I have a car waiting at the back of the bank. Black SUV, a Dodge. You have three minutes to get there." The Dodge!

"It may take longer than three minutes." My heart leaps into my throat once more.

"You're bright for a gold-digging whore, Grey. You figure it out. And dump your cell phone once you reach the vehicle. Got it, bitch?"

"Yes.""Say it!" he snaps.

"I've got it."

He hangs up.

Shit! I open the door to find Whelan waiting patiently outside.

"Mr. Whelan, I'll need some help taking the bags to my car. It's parked outside, at the back of the bank. Do you have an exit at the rear?"

He frowns.

"We do, yes. For staff."

"Can we leave that way? I can avoid the unwelcome attention at the door."

"As you wish, Mrs. Grey. I'll have two clerks help with the bags and two security guards to supervise. If you could follow me?"

"I have one more favor to ask you."

"By all means, Mrs. Grey."

Two minutes later my entourage and I are out on the street, heading over to the Dodge. Its windows are blacked out, and I can't tell who's at the wheel. But as we approach, the driver's door swings open, and a woman clad in black with a black cap pulled low over her face climbs gracefully out of the car. Elizabeth! She moves to the rear of the SUV and opens the trunk. The two young bank clerks carrying the money sling the heavy bags into the back.

"Mrs. Grey." She has the nerve to smile as if we are off on a friendly jaunt.

"Elizabeth." My greeting is arctic. "Nice to see you outside work."

Mr. Whelan clears this throat.

"Well, it's been an interesting afternoon, Mrs. Grey," he says. And I am forced to observe the social niceties of shaking his hand and thanking him while my mind reels. Elizabeth? What the hell? Why is she mixed up with Jack?

Whelan and his team disappear back into the bank, leaving me alone with the head of personnel at SIP who's involved in kidnapping, extortion, and very possibly other felonies. Why?

Elizabeth opens the rear passenger door and ushers me in.

"Your phone, Mrs. Grey?" she asks, watching me warily. I hand it to her, and she tosses it into a nearby trashcan.

"That will throw the dogs off the scent," she says smugly.

Who is this woman? Elizabeth slams my door shut and climbs into the driver's seat. I glance anxiously behind me as she pulls out into the traffic, going east. Sawyer is nowhere to be seen.

"Elizabeth, you have the money. Call Jack. Tell him to let Mia go."

"I think he wants to thank you in person."

Shit! I glare at her stonily in the rearview mirror.

She pales and an anxious scowl mars her otherwise lovely face.

"Why are you doing this, Elizabeth? I thought you didn't like Jack."

She glances at me again briefly in the mirror, and I see a fleeting look of pain in her eyes.

"Ana, we'll get along just fine if you keep your mouth shut."

"But you can't do this. This is so wrong."

"Quiet," she says, but I sense her unease.

"Does he have some kind of hold on you?" I ask. Her eyes shoot to mine and she slams on the brakes, throwing me forward so hard I hit my face against the headrest of the front seat.