Made in Manhattan

Chapter 1

Anastacia had always loved Cities. The buzz of the crowd and the hum of the constant traffic. She had lived in London her whole life but had finally taken the leap and
accepted a job at an art gallery in New York.

The metropolitan museum of art was the first place Anastacia visited with her family when they visited  New York for Christmas when she was 10. Ever since, it has been her dream to come back and work in an art gallery. The one she had been offered was the Garth Greenan Gallery in Manhattan.

Ana usually loved the sound of her high heels on the paved streets of Manhattan but they were drowned out with the rush and chatter of a Monday morning. She clutched her hand bag closely to her stomach, looking down every so often to check that the clasp was still secure. The hustle of the work day meant that Ana was weaving as quickly as posible through the crowds and parked cars because it was her first day and she was already running late.

An unfortunate string of events had concluded in the taxi she had booked to leave without her in it as she scrambled to grab her bag and shoes 7 minutes after it had arrived outside her apartment. A consequence of the jam stained shirt and laddered tights.

Therefore, she was now rushing through the packed streets, attempting to hail a cab every so often, whilst trying to avoid rolling an ankle. Anastacia looked to the road, holding her arm out, her breath panting out of her and a thin bead of sweat forming on her upper lip and forehead. She convinced herself that the powder puff in her handbag could fix that, the pressing issue of arriving late on her first day of work loomed over her too much for her to care.

Finally, a taxi pulled over and Ana let out a sigh of relief and smiled in gratitude to the cabbie.
"Thank you so much, you don't understand I'm-"

A man stepped in front of her and opened the door to the taxi, Ana furrowed her eyebrows as she looked toward him.

"Excuse me, this is my Taxi!" The man turned to her, if she wasn't so angry, she may have been able to appreciate the shear beauty of the man in front of her. His ruffled brown hair, with a piece that hung perfectly over his forehead and his piercing blue eyes, that were filled with humour and satisfaction. But of course, she was angry, so she didn't notice any of this.

"Unfortunately, this is my cab." Was all he said before giving her a dazzling smile and disappearing into the back seat of the yellow cab. Ana stood, mouth agape as she watched the cab rejoin the traffic with the silhouette of the gorgeous man in the backseat.

~

Ana stumbled through the grand glass doors of the Art Gallery, surprisingly only 4 minutes late. This was due to the sacrifice she had made to arrive in any form of presentable state, as she removed her heels and ran the remaining 5 blocks from her Taxi encounter.

"Good morning, I'm so sorry I'm late." Ana huffed out what remaining breath she had to the slender man in front of her.

A sly grin formed on his face, "It's impossible to get a cab this time of day." Ana appreciated that he understood the pain of the journey she had just had to arrive here. She returned a small smile.

"Indeed."

The man gestured to a door, "Come, on, let's go over everything in my office." As the man turned, Ana snatched her powder out from her bag and aggressively slapped it over ever inch of her face, before shoving it back into her bag just in time for the gentleman to then and open the door for her.

After Ana's chat with the manager of the Gallery, she had started her day on the main floor, approaching and charming any potential buyers or visitors. Once the buzz of her morning had settled, Ana had returned to her usually friendly and cheerful manner and ended up throughly enjoying her first day. As the light outside started to fade, Ana began to collect her bag and head home.

"Thank you for the wonderful first day, Brian. I will see you tomorrow!" Brian, her manager smiled at her.

"Good luck getting a cab tomorrow!" Ana let out a small laugh and rolled her eyes. She hadn't even thought about that yet.

As Ana walked through the double doors at the front of the museum she noticed two men dressed in dark clothes walking around to the side of the museum. She knew that there was an entry way there for deliveries, so she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion before looking back to see if Brian was still standing at the reception. He wasn't.

Ana contemplated for a second before quietly following the direction the men had walked. She stopped just before the end of the building so she could peak around the corner. She squinted her eyes but it was two dark to see. She couldn't see the men anymore but there was no where they could have gone other than inside the building. She knew they weren't having any deliveries this week and no pieces had been sold. Ana removed her heels and tip toed down the side of the building, trying to keep as closely to the wall as she could.

"The security is not great. There are only 3 guards that stay over night, and the alarm system is controlled by a panel in the guards room. If we can get in there then there's no threat of alerting any one out side the building." Anas eyes widened in surprise. They were going to rob the Gallery.

Ana quietly got her phone out of her pocket and started to dialling for the Police. However her screen lit up and started ringing.

'Mum' calling...

"On no, no, no!" Ana frantically tried to silence her phone but they had heard her.

"Someone's here!" The two men turned and Ana met the eyes of one of them. She quickly turned and started running but she could hear the footsteps of the men gaining on her.

"Stop!" One shouted but Ana kept going as fast as she could. Once she reached the road she saw a man standing against a lamp post.

"Excuse me!" Ana yelled and ran up to the man, she grabbed his arm as he turned in shock. She noticed it was the man that robber the taxi from her but she didn't care right now.

"Them guys are chasing me! I spotted them by the Gallery, they're going to rob it!" By this point the two men had retreated and Ana could no longer see them. The man she had grabbed was standing looking to where she was pointing. He turned to her.

"Hey, it's fine. They won't hurt you now. My friend works for the FBI, I will call him." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled a number.

"Peter, hey. There's reason to believe that the Garth Greenan gallery is going to be robbed."

The two men conversed as Ana tried to collect her breath. What an eventful day.

"Yeah, okay." The man hung up the phone. "The FBI are on their way. Thank you." Ana smiled and swallowed the thick spit that had formed from her recent unexpected exercise.

"Thank you," she said, "I'm sorry I grabbed you like that, they were chasing me." The man laughed.

"It's fine, are you okay?" Ana nodded.

"Fine. Thank you." Ana finally looked up at her saving grace. He was handsome, no doubt about it. "I'm Ana." She stuck her hand out.

"Neal." Their hands connected into a firm handshake.

"Well Neal, I appreciate you standing there. I would've been in trouble if not." Neal laughed.

"You're welcome." He smiled. "I should be thanking you."

Ana looked at him confused. "For the cab."