Chapter 1

Ana woke up with a jerk from yet another blissfully unrealistic dream where her prince charming comes and rescues her from the darkness on his white horse. She quickly sat up on her bed and threw her legs over the side and headed towards the bathroom to wash up and get ready for the day.

Ana lives a life full of privilege and honor. She has a wonderful family, a great apartment, and nice cars and officially has become the youngest CEO in the world. Thanks to her father, Raymond Steele, for passing the torch down to his daughter. In front of the world he gifted Steele Corporate Industries to his sweet daughter. The tabloids have since referred to Ana as America's princess. This is a constant reminder for Ana to remember that she always has to be on her best behavior. The pressure of being a role model doesn't bother Ana. Ana already isn't like most twenty-one year old women. She does not party or drink and she would much rather spend her Friday nights at home in her pajamas rather than going out.

Emerging from the bathroom, Ana walks into her closet to pick out her outfit. She settles for a tweed skirt, black tights, a black structured sleeveless top with an embellished collar and black pumps. Ana styled her hair into loose, smooth waves that elegantly drape her back. She kept her makeup simple but polished; she went for defined eyes and a rose colored lip.

Grabbing a bagel with cream cheese and a bottle of water, she headed towards the elevator down to the parking deck. As she exited the elevator she couldn't help but notice her neighbors. She gave them a quick wave as she passed them and headed to her car. As Ana walked, she couldn't help but wonder who those people were. They looked strangely familiar and they looked at Ana like she was an alien in an exhibit. She couldn't figure out for the life of her who they were and why they looked at her that way. They looked like they wanted to talk to her. She stopped and stared at them and then when she looked closer she could see that they were holding a gossip magazine with her picture splashed on the cover. The issue claimed to have an article that detailed all about Ana's new role as CEO while also managing to be America's princess. Ana rolled her eyes and headed to car.

This was how the week always went, day in and day out. The same routine, over and over again the only that changed were the clothes that Ana would wear. Ana was going absolutely mad with the repetition that each day held. What puzzled her most was how whenever she entered the parking deck, she always saw the same group of people. It was almost like they were waiting to see her. This puzzled Ana tremendously and she was eager to learn who exactly they were and what if anything, they wanted.

Friday night rolled around and Ana groaned with anger, "Why am I here?" she asked herself. She knew exactly why she was here. A friend had called her because he had just recently opened up a new club and wanted her opinion of it. Ana explained to him that she knew nothing of the club scene and wouldn't be much help for him but would go nonetheless.

The bass dropped the minute she walked into the club. She opted for a white floral long sleeve romper with deep v that accentuated her full breasts. She wore nude stilettos to help elongate her legs. At 5'0 she knew she was the epitome of short and she needed all the help she could get to at least make her seem taller than she actually was. Her hair was smooth with a slight bend at the ends for texture and her makeup was smokey with a nude lip.

All of a sudden someone called out to Ana, "Well, well look who decided to venture out into the world on a Friday night no less."

Ana turned around and squealed with delight, "Belinda, I'm so excited to see you! You look hot."

"Thanks, I was literally speechless when I saw you walk through the door. I think the entire club stopped and turned to look at you. You look absolutely breathtaking. If I wasn't into guys, then I would be totally all over you. " Belinda said loudly making Ana blush furiously and shuffle on her feet.

"You are too much, Belinda! Are you here alone?" Ana said.

"No, I'm not here alone; I'm here with my friends. Come, I will introduce you." Belinda grabbed Ana's arm and dragged her through the crowd to the private section of the club where her friends awaited. Belinda could tell that Ana was nervous and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze that everything would be alright. Ana smiled at her friend, grateful that she was there, clubs made her nervous. The amount of drunk, inappropriate people always had her on edge. You never know what a drunken person can be capable of.

As they approached Belinda's friends, she immediately recognized that they were the same group of people that Ana had met in the parking deck of her building. She looked at Belinda questioningly.

Belinda greeted her friends with a smile and pulled Ana to her side. "Hey guys, this is my friend, Anastasia Steele. Ana, these are my friends; Elliot, Kate, Audrey and Christian."

Ana couldn't help but notice how they were all couples. Extremely beautiful couples at that, the kind of couples you see in magazine ads for Calvin Klein. Ana held out her hand to each and every one of them. Elliot had blonde hair and blue eyes and gave her a big hug while Kate laughed and told him to put Ana down as she went over to shake Ana's hand. Kate had blonde hair with emerald green eyes. Audrey stood to shake Ana's hand rather quickly and dismissively. Ana found that odd and not very polite but she still thought Audrey was beautiful. Audrey had medium brown hair with deep brown eyes and warm, glowing skin and she was extremely tall. Ana thought she looked like a model straight off the runway. At last, she turned to Christian; he had dark grey eyes with messy brown hair with a copper tint to it. He looked mouthwateringly gorgeous. Ana then realized that she was staring it him quite rudely with her mouth open and she was probably drooling. Embarrassed Ana stood up straighter and shook his hand; she felt a spark and looked at him curiously and she pulled her hand away.

"It's nice to meet all of you. I think you all live in my building, I've seen you in the parking deck before, maybe we could…" before Ana had a chance to finish strong hands came up from behind her and covered her eyes.

"Guess who!" the deep voice said.

Ana turned around quickly with a big smile on her face and said, "It took you long enough. I was thinking you had completely forgotten all about me." She pouted.

The group of people behind Ana knew who the man was right off the bat. It was none other than business mogul, Chase Bennett, also the owner of the club that had opened tonight. They all looked confused on why Ana would choose to hang out with a person who currently held the leading title of Seattle's playboy.

Chase was Ana's best friend, they did almost everything together. He knew everything about her and she knew everything about him. Chase was a known in the public eye as a playboy and was arrogant and full of himself but with Ana he was a completely different person.

Ana turned around and proudly introduced everyone to her best friend, Chase. No one shook hands or said a word. Ana could not believe that they were able to be so rude to one another. Belinda pulled Ana aside and said, "What are you doing with him Ana? He's not a good person."

Ana looked affronted. "He's my best friend and I've known him all of my life and contrary to what the papers say, I know who he really is and I also make it a habit not to believe everything you hear." Turning back to Chase, Ana grabbed his hand and pulled him away.

He pulled her to the side in a dark corner and asked her if she was ok. Ana looked at him with sympathetic eyes and shook her head silently.

"I'm angry that they could be so judgmental towards you without even really knowing you." Ana said in a rush.

"Ana, they do know me. That is Christian Grey, CEO of Grey Enterprise Holdings, ruthless son of a bitch who hates me. He is with his brother Elliot, and those two girls with them are their fiancées." Chase sighed.

"Why would he hate you?" Ana questioned curiously. Ana was disappointed to find out that Christian was engaged. She found him quite charming and unbelievably attractive. He looked like the kind of man Ana dreamed about. He was the kind of man that would be able to sweep her off her feet and carry her into the sunset. Ana blushed at the thought and realized it was wrong to have such thoughts when she now knew that he was engaged to be married. She shook the thoughts out of her head and focused her attention back to Chase.

"The business world we live in is cut throat, you of all people should know that personally." Chase raised an eyebrow towards Ana. Ana lowered her head nodded her head in acceptance to what Chase had said. Ana knew all too well on how the business world ran and how spiteful and vengeful people can become, she's seen it firsthand.

"That it is but still, why would they hate you? I understand being business rivals and all but that was pure hate and disgust." Ana pressed continuously.

Chase looked at Ana and wanted to tell her exactly why but knew that he wouldn't be able to. He didn't want to lose his best friend over this and he knew that if he had told her the truth, he would have lost her for good and he wasn't about to have that.

Instead, he smiled and grabbed her hand and said, "Come. I want you to show you the club."

Ana looked at Chase and could see a battle being played out in his head. She knew there was something there but decided to leave it be for the time being. She knew that one day he would be ready to open up and tell her what actually had happened. With a sigh she followed him but still managed to turn back and look at the group of people she left behind and their faces were looking absolutely murderous.

AN: Hey everyone! It's a pleasure to meet you and I'm so excited to finally having the courage to write my own story. This idea has been in my head ever since I first read the trilogy over a year ago. I'm new to writing stories like this so please bear with me for the time being. It's a lot harder than I thought trying to take the story that has been living inside of my head for a while and putting it into a story that someone would be willing to read. I know that my writing is not the best and for that I sincerely apologize. I strongly believe that I will get better over time. I'm very excited to begin this journey and I really hope that you all will enjoy my story.

XOXO, Gabriella