A/N: Thank you for all your reviews and support! Here's the next chapter for you.

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Chapter 7: Hard Times Ahead

CPOV

"You know that Elena's been playing you for years, right?"

Christian stared at Candace for a moment, at a loss for words. He blinked before shaking his head, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Elena found submissives for you, correct?" Candace asked, and Christian nodded. "Do you know exactly how she found them?"

Christian grimaced, not particularly enjoying these questions. "Not necessarily. I know she has a lot of connections in the BDSM world - I figured she just asked around."

Candace shook her head, however. "No, she never had to look for subs - people came to her. Back when I was looking for a dom, everyone said that Elena was the one to go to. Every sub, dom and domme in the Washington state area knew that Elena had the highest level of connections… namely, to the best dom in North America."

Christian stared at her, flabbergasted. "Me?"

Candace nodded, looking almost surprised at his confusion. "You really don't know how much you're marketed as a dom in the BDSM community?"

Christian said nothing, though he felt like the bottom of his stomach had fallen away. Exactly how deep did Elena Lincoln's influence go? Christian's expression must have reflected his feelings, because Dirk turned his glare onto his wife.

"I told you he didn't know," he said angrily. "You know that Elena's been keeping this from him! You can't assume things like that."

"Well I'm sorry, I thought he had already found out the truth…!" Candace began heatedly, but Christian interrupted her:

"Will you please just tell what the hell you're talking about?" he snapped. "What do you mean I'm 'marketed' as a dom? How the hell would Elena be able to do that?"

"She has information on you," Candace explained to him. "About all your proclivities, what you like in a sub, even how they need to look - brown hair and pale skin. She knows all of that about you, and she makes it so that it's very exclusive information you have to pay out of pocket in order to get."

"What?" Christian asked, bewildered. "Those things should be standard information found in a regular dossier. Subs shouldn't have to pay for my info."

"But a lot of subs would pay for information if they thought it was going to land them the greatest dom in the country," Candace pointed out. "Elena developed a reputation for you, and she profited off every bit of it."

"Okay, so how much did you pay for my dossier?" Christian asked Candace, and she sighed, slipping one hand in her back pocket while running the other hand through her dark hair.

"Too much," she said simply, bringing her hand down and shoving it in her other back pocket. "Although not nearly as much as some other subs I know. Last I heard, Elena has been charging girls five thousand bucks apiece to get access to your information, and that's not even including the treatments."

"Treatments?" Christian asked, confused.

"A lot of the subs Elena tries to recruit aren't natural brunettes," Dirk explained before Candace could, and Christian looked over at him. "She looks for submissives with different colored hair or naturally tan skin. Once they pay Elena for your information, however, and they find out what you really like, then they realize they need to change some things in order for you to notice them. So they pay even more money to go get their hair dyed or their skin bleached."

Christian stared at them in shock, feeling as if he were going to be sick. "At Esclava?"

"She has a special discount for submissives," Candace nodded, though she frowned as she did so. "Ten percent off all beauty treatments… as if that's supposed to make up for the fact she's gouging them for money."

Christian didn't say anything, and he turned to stare down at the floor as he tried to process this information. He had always known Elena wasn't necessarily the most honest person around - hell, being heavily involved with a lifestyle like BDSM didn't exactly make a person squeaky clean. But whatever Elena did with her time at the club Christian had never thought involved him or his proclivities. She just found subs for him whenever he was looking for a new one… but now it became clear that that was all she was doing. In fact, she was counting on him looking for new subs in order for her to make money!

"…And now she knows I'm seeing someone outside the lifestyle," Christian finished his thought out loud, almost to himself.

"More importantly, the whole world knows that you're seeing somebody," Candace corrected. "There have already been articles written about you and your new girlfriend, not to mention photographic evidence from the Seattle Nooz. It was only a matter of time before the BDSM community found out that you were now exclusive with someone and that submissives now had very little chance of contracting with you."

A fleeting feeling of satisfaction overtook Christian - he was happy Ana had come into his life when she did so that Elena's manipulative game could come to an end. However, it really looked like Elena didn't want to give up without a fight.

"How long have you known about all of this?" Christian asked Candace after a moment, his voice measured. He looked up at her in time to see her exchange a glance with Dirk.

"I don't know… I still have some friends who are in the lifestyle that I talk to," she explained. "A few of them, including myself, had paid Elena her fee for your information at some point. Plus, I also knew just from general hearsay… like I said, you're kind of famous in the BDSM community."

"I was a part of that community for years," Christian said tersely, feeling anger rising inside of him. "How have I not heard about any of this? This is my fucking life - how the hell could I have been kept in the dark about this?"

"I don't know," Candace said again, looking a bit surprised at his vitriol. "It's just… submissives were really the only ones who talked about you amongst themselves. And from what I understand, you've really only practiced the lifestyle in the privacy of your home in your playroom, so you haven't been to a lot of clubs in recent years…"

But Christian was barely listening. The fact that Elena - someone he had considered a friend for many years - had actually been profiting off of him the entire time behind his back. Manipulating him and marketing him like he was just a showpiece for her amusement…

"This was my life," Christian growled, his anger building in a crescendo inside of him. "This was my fucking life, and she's just been using me… for her FUCKING BANK ACCOUNT!"

He suddenly stormed over to his end table and grabbed an empty whiskey glass, chucking it as hard as he could into the far corner wall of his office and smashing it into a million pieces. He hardly heard the startled gasps from behind him as reached up and tugged his hair, breathing hard through his nose as he tried to calm himself.

"It was my life…" he ground out through clenched teeth, squeezing his eyes shut.

How could she do this to me?


APOV

Ana woke up alone in Christian's bed that morning, which was common on workdays - Christian always went to work very early each morning, and if he wasn't going to GEH, he was in his home office or out for a run with Taylor. Ana would usually just stay in bed until her alarm clock eventually woke her up for work, not particularly keen on waking up at an ungodly early hour.

As Ana got up and went to go take a shower in the en suite, her mind drifted to last night, when she learned about the existence of two people in Christian's life she wished she didn't have to know about. Leila and Elena… Ana could feel anger and disgust building inside of her just at the mere thought of those two. However, while Leila seemed like she could potentially cause more problems, Elena was the one who really worried Ana the most - this woman had actually been finding submissives for Christian for years. In a weird way, it almost sounded like Elena had had a strange sort of control over his life back when he was involved in BDSM.

Plus, Christian did mention she had been the one to introduce him to the lifestyle in the first place. That meant the nature of their relationship went far deeper than Ana ever cared to know.

Christ, I hate this.

Ana shook her head, trying to clear her mind of these bad thoughts. She and Christian would talk more about this development at some point in the coming days, but right now she had to get ready for work.

After showering and getting dressed in one of the work outfits she had left in Christian's walk-in closet, Ana was ready to go. Christian had initially wanted to buy her a whole new wardrobe, but Ana refused - she felt strange accepting such an extravagant gift from her boyfriend, although privately she was delighted he wanted her to keep clothes at his place. That meant he liked having her around.

After getting dressed in a white shirt, pink cardigan and black dress pants with pointy toe pumps, Ana went downstairs to grab a quick breakfast before heading out. Just as she passed through the great room into the kitchen, however, she saw Gail standing at the counter on her cell phone, looking worried.

"…Well, have you called Dr. Trevelyan? I'm sure she could help," Gail said, and then paused as she listened. "Okay… well, at least get the others out of there…"

Gail turned and noticed Ana standing nearby, her eyes widening. "Jason, hold on," she said into the phone before addressing Ana. "Ana, something's happened with Mr. Grey at his office - Jason says he's in a bad way."

"What happened? Is he hurt?" Ana asked urgently, her heart pounding.

"No… Jason said he apparently found out some bad information and he's had a breakdown of sorts," Gail said worriedly. "I don't know what happened, though. Do you know what it could be?"

Ana had a sick feeling in her gut that told her this had something to do with what happened last night, and without a word she turned and hurried toward the foyer where the elevators were.

"Ana?" Gail called after her uncertainly.

"I'm going to GEH to see," Ana said over her shoulder, hitting the down button beside the elevator shaft. "I'll call my office and say I'm running late. I'll let you know if anything happens."

The doors slid open, and Ana stepped inside, hoping Christian could just hang on until she got there.


Once at GEH, Ana checked in at the security desk and was immediately allowed clearance to the top floor - the security men had already been briefed on her apparently. Ana rode the elevator up with several other businessmen and women, trying not to feel too nervous about what she was going to see when she reached the top.

The doors finally opened at the top floor, and Ana stepped out, immediately spotting Taylor standing outside Christian's office doors with two other people she didn't recognize. Taylor spotted her as walked over, and the look of surprise and relief on his face was visible even from a distance.

"Ms. Steele," he said gratefully once she approached them. "I'm glad you're here."

"Where is he?" Ana asked immediately, and Taylor gestured to the office doors behind him.

"He's in his office, ma'am - he's in a bad way," he added. "Just be careful."

Ana didn't say anything as she passed him and the other two people nearby to open the office doors and step inside.

After only a couple steps in, Ana froze. Shattered glass, broken coffee mugs, and office supplies littered the large area. A couple of his end tables, coffee tables and chairs had been upturned and tossed across the room, and the broken remains of what looked like a BlackBerry lay near the doorway. Amongst this disaster stood Christian, facing the floor-to-ceiling window while leaning against it with his forearms above his head, his copper head bowed down. Ana felt her heart break when she saw him.

Oh baby, what happened to you?

"Christian?"

Christian turned around at the sound of his name, and his distraught eyes landed on Ana standing in the doorway. The two of them gazed at each other for a few moments, communicating silently through their eyes, and suddenly they were walking toward each other across the debris-ridden floor. In a moment, Ana had her arms wrapped protectively around him, one hand in his hair and the other on his upper back, and he immediately buried his face in the crook of her neck, wrapping his arms around her waist in a vice-like grip.

For a moment they just stood there, holding each other close, and Ana distinctly heard Christian let out short breaths, as if he were trying to hold back tears.

"Baby, what happened?" Ana whispered, running her hand soothingly through his hair.

"I-I thought… " he muttered against her before breaking off. "I thought I was in control… but, it was her… for years, it was always her…"

Ana had no idea what the hell he was talking about, but before she could ask him, someone else spoke up:

"We're sorry," a woman said from the doorway, and Ana looked around to see the two strangers she had passed by on her way in here standing on the threshold - a man wearing a white t-shirt and a dark-haired woman in flannel. Both of them looked at Christian with an expression of deep concern and guilt.

"Who are you?" Ana asked them with a frown.

"We're nobody - we were just leaving," the woman said quickly, grasping the man's arm and pulling him with her back through the doorway. "We're sorry for intruding."

The two of them left, leaving just Taylor standing just beyond the doorway. He walked inside before closing the door behind him.

"Taylor, what the hell did those two do to him?" Ana asked urgently, still holding a repose Christian in her arms.

"They didn't do anything," Taylor said, walking toward her. "They just came with some disturbing news about Elena, which is what caused… all of this to happen."

"Jesus," Ana murmured, holding Christian tighter against her body. "What did they say?"

"From what I understand, Elena's been secretly selling Mr. Grey's information in the BDSM community for a profit," Taylor explained. "That woman who just left - she used to be Christian's submissive, and she was telling us how Elena had contacted her last night and about how she's trying to recruit all of his past submissives in order to break up you two and seduce him back to the lifestyle."

Ana gaped at him in horror. "All so she can keep making money off of him?"

Taylor pressed his lips together before nodding. "Yes."

Ana said nothing, though she felt sick to her stomach as she processed all this information. She understood Christian's freakout now - being lied to and manipulated by someone for so many years, especially someone considered to be a friend, is a horrible thing to find out. And for a man like Christian, who needed control in every aspect of his life, this information would be especially devastating.

Ana suddenly felt a vitriolic hatred for this Elena woman burn inside of her - the fact that she had hurt Christian so much, and was now conspiring to break up his new relationship, was too much to handle. Ana was not going to just lay down and take it - when it came to Christian and their relationship, she would fight tooth and nail. Of that much she was sure.

Christian still clung tightly to Ana, still seeking her comfort, and Ana hugged him tighter, wanting to reassure him.

"She won't win, Christian," she whispered to him firmly. "I promise you - we will end her."

Game on, bitch.


A/N: Hope you all enjoyed that chapter! If you did, please leave a review.

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