"Have a good day, baby." Christian kissed her soundly before letting her go.

"Someone would think you haven't been dropping me off most mornings," Ana teased as she got out of the car.

"I don't get to have you for lunch today." He leered at her.

"Christian, you have lunch with me… there is a big difference. I really can't have my colleagues hearing that. I already get winks and leers every time I get back from lunch." She warned with an exasperated sigh.

"You for lunch… lunch with you, same difference." He shrugged knowing it was going to earn him a glare. "See you tonight." He got an eye roll followed by the smile he always got even when he was annoying her, and he annoyed her a lot.

Due to driving in with Christian in the mornings she was always early. She was half an hour early this morning, though she didn't drink coffee, she got the machine going. Ana had gone through her emails. Had the new manuscripts ready for review. She was on the rejection letters by the time Stella came in. Even for a small publishing house, they received hundreds of manuscripts a week. Ninety percent of those were rejected. Sometimes too, authors didn't like the recommended changes and parted ways with the publishing house midway through the process.

"Ana, in my office," Stella called from the doorway. She grabbed her notepad and a pen. "This weekend there is a three-day conference on publishing. It's a chance to partner with a tech firm… if we want to move with the times, we have to start looking into eBooks. Digital media is the way forward, and we have to get in there." Stella handed Ana a brochure. "So on Thursday go straight to the NYC Conference and Seminar Center. Monroe and Brent will be going as well." Ana smiled, it was a real opportunity to learn more about the publishing industry as a whole.

That night she was on cloud nine when she got home. "Hello Ana, can I get you a drink or a snack." Gail greeted as always.

"Yes, a glass of orange juice would be great." She said following her into the kitchen. She knew Christian was going to be late, so she had walked home with Sawyer. She knew soon enough she wouldn't be able to walk home like she does now. It was the season of galas and charitable dinners, and Ana knew by the end of the summer she would be a well-known face. She was hoping since she wasn't a business mogul, but just marrying one, she would be left alone.

Gail placed a large glass of orange juice in front of her. "Thanks, Gail." She said before knocking it back. "I'm going to get changed and then do a little reading. When Christian gets…

"You are in the library," Gail said with a knowing smile.

She wasn't sure how long she had been in the library for when Christian arrived. "Sorry, I'm later than expected. Monday's are always the worst." He grumbled giving her kiss on the cheek. "Gail said dinner should be ready in ten." He added pulling his tie off.

"You look a little stressed," Ana murmured running her fingers through his hair.

"Yeah, it looks like I might have to go to Seattle for a few days," Ana nodded in understanding. In the past he'd had people there he could visit, spent time with when not working. It was no longer the case.

"You'll be fine." She assured him. "And I will be here when you get back." She added. "Why don't you call Ray, I'm sure he will be more than happy to come spent a couple of days with you." She knew her dad would meet him in Seattle if he asked.

"That's an idea." The brochure then distracted him. "What is this?" He picked it up.

"Oh, that." She smiled radiantly, a complete opposite to her nonchalant tone. "It's a publishing thing happening this weekend." She added.

"We both know you are giddy about it so be giddy." He teased. "I love a very happy you. A very happy you loves doing nothing more than riding my cock until it taps out."

"I believe that is true for most people." She said hitting him with her book. He was sure it was the case for most people. But for the longest time anger and sex went hand in hand as far as he was concerned. It was how he was introduced to sex, a kiss, a slap and another kiss. There was nothing passionate, happy or positive about that. "Come on, I'm starving." She murmured when she noticed the telltale signs of him disappearing into his head with negative thoughts.

…

Elena stared at the letter in front of her. So that she wasn't in any way confused by who had sent it. The return address was that of the Grey's address in Bellevue. The letter was a blank sheet of an A4 paper. It was effectively a fuck you without saying it. If she knew the upper echelon of Seattle's society as well as she thought she did, Grace Grey had more than likely been ostracized by them. As far as the Greys were concerned her threats meant nothing. She was sunk, and she knew it. It had been a month since the hot porridge ended up on her face. She had kept to herself as much as she could. There wasn't a bed in protective custody, but she was allowed to spend the day there eating her meals and getting her exercise. Child rapists and true pedophiles surrounded her, and she found herself feeling superior to them. She never forced herself on anyone or touched anyone who wasn't at their sexual peak. Now more than ever she truly did not see herself as a pedophile. She had done those boys a favor, and most of them knew it. Christian was a perfect example of someone whom she had saved. Without her, his drinking and fighting would have killed him long before he hit eighteen.

She would admit she had made a huge mistake in allowing his parents to think it was rape. She was being treated like a criminal simply because society didn't see the benefit of what she did for those boys. She was a better motherly figure than Grace Grey. That woman should be right next to her in prison.

After her day in protective custody, she was being escorted back to general population for the night. With a single cell to herself these days, she could on some nights get a good night's sleep. They were on the corridor back to gen pop when the alarms went off. Elena had never heard them before, therefore had no idea as to what was happening. "This is Reyes. What is going on?" After a few seconds there was still no answer.

"Control, this is officer Reyes. What is the situation? I'm on an escort."

"This is control, take Lincoln back to protective custody, and get back ASAP. O'Connell and Maguire kicked off again, and the entire wing decided to get involved."

"Let's go." Officer Reyes took her by the arm and was dragging her back to protective custody when a few inmates managed to get through the doors and then all hell broke loose.

…

Elliot stared at the paperwork in front of him in disbelief, this was the kind of shit that could drive a man to drink. Grey Construction was barely keeping its head above water, and he had no one to blame, but himself. He for the better part of four years had hated his company. He had left the running of it to a management company because he couldn't stomach the thought of being anywhere near it. It was a company built with money from a pedophile. It was the company he sold out his brother for. It was the company that had torn his family apart. He sold his soul to the devil for Grey construction.

He had spent the last six months in rehab facing his demons. It has been hard at first to open up and voice what he had done and the subsequent result, but he had done it. All that felt like a waste of time because he came out to learn his grandparents had moved to New York without so much as a word to his parents.

Carrick had gone over to speak to them to find the house had been put on the market. Carrick had tracked down Agnes, his grandparents' housekeeper and learned they had moved to Westchester. Elliot didn't know what had transpired at his grandparents' home when his mom ran into Christian and his girlfriend, but something had. For his grandparents to up and leave without a word despite their estrangement had alarm bells ringing for Elliot. He himself had cut off his grandparents, not for the same reasons as his parents, but out of shame and guilt. He couldn't face them knowing what he had done to his brother. He was well aware that Mia still had a relationship with them. Sometimes it made him wonder if she had one with Christian as well and was just hiding it. She didn't seem the least bit concern about trying to get back in Christian's good graces as the rest of them.

Now, the company he had sold his soul for was going under. "Basset Construction was looking to sell last I heard about them. What happened?" Elliot found it hard to believe what he was reading.

"Well, they found someone, and instead of breaking it up like we all expected, they invested and strengthened. They have been outbidding everyone on the Pacific Northwest in the last six months." They have leaped frogged his company in using sustainable and renewable materials in their builds. They have their own in-house architect. They poached Gia Matteo and a few of her colleagues From Carmichael and Partners designs." Gia Matteo was the architect he used, and at one time dated.

"Who is behind Basset Construction now?" He asked the management team.

"We have no idea." One murmured.

"Have you looked?" Elliot nearly shouted.

"If you wish we can do that, but what is that going to achieve." Good question, what was it going to achieve. His company was sunk if it didn't win the next three bids they had. Going by the evidence that was highly unlikely. The only thing that pained Elliot was just how much this would affect his crew.

"I'm not going to get out from underneath this. Find out who now owns Basset and see if they are interested in what is left of this company. Maybe my guys would get to keep their jobs. The management company handled areas such as finance, HR and legal so he didn't have to worry about that, as those were the areas that usually went in mergers or acquisitions.

At least you retained something form grandpa Theo.

It was days like this he wished he had stayed in rehab. While he had stopped drinking, his mother had picked up the mantle. Of course, she was discreet about it, but he could tell, after all, he had been there before.

The mighty Grace Grey's social circle had abandoned her. It was apparently status suicide to be seen with her. None would return her phone calls and as it stood the worst wasn't out when it came to Christian and Elena. After all, they had accused Christian of rape. This was the time of the year when his parents' social calendar would be breaming over with invites, but not this year. This year they had yet to receive a single invitation to any function. They had also taken the difficult decision to cancel Coping Together. Hell, no one would come so why waste money. Their fall from grace had been nothing short of spectacular.

He pulled up at his parents' driveway but struggled to get out of his truck. He really didn't like visiting them, they had nothing but bad news to give. Today he was the one with the bad news. With a sigh, he heaved himself out of the truck and made his way inside. "Elliot, what a lovely surprise." It was shit like this that made him feel guilty because they were always so happy to see him.

"Hey mom, how are you?" He asked making conversation. It wasn't really why he was there, but he couldn't just brush her off.

"I am well, retirement isn't so bad." She started off on a tandem he had become used to since he got home from rehab. "And oh, Elena Lincoln is dead." She lifted her glass of wine in a toast. "To our dearly departed pedophile. May she never rest in anything resembling peace." She chuckled humorlessly.

"How… what happened?" Elliot asked still in shock at the news.

"Don't know, don't care." Carrick walked in then.

"Dad, what is this about Elena…"

"I don't know the details. I only know because I heard a colleague talking about it. I called the prison, but they wouldn't confirm her death, but I read between the lines." Carrick uttered with no emotion.

"Dad, can we talk… I need help." Carrick's head snapped up.

"Sure." He made his way to his office, with Elliot behind him. "What is it?"

"Someone bought Basset Construction and… well, we cannot beat their bids. I made a few calls, and they can outbid anyone because their parent company is a manufacturing company."

"In effect, while you are paying for products they are getting it for next to nothing," Carrick muttered in understanding.

"They are the leading manufacturing company in sustainable and renewable products." Carrick's jaw dropped.

"You don't think…"

"Christian." Elliot sighed. "From what I've read he is leading the way in sustainable and renewable energy. His R&D department alone is worth billions."

"Why would he buy a construction company on this side of the country? He's on the other side of the country." Elliot didn't know if his father was been obtuse or in denial.

"First of all dad... where you are based doesn't determine what you buy, you know that." Elliot managed a chuckle. "And because that's where my company and I are based," Elliot said the words Carrick didn't even want to think more or less utter. Carrick sat back hoping Elliot words were far from true, but a small part of him thought why wouldn't Christian buy a company that will sink his brother's. Revenge, after all, was a dish best served cold. Was he next on his son's list?

…

"Miss Steele." she whirled around and found an unfamiliar face waving. "Sorry, I'm Barney, I work at GEH."

"Oh right, you are Barney. Christian speaks very highly of you. It's finally nice to put a face to the name." Barney was practically preening from the praise. "What are you doing here?" She enquired. Christian had nothing to do with publishing.

"Mr. Grey allows as tech guys to develop whatever we see fit."

"He does?" Ana had to wonder if that didn't take time away from their work at GEH.

"Yeah, because at the end of the day fifty percent of the revenue goes to GEH. I mean we use GEH's set up to build and sell our products, so it's very fair."

"Oh right." Ana had to admit it was smart.

"It's a hell of a lot better than most companies where you get nothing for your inventions." Barney groused. He sounded as though he was speaking from experience.

"So what are you selling?"

"It's a…"

"Miss Steele." She looked up to see another unfamiliar face and by the look on Barney's face, he wasn't from GEH. "Jack Hyde." He was hoping for a sign of recognition to grace her features.

"Sorry, you have me at a disadvantage." He looked a little disappointed by her lack of recognition.

"I gave the commencement speech at your graduation a few weeks ago."

"Oh right." She nodded.

"Had I known you intended to go into publishing I would have made you an offer," Jack said with a smile that bordered on a leer.

"Well, considering I had already made plans to move to New York, the answer would have been no."

"Ana." She was incredibly grateful to hear her name been called.

"Hey Monroe, you and Barney here should talk. I have to go find Stella."

"That's why I came to find you. She is in seminar room C."

"Okay, thanks." Ana was grateful to be walking away from Hyde.

"Why don't I walk with you," Ana sighed and stared at him.

"What do you want Mr. Hyde? First and foremost I have a job and don't need another. Second, I am engaged to be married and looking forward to it. I believe you saw my fiancé on the day of my graduation. So what else could you possibly want?"

"Engaged?" He asked looking down at her finger. "I had no idea. I am clearly backing up the wrong tree." His smile didn't fool her one bit.

"Now you know." She muttered just as Sawyer made himself known.

"Is there a problem?" Sawyer 's eyes remained on Jack although the question was directed at Ana.

"Not now there isn't. I believe Mr. Hyde here now knows there is nothing here for him. Isn't that right?" she looked at him.

"Honest mistake." He walked away keeping an eye on Sawyer.

For years Jack had wondered about the little boy adopted by the Greys. He was old enough to now know the boy's adoption was in the works long before he came to live with the Colliers, but it didn't stop him from looking. When he eventually found the Greys, the boy was nowhere to be seen. He found pictures of him and the family from six years back, but nothing since. He had been shocked when out of the blue Christian Grey showed up at a graduation in Vancouver. The shock of seeing him for the first time in years brought back questions he had given up on. He knew there was a story there, what had made Christian Grey cut all ties with his family and move to New York? He had heard the rumors about his estrangement, the story was, it was because he dropped out of Harvard, but knew there was more to the story.

For years he had wondered what happened and he felt the girl could answer that burning question. Jack knew there was a story there and whatever it was, he was determined to find out. Whether the fault lay with Christian or his family. They were both prominent enough to make money from the story. Someone knew, he just had to find whoever it was. He had after all made his money from finding stories in places no one thought to look. The girl was out of the question. If he went near her again, he would end up showing his hand or worse, be asking for trouble.

The answer lay in Seattle and he knew just who to target. Luckily for him, it was his base. There was nothing like a home court advantage.