Today, the kids are in school and Christian and I are at work. I've just received the newest chapter of that manuscript that enthralled me months ago. I'm reading through and editing it whenever my phone rings. I don't recognize the number so I answer.

"Ana Grey."

"Anastasia, nice to hear your voice again."

"Ethan, how can I help you?" I ask. I don't like him calling me. I don't even know how he got my new number.

"Well, I need you to meet with me at 'Fifty's bar' in 30 minutes and I need you to come alone."

I furrow my brow. "And what makes you think that I'd want to meet with you, much less, alone?"

He chuckles. "Well, it's a matter of the utmost importance. It involves your children. I will ONLY tell you IN PERSON if you come alone."

What the fuck could he possibly want to tell me about my children. "Anything you have to say to me, you can tell me now. I am not going to be meeting with you alone."

"Well, I guess you will just have to find out for yourself then." And he hangs up. Now, I'm worried. I think I'm going to have Gibson take me to my fiancé. He needs to know about this immediately. I don't know what the fuck Ethan is up to, but I've got a very bad feeling about this.

I grab the manuscript and slide it into my bag and approach Gibson. "I need you to take me to Grey House."

"Okay, Ana." He leads me out to the SUV and lets me in and he gets into the driver's side. He starts driving in the direction of Grey House. We're driving in the inside lane, whenever an oncoming SUV crosses over the yellow line, Gibson attempts to swerve, but it's too late and it hits us head on. Other cars start slamming into us and I can feel the blood dripping down my face.

I look up and find that Gibson is unconscious and I unbuckle and attempt to wake him before someone rips the back door open so I attempt to climb into the front seat before they get to me, but they grab my ankle and pull me out of the wreckage. I am kicking and screaming, attempting to get out of the person's grasp, but it's no use. I catch a glimpse of the person and low and behold, it is Ethan. He grins mischievously and throws me over his shoulder. I'm still kicking and screaming as he takes off running and carries me into an alley around the back of the building that we're in front of. He opens the trunk and throws me into it. I start to scream and kick again, but he punches me, immediately causing me to stop fighting.

He picks up some zip ties and he restrains my hands together and puts some duct tape over my mouth before slamming the trunk closed. I start to cry. I don't have a damn panic button anymore. How will they find me?

After about 20 minutes, the car stops and the engine shuts off. I hear voices, but I can't make out what they are saying. The trunk finally opens and I swing the tire iron that I picked up with my restrained hands and Ethan grabs it out of my hands and chuckles. "You're not going anywhere now, sweetheart."

I gasp and he picks me up out of the trunk and throws me over his shoulder again. I can't tell where we are, but there are woods surrounding us. That's all I have to go on. He carries me inside some type of building and once we're inside, I discover that it looks like some kind of cottage. He carries me into a bedroom without windows. "You stay right here and we will be back for you." We?

He closes and locks the door behind him. I manage to shimmy out of bed. I attempt to cut through the zip ties by rubbing them on the corner of a dresser, but it's no use. They just cut into my wrists deeper. I look around and try to find something to defend myself, but I find nothing. I just have to hope that I can figure out a way to use my self-defense skills without relying on the use of my hands. This is NOT going to be easy.

I hear someone approaching the door so I sit on the edge of the bed. Two people enter the room and I'm shocked to see Elena. She's been free for 3 years, but she chooses now to come out of the woodwork. Why is she working with Ethan. She cackles whenever she sees me. "Cat got your tongue, Anastasia?" I roll my eyes and attempt to scream, but it's all muffled by the tape on my mouth. She approaches me and quickly backhands me, knocking me over. "Ethan, sit her back up and get that tape off of her mouth. We need to have a chat."

"Yes, mistress." OH, fuck. He's her submissive? He approaches me and rips the tape off of my mouth and I scream.

"OUCH MOTHER FUCKER!" He smirks and she approaches me and backhands me again.

"NO ONE talks to MY pet like that! Have some respect you little wench." Elena shouts in my face.

I nod. I see that the asshole approach is NOT my best bet at this point.

"You will call me mistress now. Do you understand?"

I nod. "Yes, mistress."

"Good. Now, it's time for us to talk."

"What about, mistress?" I ask.

"Well, I see that you sucked Christian back in with your fucking bullshit. YOU ruined MY life! I need you to write Christian a letter first and I will have it delivered to him. YOU are going to tell him how you just cannot handle being with him anymore and how you want HIM to take care of the children because it is all too much. Afterwards, Ethan and I are going to be taking you away from your life here and planting you FAR AWAY! You will never speak to ANYONE here again. Ethan will be staying with you and you will be living as husband and wife."

"I will NEVER write a letter like that to my fiancé! We will be married again soon and you both need to suck it up and accept that… Mistress."

She cackles again. "I thought you might say something like that. Ethan, go prepare the room."

Oh crap. What does this bitch plan to do to me?

"I know you're probably wondering why I'm taking you to another room. Well, you want to be a submissive to someone, so YOU will be proving if you are worthy to be with Christian or not. If you aren't up to the task, you WILL be writing him that letter."

I gasp. She's going to take me into some type of playroom and probably torture me. I have to stand strong. I can do this. Ethan comes back into the room. "Everything is prepared, Mistress."

"Good. Take this little cunt in there and get her ready for me." Elena orders him.

"Yes, Mistress." He approaches me and grabs me by the arm and pulls me up off of the bed. I attempt to fight against him, but he turns around and punches me, so I decide that I better comply and take this like the strong woman that I am.

He brings me into a black room. It even looks like a morbid torture room. This can't be good. He drags me across the room and he cuts off my zip ties. He rips my clothes off of me until I'm completely naked. "You should've just agreed to that date with me and we wouldn't be here, Ana." I roll my eyes and he places metal cuffs on my wrists and he pulls my arms up and hooks the cuffs onto some type of metal hook hanging from the ceiling.

I'm stretched out from my head to the tips of my toes now. My toes are, literally, all that's touching the ground. He steps back to admire his handiwork and smiles. "Perfect." Fuck!

Elena finally enters the room barely dressed in leather. "Nice job, Ethan." She praises him. She smirks as she walks past me. My arms are right on the sides of my head, so I can't turn my head to look at what she is getting. She drops something on the ground behind me and she reaches up and puts my hair over my shoulders so that it's draping over my breasts. "Don't want your hair to get in the way."

I have a terrible feeling about this. She backs away and I hear the swish of something moving through the air and I quickly relax and prepare myself for impact. She strikes me on my back with something made of leather with some kind of knots on it. Nothing could've prepared me for this pain. I scream out. She continues to stroke my back with this vicious tool. I somehow manage to maintain my cool, aside from the screaming and the tears rolling down my cheeks. I don't cuss them like I want to.

"Are you ready for this to stop yet?" she asks.

"Yes, mistress."

"Are you ready to write the note?" she asks.

"No, mistress."

She strikes me again and again and again.

This goes on for a while and the pain is absolutely nothing like I've ever experienced before, but I'm holding strong. I will not give up my family and I certainly will NOT be with Ethan.

She keeps asking me if I'm ready and I keep telling her no. At this point, I can barely feel the strikes anymore. I'm numb. I can feel blood trickling down my back though. She finally stops and asks me one last time if I'm ready to write the note and I tell her no. She drops the tool and says, "I think that's enough for now. We will revisit this later." Oh fuck! This bitch is not giving this up. "Take her back to her room, Ethan. She will NOT be getting any aftercare."

"Yes, Mistress." He says and she leaves the room. He releases me from the hook. My knees give out and I collapse. He scoops me up and carries me back into the windowless room. He lays me on the bed and it hurts like a mother fucker, so I roll over and lay on my stomach. He leaves the room and I hear the lock on the door click. I just sob. He comes back later and brings me a pile of some kind of mush and takes my hands out of the cuffs and orders me to eat it. He leaves me alone in the room and I throw the tray at the wall and lay back down.

Over the next 4 days, they take me back into that room and she uses various tools to bring me as much pain as possible, but I hold strong. I will not eat the crap that they bring me, but I drink water. She takes me into the room twice a day. It's to the point where I can't even walk at this point. I'm still not writing that note. I barely sleep and it's only whenever I pass out from all of the pain.

I'm lying there, silently staring at the wall, whenever I hear a commotion outside of the room. I try to get up, but I can't get up. I sit on the edge of the bed, hoping that someone is here to rescue me. It doesn't take long before I hear someone start kicking the door to the room that I'm in. Finally, they break through and I see Christian standing there and I start crying again. "Oh, Ana." He approaches me and he wraps his arms around me and I wince because I'm in so much pain. He pulls back. "I'm sorry. Let's get you out of here and get you to the hospital."

I just nod. I've accustomed myself to not talking over the last 4 days. He grabs a sheet off of the bed and wraps it around me. He carefully scoops me up and I wince again. Everything hurts. "Are you okay?"

I shake my head. "Get me out of here." I barely croak out and I can see the tears welling up in his eyes. He quickly walks me outside and straight to the SUV. He places me into the back again and I wince. These seats hurt, too.

He goes around and gets in the other side. It's now that I noticed that Gibson followed us out. The police are already here, so Gibson backs us out of the driveway and quickly drives us towards Seattle. Christian reaches over and gently grabs my hand. I look back at him and his tears are now silently running down his cheeks. I squeeze his hand the best I can. I have no energy because of my lack of food. "I'm so sorry that happened to you, Ana." I nod and the tears start to fall again. "Lay your head on my shoulder, baby, but don't hurt yourself." I nod and lay my head against his shoulder and continue to cry. I'm finally free, but I feel like a prisoner in my own head.

I must have passed out, because I wake up lying in a hospital bed. I look over and find Christian holding my hand staring at me. I manage a half smile. He looks rough. I squeeze his hand. "I'm glad to see you're finally awake, baby."

I furrow my brow. "How long have I been asleep?"

He gives me a sad smile. "3 days."

"How am I?"

"Aside from the bruising all the way down to your bones, you're going to be okay. Luckily, nothing was broken."

I nod. "I'm hungry." I tell him.

"I'll have Taylor bring you some soup. Their food here is horrible." I smile.

"I could've told you that." He smiles back.

He pulls his phone out of his pocket and calls Taylor and has him bring some food and clothes for me.

After the soup and clothes arrive, Christian puts the clothes on the chair and my soup on the hospital tray. "I'm going to feed you."

I smile. "I am sure I can feed myself, Mr. Grey."

"Well, I'm doing it for you this time, so tough." I giggle and it hurts so I stop.

He proceeds to feed me the entire large bowl of soup and it is delicious. "They had a tube feeding you for the first couple of days you were here because of malnutrition."

I nod. "They tried to get me to eat some kind of mushed up green food. Let's just say, the wall was painted in green goop by the time you saved me."

He chuckles.

"Where are they now?" I ask about Elena and Ethan.

He growls. "They are in jail where they belong. They will be there for a very long time. You don't have to worry about them anymore."

I nod. "How are the kids?"

"They are good, but they miss their mom. Your dad and my parents have been taking turns helping the nanny with them."

I nod. "I miss them and I missed you." I start to cry again. He reaches up and kisses me sweetly.

"We missed you, too. We're just glad that you're back and I believe the children are planning something for whenever you return home."

I smile.

"Ana, the detectives on the case need to get a statement from you about what happened. Are you up for that? Or do you want to wait until we are at home?"

"I just want to get it over with. I don't want the children to overhear what happened, so let's do it here."

"Okay, I will call and let them know." He nods and gets out his phone and calls them. About an hour later, 2 detectives come in and I relay the entire experience to them and my husband holds me, the best he can without hurting me, throughout.

Once they finally leave, I ask, "When can I go home?"

"The doctor has already released you. You just need to sign some discharge paperwork and then we will take you home."

I smile. "I cannot wait to see the kids." He smiles back. The nurse comes in with the paperwork and I sign it and then Christian helps me to get dressed. He is extremely delicate while doing it.

Once I'm dressed, he helps me off of the bed, but I almost fall. He scoops me up and carries me down to the SUV. He helps me in and gets in himself. Whenever we arrive home, he carries me into the house.

Whenever we get to the family room, the kids are standing there holding up posters that say, "Welcome home, Mom." And I start crying again. Christian sets me down on the couch and he tells the kids to be gentle with me because I'm sore. They all come to me and gently hug me and give me kisses on my cheek and tell me how much they love and miss me. They fill me in on what I've missed and I'm just so happy to finally be home with them.

After dinner, I ask Christian to take me to bed so that I can get a nap. He gladly carries me to bed after I tell the kids goodnight. Whenever we get there, he gently lays me in bed. "Come sleep beside me, Christian. You look like you haven't slept in days."

He half smiles. "I haven't slept more than 2 hours in the last 7 days."

"Get into bed, Mr. Grey. I insist. You can help me to take a bath after we sleep for a little while." He nods and strips down to his boxers and climbs into bed behind me. "Will you help me to strip down to my panties? These clothes are extremely uncomfortable."

He nods and he gently takes off my shirt and pants, leaving me in just my panties. I kiss him sweetly before turning on my side, facing away from him. I press my back up against his front, gently. "Hold me, please."

"I don't want to hurt you, Ana."

"You won't. Just gently wrap your arm around my waist. I trust you." He does as I ask. "I love you, Mr. Grey."

"I love you, too, Ana. Sleep now, baby." I nod and drift off to sleep, safe, in his arms.

I am awoken to Christian telling me that it's okay. Nightmare. "Will you take me for a bath now?" I ask.

He smiles. "I sure will, baby." He gets up and comes around and picks me up. He sets me on the counter in the bathroom and starts the bath water. Once the tub is full, he helps me out of my panties and puts me into the water.

"Get in with me?"

He half smiles and nods. He climbs in behind me and he gasps. "There's so many bruises."

"I know." I reply and carefully lean back against him and he gently cleans me. After I'm clean, we stay like this for a little while in a comfortable silence until the water starts to get cold. He helps me out and dries me gently and then himself. I'm surprised that I'm actually still standing on my own. I start to walk towards the full-length mirror, but almost fall and he quickly catches me.

"Whoa, tiger. Where do you think you're going?"

"I want to see my back." He nods reluctantly and helps me over to the full length mirror and he turns me to where my back is facing the mirror. I look over my shoulder and there are bruises all over my back, butt and thighs. "Damn. No wonder I'm having a hard time walking." I look back at him and he has tears in his eyes again. I take his face in my hands. "It's okay, baby. This will all heal. I will need to have more frequent appointments with Flynn again for a while, though. Let's just be glad that it's over."

He half smiles and nods. "Now, let's get you back to bed." He says.

"Yes, sir." I say with a smile and he genuinely smiles back. He walks me back to the bed and helps me to lay down. He lays back down beside me. I turn over and curl up into his side. I put my head on his chest and drape my leg over his. "Elena wanted me to write you a note saying that I couldn't do it. I couldn't be with you and the children. Therefore, she tortured me whenever I refused. If I had agreed to write it, she was going to send me off somewhere far away to live as Ethan's wife. I wasn't about to let that happen either."

"I never would've quit looking for you, Ana. You would've had to tell me that it was over to my face or I would not have accepted it."

I smile and look up at him. "How did you find me anyways?"

"Well, Gibson finally regained consciousness and found that you were missing. We surveyed all of the footage in the surrounding area and saw him carrying you over his shoulder down an alley and shoving you into a trunk. We ran the plates and they were registered to Elena. We dug into both of their information and found several properties that either of them either owned or had resided in the past. We went to each one. You were at the last one that we went to. I'm just glad we found you whenever we did."

"Me, too." I reach up and kiss him sweetly. "Christian?"

"Yes?"

"Will you please gently love me?" I beg.

"Ana, I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't. I trust you to be gentle with me. Please, Christian. I need this."

He contemplates this for a few minutes. "Okay. You have to promise to tell me at ANY time if it hurts, though."

I smile. "I promise."

He gently rolls me over onto my back and he towers over me without putting any of his weight on me. His lips crash into mine and he kisses me sensually and my hands roam his body. I reach down and stroke his cock. Once it is fully erect, I place it at my entrance and he slides into my core slowly. He slowly and gently makes love to me, asking me occasionally if I'm okay. I keep telling him that I am.

Once we both come undone together, he kisses me sweetly as he pulls out and lies down beside me and I curl back up into his side and he gently places his arm around me. "Thank you, Christian. That's just what I needed."

"You're welcome, baby. It's my pleasure. Let's get some more sleep. I will wake you if you have another nightmare."

"Goodnight again, Mr. Grey."

"Goodnight, Ana." I drift off to sleep in my husband's arms.