All flashbacks throughout the chapter are in italics.
Flashback
"Watch your step, come on, I got you."
Ana would roll her eyes if she could. She didn't think it was necessary to be blindfolded, but this was supposedly the only way. Christian's family didn't want a random girl knowing where they lived. It seemed so bizarre to Ana, but she knew they were rich, so she simply thought they were paranoid or weird. Christian told her this was his longest relationship, so she figured his family would have welcomed her with open arms, but no such thing happened.
In fact, Christian always acted upset whenever she mentioned seeing his family. She thought he'd be more open after six months of being together, it bummed her out sometimes. Then things got worse. He told her she could never meet his family and that if she couldn't deal with that, he'd break up. She felt like he was hiding her, so they ended up breaking up, but only for a few hours as Christian called her that night. It was the weirdest call Ana had ever received. He told her there were consequences to dating him and that his family wasn't "morally all there." He said this was her last chance to get out and he would genuinely never contact her again. But Ana, like most young women in love, ignored all the red flags and said she was with him no matter what. She assumed he had a family member who was an alcoholic or maybe something exceedingly terrible, like a pedophile uncle or something. Either way, Ana understood that what one family member did, doesn't reflect on everybody. So Christian agreed that she could meet his family, but first, he had to show her his family's business, so she'd understand why he was so hesitant. The one condition was she covered her eyes the drive there. It was the only way.
"Can I take the blindfold off now?" Ana asked.
"Nope," Christian replied. He was leading her by the hand throughout the house. She heard the door open. "Okay, we're here." He took the blindfold off, and Ana blinked her eyes. It was an office, and it was oddly neat.
Ana smirked. "This is apart of your house?" Christian nodded. He seemed nervous, which was something he never was. He was always so sure of himself. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," he sighed. "I can't imagine losing you, Anastasia. I want you to be apart of this. I need you to be apart of this."
Ana frowned as she cupped her hands on his face. She didn't understand why he was talking like this or why he had shown her an office. "You'd never lose me."
Christian didn't seem convinced. He gently removed her hands from his face and walked to the desk. Ana raised her eyebrow in confusion. He tilted a mug on the desk backward, and the back wall started sliding open, revealing an elevator was behind it.
Ana's eyes widened. "Christian... what is this?"
"Are you ready to find out?"
Present time
Ana took a deep breath as the elevator doors opened, and she stepped off. It was like a state of the art hospital — clean, white, walls, with silver, checkered flooring. Doors and long hallways, going in every direction, but Ana knew her way. She went down the third hallway and into a room with rows of rather old landline phones sitting at desks.
"Please be working, please be working," Ana chanted as she ran over to a phone. She lifted it and sighed of relief at the sound of the dial tone. She punched in 9-1-1.
"Hello, nine one one, what's your emergency?"
"Woah, I can't believe you have this place in your house," Ana said as she glanced around at the fantastic hospital-like place.
Christian shrugged. "Come on," he said as he walked down a hall and into a room. Many people, speaking different languages, sat in cubicles as they talked on old modeled phones. "These are our employees. They take inbound calls."
"Wow, an international business. It must be booming."
"Well, it is a billion-dollar business. Not many people are dedicated to doing what we do."
"What exactly you do?"
Christian tightly smiled. "I thought you'd never ask," they went out of the room and continued down the hall. He'd occasionally point out what a place was for, such as the backup generators, cleaning tools, etc. "And here is where we keep all the merchandise," he opened a metal door using an iris scanner. Ana knew whatever it was required very high-level security. The door opened, and inside was a vast metal room with stacks of iceboxes. It was freezing. Ana hugged her arms around herself as she walked deeper into the room. More employees were there as well, organizing crates and containers. They wore body suits and gloves. Ana thought it was odd but no odder than the person who walked past with a tray of what looked like guts.
"What is that?" Ana asked. She was repulsed.
"The rejected pile," Christian said causally.
"It almost looked like someone's insides," Ana joked, but Christian stayed neutral. Ana felt herself growing uneasy. "But it's not, right?"
Christian sighed. "I suppose there's no easy way to say it. We sell organs on the black market." Ana shook her head. He couldn't be serious. These things were on the news and movies, but she couldn't find somebody who did this in real life? Ana went to a box and lifted the lid. "Anastasia, don't -" A human heart on packs of ice was inside.
"Oh my gosh," Ana gasped as she hurried out the room and sat on the floor. Her breath was so short and fast that it sounded like sobbing. Christian knelt beside her.
"I'm sorry, Ana. I didn't want it to be like this, but it is. You'll get used to it."
Ana shook her head in response. Was he kidding? "Get me out of here."
"You wanted in, so you're in. We're a team now, and there's no going back. It may take a while for my family to accept you, but they will. It only gets better from here, Anastasia."
"No! I want to go home!"
"What is all this noise?" asked a doctor who rushed around the corner. Ana looked up an saw an older brunette woman with Dr. Grey on her white coat. She froze when she saw Ana. "Why is she down here? Somebody get me a sedative!"
"Grace, I brought her here," said Christian. "She's gonna be apart of our family."
Grace frowned. She hoped he was joking, but unfortunately, he wasn't. "You're making a mistake. Nobody is going to accept this. Why couldn't you just do your job?" A nurse brought sedatives to Grace, but she hesitantly waved them off.
Ana looked back and forth from Grace to Christian. She wondered what Grace meant by that last sentence. Christian helped Ana to her feet as he turned to Grace.
"Because she's different."
"My name is Anastasia Steele, and I have been abducted. This family drugged me and tied me up and locked me in a room, but I escaped. I'm still in the house, though, and they do human organ trafficking. I think I was gonna be their next victim and I'm so scared, please send help," Ana blurted out.
"Ma'am, slow down. Is somebody with you?"
"No, not now, but they'll be back soon."
"What is your address?"
"I-I don't know."
"That's okay, just stay on the line and we'll track where you are."
"Okay," Ana replied as she heard a whirring noise close by, maybe a room over. She didn't feel safe waiting here. The room was all glass, so if anybody that walked passed, they'd see her. She tried to calm herself by focusing on her memories that were coming back. It wasn't much, but it was something. She knew now that she dated Christian, but they weren't married, which made her confused about the ring still. She knew the horrible business the family did, but not why Mia said she made the family look weak and why Christian wanted to "make it right this time" with her. It seemed like every piece of the puzzle made her more confused.
"Ma'am, are you still there?"
Ana had forgotten she was on the phone, and she was about to reply when footsteps squeaked against the polished floor, and Ana ducked behind a cubicle.
"Hello? Ma'am, we are getting your location. Can you get somewhere safe until we arrive?"
Ana hung up the phone. She didn't want to risk being heard. The footsteps passed by, and Ana got out of the room. She hoped she was on the phone long enough for the police to track her. She tiptoed out the room peeked around the corner where the whirring sound was coming from. Was it smart to investigate the noise? Probably not, but curiosity killed the cat. The sound of the tool got louder as Ana approached. She stopped in front of another room with glass walls, but inside was set up like an emergency room. A doctor was there performing surgery on a patient. Ana could see surgery mark's on the patient's body just like the ones on her own. Ana recognized the doctor. It was Grace, and she was cutting into somebody's torso. The patient was paralyzed, but their eyes were opened and looking around. They were alive.
Ana screamed, and Grace's head snapped up. Ana covered her mouth (even though it was too late), and ran. Her heart pounded in her chest as an alarm started going off, and she pushed herself to go faster. The elevator was in sight again. She had to get out of here.
