CHAPTER 2

A man said, "Is this Anastasia?"

Ana said, "Speaking?"

The man said, "This… this is Christian Grey." He didn't feel confident about calling her. He never felt nervous around anyone. Why her?

She smiled and said in a friendly way, "Hi, Christian. How are you doing? You must be getting better to call me. I'm really glad you pulled through that mess. I stuck around the hospital to make sure I knew you were ok after surgery and your family was all there for you. I decided to go home to get out of everyone's hair. I contacted my home and car insurance company the next day to replace my Volvo. I wasn't even thirty days old, so it was fully reimbursed. I got a Sepang Blue Pearl Effect 2012 Audi R8 Spyder. It was a much better car and it's pretty too." She was so friendly to him and completely disarming in her cute little babbling way. Wait, she just got a 2012 Spyder? How much money does this girl have? He ran a background check but didn't look at it yet.

Christian smiled and said, "I'm glad to hear that. I have a 2011 Spyder too. They had me transferred to Seattle Grace Hospital. I'm being released in about three days…. I'd like to see you after I get out… Can you come to Seattle, if not I can send someone to come get you and you could stay here?... I have extra bedrooms." Ana giggled, straining the fettuccine noodles.

She said, "I have a condo I keep in Seattle, on 1st Avenue at Market Place North on the 16th floor. It's a one bedroom and I have a great view of Elliot Bay." Yes, he was going to have to read that background check.

He said, "Here I thought you were just some cute little country girl, but you're not are you?"

Ana smiled and said, "No, I'm not, but I am. I don't wear designer clothes because I chose not to because of school and not wanting to come off as pretentious to everyone. I have only been out of school for the last two months or so. I'm finding it difficult to navigate the job market. I just got my master's degree in Accounting Forensics and have sent out twenty resumes to ten corporations and ten accounting firms. Got twelve rejection letters so far because and I quote, 'You do not have the experience required for the positions available.' It's so annoying. How can you even get the experience if you're not able to get a job to get it? I don't think my hardware store part time job is good enough even if it is for the four years it took to get my master's degree. Before that, my father and I played the stock market for years and made capital investments in properties that we would hold on to and turn over at a profit. It built up his portfolio before he died three years ago. I guess I could just manage my properties and keep rolling them over, improving value from restructuring or renovating them." She sighed. Christian realized, right then and there, he was not talking to a little naive country girl at all but a mini version of himself. She got her master's degree in four years. That's impressive.

He said, "That's what I do on a corporate scale though. I could help you? You could come work for me in my accounting division in Grey Enterprise Holdings? I could get you in the internship program?"

She said, "That's very sweet of you, Christian, but I don't want a hand out. Your company already rejected me and I have other resumes out there. Perhaps, one of them will bite." His company outright rejected her with a master degree? They didn't even offer her an internship? Why the hell would they do that?

He said, "I don't know why the hell they wouldn't offer you an internship or at least an interview with a master's degree. Something isn't right. I'll have to find out why they would do that so blatantly. It's not my company's policy to reject masters degrees over all other degrees in a business related field. Can you send your resume to my email so I have a copy on file and can look into this? Something sounds fishy." Ana's dinner was ready.

Ana said, "That sounds fine and can you call me back and let me know how it goes? I'll send you my resume after dinner. I just finished cooking it."

He smiled because she wanted him to call her again. He said, "Sure I will. What did you cook?"

Ana giggled and said, "Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo with broccoli. I make a killer Alfredo sauce from scratch."He loved food and that sounded good to him.

He said smiling, "Don't rub it in. I had to endure two days of that Aberdeen hospital's food. It was awful."

Ana laughed and said, "You poor suffering thing and here I was twenty minutes away cooking for my lonesome self. If only I'd known." He chuckled.

He said, "I should have called you immediately then to save me again. I seem to fare better when you're around."

Ana blushed and softly said, "Stop, you're just playing with me."

He got serious and said, "I really mean it. I promise I will never play with your feelings, Anastasia. If I say it, I mean it. Will you come see me?"

Ana said, "That will be Friday. I could do that. Your towing company contacted me today about picking up your helicopter tomorrow, so at least you will have your wreck and hopefully figure out what happened. I also have the tree removal service coming Thursday to cut down the big pine tree and cut it up into firewood for my store house. The house insurance is paying for it. I can come back to Seattle after those two things are out of the way and they are delivering my Spyder on Friday morning at 10am."

He said, "Good, good. Call me as soon as you're in town. I'll call you if I find out why they outright rejected you too."

Ana said, "Talk to you soon, Christian. Take care." She smiled when she hung up and sat down to eat her meal.

Christian was grinning at the idea of Anastasia being in Seattle just to visit with him. He called Taylor. He told Taylor about Ana coming into town and asked him to get that background check they did on her the day after his crash.

Taylor said, "She is a very impressive young woman, her certifications and education are Marine level equivalent and then some. Her father was a higher up in the upper echelon of our government as a Marine General and was hired by our government later as a consultant after his retirement. When he passed away the Corp lost a good man and consultant. His qualifications and certifications were enumerable. If he taught his daughter what he knows, she will be a force to be reckoned with." Christian planned on feeling the waters out to find out if she would be his submissive. Now he wasn't so sure but that didn't mean he couldn't try anyways.

Christian said, "She applied to my company and was just blatantly outright rejected without an offer for an internship or interview with a master's degree in Accounting Forensics. Can you believe someone in Personnel in my company is tossing out master's degree graduates? Something strange is going on for that to happen because it's not company policy."

Taylor said, "That does sound odd. Are you going to personally look into it? If you do, keep me up to date and I can do any leg work for you as I go between corporate and private security."

Christian said, "I'll do that." Taylor nodded and went and got him the background check on Anastasia Steele.

When Christian sat back with a cup of coffee and read it he found it very fascinating.

—--

Name: Anastasia Rose Steele

Birthdate: 9-10-1989

Social Security: 392-35-5346

Phone number: 360-433-1526

Address: (32 properties total: 12 commercial properties, 11 condos and 9 apartments complexes total all listed under Steele Financial, Inc.)

Personal Properties:

Anastasia Steele

Market Place North

2021 1st Ave, Unit #G-16

Seattle, WA 98121

Anastasia Steele

230 Wynoochee Valley Road, Montesano, Washington 98563

Anastasia Steele

Lana Luxury Apartments

515 9th Ave, Suite#11L, New York, NY 10018

Banks:

Chase Bank

Acct# 274965322 $12,136,234.67

Huntington Bank

Acct#134298678459 $15,457,983.23

Offshore Accounts: (there are indications but this will take some digging)

Education:

Montesano High School- 9-2001/6-2004 entered at age 12 and graduated valedictorian at age 15.

Entered at age 17.

WSU(Foster) PACCAR Hall, 4273 E Stevens Way NE, Seattle, WA 98195 Master's degree in Accounting Forensics both obtained in 12-2007 to 05-2011(6 mos break in semesters 6-2007 to 12-2007)

Major: Accounting Forensics

Graduated: Summa Cum Laude

SAT Score: 2325

GPA: 4.2

Certifications: First Aid, CPR, Self Defense, Survivalist, Gun Range Master, Helicopter Engine and Mechanical Maintenance, Small Aircraft Engine and Mechanical Maintenance (All certifications are current)

Previous Employment:

From: 9-2007 to 5-2011

Greenwood Hardware

7201 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103 (Part-time)

Current Employment:

None

Businesses Owned:

Steele Financial, Inc.

Father: Frank Lambert,

b: 9-1-1960

d: 9-11-1989

m: 12-12-1988

Mother: Carla Mae Wilks Adams

b: 7-17-1965

Stepfather: Raymond Steele(former Marine Raider-General- retired consultant)

b: 7-31-1959

d: 11-15-2007

m: 6-12-1990

div: 7-14-1995

Stepfather: Stephen Morton

b: 8-20-1963

m: 8-16-1995

div: 2-15-1997

Stepfather: Robert Adams

b:4-5-1967

m: 4-6-1999

div: 8-17-2002

Stepfather: Michael Johnson

b: 3-12-1963

m: 4-10-2003

div: 7-23-2005

Stepfather: Charles Frankfort

b: 8-27-1969

m: 6-29-2006 present

Political Associations: None

Religious Affiliations: None

Sexual Orientation: None

Criminal Offenses: None

Relationships: None found.

DMV:

2008 Ford Escape SUV

License plate# RJS731

2011 Volvo C70

License plate# ARS910

WSDOT Aviation Registration:

2008 Cirrus SR22-G3 Turbo Airplane

2006 Eurocopter EC 120B

Permits: CCW

Registered firearms: Kel-Tec P-11, Sig Sauer P226

—--

Christian thought, 'Holy Crap! This girl is amazing! She is even qualified to service her own helicopter and airplane. Her medical, physical, weapons and engineering certifications are impressive. I wonder if Welch dug any deeper on her if she had offshore accounts. Taylor is right, she is highly impressive and a genius if she and her father built this company she's running all alone. Her car is the only thing needing to be updated on this background check. She lives like a pauper practically, but she said she didn't want people at school to know she had money. She wanted to work for my company? She has a work ethic and integrity.'

Christian started to doubt that an assertive woman like her would ever be submissive material or interested in a fucked up individual like himself. He thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her eyes were inexplicably unreal and stood out on her face as if they could see into your soul. He was afraid of her knowing what a sick twisted bastard he was. He wanted her body badly. Just thinking of her in brief thoughts over the past couple days has got him harder than he had ever been for a woman, not to mention the feeling of her lips on his for those three little kisses. Two she stole in the helicopter and one he stole in the ER before they wheeled him away. He only met her for those few hours and he was drawn to her like a moth to a flame. She was the perfect woman.

She had impressed him completely by her beauty, intelligence and personality from her and her background check. She was so kind and giving to him. He wondered if she would run if she knew his secrets? He would have to risk it. Not right away, yet until he could get back to being full physical with a woman again. He was in these casts for a minimum of eight weeks. That would give him a chance to know her until he would tell her his secrets.

Three days later, Ana had packed up her food in a large cooler to take to her condo along with her portable belongings and clothes that always travel with her. The car was delivered and all tags and insurance was already transferred to it. She only needed to attach the license plate. She left for Seattle after locking down everything and activating the security grid in her home. She flew down the freeway with her hood down, her designer sunglasses on, hair braided and feeling good.

She arrived at her condo and hauled her baggage and rolling cooler into the condo door. She started unpacking her cooler into her refrigerator. She picked up the phone and called Christian.

Christian had just got off the phone with Elena and she was wanting to come over and make him 'feel better'. He wanted to vomit if she ever touched him again in a sexual way. He got her to back off the submissive thing by using his injuries as an excuse. Still it didn't mean she didn't want to come over and 'relieve him of his stress'. God, he couldn't stand her, when she started trying to peddle her body to him. It made his skin crawl. He was never going to do that with her ever again.

He didn't want a submissive from her anymore either. She kept sending clingy women to him even when told them up front there would never be an emotional relationship with him. He hadn't told Elena that yet. His phone began to ring. He picked it up and was excited to see Anastasia calling him.