A/N: Thank you all for your amazing reviews and support! I hope you all enjoy this next chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 5: Fallout

" …The business world was rocked this morning when the Seattle Police Department revealed local entrepreneur Elena Lincoln had been murdered in her Montlake home on Saturday night…"

"…Fingerprints have been found at the scene of the crime, which the Seattle PD has confirmed as belonging to Christian Grey, the CEO of Grey Enterprise Holdings…"

"…Mr. Grey has not yet spoken publicly about Mrs. Lincoln's murder, but our sources confirmed the two of them had known each other for many years prior to her death…"

"…Mr. Grey has put out a statement through GEH denying his involvement in Mrs. Lincoln's murder, but his words have done little to convince the public of his innocence…"

"Could this be the end of Christian Grey and Grey Enterprise Holdings?"

Christian doubted he had ever felt lower in his entire life.

Since the news had come out about Elena Lincoln's murder, and that he was the Seattle Police Department's number one suspect, Christian had been existing in nothing short of a living hell. The public's hatred and malice toward him, and their fear of what they thought he was capable of, truly made him the monster he had always believed himself to be. Going outside had become damn near impossible since his face was plastered all over the news. Regular people on the street would recognize him, and photographers and paparazzi would follow him in hordes. For the past few days, they would sit camped out in front of the Escala building, waiting for the chance to get even the smallest glimpse of him.

Inside his own apartment was the only place where Christian was safe from the rest of the world's ire, and yet he hated being here. Here he was constantly reminded of the choices he had made that led to this situation… that led to him meeting that bitch who had single-handedly ruined his entire life.

Elizabeth Daniels (if that even was her real name) had essentially disappeared off the face of the earth. No one had been able to find her yet, which frustrated Christian to no end. Apparently, having access to some of the best techs in the country meant little when it came to this woman. Carrick had been by his son's side throughout this whole ordeal, for which Christian was grateful, although Carrick's bewilderment over everything that had happened was obvious. He and the rest of the Grey family were upset about what had happened to Elena, but thankfully they all believed Christian when he said he had nothing to do with it. Christian had to explain to them who Elizabeth was to him though, which was an awkward conversation to say the least. His history with BDSM was not something he ever wanted to share with his family, but since Carrick already knew the details of what the cops had found when searching his home, Christian didn't really have much of a choice but to explain.

The police obtained a warrant on Monday to search Christian's penthouse, and even though he knew they weren't going to find anything related to Elena's murder, he hated that they were going to search through all his rooms, especially his playroom. His lifestyle aside, the cops still had a lot of questions regarding the instruments he kept in his playroom, obviously suspicious one of them could have been the murder weapon. But Elena had apparently been stabbed with a large knife, meaning Christian's floggers and whips weren't really considered dangerous instruments. They were taken by the police just in case, however, and the red room was now completely bare save for the bed and the disassembled Saint Andrew's cross.

The only other people Christian communicated with besides his family were Taylor and Gail. Gail was as kind as she had always been to him, if not a bit more sympathetic, but Taylor was the angriest Christian had ever seen him - both at the police and at himself for messing up his job so badly. Christian wished he could swear and yell and blame Taylor and his security for everything, but he knew deep down everything that had happened was his own damn fault.

It was the choices he had made, and the people he had trusted… this was all on him and no one else.

Taylor initially didn't understand how the security footage could have been tampered with, but Christian knew. He knew exactly how it happened, and it was his own fucking fault:

"Do you have any more questions about the contract, Elizabeth?"

It was Thursday afternoon, and Christian was having his first sit-down meeting with a new potential submissive, Elizabeth. So far she was doing very well, and he was eager to finish this meeting and begin preparing for this weekend and their very first playroom session.

"I have one question, sir," Elizabeth said, sitting primly in her seat, her back straight and her hands on her lap. "Actually, it's more of a request."

Christian raised an eyebrow at her. "What is it?"

"I noticed you have security cameras throughout your penthouse, sir," Elizabeth said. "And one of my hard limits is being recorded before, during, or after a scene."

"There are no cameras in the playroom, Elizabeth," Christian said. "I would never do that to any submissive, even it if wasn't a hard limit."

"I know, sir," Elizabeth said humbly. "But I assume there's a security camera in the hallway outside of your playroom?"

"There is," Christian said, eyeing her suspiciously.

"I hate to ask sir, but I would feel much more comfortable if that camera were off when I leave the playroom after a scene. If you're carrying me back to my room, I will likely be very exposed, and your security cameras will see me in such a state."

Christian frowned at her. "If you don't want to be naked when I take you back to your bedroom, Elizabeth, I can easily cover you in a robe or a blanket. I don't think turning off the hallway camera is necessary when leaving the playroom."

Elizabeth shifted slightly in her seat, keeping her eyes down. "Even so, sir… I'm not comfortable with cameras recording me right after a scene, whether I'm naked or not. For me, the state that I'm in should be for my Dom's eyes only, and no one else's. If this is too much to ask though, sir, I understand."

Christian gazed at her for a moment, weighing his options, before letting out a small sigh. "Alright Elizabeth. If it makes you more comfortable, I'll turn off the hallway camera right before taking you back to your room after our session. I can only keep it off for a couple minutes though, you understand?"

"Yes sir," Elizabeth nodded, and she smiled widely. "Thank you."

Christian offered her a small nod. "You're welcome."

At the time Christian thought her request was a bit strange, but not totally unreasonable. True to his word, he went to the security office immediately after their playroom session on Saturday to turn off the hallway camera. The door lock to that room, which is protected by a number keypad and a 5-digit passcode, Christian unlocked without incident. When he had entered the security office, he thought he had seen movement in one of the screens showing the great room, but when he looked closer he saw nothing, and he just figured it had been a trick of the light.

Elizabeth must have followed me to the security room that day and saw me enter the passcode.

It was the only explanation as to how she was able to tamper with the security footage without raising any suspicion with Welch or any of his tech people. It was clever, Christian had to admit, but he had a hard time appreciating her cleverness when she had used it to destroy his life.

Because the God's honest truth was that Christian had no idea how he was ever going to come back from this.

The media was painting him as a murderer and a severely corrupt businessman with a vendetta against an innocent salon owner. The media speculated that Elena's business was losing money and squandering Christian's investment, leading him to kill her out of anger. As a result, businesses were starting to pull out of GEH's investment in them, and new acquisitions were breaking contracts at an alarming rate.

The worst part was that Christian could do absolutely nothing about it. These companies were leaving because of him, his name now mud to so many of the corporations that helped keep GEH at the top. Ros was now running operations, taking up the mantle of stand-in CEO while Christian rode out this PR nightmare. Christian wished things didn't have to play out this way, but he knew it was for the best, and he trusted Ros to keep his company afloat through this shitstorm.

However, there was no way of knowing when this shitstorm was ever going to end.

Every single day, Christian felt himself slipping deeper and deeper into depression. He saw no bright spot on the horizon, no hope for his future… the drive he had always felt to succeed in business and exercise control in all things was completely snuffed out. The only desire he now felt was to find Elizabeth and expose her for the treacherous evil bitch that she was… but even if the truth did come out and his name was cleared, how would his reputation ever come back from this? There would always be people who would only ever see him as a murderer, and if not that, just another rich guy who had enough money and influence to pay for people's silence and get away with murder. His company and everything he had always worked toward would inevitably suffer for it.

Christian knew that Taylor and Gail were worried about him, but he could hardly bring himself to care. All he did, day-in and day-out, was play piano, drink Scotch, or sit in the great room staring out the window at the rest of the city below. There was no work to keep him occupied anymore, so his time was free and open to do what he wished. Sometimes his dad would come over to talk about the investigation, and occasionally Christian would bring himself into his fitness room to exercise, but otherwise he had no interest in doing anything at all.

His life was essentially over now. What was the point anyway?

It was late Thursday evening now, a week since this whole nightmare started, but it might as well have been any day of the week since Christian didn't keep track of that stuff anymore. The rain was coming down pretty hard, and Christian sat and watched through his floor-to-ceiling windows in the great room. The lights throughout the penthouse were dimmed so that only a soft glow permeated throughout the place. and Christian sipped his Scotch - his fourth one of the night - while staring blankly out the window. He hadn't bothered shaving in the past few days, so his normally scruffy five o'clock shadow was now becoming a full-on beard. He idly scratched the side of his hairy face.

"Mr. Grey?"

Taylor approached hesitantly from behind him. Christian didn't say anything, but continued to gaze out the window.

"Sir, Cheryl at the front desk just called up," Taylor said. "There's a young woman in the lobby right now claiming she has a delivery for you, but Cheryl thinks it's just another reporter trying to sneak her way in."

Christian still said nothing while staring out the window. Rivulets of rainwater sliding down the glass caused the city lights in the distance to shimmer through the darkness.

"She called up just to make sure," Taylor went on. "But if you aren't expecting a delivery, she said she's going to call the police…"

"No," Christian said quickly, his voice raspy from disuse. He cleared his throat. "No… no cops, please. Go downstairs and take care of it yourself."

"Yes sir," Taylor said obediently, and Christian heard him turn and head toward the elevators. He lifted his Scotch to his lips and drained the rest of the glass.

"Please ma'am… I swear to you I'm not a reporter!"

Ana wasn't sure what the hell she had been thinking, coming to the Escala Towers so late at night. But after almost coming face-to-face with Jack at the police station, and feeling incapable of holding onto this information herself any longer, she felt that the only other place she could bring the emails was to Christian Grey himself. After doing some quick research through Google, Ana found out he lived at the penthouse suite at Escala, but she didn't anticipate coming across a rude front desk clerk. Although Ana supposed that was her own fault for not anticipating how the one-percent lived.

"Pardon me if I don't believe you," the rude woman said, glaring at Ana. "For the past week, we've had 'delivery people' try to sneak their way into the penthouse apartment in an attempt to get a big scoop. I'm sorry, but I'm not letting you get any further than here."

"I'm not trying to get into Mr. Grey's apartment," Ana insisted, frustrated. "I just need to give something to him. Or at least one of his employees… I'm sure he has like a butler or personal doorman or something I could give my delivery to."

"I'm sorry ma'am, but if you don't leave right now, I'm going to have to call the police…"

Suddenly, the elevator doors opened, and Ana looked up to see a broad-shouldered man with a buzzcut step out and make his way over to her, his expression hard.

"Mr. Taylor," the receptionist said to the man gratefully. "Thank you for coming down. I was just asking this young woman to leave."

"I'll take it from here, Cheryl. Thank you," the man named Mr. Taylor said. He reached Ana and grasped her firmly by the arm, steering her toward the front door.

"Ow! Hey," Ana frowned as he dragged her along. "What gives?"

"I work for Mr. Grey, ma'am. He's not expecting any deliveries, and unless you leave right now, he won't press charges against you for harassment," he said firmly.

"I'm not a delivery person and I'm not harassing anyone," Ana insisted. "I have information about the Elena Lincoln murder that Mr. Grey needs to know. I think he's being set up."

"Right, you have 'information'," he muttered sarcastically. "You and the rest of Seattle."

"Just stop for a second," Ana said firmly, managing to pull her arm free from his grip. They were now right in front of the building's glass front doors, the rain pouring down outside causing the streetlamps to glimmer. "I'm not a journalist and I'm not some huckster looking for a payout. I'm just a regular office worker who found some really fucked-up information about the Elena Lincoln murder and I want it out of my life. Can you please just take this so I can leave?"

She slipped her satchel off of her shoulder and held it out for Mr. Taylor to take. He stared down at it, a skeptical frown on his face.

"What is it?" he asked.

Ana glanced over at the front desk, which was far enough away now that she didn't think the rude woman could overhear her. "They're emails I found on my boss's computer where he practically admits to murdering Mrs. Lincoln and setting it up so Mr. Grey would take the fall," she said in a low voice. "I printed them all out and tried taking them to the police, but my boss happens to be buddies with a lot of the cops over at Seattle PD. I didn't know where else to go with this."

Mr. Taylor hesitated a moment before taking the bag and opening it, seeing the file folder inside. "I'm sorry, what's your boss's name?"

"Jack Hyde," Ana said. "He's the acquisitions editor over at Seattle Independent Publishing. I'm his assistant."

"An editor," Mr. Taylor looked highly skeptical now as he looked up at Ana again. "This mastermind you say framed Mr. Grey is just an editor?"

"Look, I know it sounds crazy," Ana insisted. "And I didn't want to believe it either, but Jack has always been weirdly obsessed with Mr. Grey, and now I finally realize why. Even if you don't believe me, please just take these emails to look over. They're a month's worth of conversations between him and his accomplice, a woman from HR named Elizabeth."

Mr. Taylor's eyes widened with shock and recognition as he stared at Ana. "Did you just say Elizabeth?"

"Yeah. Do you know her?" Ana asked.

"Maybe," he said, glancing back down at the file folder. "What's her last name?"

"Morgan. Elizabeth Morgan."

"Medium-length brown hair? Green eyes?" Mr. Taylor asked, and Ana nodded. "Hm…"

He gazed over at the elevators, obviously thinking of what he wanted to do next. Finally, he looked back over at Ana. "Would you like to come up and meet Mr. Grey?"

Ana was surprised to say the least. "Um… is that really necessary?"

Mr. Taylor frowned. "Look… the truth is that Mr. Grey is being set up by someone, and the only clue we have as to who's doing it is a woman named Elizabeth Daniels, which we're sure is a fake name. If this Elizabeth Morgan is the same woman we're looking for, however, that might be lead we didn't have previously."

"So you think I can help you?" Ana asked, surprised.

"It's worth a shot," he said. "Mr. Grey has been… struggling with this whole ordeal, to say the least, and I think some new information on who the real culprit is would be welcome at the moment."

Ana glanced back over at the elevator doors, thinking. Honestly, she would be nervous to meet a man like Mr. Grey face-to-face, but if it helped clear his name and implicate Jack, then it would be worth the risk.

"Okay," Ana said turning back to Taylor. "I'll meet him."

Taylor nodded, smiling gratefully. "Right this way, ma'am."

Christian felt himself nodding off in his chair when he heard the elevator doors open. Figuring it was just Taylor returning from downstairs, he didn't really think much of it, until he heard an unfamiliar female voice say "Wow."

Christian blinked open his eyes before frowning in confusion. Was he hearing things? He got to his feet and walked across the great room toward the foyer.

"Taylor?"

Nobody answered, but two people stepped out of the foyer and into the great room. One of them was Taylor, but the other was a young woman gazing at her surroundings in wonder and awe, and who made Christian suddenly stop in his tracks.

She looked young, maybe only twenty-one or twenty-two, and she was absolutely beautiful. Long chestnut brown hair and smooth alabaster skin; her pretty blue patterned dress matched the blue of her eyes, which were big on her pixie-like face. She turned her gaze to Christian with some trepidation, and Christian could only stare back at her, words escaping him at the moment.

A part of him wondered if he was seeing things, or if Taylor was trying to torture him by bringing another beautiful woman into his home. He was suddenly reminded of Elizabeth, however, and his attraction to this woman immediately evaporated into anger and distrust.

"What the fuck is this?" he asked angrily, giving the woman a onceover. "Who are you and what the hell are you doing here?"

The woman blinked before straightening herself up infinitesimally, looking at him right in the eyes. "My name is Anastasia Steele, I'm an editorial assistant at Seattle Independent Publishing, and I think my boss is trying to frame you for murder."

A/N: So Christian and Ana finally meet! What do you think is going to happen next?

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