Chapter 11: Chains

Author's Note!

Hello fellow readers. Before you go on to read this, may I ask if any of you are from the Boston/MA area? It's college hunting time and I'm extremely (extremely times infinity) keen on Tufts and Wellesley. Please PM me if you are! I have a few questions… thank you!(:

I stretched across the bed, my fingers searching for my beloved husband. When they came back empty, I forced the drowsiness away and my eyes opened to an empty bed. It was late in the morning, the sun was shining in, lightening up the room.

Thinking about the night before, an embarrassed smile spread itself across my face and I pulled the sheet over my now sensitive chest. Christian would forgive me for waking up late. I had been exhausted and barely conscious when we were done, to which he had still been energetic and informed me that he was canceling work for me today.

Unfortunately, my workaholic husband was probably off in the office playing with his staff. I sighed and stretched, cracking a few sore muscles in the process. I always felt that Christian's sex drive was fueled by emotions of jealousy and anger. Which reminded me of my new ring. It had probably been delivered last night, but Christian and I had been rather... Occupied the moment we had stepped in.

My phone jumped to life at the bedside table and hoping it was not anything from business, I grabbed at it. "Claire."

"Good morning, Mrs Grey. I hope you're feeling better." She chimed, as if trying to infect me with her high spirits.

"Better?" I rubbed at my eye lazily.

"Why yes, Mr Grey informed me that you have a high fever and won't be coming into work today."

So much like Christian. "Yes, thank you. The fever went down after a good night's rest."

"That's brilliant news!" She cheered, practically clapping. It made me suspicious. As expected, her tone dimmed down a few notches. "Because we spent eons searching... But nothing."

I smiled. It was like Claire to cushion my fall whenever she could. "It's alright, Claire. Christian's bought me a new one."

"A new one?!" She gasped, having cooed over my previous ring. It had been the largest karat the woman had ever seen in her life.

I laughed out loud at her reaction and shook my head at my assistant's shock that had mirrored mine exactly. "Yes, he's rather... Insistent I have a ring immediately." She was quiet. "Anything else?" I probed.

"Nothing else!" She dismissed. "I'll see you soon, have a good rest."

"Definitely, thank you Claire. Do transfer any calls or issues directly to me in my absence." I still had to be a responsible CEO despite Christian's frivolousness.

"Oh, no, Mrs Grey. Absolutely not!" Claire squealed. "Mr Grey ordered me to handle everything in your absence, so be assured there will be no pip from work while you're resting."

Christian. Christian. I sighed. "Alright then, guess there's nothing I can do. See you, Claire."

After putting down the phone, I proceeded to freshening up. I was going to look my best before going to find Christian who was probably buried under heaps of work and running his hands through his beautiful copper hair.

I opted for a Ayellow sundress that didn't reveal much cleavage, however it would be enough for Christian to stare at me hungrily. Just when I was finished changing my phone started jumping at the table. I wondered whether it was Claire calling to say that my ring had been found and I could return the new one Christian had graced me with.

To my utmost surprise, it was Ethan's glorious smile that flashed on my iPhone. "Hey Ethan!"

"Ana!" He cried, in relief. "I tried to call you so many times last night, what were you doing?"

What was I doing? I flushed, embarrassed. More like who was doing me.

"Anyway, I need to see you immediately." Thankfully, Ethan cut me off before I could explain myself.

Immediately? "Why, what's wrong?" I was suddenly worried. "Are you alright?"

"It's not a bad thing, sweetheart." Ethan cooed, reassuring me. "Sorry if it sounded like that." I heaved a sigh of relief. "I need to pass you a gift."

"A gift?" I smiled a little, knowing that Ethan's gifts were always straight from the heart and never cost too much. "What is it?"

"Come down and see for yourself!" He chimed, laughing happily.

I perked up instantly. "You're downstairs?"

"Yeah, the two reception flirts said you never came in this morning so I figured." He had gone to my work?

This must be a really big surprise gift. "I'm sorry, did I ruin your surprise?"

Ethan sounded a little embarrassed, "Yeah... But all's well if you come down now."

Perfect timing. I was fresh enough to give Ethan a huge hug. "You don't want to come up?"

"Nah, I've got to run after." He sounded apologetic. "Sorry, sweetheart."

"Hey, no problem."

"Besides, I don't exactly want to have a testosterone clash with that husband of yours..." He teased, "It might break your heart when I come up on top."

"Ha-ha, very funny." I retorted, "Christian takes boxing as a hobby." There was a hint of pride in my tone as I rubbed the facts in Ethan's face to defend my husband.

"Oh yeah?" Ethan chuckled, "Well, I'm a freaking Jedi."

It made me roll my eyes and I made my way out of the bedroom. Luke and Taylor were not in sight, but Gail was cleaning a dining table which signified that the men had just went through breakfast.

"Hah, more like the useless Princess!" I chucked at Ethan who hated Princess Leia with a passion and Gail looked up to greet me with a beam. I pressed the speaker to the side of my neck while Ethan spoke of his own skills, "Morning Gail, where's Christian?"

"Morning Ana!" She said in a hushed tone, "He's on the phone just like you, in the office though!"

I nodded at her graciously. "Ethan, don't you think you're more of Dr Watson rather than Sherlock?" I taunted, "Mulan's Mushu, Peter's Tinkerbell and Jay Chou's Green Hornet?"

"WHY YOU!" Ethan growled as I entered Christian's office with a soft knock.

My man was leaning back in his recliner with the phone pressed against his ear, his lips in a fake smile as he laughed for the sake of whoever was on that phone. It turned genuine and sweet upon seeing me. I pressed my finger to my lips as Ethan listed who Christian probably came second to as well and I bent down to press my lips against Christian's forehead.

Covering the speaker, I positioned my lips just above his ear to send tingling sensations through the man, "Good morning, beautiful."

"Good morning, handsome." Christian returned with a wicked smirk as his fingers clasped my wrist and brought them to his lips. A look crossed his face and he choked, "You misheard me, I said good methodology, that's a brilliant idea." I laughed at his recovery quietly and retrieved my wrist. Giving him a wave of my fingers, I winked at him and retreated.

"Silence means consent, Ana." Ethan had protested as I stepped out of the room.

" Oh quit it, Kavanagh. I'm on my way down." With that, I double tapped my phone and shoved it down a pocket, climbing into the lift.

When I first stepped out, I am greeted with a stunning Ethan Kavanagh clad in suit and tie. It was impressive and I shot him one of those boyish winks as I wolf-whistled. He had his hair done up in a quiff. He broke into a cherubic smile and shrugged sheepishly.

"Is this part of my present?" I thrilled, wondering if he would whip out a guitar and start serenading me.

"Ha-ha." Ethan narrowed his eyes, fidgeting with his collar button.

Christian had often fumbled with his own too and by now, it was already in my nature to assist him. "Here, let me." I said, stepping forward and brushing Ethan's fingers aside.

Reluctantly, he arched his neck to give me better access as I buttoned it for him. "I'm going for an interview today."

"An interview? That's great news!" I gushed, finally fixing the button and stowing my hands. "Where?"

Ethan nodded at me, "Yeah! For a scholarship to London, they have one of the best Docteral programs there."

"You're leaving?" I was shocked, never expecting Ethan to leave so quickly. We usually spent quite a fair bit of time away from each other seeing that we studied in different schools.

"I'll come back and visit, of course!" Ethan promised. "And you'll have Kate to support you while I'm gone."

"I suppose." I said, defeated. "So why the interview?"

"But it's a tad bit costly so I'm applying for a scholarship." He said, squinting his eyes a little as he said a 'tad bit', indicating that it was more expensive than he made it out to be.

"Well, I'm sure you'll get it!" I clasped my palms together in as much excitement I could muster as possible.

"Okay! Pause!" Ethan exclaimed, his own palms flying up to indicate that I should stop. I did. He laughed at my amused expression, "This is about you and not about me, so quit side tracking me." As if in complete compliance, I pretended to zip my lips shut and lose the key. He nodded at me appreciatively and reached into his inner jacket pocket to reveal a small leather box.

I felt my eyes physically widen, stretching so wide that it was growing uncomfortable. At this point, there was no need to restrain myself from talking; I was completely at a lost for words as I stared at him, gobsmacked.

"Listen, Ana." Ethan said, his blue eyes darkening slightly as a slight dimple lined his right cheek. He lifted the ring box a little higher, my heart pounding loudly in my chest. "There are certain things that you need to know." I could hear my brain explode as he opened the little box to reveal a ring.

I gasped. "Ethan!" A radiant smile broke across my face as the ring matched the image I had been dreaming about for the past night. "Thank you!"

"I'm a lucky bastard and so are you." Ethan beamed, taking the ring out from its nest.

"Where was it?!" I exclaimed in complete disbelief.

Ethan laughed, reaching for my hand as he began to slip the ring back to its proper position. "It was in my car the front s-"

Before he could finish, lights began to flash and we turned to find a hoard of reporters gushing towards us. They had been disguised earlier as people sitting around in the lobby or checking out Escala. From the corner of my eye, I watched as the receptionists at the front desk panicked, reaching for the phone just as the reporters hit me.

CPOV:

"Where's Ana?" I inquired, having come out of the office and searched for my wife in every inch of this apartment. I had come up empty.

"Mr Grey, she just went down." Gail responded, busy whipping up an early lunch.

"Went down?" Did I not cancel work for her today? That crazy workaholic of a wife I had. I began to dial Claire on my phone.

"Mr Grey." Sawyer greeted, stepping into the room.

Sawyer? Why would Sawyer be here? "Why aren't you with Ana at work?"

A look of confusion spread across the man's face. "Mr Grey, there's a situation downstairs." Taylor said, stepping out from the wings of his private office.

I narrowed my eyes and clenched my jaw. "What. Situation." The phone in my hand began to buzz and I looked down to see Welch calling. I glared at Taylor and then at Sawyer, annoyed that they had failed to answer me.

"The paparazzi is downstairs with Ana..." He started, stirring the anger within me at the annoying media dogs"...and Ethan." He just had to add.

The look that crossed Sawyer's face signified he knew nothing about this. Seeing that he was my wife's bodyguard, this was fuc*ing unacceptable. I was just about to give him a piece of my mind when the irritating buzzing in my pocket was too had to ignore. "WHAT!" I spat, signaling for both the men to follow me towards the elevator.

"Sir, we managed to pull the tape you wanted." He sounded wary, as if he had something to hide.

"That's good isn't it?!" I was in no mood for games.

He side lined my answer, " I've sent it directly to your phone, sir."

Without bothering, I jabbed the end call button and stepped into the lift with my men flanking me. Just as Welch had promised, the video was up and running on my screen. I watched, as I had been drunk beyond consciousness, my head against the counter top. Any time now, Elena would appear. Yet, to my complete and utter surprise, out of the corner someone else did.

Boston; Augustana

Please review. Your opinion is important!