Chapter 23: Rekindled Passion
"What the hell do you want." I demanded, and it was no longer a question.
With the flick of her fingers, Elena made her minions force me sit to on the cold floor of another room. This room was different from the others, it was much darker and there were no lights. I could not see what it was home to, I could only see Elena standing by the door with a smug smirk on her face.
"Something I've wanted since the beginning." Her men propped me up against wood and chained me to it, just like she had done to Ethan and Claire's husband. But this was different... This was... Familiar.
Oh fu**.
I tugged against the restraints and flinched, knowing exactly how much pain Ethan was in when he had tried. He had been trying for a long while now and I had failed to break him out of it. I watched helplessly as the minions stepped out of the room, pulling shut the door to my freedom. And then, there was darkness.
"I heard you're not much of a submissive." Elena snapped, and dim yellow lights came on. I was bounded to a cross, something I had seen in Christian's playroom. It had sent me into a flurry of panic when I had first seen it. Christian had been tender when we had used it, but I knew Elena would not go easy. "But now that you're married to Christian Grey, Ana, you have to change."
"NO!" I hollered, fighting against the chains as much as I could. But I could not move, I was an eagle, spread out against a wooden cross.
"I'm going to enjoy this." Elena licked her lips.
Memories of the times Christian had hit me flooded through my mind and I could taste the pain in my mouth. I was petrified. "ELENA PLEASE DONT."
She lifted a pair of scissors. Clothes scissors. Oh fu**, she was going to cut my clothes off. The lashes were no longer going to be cushioned by my jeans or shirt or anything at all. No, this was going to be brutal.
As she stepped closer to me, the tears began to fall. Where was Christian?
"You took everything away from me, Ana." Elena spat. "I had everything... Work, fun, reputation and most of all, Christian." With dexterous fingers, she snipped my blouse off until I was just in my lace bra. "And you..." She said with indignation, "Once you showed up, everything just vanished."
"Please..." I whimpered, "Don't do this..."
"I lost my job and all my savings for you, you little swine." She started on my jeans and they fell apart under that expensive pair of scissors. I was almost naked, bare for her eyes to sweep over and claim.
"Please Elena... I'm begging you." The tears came harder, my mind on the children. My abdomen would not be strong enough to defend them against the lash of a whip or whatever her choice of weapon.
In a blink of an eye, Elena responded with a swift slap across my face. It stung, biting my skin. "You don't get to beg."
"IM PREGNANT." I shout, my defense mechanism. The sound of my voice so loud that it bounded against the metal walls and echoed through the boat house.
"LET HER GO!" I hear Ethan scream, wherever he is.
Elena's smirk widened across her face and she chuckled, "Then I'll enjoy this even more."
"You're sick." I spit, the tears falling as I regained my composure. There was no use being weak if Elena was going to remain cold as ice, I would not win her over with tears.
"You'd know that, you married the man I was sick with."
"F*** You."
She gives me a backhand, and I remain strong. "You speak only when I tell you to. I'm sure you know the rules." Elena tugs at her coat and it falls to the ground, revealing her leather outfit. She looked as if she had stepped out of a sexual fantasy movie. It was repulsive. Had Christian ever been turned on by this?
" I want you to enjoy this, Ana. Learn to take it like a woman." Elena turns and grabs a leather whip from the table behind her. It was mean looking, nothing like Christian had used on me. "After all, you married my man. He thrives on this shit."
"Thrived." I corrected her, and she delivers the first blow against my thigh. I throw my head against the wood in agony, clenching my teeth as I waited for the pain to leave my system.
She laughs, "You have a smart mouth. We need to... Rectify that." Elena lashes me first on my right cheek and then on my left. The tears stream down my face.
As she continues her rampage, I close my eyes and envision Christian. I dream of the family we would have, how he would raise the twins to be young gentlemen. Christian would make a great dad, regardless of how Elena had influenced him. All that mattered was that his soul was pure, Christian love like a real man and cared for me. It was a wonder how I landed such a man.
He's coming, my inner goddess assures me. He's coming.
I nod my head in silent recognition. Christian is my beacon of hope that I will never let to. The cufflinks would do the trick, I know he would find me. It was only a matter of time, I just had to believe and bear with this a little longer. I know he would come save me.
"If you can't take a little pain, what makes you think you can live up to be what Christian needs?" She rants, as if to herself.
"He doesn't need this." I tell her softly, waiting for the next lash to come. But it does not. I open my eyes to find Elena distraught, her hand stopped by another.
"That's enough."
"What the hell?" She snaps, jerking her wrist free from Jonathan Davis.
What was he doing here? The last time we had met, I was about to miscarry the Grey heir. I found myself spiraling down in confusion, my head spinning from the heightened blood pressure.
Jonathan Davis pointed at the door sternly, "Get out, Elena. You've gone too far."
"Don't you dare tell me what to do, Davis."
"Walk away or things are going to get ugly." He folded his arms, stepping towards me in defense.
Elena shook her head, "She'll never love you. She has Christian and she's pregnant. You'll never get her love."
"Screw off and leave." Davis began to loosen my chains and Elena flicked her hair, steadily walking away from us and leaving the room.
I began to sob, quiet tears of relief. It was over. I had been saved... But where was Christian? Where had he been? My heart pounded in agony. I wanted his arms around me, his lips against my ear whispering words of reassurance, but there was none.
Davis shrugged out of his jacket and helped me into it, lifting me into his arms. I wrapped my arms around my saviour's neck, too weak to do anything else. I hid myself in the crook of his neck, my eyelids heavy with exhaustion from the screaming. "I got your friends out, they're safe." He tells me.
I don't move. My mind wanders to Ethan, the visual of him thrashing against the chains haunts me. His bloody hands dripping with shreds metal and dirt. "Ethan." I whisper.
"Yes." Davis nods and carries me into the light, I hide my face deeper into his shirt.
"What are you doing here?" I heard myself ask, my eyes squeezed shut.
"Elena called to boast... Said she got you here." He explains, "The woman has a serious grudge... I knew you'd be stupid enough to come for your friends."
That made me open my eyes, staring up into his chin as I detected malice in his tone. It raised alert signals in my system. "Where's Ethan?" My hands went clammy around his neck. Something was wrong.
"Don't panic, I made sure Henry and Ethan were cut loose from their restraints."
Henry. "I didn't tell you his name was Henry."
There was a pause. Davis stopped walking. My mind chose this moment to replay my encounters with Davis. He had always been the one to call me Ms Steele, he had always insisted. Elena had called me Mrs Grey. Those text messages...
"You're safe now." He tries again.
"Where are you taking me?" I became more awake, my senses tingling.
"To safety."
"It was you!" Immediately, I push off his chest, falling to my knees on the floor.
A smirk played across his face, "You have to be more specific."
"Kidnapping Ethan and Claire's husband." I accused, pointing a finger at him.
He folds his arms and purses his lips, "And why would you think that?"
"Ms Steele." I breathe.
His mouth popped into an 'O', watching me with an interest. It was a maniac's interest, perverse on many different levels.
"Why would you?" I was getting angry, the rage burning through my blood.
"I want you." He smiles, "I've never hidden that agenda."
My head spun, but I stumbled to my feet. "You're delusional. You just want what Christian's got."
Davis strokes his upper lip with an edge of cunningness. He observed me like I was something to eat. This was about to take a turn for the worse. Ethan's silence was testimony to that.
"Where's Ethan?" I demanded to know, the anger rising in me.
"We moved them both."
"Bastard!" I shout, furious.
He steps forward, reaching out to touch me. I step back and tense to fight. "Come on, what's so good about Christian? I could give you everything he gives you. Double even." I do not even indulge him with a response. Davis cocks his head to a side, "We can raise the children together."
I scoff, placing my palm splayed out on my abdomen. "Christian and I created these babies, you're disillusioned into thinking I'd raise them without you."
"You won't have a choice." He smirks. "I have Ethan and you'd do anything to save him, won't you?"
The crux of the matter. The bane of my existence. It all boils down to Ethan and Christian. It breaks me momentarily. Ethan is family and Christian... Is more than family. Ethan represented the past and all that shaped me, while Christian promised a future that will shape me. They were both equally important in my life, both people I love.
CHOOSE, my inner goddess demands.
I glare at Davis. This was not a choice I could make. I step back away from him and know that Christian will always find me, wherever I am. I love him and he loves me too. He will never cease to search for me.
"He'll never find you, Ana." Davis says softly, like a caress.
He was wrong. I trusted Christian enough. I just needed to drag this out a Little longer. "I'll never love you." I spit. "Never."
"You'll fall for me eventually."
"You're an arrogant bastard that will die alone. Why on earth would you risk everything you have for this? For me?" I need to keep in talking, to keep distracting him. Christian will come.
Davis smiles, "Because for years I lived in his shadows."
"In his shadows?"
"Elena... She treated me like Christian. She always called me Christian. You don't understand." He raised both his palms, "Christian rejected her and so she took me in..."
"As her submissive." I hear myself whisper. "That's it isn't it? You're her submissive."
He rolls his eyes, "Used to be. I'm done, she's my submissive now... At least I'd like to believe so."
It made sense. The way he had treated her back there. "You lied to me when I asked."
Davis shrugs, "Had to earn your trust."
"You did." I said sourly. "I trusted you entirely, giving you a large hand in my company."
"That's because you trusted your survival instincts. Your survival instincts." He puts his hands on his waist. "I never failed you or your company, I kept it afloat. You know that."
It was true. "But you were trying to do something more, weren't you?" I narrow my eyes at him, hawk-like.
"Yeah." He chuckled. "Destabilize your relationship with Christian. Step in so you'd find support on my shoulder, against my chest. I wanted to create a drift... He'd find you spending more time with me at the workplace, wonder things about you and me. Go crazy with jealousy and suspicion! I wanted to break him."
"But you failed because we have something deeper. It's called trust."
"Don't fool yourself." Davis scoffs. "The bastard was too preoccupied to even realize that you were in trouble."
I stumble back, not prepared for such a harsh slap in the face. Was it true?
"You know I'm right, Ana."
I could not stand here any longer, allowing him to sow seeds of discord between my husband and I. All I knew was that I loved Christian Grey and Christian Grey loved me. That was all that mattered. It was sufficient to keep me sated. I tugged on the memory of Christian's marriage vows to me. He had promised to hold me, to cherish me, to keep me safe, to always love me... I had to hold on to the truth. It was time and I saw where I had to go.
I ducked into the closest room, trying to find an escape. It was pitch dark.
"ANA." Davis hollers, following me in.
I sprint, fumbling about and finally pressing myself against what felt like a wooden boat. My palm clamped over my mouth to silence my breathing. I hear the crunch of his footsteps as Davis walks over the gravel. He is getting closer, if I move, he would find me. Instead, I keep my eyes wide open and remain calm, praying for him to make a turn.
And he did.
"ANASTASIA STEELE." I hear him whip out. "STOP HIDING BABY GIRL." His voice is faraway and I am momentarily relieved.
Slumping back into the boat, I let out a soft sigh of relief. Suddenly, a palm clamps over my mouth from behind and I tense to scream, but the sound is muffled. Davis hauls me into his arms as I thrash and kick against him, trying to break free. I had to getaway! I had to find an escape!
Then, I smell the familiar cologne that I had grown accustomed to.
Christian leans in just as we break into the daylight outside once again, "I'm here, sweetheart."
It seemed like eons since the last time I had lay my eyes on him... Chiseled jaw, gorgeous cheek bones, and those stunning eyes. I had spent the past few hours thinking that I had lost him, that he had been taken. As the tears spill down my eyes, I throw my arms around his neck and sob into his chest. This was where I am meant to be. This is where I belong. With Christian.
"It's alright baby, you're safe now." Christian kisses the top of my head as he holds me closer. The exhaustion cripples me instantly, and I drift off into a black abyss where I am with Christian.