Prologue: March 6, 2019
On the 25th floor of 200 Spring Street, Anastasia Steele looked up from the manuscript she was skimming and set down her cup of English Breakfast tea. She could hardly believe the words that were in print right there in front of her, but she couldn't let her employee see her excitement. It would give too much away, and Anastasia was always very careful not to reveal anything about her personal life while she was at work. Her staff had learned early on to respect her private life, as she respected theirs.
"You're right, Lydia," she said calmly, "this does look promising. In fact, it's exactly the kind of thing we're looking for for our alternative lifestyles series."
"That's what I thought, too," the head of her non-fiction department told her excitedly. "Granted, I haven't had a chance to read past the third chapter, but when I read that much yesterday, I knew it seemed like what we were looking for. But so are the other two. The one about Vampirism is interesting and well written. I've read more of it, and I can tell you, the author makes you believe that mythical vampires are real, but there's nothing romantic about it. It's like mind control and hardcore BDSM combined. And there are people who actually practice it as a countercultural alternative lifestyle."
Anastasia nodded, but her mind was still reeling from the manuscript that she had in her hands. She'd never read anything in her life that resonated with her so much, but she couldn't admit that to her employee. She could hardly wait to dismiss Lydia so she could read this manuscript from the beginning. At the moment, though, she needed to focus.
"What about the other one?" she asked Lydia.
Lydia replied, "It's interesting, but not like the first two. I mean, sex sells, so those two are going to be more popular. The third one is an autobiography of a woman who grew up in a strict Christian household. Really, it was more of a cult. She was homeschooled and not allowed to date as a teenager, or even watch TV or listen to music that her parents didn't approve of. She rebelled and left home at age 18. She ended up getting addicted to drugs and even worked as an erotic dancer for a time. She's in her thirties now and more than six years sober. She's married and has a couple of kids. Now that she's a mom, she sees life differently. She even forgave her parents, but she limits her interactions with them and doesn't leave her children alone with them."
Anastasia saw the opportunity to focus her attention on the manuscript that interested her most, and she went for it. "It sounds like you've read more of those two, and you're confident about them, so why don't you focus your attention on them? Go ahead and contact the authors. Leave this other one, Memoir of a Submissive, with me. I want to make sure it's truly what we're looking for before we make a decision."
"You sure?" Lydia asked surprisedly. She knew Anastasia was very busy, and she was giving herself even more work. Bennington Steele had just lost their editor-in-chief, Maverick Conway, who had taken a job back east and left a few days ago with very little notice. So, Anastasia, the CEO, was filling the position herself until she could find a replacement.
"I don't mind," Anastasia assured Lydia. "And Lydia, good work." Anastasia always made it a point to encourage her staff when they were doing their jobs well.
After dismissing Lydia, Anastasia wanted nothing more than to immerse herself in Memoir of a Submissive, so far a very poignant account of the life of a sexual submissive. Anastasia wondered if it were possible that she knew the author. Leila Williams was not a familiar name to her, but most of the people she knew in the lifestyle didn't use their real names. In fact, there were only a handful of people she knew in the lifestyle whose real names she knew. Was it possible that this Leila Williams was a member of Miles Down Under?
Miles Down Under was the name of the club that the members referred to simply as "Down Under." It was a very closely-guarded-secret BDSM club that was located in the subbasement of 200 Spring Street, the very same building as Bennington Steele Publishing House.
Anastasia didn't realize it, but the entire building at 200 Spring Street was owned by Christian Grey, the man, not GEH the company. She also didn't know that he owned Miles to Go, where she got her lunch several times a week. This informal and relaxed cafe on the ground first floor near the South entrance to the building had a great "grab and go" selection for those days when she was in a hurry, but the literature nerd in her enjoyed dining in when she had time. The walls of entire dining area were decorated with the script of the Robert Frost poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," and the cozy atmosphere was perfect for book lovers, which is one reason why this was Anastasia's favorite cafe in all of Seattle... that, and their delicious turkey club on house-made honey oat bread.
On the other side of the ground floor lobby, near the North entrance, there was a coffee shop called "First Mile," which, unbeknownst to Anastasia, was also owned by none other than Christian Grey. Anastasia wasn't a coffee drinker, but most Seattleites, particularly those who worked somewhere at 200 Spring Street, loved the speciality lattes at First Mile. Anastasia did occasionally order their vanilla bean scones for the office, but she wasn't a fan herself.
More often than not, whenever she needed to have a lunch meeting, Anastasia asked her assistant Hannah to order it from the Mile High Club. Even though she considered its name a bit silly, she appreciated the quality and convenience of this restaurant and catering service. The Mile High Club required membership for reservations, and was by reservation only, but all of the tenants at 200 Spring Street got a complementary membership as part of their lease agreement. Anastasia had no idea that this perk was due to the generosity of none other than Christian Grey. In fact, if anyone had suggested that Christian Grey had a generous bone in his body, she would have disagreed, but that was a story she preferred not to think about. She did know that the daily breakfast buffet at the Mile High Club was quite good, as she had a weekly breakfast date with her friends Jose Rodrigues and BB Bennington. There was also an eclectic menu for dine-in lunch and dinner.
Most of 200 Spring Street was office space. There were several charitable organizations and other non-profits on the second through ninth floors, numerous law firms and accounting offices on the tenth through sixteenth floors, and investment bankers on the seventeenth through twentieth, including Bennington Investments, owned and operated by BB and Beatrice Bennington. Bennington Steele Publishing House was on the 25th floor, and if all went well, they would soon be expanding to the 26th floor.
Anastasia was aware that a few of the floors of 200 Spring Street were still empty, but she did not realize why. The reason was that Christian Grey was very particular about who he allowed to lease office space. He insisted on a very thorough background check for every applicant.
If Christian Grey was so private about ownership of 200 Spring Street that even his tenant Anastasia Steele did not know it, then he was downright obsessive about keeping his ownership of his other clubs located here a secret. It wasn't clear why it mattered that he owned the nightclub, Miles Below, which was located one floor below the lobby. All of Seattle knew and loved Miles Below, which attracted famous people, particularly professional athletes and artists. More than a few times, members of famous bands like the Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam had been spotted there, as had athletes from the Seahawks and Mariners.
And if few people knew that Christian Grey owned Miles Below, even fewer… in fact, only a handful of people… knew that he co-owned another club located in the second level below the lobby. In fact, very few people even knew that this other club existed. It could only be accessed by an elevator code that changed every week, and only members had access to it. Before entering the club, all of the members were required to wear masks. Extra masks were kept in the foyer to the club, where members checked in each week, but most of them preferred to bring their own.
The members took on new identities when they entered Down Under. Christian was known only as "the Grey Wolf," and he always wore a simple gray mask that covered his eyes and nose, a gray hoodie, gray t-shirt, and gray slacks. BB was known as "the Brown Bear," referring to a nickname that Christian gave him when they were teenagers, and BB always wore all brown, similar to Christian's all gray. Jose's identity at Down Under was "Bear Cub," which signified the type of relationship he had with his Dominant, BB. The Brown Bear was the Daddy Dom, and Bear Cub was his Little One. BB's twin sister Beatrice was the Dominatrix "Queen Bee," and she wore an elaborate costume each week, complete with an ornate mask. Anastasia's identity was "Princess Rose," and she wore a tiara with her mask, both adorned with rhinestones. She thought both were gaudy, but BB insisted that it was part of the fun of the club.
While Anastasia was sipping a fresh cup of English Breakfast tea and flipping to the beginning of the manuscript, Memoir of a Submissive, her secret landlord, Christian Grey, was busy ruling the world from his office on the 51st floor of Grey House, which was only a few blocks from the Mile High building, as he called it. His attention this morning was on none other than Bennington Steele Publishing House, his tenant on the 25th floor of the Mile High Building. He was intrigued to learn from the proposal in his hands that little Miss Steele was looking to expand, and she wanted to lease the 26th floor from him as well. He smiled to himself, feeling proud of her accomplishments. If only BB would agree to let him dominate her, he would have everything he wanted. He looked out the window of his office at Grey House, towards the Mile High building, which he couldn't see, of course, because of the other buildings in the way. But he imagined Anastasia at her desk at Bennington Steele, only a few blocks away. She was probably wearing a tight pencil skirt that hugged her ass just the right way. Yeah, his mind always seemed to go to her ass. First, her eyes, then her ass. Anastasia Steele had no idea just how much attention Christian Grey gave her. She didn't know that he was obsessed with her.
Although he couldn't see the Mile High Building from Grey House, Christian knew that both of his buildings were very well built by well-known architects, and he was proud of them both. Neither of them was in the runnings for the tallest, but both of them had a prominent place in the Seattle skyline. He'd purchased the Mile High building first, and for the first three years, GEH had operated out of it, but then he'd had Grey House built, and he used the Mile High building to generate more income. It wasn't like he needed extra income any longer, but he enjoyed having it. Besides, he could use the Mile High building to help out causes he believed in, like Coping Together, his mother's charity. It was not the only non-profit to enjoy free office space in his building.
Anastasia Steele didn't know it, but Bennington Steele Publishing House also had free office space because of the generosity of Christian Grey. Anastasia believed that her good friend, investor, and protector, BB Bennington, paid the rent. The truth was that Christian and BB had made an agreement when Bennington Steele was started that included free rent for the first five years. Once she started generating income, Anastasia paid rent to BB, which she believed he was paying the owner. Little did she know, that money was actually being placed back into an account that would ultimately be returned to her, once the five-year agreement was complete. A year and a half into the deal, and Christian had no regrets. He was enjoying seeing the success of a new start-up, and he was enjoying watching Anastasia blossom even more.
Grey House itself was a masterpiece, designed and constructed by Elliot Grey and his team of designers and builders. At 51 stories, it was one of the grandest buildings in the city center, if not one of the tallest. What went on inside Grey House was even more masterful. It ran like a well-oiled machine. Christian had started out by buying out dying companies in the tech industry, but he'd expanded from that long ago, and now he had his hands in a lot of different pies, including everything from alternative energy sources to agriculture, and all of his operations were on a massive global scale. It seemed that Christian Grey had some kind of Midas touch. Everything he attempted seemed to succeed. When he'd dropped out of Harvard and started GEH, it had only taken him about a year to become a millionaire. Three and a half years later, he had reached billionaire status. Now, he was one of the wealthiest men in the world.
The Mile High building was slightly taller than Grey House at 53 stories, but it had significantly less square footage. It was a beautiful building, and very easily recognized, which is one reason so many lawyers and accountants wanted to rent space there. The adjacent parking structure, which was connected to the building by a catwalk, was an added bonus. In fact, Anastasia never dreamed of having such a nice space for her publishing house. She'd expected to start out with much more humble furnishings. Little did she know, Christian Grey made it his business to make sure she had the best of everything when she started out a year and a half ago.
Bennington Steele Publishing House was her life, and she had done a damn fine job making it a success in its first year and a half, if she did say so herself. She worked long hours, and she always knew exactly what was going on with each and every one of her employees, at least as it pertained to their professional lives. Everyone who worked for her respected her because of her kindness, her professionalism, and her strong work ethic; she led by example. In the past year, Bennington Steele had published a couple of best sellers, and consequently, they'd gotten their name on the map. Anastasia had known she would have no trouble identifying the best sellers; she just needed an opportunity to prove herself. Now, she had.
If all went well, in the next three months, Anastasia would not only hire a replacement for Maverick, but she would also hire four additional managing editors, and then staff for each of them. She wanted to expand the operations of Bennington Steele, which is why she'd asked BB about the possibility of renting the floor above them, the 26th floor, which had been empty for as long as Bennington Steele had been in existence. In fact, there were several empty floors above them, and Ana had all kinds of bright ideas for how she could fill them. She wanted not only to run a successful publishing business, but she also wanted to provide jobs for people who wanted to work hard. She had been preparing for this work her entire life, and now that she was almost finished with her Executive MBA, which she'd been working on part time for over a year now, she believed she was in a better position than ever before to expand. She only hoped that BB agreed. As her financial partner, she needed his support to accomplish her dreams.
Author's Note:
This is a VERY different story than my other two fan fiction stories. BDSM in this story is not a negative. In my other two stories, BDSM is rejected because Christian realized that the way he had practiced it in the past was abusive. After Ana's attack in Tale of Two CEOs, Christian didn't think he could be a Dom any longer. Later, Ana wanted more kink, and so they found what worked for them. It was VERY different than what the couple in this new story will practice. In my second story, A Life Worth Living, there was no BDSM at all, only the mention of Christian's past. Christian himself saw BDSM as abusive, and Ana wasn't the least bit interested. She was repulsed by the idea of it, and Christian didn't want any part of his old life, which had not been fulfilling at all.
This third story is very different. There will be a positive view of BDSM throughout the story. If you have a negative view of it yourself, this story isn't for you. If you practice it yourself, I hope nothing I write is too far-fetched or offensive, as I don't have any personal experience myself. This Christian and Ana are very open minded and they love their kinks. They are both very much into their Dominant and submissive roles, and they will have a healthy relationship within their BDSM lifestyle, which is, indeed, possible. This is not to say that Christian's introduction to the lifestyle wasn't abusive… it was! And Christian will have much to learn as a Dominant; he will need to relearn a few things because he had a shitty teacher. Anastasia is newer to the lifestyle, so her expectations won't be so high. Both of them will learn to listen to their mutual friend, Dominant BB Bennington. It will be entertaining to see control freak Christian actually listen to his gay best friend and seek his relationship advice.
As a personal note, I've read enough erotica to know that my view of BDSM in this story isn't completely off the mark. I might get a few things wrong as an "outsider," but this is FSOG fanfiction, so I doubt anybody will care if they realize it. This Christian and Ana will be much more adventurous and kinky than either of the others I've written. They're very different than the originals, as Ana isn't the innocent naive poor girl, and Christian isn't as stuffy and uptight. Perhaps the biggest difference between this Christian and the original is that he won't have a problem with other people looking at Anastasia and "wanting what's his." That's a good thing because this Ana is very much an exhibitionist, which Christian will learn to appreciate. He'll actually get off on the fact that the other Doms can look but they can't have her because she belongs to him.